Chapter 1

Laughing, Kirsty jumped off the bus, deftly side-stepping the dog shit on the pavement. Her friends banged on the windows as the school bus slowly accelerated away. A dented red micra blared its horn as the bus carved back into the traffic stream.

Reaching into her bag she retrieved her last stick of chewing gum. As she unwrapped the gum she planned her nights TV viewing. Tonight it was Eastenders. It had been getting boring, but the last episode hinted that things might soon change. The empty gum wrapper falling from her hand, she stepped into the local corner shop.

Kirsty made her way to the magazine shelf and started looking through the large variety of teen magazines. Having made her selection she looked around the shop. There was an old, smelly man looking at a top shelf publication. He looked her way and ripple of disgust ran down her spine. The shopkeeper was busy serving a customer. In the background, the dulcet tones of Travis tinly radiated from what appeared to be the worlds oldest working radio.

She looked around again, the smelly old man had gone back to his grot mag. The shopkeeper was still dealing with the customer. Deftly, she slipped the magazines into her bag, and with a final last look around the shop, absconded.

Humming Gareth Gates latest offering she quickly covered the distance to her house. On entering, she disarmed the alarm and chucked her coat onto the nearest empty peg. Taking the steps three at time, she headed upstairs to her room. Jumping onto her bed, she lay there for a moment, contemplating. Kirsty glanced at her watch, then reached into her bag to retrieve the magazines.

Downstairs the front door opened and closed. She ignored it. It was only her mother after all. Kirsty looked around for the TV remote. Not finding it, she thumped the on switch. As the opening credits and music of Neighbours reverberated around the room, she walked over to her Blue poster. She stopped in front of it and reflected for a moment. With a burst of aggression she ripped it of the wall, throwing it in the direction of the bin. Blue were so yesterday.

Kirsty threw herself back onto the bed and settled down to watch TV.

"Dinners ready love." Her mother called from downstairs.

"Okay mum" She arose, stopping momentarily to allow the pins and needles to pass.

Once sat down at the table her mother proceeded to dish the tea. "How was school today?" She asked.

Kirsty pondered for a moment "All right I suppose." Her mother waited for her to elaborate, by nothing more was forthcoming. Just then the front door opened. Kirsty did not look up from her plate as her father walked in.

"Hi love. MMM that smells nice." He lovingly spoke as he gave his wife a tender peck on the cheek and a playful slap on the bottom.

Kirsty groaned at the display. "Oh, please." Her parents ignored her.

"Well?" Asked her mother of her father, as she served him his meal. He nodded.

"Well What?" Asked Kirsty, just catching the by play.

Her parents looked at each other.

"What?" Kirsty asked again.

There was another pregnant pause.

Finally her father spoke "I applied for and got another job."

"Oh. Where?" The bombshell just starting to sink in to Kirstys conscious.

Her father paused and looked to his wife again. He turned back to Kirsty and took a deep breath. "Scotland."

"Scotland" Kirsty echoed.

"Well, north of Scotland to be precise" He clarified.

"Oh, and that makes all the difference does it? Excuse me." Kirsty pushed her half eaten dinner to the side then headed to her room.

As she left the room, her father made to follow her, "No, don't" his wife stopped him. "She needs to be alone. Let the news sink in. She will come down when she is ready." He sat back down, appetite lost.

Kirsty walked into her room, to shocked to even slam the door. She looked at the wall in askance. "Scotland. Fucking Scotland. Who the fuck would want to go and live there?" The wall stayed silent. "They don't even have sodding channel 5, for Christ's sake, and they're ginger." Then the true implications began to set in. Leaving her friends behind. The hassle of moving. The lack of amenities. Kirsty launched herself onto her bed and buried her head in the pillow. Her body wracked with sobs.

Later her mother came in with some biscuits and juice. Putting the tray on the bedside table she sat on the edge of the bed. After a moments silence, Kirsty spoke. "Why mum? Why now?"

Her mother thought for a moment, then sighed. "I understand that it's not a good time for you, but it's promotion for your father. I have also been offered a job at his firm. So not only do I get to work with him, it's a pay rise for me as well."

"But mum, what about all my friends?"

"You're a bright intelligent girl. You will make friends there as well." Her mother soothed. "Plus, house prices are a lot cheaper there than they are here. We will be able to afford a bigger house. How do you fancy having a room twice the size of this one? More room to store clothes and stuff."

"But mum. What's the point of having more room if there is nowhere to buy clothes?"

Her mother sighed in resignation. "Sleep on it, you will feel better in the morning." Then after a motherly hug, left the room.

Kirsty had fought tooth and nail, but to no avail. Her parents had gone house hunting without her. She had even refused to look at pictures of the house they had bought. As if, like some bad dream, she would wake up and all would be well. The last of the house contents had left this morning. The house, she mused, was like her soul. Bare.

She had been in the car for four hours now and was completely fredders. The road seemed never ending. All she had were the memories of the last few weeks to dwell on. The many goodbyes from her friends, the best wishes from teachers and people she hardly knew, and who hardly knew her. Her mother had told her to treat it as an adventure, something to look forward to. "Never look back. Look forward" She was always saying. It was like having a jumping c.d. in her player. At least you could turn the c.d. player off.

The noise of window wipers woke her. She stretched to try and relieve some of the stiffness. The movement caught her mothers eye. She turned round.

"We're in Scotland now dear."

Kirsty looked out the window at the weather. "Great." She replied in a voice devoid of all enthusiasm. Outside the driving rain lashed against the side windows, obscuring the land past the edge of the motorway.

When she next awoke, the engine was running but the car was stationary. In the front her parents were checking the road map. The rain had stopped but night was starting to fall. In the fading light all she could see were hills, hills and more hill. Even the road went up a hill. She could not imagine anyone who would want to live here. Sleep seemed the best option.

Kirsty woke to someone gently shaking her leg. It was her mother. "Honey we are here."

She looked out the window. 'Here' seemed to consist of the narrowest road she had every seen, a small wood and the obligatory set of hills. Her father started to slow down, then turned of the road onto a dirt track. A track that the car found most disagreeable. A shadowy shape started to appear out of the gloom. As they got closer it started to reveal itself as a one and a half story house. From the outside it looked as bleak as the weather.

The car slowly ground to a halt outside the front door and her parents purposefully headed in its direction. Kirsty stayed in the car, loathe to leave its familiar surroundings. However being left alone in the bleak surroundings soon drove her into motion. Leaving the car was a shock. For a start, the temperature difference between the car and outside was substantial. It was also colder than she was used to. She hurried towards the dubious safety of the house.

On entering Kirsty was grudgingly surprised. From the outside, the house looked decidedly rustic. At some point, in the not to distant past, someone had renovated it. The vision of spider webs and rats was not realised. For a start it was pleasantly warm, an obvious sign of double glazing. The rooms were well lit and the sound of a flushing toilet proved the existence of not only an inside toilet but the presence of running water.

As much as she tried to deny it, she was overwhelmed by the urge to explore her new domain. The kitchen was no show room, but consisted of a utilitarianism that still managed to convey some aesthetic undertones. The living room, devoid of carpet and furniture, still held an air of potential cosiness. Even the dining room seemed to contain a hint of the meals to come. And the size, maybe it was because the house lacked furniture, but the rooms seemed so huge. She was somewhat disappointed with the stairs. Compared with the rest of the house, they seemed positively tiny. Excitement building, she bounded up the stairs three at a time.

Upstairs seemed strange. The walls only rose four feet then sloped up into the middle of the room. While not too great a hindrance to a thirteen year old girl, an adult would find it some getting used to. After a moments perusal she headed back down. There she found her parents in a heated debate as to the position of the furniture.

That night she slept in her sleeping on a camp bed, her bed and the rest of the furniture not due till the next day.

The next few days seemed to fly by as all their possessions were unloaded from the removal vans. The painters were in, the carpet layers were under foot every where, the plumber was servicing the boiler and even an electrician was hidden under the floorboards. To escape some of the chaos, Kirsty had retreated to the outside world.

The garden was huge, with grass so overgrown, that even a chain saw would have been hard pressed. Bordering the back fence was a small copse, that helped to provide some respite from the cruel North wind. The driveway at the front of the house merged into a heather and gorse jungle. Having a garden was yet another new experience, one she had only read about.

Idyllic as it was, it could not last forever.

The school uniform was a bit of a novelty at first. Where she had been used to skirt, blouse and blazer, her new uniform consisted of trousers, polo neck and fleece. After experiencing the weather first hand, the choice was understandable.

Her father had explained that normally she would be picked up by bus, but until she got settled he would do the honours.

The school was one of the biggest shocks of her life. It was tiny. Only the merest fraction of her old schools size.

"It's tiny" She exclaimed.

"Well," Her father admitted "It is a good bit smaller, but that does not mean that the education's worse. So don't you worry."

That was exactly what was worrying her. For as long as she could remember she had always sat at the back of the class. Education was a nasty word that only those in the front had to deal with.

On entering the school, her father took her to see the headmistress. The headmistress had a brief word with her, then asked her secretary to take her to her class, while she chatted to her father.

The school itself looked like a large, square bungalow. The quadrangle in the centre was glassed over to make a large greenhouse. In the middle of the bungalow, a corridor ran round. On one side of the corridor the rooms had a window into the quad, on the other, the windows looked out onto the hills, or the sports pitch. A separate building held the indoor gym and dinner hall.

Kirsty thought she could not be more surprised. She was wrong. The secretary stopped outside a door and motioned her forward.

"This is your new class"

Kirsty looked through the glass panel in the door. "Where are they all?" She asked.

The secretary looked at her in askance.

"There is." Kirsty looked back through the window again "only five of them"

"Six now" The secretary said, and with that, knocked and entered.

Kirsty stood at the door stunned. How could there be only five in a class? Had the class been involved in some accident that had killed ninety percent of the class?

"Don't be shy" The secretary called out. "Come in and introduce yourself."