𝗣𝗶𝗻𝗲-𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀

ᴘɪɴᴇ-ʜᴇᴀʀᴛꜱ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴏ

-Gabriella, 7 years old-

I rested my back between Will's knees as he sat on his bed, braiding my hair with careful fingers. I had never asked him to do it, but when I visited their dorm room in the morning, he just sat down and silently waited for me to come over. It had quickly become our routine. Luka's job was to flick through softly-playing TV channels as we waited for my braid to be finished. 

"Mr Bream says it's going to snow today. I think we should go on a walk in the woods at lunch break, and see if it's true." Luka suggested after he had found some show about baby raccoons to play in the background. I tipped my head back onto the bed to look up at Will, where he was frowning with concentration. His eyes softened when he saw me, but he didn't smile. He wasn't a big fan of smiling, whereas I relied on the expression to tell Luka when I was pleased with something. It would be so useful if we were all able to communicate in the same way, really, but for the mean time Luka would just have to play interpreter with us. 

"We should have lunch first." Will spoke in his quiet, surprisingly low voice. He didn't do it often, but when there was something to be said and I wasn't able to voice it, he spoke on my behalf. 

Both him and Luka had managed to get my body language nailed down to a T: they knew when I was happy, frustrated, angry, upset, tired, hungry, or thirsty, even if I hadn't even been entirely aware of it myself. It was so strange. We had only known each other for a week, and we were already inseparable. The teachers knew to sit us all on the same table, or make sure we could queue together at lunch. It made life a whole lot easier for them, too, because apparently we had all become far more well behaved since we became friends. 

"I have some snacks in my bag we can bring." Luka walked over to us and sat down next to me, making Will irritated (though he didn't voice it). "Have you ever seen snow before, Gabby?" He asked me. 

I shook my head. 

"She hasn't been into the woods before either." Will murmured, and finished up my braids, tying two green ribbons over the hair-ties to keep them in place (they were stolen ribbons, nabbed from the art room, and I knew it, but Will hadn't admitted it yet). 

"Well it's so scary in there. Loads of monsters." Luka teased, and then was quick to rest his hand over my heart when it began to speed up in fear. "I was just kidding, Gabby. Don't worry. Me and Will will look out for you, even if there are monsters in there. Promise. And we can tell Mr Bream that we're going so he will come looking for us if we take ages."

I linked pinkies with him so he couldn't break his promise and then relaxed again. 

Will adjusted my braids over my shoulders and smoothed down my navy school jumper. That was my queue to get up, so I did, and he took a hold of my hand (despite him scowling and looking like he wanted to be left alone- that was generally the case, but me and Luka were the exception). 

Luka led the way out their dorm room, passing by the Matron who booked us as present. The ground outside was frosty, and the sky was a strange deep grey. It might snow after all. Me, Luka and Will began to shiver a little bit, but it only took us a moment to warm up. The other pupils shuddered in groups as they made their way to their lessons, corralled by teachers. I looked down at my arms. Were they feeling a sort of cold that we were not?

Will was quick to take my hand back into his as we made our way to the art room, being greeted by Mr Bream. 

"Good morning you three. Very chilly today, so I've turned all the radiators on." He gestured to the children who were leaning against them with bright pink cheeks, blowing on their hands. Luka gave Will a confused glance, but took my other hand, and we went and sat around our table as normal. 

They used to just sit together at their desk, but now one person was forced to sit on the other side facing the other two. Will and Luka took turns filling that third seat, so nobody got too squished. 

Today Will sat opposite me and Luka, though he made it clear he wasn't a fan. I slid my shoe between his so he didn't feel left out as Luka dragged my chair closer to his own and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. On the other side of the classroom, the children by the radiator giggled with each other, glancing over at us occasionally, and bursting into more giggles. I wasn't sure whether I should move closer to Luka for comfort, or move further away to stop the chatter, so I did neither, but Will saw my face, and turned around to scowl at them all, making them jump. 

Apparently him and Luka both had a reputation for acting aggressively, just like me. Before I arrived, they could often be found tackling irritating children to the ground, and always won when they fought. I had been exactly the same. 

In fact, every experience we shared with each other were so similar. 

We were definitely alike. 

I doubted we were even the same species as the other children. Perhaps we were aliens of some sort... But at least we had each other. And that made things marginally easier.

I had no idea that normal children did not bond so fast with each other; that they did not become so very comfortable around each other in just minutes. Truly, me, Luka, and Will had all become friends for life. Most people assumed that we'd known each other for years, rather then just seven days. But I didn't care much what they thought.

Mr Bream began to teach us how to do block printing. Will was far more artistic then me and Luka, so he helped us in his grumpy-faced silent sort of way. 

We were quick to rush out the door when class was over.

"Bye kids! Ask your matrons if you want hot-chocolate! I will see you in the lunch hall in half an hour." Mr Bream waved us away. We were provided with a half-hour break before lunch hour commenced. Most children went and did coloring in their room, or chatted with their friends. I normally hung out with Jodie, my roommate, when I ran away from Luka and Will (but they only took a few minutes to find me then insisted on joining in on our games).

Today we ran up to their dorm, and Luka grabbed his snacks, shoving them into a backpack that Will shouldered on. 

"Right. We have half an hour, or an hour and a half if we can get away with it. No time to waste; it should start snowing in a few minutes!" Luka declared and we ran all the way back down the stairs that left most people breathless, and out over the frozen lawn towards the pine trees. 

It was so beautiful in the woods, even if it was a bit scary... But with my boys on either side of me, I felt safe, so I took time to appreciate the towering trunks and mossy floors as we walked deeper into the foliage. Just a minute or two into our walk, as Mr Bream had promised, it began to snow. It was light and thin at first, falling in tiny individual flakes, until the heavens opened. The forest was blanketed in untouched white, inches deep. Where we stood frozen still in a small grass clearing, watching the sky, the drifts of snow around our feet began to melt and our socks began to get soggy. 

"Ew." Luka looked at his feet. "Let's keep going further in."

It felt like all stress had been lifted as we made our way deeper into the trees. I forgot all about my mother, who hadn't yet visited me. I forgot about my old school and my old teachers. I forgot about all the allegations, and doctors appointments, and therapy sessions, and crying alone in my bedroom when I wondered what was wrong with me. But now, with my fingers interlinked with my best friends', being in probably the most beautiful place, I didn't feel broken one tiny bit. I had found my people, and found my place.

I couldn't help from smiling. 

I tuned my senses into the small animals and birds that lived in the pine trees. I could hear a bird flap it's wings a few feet away, and a field mouse escape into a fallen hollowed trunk. If I listened really carefully, I could even hear the soft noise of snow falling. Tuning in so much, my best friend's heartbeats stood out even more. It was funny how I could tell Will's from Luka's, even though they were so similar. 

It was the perfect moment. Just us, the woods, and the snow.

That was, until I tripped over a tree branch in perfect Gabriella Scott fashion, and a sharp rock sliced right through my tights, and deep into my left leg.