to await a guardian: chapter one

 

     The gnawing June chill crept its way across the country and nonetheless overtop Aberdeen Boarding School. It never snowed in Queensgate, but the freezing temperatures more than made up for the absence of a few centimetres of snow. The chilling sensation surely sank its way into the classrooms of Aberdeen.

     Mark Reeves had less than no hope of passing the term's assessments and essays that were due in a weeks time, coupled with exams, a week after that. He always turned to one of his best friends, Jarred Lee for the help to just stay afloat at school work.

     Today was to be another day filled with tedious studying for their upcoming Biology exam, but the two friends, Mark and Jarred only thought of the positive, the school holidays were so close.

They neared the doors to the school library and entered while lowering their voices. They were met with unwelcoming glares from Mark's most unfavoured people, Dean and his group of friends who enjoyed hating on anyone who wasn't scared of them.
     Unfortunately for them, they had to put up with Mark and Jarred who were equally unintimidated as the three sitting at the front table of the library. Jarred grabbed Mark's arm in an attempt to stop him from going over and 'talking' to him,

     "Come on, Mark. There's a table over there," he said.

     They weaved through the tables and headed for the only free one at the back of the library.

Mark fell to his seat with a grunt, "I don't think I can do this much longer Jay," he said, pulling out his books; Why Evolution Is True, The Gene: An Intimate History and one that always made him question his Biology teacher Mrs Sinfield; Are We Smart Enough To Know How Smart Animals Are? ("What does that cracked-up old hag think we're gonna learn from this book?!").

     "There are just two more weeks of school after this, Markie,” said Jarred, holding up his fist, "We can do this!"

     Mark forced a grin and slumped down into his books.

     The afternoon sun wasted away while the stream of people coming and going from the library slowly died as the school day was coming to an end. Jarred looked up from Why Evolution Is True to look at Mark who was really trying to study but just couldn't.

     Mark was a boy with doe-like eyes and thin lips that always widen to expose pearly whites. His skin was as white as his teeth. His hair was a light shade of dusty brown and always swooped in the wind and framed his face. He always wore a ring that he said he got from his aunt and it sometimes even shined. It was always something that weirded Mark out, even though he had had the ring since his aunt adopted him.

     Jarred just stopped to look at him. Nothing else. He didn't even know why though, it just felt like instinct to look at Mark for a minute, even though he was half dead reading blankly. Jarred smiled at him and continued his work. Mark noticed Jarred looking at him and when he looked down, Mark looked up, taking his turn at staring at his friend.

     Jarred was shorter than Mark and had pitch black hair that slung across his forehead. His skin was much darker than Mark's, sun-kissed. His lips were small and round.

Mark held his gaze and appreciated his best friend for a minute before looking back down.

 

     15 minutes before the bell for the end of school rang, Mark headed to grab one more book before everyone was ushered out of the library by the librarian, Mrs Cole.

     Mark swung around the shelves to one that stood opposite a towering stack of books standing on a trolley. Mrs Cole was probably nearby, Mark thought. He ran his index finger along the spine of a row of books, closing in on the number '1' on the shelves. Next thing, Mrs Cole pulled the trolley hard from the other side and the tower of books came flying at the back of Mark's head. He heard the rustling of the books and whipped his head around to see. Before he could turn around, there was a boy that appeared as if out of thin air to stop the tower from toppling on top of Mark's head.

     Mark stood shaken at seeing the back of the boy's head. He had amazingly light brown hair, almost blonde. He was only a little taller than Mark but enough for Mark not to be able to see beyond him. As the boy pushed the books back onto the trolley, he turned to Mark. His face was definitely one that Mark had never seen before in school. His eyes were a deep brown, not too unusual, but his lips were a full shade of pink, which stuck out from his pale skin. He looked the same age as Mark, which made it weirder that Mark had never seen him before. Mark froze and then spoke with caution,

     "Thanks," he said. The boy smiled back,

     "That's what I'm here for," he said. Mark's face turned puzzled. The boy turned on his heel and walked off. Mark watched his back stride away and turn a corner. Mrs Cole's head poked around the corner of the stack of books,

     "Sorry boy, didn't see you there," she said sympathetically.

 

     That's what I'm here for? What?

 

     Mark got back to Jarred with his book; 1001 Plants and Fungi. He told Jarred about the boy who stopped the books and Jarred looked amazed,

     "Well that was nice of him," he said, "Who was it?" he also asked. Mark shrugged his shoulders,

     "No clue," he said, in defeat, "Do you know anyone with dark brown eyes and light brown hair in our year?" Jarred shook his head, leaving Mark wondering, revision notes long forgotten.

   

    The bell rang for the end of the day and the two friends left the school library and headed across the road from the school to the ice cream parlour because Mark couldn't stop thinking about who that boy was.

     They sat to the side of the shop by the window and Mark started muttering nonsensically,

     "Maybe it was a senior?" He said. Jarred shook his head hard,

     "The seniors had their English exam just then. It's still going I think." Mark started to feel desperate to know who this boy that like magic, showed up and, like magic, disappear.

     "Oh yeah, before he walked away, he said, 'That's what I'm here for,' like... what?" Mark bit his cookies and cream double scoop rather angrily and looked as if he were trying to force something out of Jarred,

     "Just forget about it. Maybe we'll never know," Jarred said, "Anyway, he have an exam to study for. Did you grab that book?" Mark had pulled the gigantic book of 1001 Plants and Fungi and plonked it on the tiny table between him and Jarred. Jarred clapped his hands,

     "Right. Let's do this!" he cried.

     The cold of the evening crept in as the pair sat in their seats, reading notes and revising book after book about how the human body works and 'plant sex'. It was only as one of the two shop clerks who also happened to be their friend, Clover Thickpenny came over to tell them that they were closing in 10 minutes, that the two stopped working and sat back to breathe for a minute.

     Clover Thickpenny was the most free-spirited person you could know, everyone always saw her as a lost cause or weird, but she didn't mind. She almost encouraged everyone to think this way, saying it was 'Intellectual freedom'. She enjoyed being herself, something that Mark and Jarred had always admired about her. Her happy smile was donned as always, along with her light brown hair that was always brought to one side so she could 'watch it dance in the wind' and her innocent face which nobody was immune for she was a beautiful thing.

     Clover had been working at the ice cream parlour since the beginning of the term and found the job quite fun, even when the customers were really rude. She had a knack for finding a bright side to any situation. She wasn't taking as many classes as Mark or Jarred, therefore, had less to stress over come the end of the term. So every day, she would leave school during the 3rd years' free period - at the end of the day, and come to the shop until 6 pm - closing time.

     Clover brought a third chair over to the otherwise full table to sit with them in her usual work clothes which made her look like a rainbow dropped from the sky and landed specifically on her.

Mark turned to her with his hands clapped together and laughed,

     "Let me tell you what happened today," He said. He told Clover about the boy that stopped the books from falling on him. How he said 'That's what I'm here for' and vanished. Clover let out a small gasp,

     "Curious, that is," She said. The boys nodded in agreement.

     "Do you know any boy in our year that has light brown hair and dark brown eyes?" Mark said. She looked up at the ceiling, thinking,

     "Hmm, there was that one boy who's hair was rather white but that's not brown, is it? Let's see, there's Jaziah from Histo-" Mark interrupted,

     "No fucking way, Clo. It wasn't one of those assholes." Mark said, irritably. Dean, along with his two friends, Ren and Jaziah made up the bullies for the year level that Mark, Clover and Jarred were part of. Mark shook his head, "Anyone else?" He asked, urgently.

Clover shook her head in regret,
     "Sorry, Mark." Mark dropped in despair but smiling at Clover,

     "It's okay," he said.

     "Well, looks like your mystery boy isn't known by anyone at all. Are you sure he was even there?" Said Jarred. Mark shot a look of disbelief,

     "I think I would know if a human was standing right in front of me, Jay," said Mark, in a rather conceited tone.

     "Maybe it was some spirit from beyond that came back to save you, Mark," said Clover, convincingly.

     "Well, that's not quite what I meant, Clo," said Jarred, "Look, maybe he'll be back at the library tomorrow. Would you like to go to the library tomorrow, Marky?" He said. Mark nodded quickly,

     "Yes!" He said.

 

     And so, after Clover had returned to closing up the shop with her boss, Mark and Jarred had waited for her outside, fresh with revision. Clover waved her boss goodbye as she stepped out on to the pavement outside. They headed down the freshly lit road to the 3rd years' dormitories.

     On the way, they chatted about how hard life was for three bright and capable 15-year-olds,

     "I've never been under so much pressure," said Jarred. Mark nodded in agreement,

     "Me too! Honestly, it'll be a miracle if we're even alive by the end of the year," Mark said, "And it's only June!"

     "I'll be surprised if we even make it another two more weeks when we get to go home for the holidays!" Jarred added, "What about you Clo?" They turned their heads, but no Clover. She had wondered her thoughts elsewhere, admiring the jewellery in a store that they had just now passed,

     "Pretty," She mumbled under her breath, "They're beautiful, aren't they?" She asked the two others. Mark turned to see Clover dawdling behind,

     "Come on girl, we're gonna miss curfew," he said. Clover skipped back over to the boys, linking arms with them,

     "Beautiful night, isn't it?" she said, humming along to a tune in her head. Jarred chuckled,

     "It really is," he said, casting his gaze on someone in particular. He smiled and blushed an innocent shade of pink.