A Life Beyond the Mirror

Chapter 3

"You must be Theodora. I'm Mrs Scott, your head teacher." The lady in front of me threw out her hand for me to shake. She was a small woman, shorter than me, with her golden hair tied back into a neat, tight bun. Not a fly away in sight. Her skirt suit neat as a button. I put my hand in hers. I could feel the stress in her hands, but her shake was firm.

"I'm Thea. Nice to meet you." I reply.

"This is your timetable for the week." She hands me a sheet of paper with a list of lessons, I place it in the front of my backpack, reposition it on my shoulder, hooking my finger through the straps. "I'll escort you to your first class. As it is the final week of school, Sixth Form are currently working on projects as part of our extra curriculum. Your first lesson is History. They are working on a project based on Welsh Folklore."

We continued down the blue corridors. All covered with work done by pupils, Photos of sports teams and the trophies they have won over the year. Their smiling faces watching me as I go. This place was huge, no way was I going to navigate this place alone.

"Do you know any?" she asks.

"Huh?" Not sure what she was talking about.

"Welsh folklore. Do you know any?" She tutted. Not impressed by my lack of attention.

"A little." I smile, refocusing on my surroundings. If I was going to figure out this place, I needed to concentrate on where I was going. I have the sense of direction of a broken compass.

She opened the door; everyone was already in their seats.

"This is Theodora Turner. She is a new student. Please make her feel welcome." The head teacher declares, glaring at the entire class. I roll my eyes at the use of my full name.

"Hi Theodora. I'm Miss Russell. Would you like the to tell us a little bit about yourself?" she says, a warm smile lighting her tired face. I was not ready for this part.

"Um hi, I'm Thea. I'm from Cheshire but my Gran lives in Stackpole. We moved here to take care of her," I say looking at the teacher awkwardly. She smiled again. Her glasses on top of her head.

"Do you have any hobbies?" She prompted.

"I like to read and watch movies." I say with a shrug, almost sounding like it was a question with the lilt at the end of my sentence.

"Okay Thea, why don't you take the empty seat next to Hali?" She says pointing to a smiling girl with long flowing blonde hair. She waved excitedly. Her eyes bright blue. Her skin almost glowed, she was gorgeous but in a nice way, not the kind that's beautiful and knows it. Something was strange though. I just couldn't figure it out.

I walked over and sat down beside her, placing my bag on the table in front of me.

"Hi, I'm Hali, like she said." She exclaims excitedly, hiking her thumb at the teacher.

"I'm Thea, like she said." I mimic, we both giggle a little awkwardly.

"What's your class timetable?" she asks. I dig through my backpack to the took out the folded piece of paper out of my backpack and hand it to her.

"We are in most of the same classes, except English Lit. You took that willingly?" she asks nose scrunched in mock disgust.

"I like to read. And write for that matter. What did you take?" I ask.

"Textiles." She says gleefully, her eyes sparkling with delight as she pulls out her skirt for me to look at. It was standard, school black when you glanced but up close you could see the dark blue details, sewn into it. Waves at the bottom of the skirt with shells and sea creatures embroidered into it. It was beautiful.