20th September 1996

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I groggily sat up.

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I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and looked around the room, my window was cracked open slightly. I could hear the sounds of seagulls flying above me.

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I swung my legs off of my bed, it creaked as I did so. I winced slightly as I felt how cold the floor was beneath my bare feet. 

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Finally, I hit my alarm clock.

I stood up slowly. I hadn’t slept well that night. The mattress was way too lumpy. I was so glad I’d be swapping it out for my old room furniture after school. I stood on the tips of my toes and peered through my window. Off in the distance, I could see boats sailing into the harbour, fishermen coming back to land after a long night of catching fish, and the indicolite waves of the ocean gently crashing against the pale sands of the shoreline. I stood there for what felt like hours, almost in a trance watching the ocean. 

I must’ve been there a while because Mum burst through my door sounding rather annoyed.

“Katie I don’t know what you think you’re playing at. I shouted to you five minutes ago to get up and you’re just standing there letting the bloody heat out!”

“Oh sorry, Mum I didn’t hear you-”

She cut me off which was rather rude.

“Whatever. Just be ready for eight. You can’t be late for meeting Axel, can you? You've got some smart clothes in the box next to your closet. Get them on and get your arse downstairs.”

She stormed out, slamming the door in the process.

After digging through the box of clothes next to the small walk-in closet at the end of my bed I put on a white short-sleeved button-up shirt, some black tights, a plaid skirt, and a black blazer-jacket. I tried to get my hair to look neat in some fashion but all attempts ended up futile. I looked at the clock only to find it was seven forty-five. I stumbled out of my bedroom and down the hall into the bathroom. I quickly brushed my teeth and washed my face before running downstairs. 

Upon arriving in the kitchen I noticed the copper smell was still as potent as the day before. Mum was sitting at the kitchen table when I made my brisk entrance. While I was hurriedly getting my stuff together I heard a rather loud knock at the front door. I pulled the toast from the toaster, yanked my schoolbag from the coat hooks next to the front door, and swung the door open.
“Hi, Katie.”

“He-” Mum interrupted as she came through from the kitchen.

“Oh hello Axel, I haven’t seen you in a while. How’ve you been my dearie?”

I cringed a bit when she said that. Never in my life had I heard mum say ‘dearie’ and I wish to never hear it again. 

Axel was about to start speaking when I cut him off to avoid any more strange phrases from leaving my mother's mouth.

“Anyway, mum it’s probably best if we go now.”

“Oh ok bye, then Katie. Have a good first day at school.” She said the end of that sentence like she was talking to a toddler just to embarrass me a bit more. I grabbed Axels' hand and quickly dragged him down the street away from the house. As soon as we were around the corner and out of sight we started walking normally. He then informed me I’d dragged him the wrong way and we would in fact have to go back down my street to get to school. 

After a relatively brisk walk to school which mostly consisted of Axel explaining the layout of the school along with what teachers to talk to and which to avoid at all costs, (None of which I paid the slightest bit of attention to as I was trying to memorize the way to school and not how to get around it.), we arrived. The school was split into an A and a B block. Both Blocks looked relatively large with a small courtyard area separating them.

Each block was made up of four identical buildings in a rectangular shape, all similar in height and both having windows at ground level. Axel walked me into the A Block. To our left sat the student council room. To the right of that stood the music room, which is where I currently found myself being ushered through by Axel’s overly enthusiastic self. As Axel pulled open the door, he shouted ‘Ta-da!’ to which I responded with ‘What?’ 

The music room itself contained a large wooden platform surrounded by several small benches, a piano, and a large screen on one side of which was a large projector. On top of the stage were two microphones and speakers. Behind the front of the stage was a pair of tall double doors, presumably leading to the music department. The walls inside the room were covered in posters ranging from punk rockers to obscure pop artists. There were also various awards hanging on them.

“What do you think? It isn’t so bad, eh?” I looked at Axel before turning to look at the stage again.

“It’s… cool” I replied as I examined the room more closely.

There was a sound system on the stage; it was fairly simple really. The speakers were mounted just over each of the three rows of seats on either end of the stage. 

Above the front row, two large lights had been strung above the stage. At the back of the stage were four more microphones and speakers, all hooked up to different speakers around the edge of the stage. One microphone and speaker on the left of the stage, another mic and speaker on the right of the stage and two in between those, along with two chairs. All these things were connected to form what would have been a very impressive set-up if it hadn’t been for the fact that I had absolutely no idea how it worked.

A loud siren rang overhead. Within seconds the corridors were bustling with students. The halls were wide enough to fit around three people and were painted in a light shade of blue. The floors were made of a tattered lino that squeaked underfoot. "That's the bell. Come on we have an assembly in the hall." Axel told me. He grabbed my arm and pulled me out into the hall. The halls were loud with chatter from both exited year sevens and tiring year elevens. We made our way down the hallway and through the door into the hall. We stood next to some of the other students who had just arrived. The hall slowly began to fill up and a low murmur fell over the room. A short bald man walked into the centre of the front section of the hall. 

"Good Morning Students! I am Mr Kross, the Headmaster of this School. Today is going to be a very exciting day." His voice boomed over the quiet room. He wore a dark blue suit and tie and spoke with a very thick Yorkshire accent. I glanced at Axel who was giving me a reassuring smile.

"I have a couple of things to mention and then we'll get started with the assembly."

Everyone settled slightly in their seats and waited for him to begin speaking again. 

"As some of you may have already heard, Mrs Ashford, the Head of Year Eleven has been taken ill and she won't be returning to the school for the next month."

The crowd gasped at this news.

"In her absence, I will be taking over her role temporarily." He paused for a second before continuing. "I will be taking over her form group in this time. If anybody needs me throughout the day I will be in my office in the English corridor on the second floor of the B Block. 

"Now let's get this assembly underway!"

After an hour of Mr Kross introducing stuff and explaining rules and regulations, he drew the assembly to a close.

"-and could all of our year 11's please go to Science Room Four in the B Blocks? This will be your form room for this next year. if anybody has any questions then please raise your hand now." He finished. 

Nobody raised their hands. 

Over the next few minutes, everyone filed out into the halls. A loud chatter emanated from the sea of heads surrounding me. A small boy bumped into me while rushing off and almost sent me crashing into another boy.

"-Sorry, excuse me!" he squeaked.

When he finally left, he was knocked down by a pair of girls who both looked like they'd rather be anywhere else. The taller one smiled apologetically at me as she passed. Axel walked up next to me. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Sorry about that."

He shrugged and smiled sympathetically. "It happens more often than you think."

I nodded and kept walking. After a moment of awkward silence, Axel decided to start talking again.

"So, what do you think about school so far?" He asked casually.

"It's... something," I replied, unsure of what to say.

"Well, it can't be that bad."

I shook my head. "Oh no, it isn't. It's not bad. It's actually pretty good I suppose."

We entered the Science Room and sat down at one of the desks. I looked around to see if I could recognise anyone from before I moved. I didn't see anyone from when I was younger, however, I did see the girl from the train. You know that feeling where the first moment you see someone, it's like they have a big gold star around them, and you have to get to know them? That's what I felt looking at her, she was sitting there chatting away with a couple of friends. I wanted to go up to her to give her the book back I just couldn't. She looked so in the zone and I didn't want to seem all awkward going up to her so I just dropped it and hoped I'd see her in one of my classes.

My thoughts were interrupted when the door swung open and Mr Kross walked in. He was holding a stack of papers. 

"Good morning class," He said cheerfully. "I'm hoping you've all had a lovely summer but now it's time for you all to settle down for a very busy school year. As you'll all know, you have your exams coming up in May of next year and you're all gonna have to be extremely focused in lessons." A few kids groaned quietly. I looked at Axel who was frowning slightly.

"Now before I begin, we do have a new student joining us this year." A low whisper filled the room. He pointed to me. "Her name's Katie Greenhill." 

Oh. My. God. 

"Katie, would you like to come up to the front and introduce yourself." 

For. Fuck. Sake.

I slowly made my way up to the front of the room.

 My mouth was dry as I stood next to Mr Kross, facing the class.

"Hello," I said quietly. No response from him.

"Well, uh, thank you." I stuttered nervously and quickly glanced around the room. I couldn't make myself look at anyone for more than a couple of seconds.

"So, um, My name's Katie, as Mr Kross Said. I trailed off." I could feel a piercing gaze from everyone in the room. 

"I've just moved into the old house on um, Cresent Avenue. Out of nowhere every kid in the room stopped and stared at me as if I'd just transformed into a mutant. People started whispering to each other. I saw the girls who knocked me over earlier giving me funny looks and noticed the blonde girl from the train was still looking at me normally.

I just stood there, wishing pretty hard for a rewind button. Because now maybe nobody knows my name, but they all know who I am: "The Psycho House Girl".

Brilliant.