Last Dream

Alice pressed her fingers on the cold glass window of her Roles Royce. She looked outside to take one last glimpse of her house as she set off to a brand new year of St Albains’ torture.

“Another damn year,” Alice murmured as she gripped the hem of her skirt and tried to adjust it lower down her body. Her uniform did make her feel rather uncomfortable.

“We will depart shortly Madame,” Alice’s chauffeur hesitated to say as he saw her annoyance of going to school.

Alice looked at the front mirror of the car to try and see, she had only ever seen the back of her chauffeurs head. And only short glimpses of his face in the side and front mirrors, she lack knowledge of his name like she did of many of the home staff.

“Very well,” she sighed. Then began digging through her powder beige Hermes bag in search of her mobile phone. She then began to lean against the window again; Alice liked the feel of the cold glass pressed against her rosy pink cheeks. She took a small breath to see the glass steam up then started to rub her fingers across it to make streaky lines. Each time sliding her fingers across, each time showing more and more of London.

 

No more than three minutes had past and Alice had already begun tapping on the car furnishing. One thing she may have hated more than going to school was the journey to school. London traffic was something most drivers couldn’t stand, especially during peak hour.

The cars have lessened since the congestion charge was enforced. However this made no difference, there was still traffic. Alice was not someone to get impatient like the rest of her family; she just thought the ending destination was not worth the wait.

After an unreasonable 30minute wait the Roles Royce had pulled into the drive way of St Albains. Lucas Reed, Alice’s father had a special reserve parking space at the school however Alice always argued to just drop her off wherever. After all she had legs; she might as well have used them.

Picking up her beige Hermes bag she reached out for the door handle to find her chauffeur had already opened it. She looked at him blankly and muttered thanks. She began to walk through the school hallways which resembled a roman manner refurbished during the Victorian period. Not too far away she could hear the school orchestra, how she loathed it due to her mother had recently signed her up for violin. Worst of all she had somehow managed to get Alice 1st seat.

As she made her way to the main hall for a short induction to the new school term she saw the young and old students stare at her. This made Alice uneasy and stare directly at the floor, wishing to make no eye contact what so ever. She noticed the small coffee stains on the red Persian carpets, yet the smelt almost brand new.

Why am I paying so much detail to the carpets? She asked herself. She could hear the many voices of students not too far away, she instantly knew it was coming from the main hall. The main hall was across the main courtyard, Brancaster Square: named after an old Headmaster. This was the usual gathering point if a fire were to ever happen.

It’s a new school year, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a surprise alarm today.

 

The 5th Symphony seemed to drag on for ages; Alice once again started playing with the hem line of her skirt. Her nails gently slid under each stitch and she begun slowly pulling threads out. The other students in front of her kept turn back, talking to another, this begun to agitate her.

“Did you see the new student?”

“I think he’s a guy,” another girl enquired.

“Or a flat chest,” a boy with a number 3 hair cut coughed.

Half of Alice wanted to turn her head around and see the new student for herself, but the other half didn’t care. She’d have no intentions in talking to him; she never did when it came to new students.

“Are you okay,” Angelina asked as she tapped Alice on the shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m just thinking. There are a lot of new faces.” Alice replied.

“Well duh, new term. Alice you seem a bit blank today, please don’t say you’re going all emo on me,” Angelina laughed.

Angelina was one of Alice’s many friends. But in this case the term friends were being used too loosely. Alice lacked interaction with others, therefore could be called anti social. But she didn’t completely isolate herself from the social loop. There were those who wanted to be her friend, but she was never sure if it was for things she owned or the money she had. Therefore she just talked casually within a small circle of friends; however she considered none of them a best friend. Neither did she empathize with others. Her feelings often stayed in her head alone, this could have been one of the causes to her often blank looks.

“So is there any hot guys to your liking,” Cassie nudged Alice from the other side; her elbows were skinny and bony. The elbow nudge was more of a quick jab.

“I see a cute red head two rows ahead,” Angelina replied.

“Eww he’s a year 9 you’ve got to be joking Angy,” Cassie said with disgust.

The Headmaster stood up on the podium and asked for an applause as the school choir begun to evict the stage.
“Now, will all year 7’s please go to the north wing for their separate induction. Year 8&9 please leave the hall. As for all new students and Year 10 & 11 please remain seated.”

 

Alice could now see the new boy who had earlier disrupted the assembly for a brief second.

This was the boy the others were talking of? He was a boy although now she wasn’t too sure of it. She further inspected the boy to find he was none other than a typical scene boy which could be found down Camden Town. Trashy long hair with an anorexic like body. Yet he looked uncomfortable. Alice quickly shook this thought out her head, she never did make an effort in making friends, and she had always refrained from doing so.

“Miss Holloway will be issuing every student with his or hers personal timetable, please do not lose your copy. The general office does not like to photocopy something more than twice.” The head said then left his podium.

After five minutes of watching Miss Holloway struggle to sort out and issue the timetables Alice finally received hers.

“English in Room 307,” Alice said slightly relieved. She liked English, it was something she was good at.

“So Alice, we have English together.” Steve said whilst eyeing Alice up. Steve was a tall blonde headed jerk for all Alice could say. He’d pray on the weak and do anything to get cheap thrills. Alice wanted nothing to do with him. She got up off her chair, and Angelina and Cassie soon followed in sync.

 

Second period was Art class, Room 209. Alice was a big fan of art; she enjoyed expressing herself through imagery and colours. She never spoke of her feelings; instead she displayed all her emotions on a canvas. Mrs Simmone had been her previous art teacher, and she had favoured Alice. However after years of teaching she went into early retirement, as most teachers in this decade did.

The art room felt stuffier than usually, the heat didn’t help either. All the boys begun to loosen their ties and untucked their shirts whilst the majority of the girls took off their blazers and jumpers. Alice slowly removed her jumper over her double D breasts trying not to mess up her hair at the same time.

This class was an unusual small class, perhaps due to time slots. Subject clashes were usually the main reason to why Alice didn’t share many classes with her friends. She waited in boredom for her new teacher to arrive and for the class to be filled with students.