Pretty, Ugly Girl

“You seem different,” were the first words Abi heard from her friends when she went to school for the first time in a long time. She had decided to go in today because she was quite bored as of recently and in a way, she sort of missed being around other people who got high. Despite the fact that she had given Tommy the weed he wanted at sometimes, she had never seen him smoke it so she figured that he either did it later on or he wasn't using it for himself.

In which case she wondered whether he was selling it on to make some money or something. There wasn't anything wrong with that but she just thought he wanted it for himself rather than to sell on.

Abi just shrugged, “There's nothing different about me.” It was true; there was nothing different about her physically that any of them would be able to notice. After all how would they be able to notice that she was starting to take control of her looks and body? It wasn't like she had come about a difference yet even though she was hoping to achieve one very much soon. “Maybe it's the fact that I'm in school?”

Her friend, Kerry, just laughed. Abi noticed that Robyn wasn't in the small group that was there now. She knew where to meet them that morning because they had a normal meeting place everyday and she figured that they still met there. She was right though it was probably the first time Robyn wasn't there on a day where she wasn't ill.

“So what made you come in today Abi?” Carys, another one of Abi's friends, asked before tucking a bit of hair that the wind had blown back behind her ear.

All she did was shrug, “Dunno.”

“Great excuse.”

“I know.”

That was all for their conversation in the morning. It was cold and they weren't allowed inside their form block until the bell went at nine. So they just stood around next to each other, not talking and just wishing for the time to go quickly so they could go inside the building and into their form rooms. Though, because it was after half term, the heating would be off so it wouldn't be as warm as it should be in the weather it was.

When the bell went at nine am, Abi didn't really want to go into the building despite the fact that it would be warm. She knew that she'd either be called out by her form tutor or her head of year for a little 'word' which would basically just be them lecturing her on the amount of time she's been having off school. She knew what the lecture would entail because the amount of times she's had the same lecture is more than she has fingers.

The thought of just skipping school passed her mind. It wasn't like she had stepped foot inside the actual school building yet, she had only been on the school grounds. Plenty of people walked their dogs on the grass of the school even though they didn't go to the school so it would have been alright, she figured. However, she decided, dejectedly, to go into the building and make her way to her form room.

Much to her disgust, she was the first one in the room. It was horrible when that happened because it felt like she was actually wanting to be there when she didn't. It was just bad luck that she was in the room first. Slinking over to her chair, she pulled it out from underneath the table and almost threw herself down on it.

The seats were hard at times and not all that comfortable to sit in but they were much better than the stools in the science block. They had no back so people couldn't lean backwards like they could on the seats.

A few seconds of being in the room alone, Abi's attention went back to the door because it opened to reveal two more people coming into the room. The girl, who was behind the boy who had just walked in, noticed Abi and almost recoiled in shock over the fact that she was in. Abi noticed this and rolled her eyes, "Yes, I'm in Chloe. Is it really that surprising?"

The girl, Chloe, nodded, "Yeah, it is."

"Oh the joy."

"She's going to have a field day knowing that you're back," Chloe said as she walked over to the seat next to Abi and sat down on it. By 'she', Chloe meant their form tutor. At any chance she got, she always lectured the class about how important attendance it and how people shouldn't be having that many days off in school, let alone with them being in their last year of school and etc.

Most of the class turned off when she got into the second minute of talking. Her voice was draining and annoying and she tended to repeat herself quite a bit. Not to mention the fact that none of them actually really gave a damn about what she had to say. She was being paid whether they turned up to school or not, and like she always said, it was their education and not hers. Therefore she shouldn't be butting her nose in about it all the time.

Slowly but surely the class started to fill up and by five past nine everyone that was in for the day were in their seats and the room was filled with chatter. Abi was talking with Chloe every so often even though Chloe kept talking across the room to the girl who sat opposite them there. She was more friends with her than she was with Abi.

It was a shame really, because her and Chloe used to be proper close but now they barely spoke in form and even if they did have a class together through out the week (and Abi was actually in), it wasn't like they spoke within that class.

Chloe had her main set of friends who she always spoke with and it seemed like Abi was someone she spoke to whenever she was alone or even just bored and none of her friends were around.

Even though Abi knew that it was basically the way that she used her friends - though she didn't have anyone else to talk with so it was just she talked with them so she wasn't alone - she couldn't help but feel like shit about being used by Chloe.

Of course she'd never say anything to her about it because there was no point. The year was going to be done soon and then she'd never have to see any of the people in her form again. She would say anything that she really wanted to say at the end of their leaver's lunch, the last actual day they had of their school life.

It wasn't like she would see them again other than at her exams. Though Abi was fairly sure she'd be missing many because she just wouldn't be bothered to turn up to them. She was fairly certain that her school wouldn't send the bill home to her parents; it was something they threatened every year to the year tens and year elevens to try and get them to all turn up to their exams. It never worked and no one ever got the bill. They were pretty sure they'd know whether their parents got it or not because more so than not, their parents would have a go at them for costing them money with something they could have easily got to.

"Morning," the form tutor said as she came through the door of the room. It was ten past nine now and she only had five minutes to do the register before they had to go for their first lesson. She had a feeling she wouldn't make it because this class sometimes took ages to shut up. "I said good morning."

"Morning," most of the class mumbled back, a few didn't either because they were too tired to say it or they just couldn't be bothered. Abi was one of the ones who just couldn't be bothered with saying it. She didn't get the point and to be quite frank, she found it annoying that their form tutor expected them to do it every morning.

The teacher's eyes scanned the class and they stopped when they noticed Abi. "How nice of you to join us Abi," she said in such a way that most of the teenagers thought that she was almost mocking the girl.

Abi didn't say anything back to the teacher; she just nodded her head at the words. "Once I've done the reg, you can go up to the head of year's office if you want," she told her before sitting in the chair by her desk and starting the computer up. Even though she did say if she wanted to, Abi knew that she had to go up there even if she didn't want to. That was the thing with school, most of the teachers didn't mean what they say when it comes to stuff like that and when pupils misunderstand them and don't do what the teacher asked them to do, they get in trouble and not once is the pupil listened to when they try and say they thought she didn't mean it.

After all, teachers are always right, like Abi's form tutor often says.

After the register had been done, Abi was sent upstairs to her head of year's office. She wasn't nervous nor scared about being there, she had been there plenty of times before. Mostly whenever she was on report for underachieving in certain subjects or even for bad behaviour. Basically it meant that she was near enough always on the report.

A few seconds after getting up there, her head of year came up the stairs and over to his office. "I've been looking for you for a few days," are his first words to the girl.

She just shrugged, "Figures." Abi follows the teacher into his office as soon as he opens the door. She knows what seat to sit in as soon as she gets in there and surprisingly, she's in her seat before the teacher is in his.

Most pupils chose to stand in the office because it felt much too awkward sitting down than it did standing up. It was weird to Abi because she thought it'd feel more awkward standing up compared to sat down. She didn't say anything though because honestly, she didn't care which way people were most comfortable within the office.

"I'm concerned over the amount of days you're having off of school Abi. You're behind in several lessons not to mention the fact that you're missing valuable revision time that is very important seeing as your exams are creeping upon us quicker than we'd like," the teacher started, watching Abi for any sign that she was actually listening to what he was saying rather than just hearing him talk. He found none.

Abi wasn't the only one who didn't care that much about school which was why she was okay with the amount she took off. In fact she used to skip school with someone people in year eight and smoke weed behind the school and off the property. They made sure to dodge the security cameras that the school had up even though they were fairly certain they were off. After all it wasn't like they were going to be at all of use because no one seemed to care about what any of them did.

"It's time to start taking school seriously, Abigail. You'll regret this period of time when you're older and you'll think to yourself 'why didn't I pay attention back then?' and the only thing that'll disappoint you is the fact that you just don't want to pay attention," he continued on when he realised he wasn't going to be getting a reaction from the girl. "I know you're a very willing and capable girl. Don't throw away grades that you can most definitely get if you push yourself hard enough."

Abi was used to this speech so it didn't do anything to her. It was the same speech that the whole year had got for the last three years. It was okay the first year, started becoming slightly annoying in the second year and now it was just completely unbearable.

"For now you're going to be on report. You know the drill, am I correct Abi?" She nodded. "Good."

The teacher opened his folder and pulled out the orange piece of paper that Abi was all too familiar with. In a way, she had missed it.

She never knew why the paper was orange but she had missed the colour of the paper that would be noticeable from the teacher's desk. If she even bothered giving it in, that is. It wasn't like it was worth it, in Abi's opinion, because all it was about was just behaving in lessons and getting a five on it and then whenever they hit one hundred and twenty points, they came off the report.

Once Abi had report for practically the whole of a year because she got mostly ones in her lessons which meant that it was taking longer to get all the marks and plus the days in which she had off which was quite a lot back then too. Of course nowhere near as much as she has now, but a fair amount.

After she took the report, she went to her first lesson a bit late but the teacher didn't say anything because she knew that Abi was with her head of year. The day seemed to go so slowly for Abi and no matter what she did, she couldn't get herself to focus a single bit in any lesson. And the shocking thing is, she wasn't even high.

She put it down as boredom because it was something that she often felt in any lesson that she had because she didn't like any of them. She used to say that lunch was her favourite lesson but she doesn't say that any more because it's not even that much of a lunch time. Year elevens weren't allowed in the canteen at the beginning and by the time they are allowed all the food is gone as are the chairs. Abi also never ate at school either.

The last lesson seemed to go the slowest for Abi and many times throughout the sixty minutes she was forced to endure it, she felt like just smashing her head against the table repeatedly so that everyone would just shut up and stop being so annoying. All she could hear was the annoying voices of people talking about what they did last weekend, what they're doing this weekend, what this skank did with this boy and what that skank got up to on the weekend.

It was all the same in her opinion but she never said it. Mostly because she couldn't stand the people who were having those conversations and because the people who were having those conversations didn't really like her. Not many people didn't (which wasn't surprising) but they were the people who just could not stand her one bit.

Finally when the bell went which signalled the end of the day, Abi managed to get out of the class quickly and onto her bus. The bus was annoying and the journey was long but she had to endure it to go back home. She had an iPod to listen to as if it'd make the time pass by quicker but it still wasn't loud enough to drown out the noisy and loud year sevens who think they're cool just because they're now in high school which is big school.

Sometimes Abi wished that they would realise that they're at the bottom of the food chain in the school considering they're only year sevens. If they realised that then maybe they wouldn't be as annoying as they are and most people wouldn't hate them like they did.

Most year nines, year tens and year elevens hated the seven years because they were just terrible and annoying. They acted like they owned the place and ran everywhere. They found it stupid, annoying and downright childish. Some boys would steal the year seven's ball and kick it around at break times and not give it back. But when they went and told their head of the year, the boys would deny it and it would only be the year seven's word against their. Mostly the year sevens are believed more so than the other boys are. Just for the simple fact that they were the youngest.

When Abi got home she couldn't help but feel relieved as soon as she made it up to her room. Dumping her bag on the floor, she then flopped onto her bed and just laid there for a while. This was why she hated school and it was why she never wanted to go again. Now that she had gone today she figured she wouldn't have to go in for sometime now.

Abi had no time to really lie around like she was doing now. She had to meet Tommy at the swimming pool in forty minutes. These swimming sessions with Tommy had been fairly brutal, in her opinion. But it was coming from a girl who hated sports so any session would be brutal for her.

But Tommy made sure she was swimming for the whole two hours they were there. She was allowed a little five minute break between the two hours, but other than that she was swimming basically the whole time they were in the pool.

Abi appreciated the fact that he was still following through with what their deal was, even if she didn't really like what the deal actually entails.