Ocean Heart - First Three Chapters

Chapter 2

Here, under the ocean, I could forget my loneliness. My troubles were a distant memory. Instead of legs, I had a beautiful, shimmering tail that
reflected a kaleidoscope of blues and greens. It fluttered up and down as I propelled myself forward through the crystal blue waters.
My hands hung by my side as I flew through the water, free as a bird in the sky. Rays of light shone down from above, illuminating my underwater hideaway. My red hair swirled around me. I was miles away from anyone or anything. I'd stay here, blissfully unaware of reality, safe in my dream world.
But, my mermaid dream was always brought to an abrupt end by my alarm.
So much for what Denny said!
Three weeks later, Jace and I still hadn't seen each
other. We messaged each other, but as we ran out of things to say, our messages became less and less frequent.
I had dreaded the holidays coming to an end, but now I welcomed it. Mum had bought my new uniform and new, shiny black shoes. They were flat shoes with a small, crystal apple embellishment by the toe. It was only a short walk to school but I was quickly falling out of love with them as they were rubbing the backs of my heels.
Dark clouds threatening rain circled above as I tried to walk flat-footed and avoid the pain, making me appear awkward and clumsy. Everyone seemed to have grown over the summer, except me. I headed into the school hall for my new schedule.
The room was filled with the rowdiness of hundreds of voices all talking at once. A mass of kids, all my age, stood in groups or queued to speak to someone behind the tables. I searched the room for Jace. As his familiar face appeared, my morning troubles melted away. The vision of him soothed the ache in my heart like aloe- vera on sunburned skin.
Racing across the room, I gave him a huge hug. He looked older in his new uniform, wearing the smart blazer jacket. He was taller, too, and smelled different. I frowned, disappointed the boyish smell I craved was gone. In its place was a rich, spicy smell, mixed with something fruity and sweet cinnamon. As I adjusted to his new smell, I appreciated that it was delicious and comforting, like an apple crumble on a winter's day, but it wasn't Jace. I didn't like him smelling like a stranger.
"Freckles!" he squeezed me back with a crushing bear hug. "I missed you so much!"
"I missed you, too."
The room suddenly filled with sunlight.
"I think we have to join one of these queues." He
indicated to the nearest line of people with his head. We both made our way over and instantly fell into a ramble of excited chat about everything and anything. I wanted to know all about the new house and living with Dave. He wanted to know how Mum was getting on and what I'd been up to. We talked about the music we had been listening to and the shows we had watched. I felt so alive to have him back. I felt whole again. He filled the space in my heart of everything I was missing. Chatting without pause, we soon found
ourselves at the front of the queue.
"Name?" asked Mr Griffen, a young, male PE
teacher with short, dark hair. He addressed me but I didn't answer. I always let Jace do the talking.
"She's Mariah Turner, I'm Jace Walker."
"I can only do one name at a time," the teacher said, irritated as he tapped on his keyboard. There was a whirring noise and I realised the box next to him was a printer. "Walker!" He announced pulling out the piece of paper. "You're one of mine. Welcome to form six."
Jace took the piece of paper handed to him. I peered over his shoulder. It was his timetable. The printer made another whirring noise.
"Turner!" Mr Griffen announced and handed me my timetable.
Jace pulled me out of the way of the people waiting for their turn and we compared our sheets. We were in different forms.
"I wanted us to be in the same form!" I complained as I compared our timetables. I felt sick as I realized we were starting to have less and less in common. I searched hopefully for any lessons that matched but we weren't even taking the same subjects on the same days. My eyes widened in horror. We would never see each other!
"Just 'cause we have no classes together, doesn't mean we can't be friends," Jace reassured me, registering my panic.
"I'm going to hate it. This sucks!"
I wanted to go home. I kept staring at my schedule, willing it to change; for there to have been some mistake. We looked glumly at our sheets as the bell loudly interrupted us from overhead.
"I guess that's the signal that we have to go find our rooms," Jace said, fidgeting with a stray thread on his bag strap and screwing up his face.
I nodded. There was nothing more to say. He hugged me, but it was so rushed that I got no joy from it. He headed towards the double doors as if he already knew where he was going. As the students swarmed in the same direction, he disappeared and became one of many. I followed, pulled along into a dimly lit corridor, dragged by the tide of people. I felt I was drowning, slipping under, helpless and unable to stop what was happening.
The school had suddenly become a dark place, I didn't want to be.