Snow Fall

“All young ladies are to report to the buses immediately. No lolly gagging ladies, arriving on time is a must. Miss Mae would always be on time, no if, ands, or buts about it. I hope everyone has an excellent Christmas break, remember ladies, you are representing ‘Miss MaeAnn’s School for Girls’. Behaviour is an ideal trait to have when being out and about.”

The girls in my dorm pushed past me, leaving me behind in the litter as they rushed on to their buses. We were all being sent off to different foreign places instead of just going home. We were supposed to learn from our experiences over the break, a full three weeks seemed like enough time for the board to ship us off and get some alone time.

In their façade, we were ‘Lovely young ladies’. But behind their polite and nurturing smiles we’re just a nuisance. Adolescent teenagers with raging hormones, no different from regular girls who went to public school who didn’t go on fancy trips. Not that I asked to be here, it was never my dream to go off and live with over three hundred girls in a place I’ve never been to.

But, as my parents put it this was the ‘only option’ to choose from. My father had an issue with his most favourite and only princess being around filthy, diseased, pigs like boys. I guess everything just fell into place as the pieces were cast out and played quite nicely. Being around the same gender didn’t make cause me to fall in love with a girl, as it altered my feelings of love.

All of the girls in my dorm only talked about kissing a boy, being held by one, caressed and such. I haven’t so much as looked a boy directly in the face since my smaller years. My faded baby pink duffle bag lay on the floor by my bunk, the words ‘Ama’ glaring up at me with nearly peeled off glitter. I picked up the bag and heaved it over my shoulder and headed out into the pink and flower painted halls.

I saw girls with their hair all curled up and pretty, sweaters that were probably designer brands decorating their bodies. Gucci bags being swung on shoulders, glitter nails with red and green coloured on each finger. I didn’t fit in here. I was their outcast, their bucket that took all of their emotions. It was all thrown at me in a ball of hatred, like I was their trashcan to just toss everything away.

If something was lost or a boyfriend was taken from, I was to blame and took the baggage and weight of their feelings. I dug through my bag, finding my black beanie for the cold weather outside and my torn and ripped fingerless gloves. What I owned was never designer or pretty and colourful but at least I could use them and they hung on strong.

As I walked outside, the cold air hitting me causing my fingers to grip my duffle bag and pull it closer to my body for warmth. I looked around for my bus, as snowflakes fell onto my eyelids making me want to close them as I noticed someone waving at me. I ran towards the waving figure seeing that it was one of my least favourite teachers. Miss Kallaway.

“Miss Torez”, she said with a hint of venom behind it as she over enunciated the ‘z’. I smiled politely as she checked my name off of her clipboard and waved me onto the bus with a quick gesture. I stepped onto the bus, wondering why everything we had was so expensive. As the buses here weren’t like public school buses, I’m not even sure if it can even be categorized as a bus.

The seats were comfortable, seat belts for each seat, (a pair of seats together). As if we’d be sitting on an airplane with comfy cup holders on the back of the seats, the aisle big enough to be able to sleep on the floor. I found an unoccupied seat at the back next to a girl that I’ve never really seen around.

Her hair a dark but pure looking black, as if she’d inherited the colour from her parents. I sat down as her gaze stayed locked on the window, not shifting to look at me or to so much as speak. I took it as she wasn’t the social type and pulled out my headphones from my raggedy jacket pocket and put them in. As the sweet sound of Ariana Grande’s melodic voice swam through my eardrums I was nearly ready to take a nap.

The need pulling at me, and I obliged. No need to fight it since I’ve been up all morning, listening to my dorm ‘sisters’ (as the academy called them) stayed up to share their ideas on what to do. It could be an early Christmas present for me as I slightly curled up in my chair, as I usually do out of habit. The speaker rang out with a very loud and cheerful voice greeting us.

My eyes opened, feeling as if that was just completely hopeless. I flicked at my Mp3 player, as the sound gradually got louder I was pulled back into the bliss. “Miss Torez!” Miss Kallaway, shouted out from the microphone. I flinched from the equally as loud sound, one of my eyes opening to find her making a pulling out motion at her ears. In my subconscious my eyes were way past rolling, possibly killing her at least seventeen times or more.

I made the dramatic effort of pulling out my headphones and throwing them onto my lap. At my frustration she smiled and began to speak. “Ladies as you do realize, our bus will be heading to London for the Christmas break ahead. All of you are to be on your best behaviour, be polite, with grace and ease as you tour London and carry on experiences to which you’ve never had before. Before we part we will make sure that we have everyone and we will take off”.

As the squeal of the microphone finally stopped as well as the echo of her voice, the sound of giggling and excited teenage girls was the source of the bus now. As I pushed my headphones back in, I caught Miss Kallaway staring at me from her seat, a glare more like it. Telling me that the rules applied to me the most. I gave her a sarcastic smile as I went back to closing my eyes, let’s just hope that this fancy trip will be over soon.