1 To wake

Accompanied by a sharp gut-wrenching pain, Thalia woke up in a perplexed haze. Disconcerted growls arose from her stomach and almost asudden, a brilliant light flooded into her eyes. Her vision, a soft green blur, started to fade away almost as instantly as it came in - eight silhouetted feminine figures were all stood around an unlit hearth, staring at her with undecipherable expressions. Thalia cursed under her breath ''Where the fuck am i?!''

"Brrrrrriing," the stupid alarm clock was going off and Thalia hammered it down with a force never known to man. She had been dreaming again and somehow managed to oversleep the alarm. Now she would be late for school, and she wasn't the most organised of people either: hastily scrubbing her teeth with the toothbrush; fumbling ungracefully into her school clothes; and wolfing down a half-burnt slice of bread with no jam whatsoever, she managed a 'bye mom' and raced to her bus stop with food still bulging out of her cheeks. The bus driver, already getting ready to close the doors gave her a calculated, menacing stare but Thalia hadn't a single flying fuck about what he thought. She scanned the row of seats for Ophelia (someone who she felt most comfortable with) and there she was, at the back of the bus. Carefully treading through the maze of dishevelled backpacks and littered exercise books, Thalia managed to reach the back of the bus and took a seat down. Her bus partner blushing with a glowing warmth, mumbled ''hi Thalia.'' and smiling absurdly, Thalia replied ''hi Ophelia.''

The pair of them were not the most acquainted of friends but had conversed in a few awkward conversations on the bus. For starters, they weren't even in the same class, so they would occasionally wave to each other when they had the chance. Everyday, Thalia thought of a way to break the awkward silence between them, but ever so rarely had Ophelia managed to start a conversation. She was bashful, yet looked cute with her golden locks, dainty face and bright green eyes. On the contrary, Thalia thought she paled in comparison- she sometimes had lingering thoughts of whether she was a close descendant to a gorilla, but she had naturally never the utmost confidence to regard her appearance. The bus journey dragged on for what seemed to be hours and they both found themselves flipping over homework due in two hours- boredom had often played an important role in their early morning commutes.