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School Daze Erin The day started out pretty much like normal. My alarm screeched at me incessantly until I threw my phone onto the floor. My phone was so crap that any slight shock would completely shut it down until I switched it back on. Once, it completely shut off after it vibrated from receiving a text. My birthday would be soon though and I would buy a new phone with my money that was gradually decreasing every year. When I was nine, I received one hundred and ninety five pounds. Last year, which was my sixteenth, I got fifty. Nevertheless, I had been saving up for this gorgeous, professional, expensive-looking phone. Ok, it was unfashionable, a bit of a brick to say the least and every time I mentioned it-which was a lot-my friends would laugh or make fun, but I loved it irrevocably. Roll on February. Anyway, I heaved myself out of bed and dragged myself along the sheets until I reached my ladder. I half fell, as always, to the floor but my room was small enough for me to put my hands out in front of me and catch myself on my wall. You see, I had one of those bunk beds without a bed underneath, just a little working space, one of those beds you insist you want when you're ten. When I had the money, I would soon be replacing that too. I ruffled my hair and groaned as I glanced at myself in the mirror, a mess, again. Then my brother raced ahead of me to the bathroom and went for one of his halfan-hour-showers. Great. I went into his room out of spite and borrowed his spot-removal and pore-clearing wipes, though I had no spots myself I still would much rather be safe than sorry, the acne bullet was something I would prefer to dodge, and his comb. I yanked it through my hair and did my best to practically give myself plastic surgery with a facial wipe. I hated the way I looked. I hated the way that black haired girl glared back at me in the mirror. My sleepless nights weren't helping my appearance much either as I could clearly see from the blackness under my eyes. I found a bra, socks and pants from the top drawer of my dresser and went to change. Then I glanced out of the corner of my eye suspiciously at the posters that surrounded me. Most people would have laughed at what I had done and considered it silly and just got on with getting changed. But not me. I sat in my office chair angrily and waited for Alex to finish in the shower. Ten minutes I sat in the chair and waited until I stood up and stormed down the hall to the bathroom door. I pounded the door, "hurry up! I have to get changed, Alex!" I complained, though the morning was heavy in my voice. "Get changed in your room, Erin!" Alex yelled through beads of water. I could only imagine how nice and warm that shower would be as I stood here shaking from the winter cold. Only Nightfield could be this cold in early winter. "I CAN'T ALEX. I need to... Pee too." I said through gritted, chattering teeth as I tried to think of an excuse as to why I didn't want to get changed in my room. One that sounded more rational than 'I can't, the posters will see me' at least. "Well, hold it in." He hissed. I stomped back into my room and stood leaning against the radiator. I waited five more minutes until finally I flipped. I tore every poster down from my wall and shoved them bitterly in the bin. I bit my lip for a few seconds before picking them out, straightening them up and sliding them into a drawer to keep safe. There was one poster, though, that would stay up. It was, obviously, a picture of a male celebrity that I was basically infatuated with. He was an English actor. Breath-taking. So many times had I removed my last name 'Coal' and replaced it with his 'Trenton'. Zack Trenton and Erin Coal. He loved dogs, I loved my Doberman-Greyhound cross, the Doberhound called Shelly. He loved music, I loved music. He loved the same car as I did, I knew that because he drove it once in one of his films. That was, before he'd quit acting to go and just enjoy his life. He loved sports, me... Not so much. That, though, would give us something to humorously argue about as we sat on the sofa on Saturday nights watching mindless

television, a future I had planned for myself many years ago. How could my friends not find this beautiful actor-musician-sportsman-painter-Adonis, unattractive? It was alien to me. It was just plain weird. With that though, I heard the look twist open on the bathroom door and saw Alex trudge wetly across the landing into his room with only a towel to stop me being scarred for life. He glared at me when I smiled at him sarcastically. I shuffled into the bathroom. It smelled wonderful. That was the good thing about my brother, he always used so much shampoo that the whole bathroom would reek of it. It smelled like citrus fruits. I quickly brushed my teeth, something that, for some reason, made me shiver whenever I saw people on television doing it. I splashed my face with water and then furiously rubbed exfoliation gel all over my face. I would not get spots. It gone through two of my teenage years, nearly three, and no spots. Not now. Not ever. I pulled on my school trousers, trousers that I hated because they made me look stupid, a white shirt, that looked fine, a jumper that was so baggy that it made me look fat, and finally, the tie. I'd stained my tie in art once. I don't even want to go into the nicknames you can get for showing up to school one day without realizing the spot of white toothpaste on your face and white on the top of your tie. Sigh. Teenagers could be so... Teenage. I put on my red and grey striped scarf and black gloves. Loud rap music began to blare from my brother's room. I strolled out of the bathroom and grabbed my phone from the top of the drawers in my room. I slid it into my pocket after reading a text from my friend Abi. Lessons had been cancelled for today, too many teachers off on one of their union strikes. I didn't care. Of course, I wouldn't tell my mum though. We lived seasonably far from school so it would be fun to get a lift in. I'd spend the day up the park with my friends. I texted her back while I walked downstairs. The lights flickered as I flipped them on in the living room. I could go without breakfast today, I hated cereal anyway. It was like eating misery. I sat with my feet up on the arms of one of the armchairs. "Erin, have you had breakfast?" Mum chirped from the kitchen. "Yep." I called back. "Well, go and pack your bag then. What lessons have you got today?" She said. She stood in the architrave. Staring at me and the television. I was sorely tempted to say 'well, actually none but I'm scamming you into giving me a lift to school... Lol'. "Erm... Science, art... And... Various others." I muttered. I went upstairs to pack my backpack and went to sit in the car. I sat in the front passenger seat and then Alex jumped in the driver's seat, "Alex, what are you doing?" I complained with a yawn. "Mum's not coming in today. I'm driving." He shrugged. I hopped out of the black saloon car. My ears were ringing from the music Alex had been pumping piercingly through the speakers as I walked with my hands forced into my pockets. I passed a crowd of populars. I heard them tittering to themselves and whispering as I walked by, 'just say it allowed'. It could have been the extreme paranoia that I had been diagnosed with a few years back after I started panicking that I was talking aloud when in fact, I was simply worrying irrationally. It all started when I was shopping in Nightfield with my mum one Christmas. We had walked by a homeless person and mum had said the words 'it must be terrible to have that disorder, where you're not sure if you're talking out loud or not'. Those words always rang clear in my head. Over and over. Then, the next day, I was sat in exam. It was silent and then I began to panic. I finished twenty minutes early and stared at the clock. Then, I began to think. What if people could hear what I was thinking? The sudden remembrance of my mum's words started screaming through my mind. I'd had to excuse myself from the hall after I'd started having a full scale panic attack. It was then that I did the first thing I could think of, I trekked up to the doctors. Somehow, I knew there was something wrong with people. Not many people go mental in a silent exam hall. Especially when they're not ACTUALLY answering questions.

In the present day, however, I turned my mp3 up as loud as it would go. I hoped they could hear it. Hear that my music was much cooler than theirs. That my music could kick their music's ass if it were a single existent human entity. "Nice gloves." Their leader Phoebe called sarcastically towards me. "Thanks." I muttered and quickened my pace. More sniggering sang out from behind me. The laugh of the beautiful people looking down at the outcast. Well, at least I wasn't a TOTAL outcast. I hung around with a whole group of losers just like myself. Every last one of them had their defects. What made us original. And shunned. There was Kimberley- pretty in the face but she was so hyperactive and mental that she'd lost her opportunity to join the 'in' crowd. AbiNo chance at joining the popular crowd. She was too much of a rocker. Like me. Sam- gorgeous looking brown haired boy, wouldn't join the popular boys because they were 'way too immature'. I couldn't agree more. Jack- my best friend since I was in nappies, no chance with the popular boys. None. Bless him. He had long hair, black clothes. Yes, a giant rocker. So much so that there was no question in his mind about the existence of vampires. Ok, I agree that it is possible for them to exist, to a point. Come on, though, why would something exciting like VAMPIRES walk among us in NIGHTFIELD? That was the thing though, if you were a rocker you have no chance of being a popular. Why would you want to be a popular anyway? Oh well. I hugged Jack when I reached him. "How was your weekend, Erin?" He smiled. I loved light-hearted gentle Jack. "Meh... It was ok." I shrugged. "What's up? You seem... Depressed would be the word I would use." He said. Yes, that was the other thing you had to be to be unpopular, an intellectual. "Alex has been annoying me all weekend." I groaned and started to walk to the park with my crew. "Alex who?" Abi looked bewildered at me. "Alex Coal?" I sighed. "Oh, your brother. Right. Sorry." Abi nodded to herself. I gritted my teeth and then relaxed. "Don't worry, Abi," I murmured, "sorry." Abi hugged my back as we started to walk down the hill. The park was in view. "Where’s Joel?" I asked slightly worried that I ditched my boyfriend at school. "Park." Kimberley stated simply. We reached the park and sure enough, my boyfriend for the past six months was perched on the swings looking at his feet. I kissed him on the cheek quickly and then walked to the public toilets with my friends so we could all get changed. We didn't need to keep up our 'at school all day' facade when it was just. That was unless 'Education Pete' popped down to us yet again to rant on about the importance of education and why we shouldn't skive until we pointed our texts from the NFLHSA as him. That snappy little abbreviation stood for 'NightField Local High School Association'. We sat back on the swings and began talking about our weekends. Kimberley had been snowboarding with Abi, I'd been invited but I had some essays to do so I didn't go. I'd go next weekend or something. I was pretty much caught up now, anyway. Joel was holding my hand with the hand he wasn't using to hold the chain of the swings. Jack sat on my other side glaring at Joel's hand. To Jack, no one would ever be good enough for me. I felt the same way about all his girlfriends. I snapped back into reality. Abi and Kimberley were listening to their music loudly and dancing sarcastically. I laughed and then joined in. I tuned into Jack and Joel's conversation. A predictable row was forming between them, "Listen, JOEL, there is a very real possibility, Nay, probability that they DO exist," Jack hissed. "HOW, JACK?" Joel smirked, as always, deliberately winding Jack up. "Because all the EVIDENCE points towards their existence, JOEL." "Have YOU seen one?" Joel antagonized.

"Actually yes." Jack said and his chest inflated arrogantly like a pigeon. "Oh yes, that video you got when you were in town. What those two biting the old lady? The one where the girl was fit?" Joel sniggered. "Yes, that one." "Cheap camera trickery." "Wasn't." "Was. What do you think, Erin?" Joel said turning to me. "I'm on the fence. My point is moot." I smirked. "Ok, listen both of you. I used to know a boy called Seth Turner when I was ten. One day, he just disappeared. Never declared dead but a few weeks later, his whole family were dead from stab wounds. All of the stab wounds look remarkably like bite marks. Then, Seth and Orlando go missing from hospital. Surprising? I think not. Coincidence? I think not." Jack explained. I rolled my eyes and went back to dancing with Kimberley and Abi. After a while, we all went to the local chippy, a chippy we all visited so often, the chef knew us all by name. When we crossed the street with our bags of satisfyingly greasy chips, I saw a boy that I thought was drop dead gorgeous. He didn't go to our school. He looked old enough to be in sixth form. He had blackbrown hair and, as far as I could tell, black eyes. There was something about the way he swaggered in slow motion but also fast enough to put athletes to shame, that made my hair stand on end. It was so fickle of me to feel this way about someone when my boyfriend was stood behind me. He wore dark blue jeans and a black t-shirt with a designer embellishment on the front. So he was rich too. He'd seen me staring before, he turned to face us and there was a dark smile on his face. His teeth glistening unnaturally brightly in the winter sun. "Ooft. The guy is gorgeous." Kimberley gasped. "His name's Seth." Abi murmured, trying to tear her unwilling eyes away from his glare. "Tell me he's not a vampire." Jack hissed at Joel. "Well, doesn't he love himself. What a loser." Joel muttered. I punched Joel in the side and the boy named Seth laughed to himself before running off bizarrely fast. And there you have it, the opposing views of hotties from opposing genders. We decided to go to the corner shop for more fattening fun foods. I could see Jack and Joel stealing from the corner of my eye as I bought a diet coke from the shop keeper, who, incidentally, we were on first name basis with as well. They were ramming their pockets from chewing gum and jelly beans. Danny, the shopkeeper saw them and yelled. My friends all burst out laughing and ran. I looked around and then looked at Danny, "this is nothing personal, mate." I shrugged, threw three pounds on the glass counter and ran after them. We sprinted all the way back to the park. This was the story of my life, my mates robbing while I left the money to cover their backs. I have morals, unlike them. Everyone was sitting on the artificial, multi-coloured ground throwing assortments of sweets to one another. I quickly checked the time on my watch, only ten o'clock. I still had plenty of time left. We sat around for a while talking about currents affairs, well, current affairs that affected teenagers. "Hey, Kim?" Joel said. "What?" Kimberley said though her mouth was rammed full of sweets so it was slightly muffled. We chuckled. "Have you seen that film yet? Erm... What's it called... Violet Water?" Joel smiled. He was very polite. He always tried to make conversation with my friends, to stay on their good side I guessed. That was probably why he was always badgering Jack, who was still scowling at Joel from the corner of his eye. I sniggered. "No, why?" Kimberley munched. We all watched the conversation like a tennis match, our eyes darting back and forth. "Maybe you and Erin should go see it," Joel suggested, all eyes darted to me, "it's got that guy you like in it... He's got... A pretty face?" He smirked. "Zack Trenton?" I said like a starry-eyed teenager.

"That's the one." He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Ugh." Jack muttered, "not him again." "You don't understand his hotness!" Abi screamed defensively. Kimberley nodded in agreement. Yes, there was something about Zack. They way women would stop and stare at him and he wouldn't even notice. None of them would be good enough for him though every fan dreamt they would be Mrs Trenton. Oh, the unconcealed arrogance. Oh, I wished I could be Mrs Trenton.

Wannabe Zack Trenton. I sat with my feet up on the desk, my manager stood twiddling with knobs on the switchboard in front of him. I plucked the strings of my acoustic guitar to the song on my headphones. I could almost feel him staring at me. Maybe I was being paranoid. "Zack?" He said from behind me. I spun the swivel chair around to face him, put my feet on the floor and put the guitar back on the wall. "Good afternoon?" I replied.

"Now, I know you've said no to this before but hear me out," Steve pleaded. I sighed, picked the guitar back up and went back to my previous position. My manager also acted as my acting agent and best friend for the past five years. He spun my chair back around to face him and my feet fell onto the floor. "Listen." He commanded, "All of your lenticular posters,"-I flinched, it seemed really arrogant to have posters of my stupid face distributed all over the world-"have been fitted with those tiny CCTV cameras. Being as you're going to be on a break from acting for a while, I think it would be... Advisable, if you were to just see when your fans are beginning to... Go off you. Just so you can gauge when you're going to make your acting comeback." He tried desperately to persuade me. I groaned and slammed the guitar back on the wall and stormed into the darkened recording studio. "Zack, listen to me!" He demanded. I faced him and pursed my lips with my arms folded, "just come and have a look at the cameras. Just see if ANY catch your eye." He reasoned. "Steve, I-" I began. "Zack, come on mate." He moaned, "it'll be my arse if you come back too late and sell barely any merch' or D.V.Ds. And I'll buy you a pint if you just look." I sighed and then let him lead me back into the office. It was bad enough that I always thought people were watching me, just one of the plusses of extreme paranoia. He flicked on a little flat screen monitor on the wall. He threw me a remote and showed me how to flick between cameras. There were just one hundred and two screens. Noticing my observation, Steve shrugged and muttered something about 'because you bloody came back too late last bloody time... My bloody arse on the line... Always MY fault... Never his fault... RESPECT their privacy... Half of them WANT to be seen' until I punched him. He strolled out of the room to go and tidy up the recording studio. I flicked through screen after screen, flinching back a bit every time I saw a girl snogging the camera. I half wondered if some of them were actors and actresses and Steve was just setting me up. He had a twisted sense of humour. Some girls sang into hairbrushes, others were just doing homework. Some bedrooms were empty and dark. After about three quarters of an hour, one particular screen caught my attention. A girl sat crying on her bed and talking very clearly to the camera. I ran as fast as I could into the studio, "STEVE! Do we get audio?" I yelled. "I knew you'd like it." He smiled smugly. "Just hurry up!" I smirked with excitement. I stared with pity-filled eyes at the weeping teenager. She said something and then put her head on her knees. Her body continued to shake as she cried. I stroked the screen lightly as my heart squeezed gently in my chest. Steve smiled at my kindly and then waved as he picked up his things to leave. "Switch the light off will you, mate?" I said as I settled into a chair. He politely flicked off the light as he walked out. The audio kicked in shortly after he left. "I... I just... I just don't... Know... What... To do." She sniffed between sobs. She wiped her eyes quickly though tears still flowed freely down her pale cheeks. She looked a total state. Her eyeliner slid under her eyelids making cute panda eyes. She swept her glossy, shimmering, pokerstraight black hair from her eyes and looked up at me. For a second I was sure she could see me and my heart stopped. Then her black eyes just flooded up again and she half-heartedly smiled, "I guess I'll just have to get a new one!" She joked. "A new what, sweetheart?" I murmured sympathetically. I knew it fell on deaf ears. Apparently, there was no microphone. She didn't move an inch. Until she stared back up at me. I had the same reaction as before. "He didn't say WHY he was leaving me. I bet I did something or I'm not PRETTY enough for him. Maybe I kissed funny. What did I do?" She pleaded to me, unaware that I was actually listening. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just paranoid. I've got to ask if there's anything I can do to get rid of that." She sighed and straightened herself up.

Could it be she had the same problem as I did? That would probably explain why she was talking to a poster. She was paranoid that I could actually hear her. She had extreme paranoia, just like me. It was strange that I should be so excited by this fact. Wrong in fact. She had to be a good few years younger than me. I was a year into my twenties. Twenty one, officially an adult. My eyes flicked back to her as she began whimpering again, "I need to cheer myself up," she smirked without humour, "oh God, I look attractive." She laughed as she caught sight of her reflection. I laughed, myself. She picked up a face-wipe from somewhere under her high bed and cleaned up her panda eyes. She was even prettier without the animal make-up. Not a spot on her face and she was using spot-clearing face-wipes. Paranoid. She reached down again and tapped her mp3 player on. There it was, through her stereo poured my favourite song. By the way she sarcastically danced, it was hers to. She was just embarrassed. "What's your name?" I murmured. "Oh well, he wasn't my type anyway. He was way too... Full of himself." She shrugged. "In what way, darling?" I whispered. "He was always flirting with other girls, too. I caught him the other day. I went on his internet profile to give him a picture comment and I saw this girl had flirted with him and, me being paranoid, I check out their message stream and he'd slagged me off so much. He kept saying awful things like 'I've gotta go round my effing girlfriend's this weekend but I'd rather be with you babe, wink wink' you know what I mean? How could he do that to me?" She whimpered. "You don't deserve that." I growled. It felt like I'd known her six years not six minutes. Where was she from though? Her phone made a loud ringing noise. She picked it up instantly and then smiled angelically at the text she'd received. "Kimberley asked if I wanted to come up to town with her at the weekend, to cheer me up. Nightfield, does look quite nice with the Christmas decos' up to be fair." She thought as she chewed her bottom lip. She nodded and then replied with a smile. She was going then. After a few more minutes where she just lay down, her phone rang but a different tune played this time, a phone call. Time for information. I grabbed a pen and paper and flicked on a light on the desk. "Hello?" She began, "Hi Abi... Oh no, I'll be ok, don't worry... Thanks... Oh but isn't Violet Water an eighteen?" She asked. Aha! She wanted to see MY film and she wasn't eighteen that was a huge downside. "Yeah, we have two whole years left!" She laughed, "Well, we could sneak in... The money will go to Zack at least," I smirked, "shut up! He's mine!" She laughed, I smirked again. "Ok, well he is mine, I'll see you later. Thanks... Bye." She smiled and hung up. She blushed as she turned to me and I very nearly did too. Unfortunately, though, it was getting late. I really did have to go. I sighed and switched off the television screen.