A guy called Nick

Chapter One: Nick

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> Nick felt the stares on his skin. He’d almost forgotten what school was and what it

> was about. But he remembered now, all too clearly. It was about who you were.

> Nick had jet-black skin and blue eyes, the combination clashed terribly he thought. But

> people liked to stare at this, well girls anyway. His skin was frightfully pale, reading

> inside with the curtains drawn shut hadn’t gotten him any sun. And he also knew how

> frightfully out of place he was and would always be.

> This was frightfully clear with the stares boring into him on his first day at Notting

> Hill High. He’d been the library’s assistant for a whole year now and he would

> never be known as a year 10 student at any high school. Nick was sixteen now and back at

> school. His mother had hit the roof.

> He hitched his shoulder bag higher up his shoulder, grimacing as he felt the heavy text

> books tumbling around. He liked books but not heavy, information carrying books. He liked

> books with stories that he could disappear in and never emerge until his mother stormed in

> and shrieked at him. Nick was constantly causing his mother to hit the roof.

> Besides his textbooks, his bag also carried his Stephen King novel to keep him company

> if nobody else would. That was another reason his mother scolded him for, Nick was

> intensely good-looking but as sociable as a doorknob. He just found someone else’s

> story more interesting than his own.

> The shadow of the administration building looming up in front him broke Nick at of his

> daze. The building was made of brick and tall glass windows revealed a clean but small

> reception area inside. He swung open the smudged glass doors and trudged in. His dark

> boots made heavy, slapping noises against the white tiles as he strode towards the long

> counter sitting against the opposite wall.

> The counter held a small, purple vase of violets whose scent he smelled over the blowing

> air-conditioning. A small but large woman stood behind the counter shuffling through a

> pile of papers. Nick cleared his throat loudly enough to startle the woman and get her to

> look at him.

> “Oh, hi, how can I help you sweetheart?” She smiled largely, almost seeming

> to inhale all the air from the room. Nick blushed at her calling him

> “sweetheart” and hurriedly retrieved the form of his enrolment from his back.

> She smiled even larger as he handed it to her.

> “Oh, new student, how cute, just wait here for a sec while I get your

> timetable.” Nick nodded flushing furiously again as she waddled off into her office.

> He played with the strap of his bag and heard the glass doors swing open again.

> Turning around he saw a flash of red hair and looked away again. The girl walked over to

> him and stood waiting to the side of the counter. He heard humming and glanced over at her

> again.

> Beneath her hair she possessed eyes of green and scattered freckles. She looked up at

> him then so he quickly glanced at the ground. Nick heard her gentle giggling and blushed,

> again.

> “Mary-anne!” She called and he looked up again. She was smiling at him. He

> looked away.

> “Just a second, sweet-pea.” Mary-anne called from her office and Nick looked

> at the girl again. She was still smiling at him. She walked closer to Nick and stuck out

> her hand.

> “I’m Olivia.”

> Olivia reminded me of a cold summer. She had a naturally bubbly personality that she struggled to reign in, sometimes.

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