Chapter 3- An Awkward bus ride

There was a moment of stunned silence. 

"I-I-I- Pardon?" Alice stammered. One look at Emilia's angry face informed Alice that she wasn't joking around. 

"You heard me," Emilia snarled back, "Ray's mine. We've been dating for four months." 

Alice had never felt more embarrassed in her life. She shook Emilia off and lowered her gaze, so nobody could see her flustered face. Emilia, satisfied about what she had said and done, stepped away from Alice and retreated to her phone. 

Alice could remember wishing for the floor to open up and swallow her. When Ray returned with her uniform, she took it a mumbled a hasty thanks. Then she slapped the cash down onto the counter and ran out as fast as her legs could carry her. 

Throughout the Taxi ride home, she said very little. 

I've only been in England for a few days, she mused to herself, and I've already fallen for another girl's boy. Great. 

Whenever she tried pushing Ray forcefully out of her mind, he came bouncing back, tormenting Alice with his good looks and his crisp northern accent. After several long hours, her brain was occupied with another problem. 

Alice was starting school in a week. She didn't feel ready to socialize and mingle with other students like herself. She didn't feel ready to attend never-ending lessons. She didn't feel ready to wear that awful uniform. 

Mr Smith forced Alice to try the uniform on when they got back, just to check that it did fit. When she wriggled on the itchy school shirt and skirt, she immediately hated it. Then when her dad handed her a matching apple green blazer, she no longer recognized herself in the mirror. 

The blazer made her look sophisticated and studious like she was a pure A-grade student. The skirt made her look sporty and confident as if she was happy with the way she looked. Alice found that she could no longer express her real self through the layers of school clothing. 

Mr Smith saw her downcast expression and slapped her gently on the arm. 

"You look beautiful," He said softly, "It's strange at first, I know. But you honestly don't look bad. Not at all." 

Alice only gave him a half-hearted thanks in return. When she was allowed to change out of it, she did so as fast as she could, unable to get the image of her wearing it in the mirror out of her head. She hung it up roughly and shoved it into her wardrobe before she flopped onto her bed, feeling miserable. 

From that moment onwards, the days began to fly by. Alice kept herself as busy as possible and to her biggest relief, she barely thought about Ray. He wove in and out of her dreams occasionally, but other than that, she gave him no thought. 

Her nerves began drastically building up as her first day of school drew closer and closer and- 

---

"Morning!" Mr Smith yelled, his voice floating through to Alice's room, "Sweetie, you need to get up now! You've got school today!" 

Alice squeezed both of her eyes open. Groaning, she pulled herself out of bed with a sinking feeling in her chest. 

School. 

She headed into her walk-in wardrobe and retrieved her school uniform, only giving it one glance to check that she had grabbed the right clothes. She slipped it on, reluctantly with an apprehensive feeling in her chest that school would be a nightmare. 

Mr Smith was up in the kitchen and he poured Alice a cup of strong coffee with a transmitting smile on his face. Alice tiredly poured herself a bowl of cornflakes, stifling a yawn. 

"I hate getting up early..." She moaned, accidentally slopping milk over the table, "Oops." 

"No worries, no worries," Mr Smith replied, hurrying over to mop up the mess Alice made. "And I know you hate getting up early, I think we all do. But I would hate for you to be late, on your first day as well!" 

Alice let out another groan and started shovelling cereal into her mouth, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Mr Smith rolled his eyes and muttered something inaudible under his breath. Then he unexpectedly kissed Alice on the forehead. 

"I'm not saying today will be easy but you'll smash it, Alice. I'm sure of it." 

Alice flashed him a smile and a small 'thank you' but coming from her Dad, those words did mean a lot to her. She watched him stroll back to his room, preparing himself for a busy day of working in a London office ahead of him. 

She finished her cereal and brushed back her hair, plaiting it neatly into two dutch braids. She didn't know if students in England were allowed their hair down throughout the school day, but she didn't want to risk it. She considered it would be safer having it up, just in case they weren't. 

"Have a good day sweetie! Make sure you don't miss the bus!" Mr Smith smiled, appearing in Alice's doorway. He handed her a two-pound coin, pressing it into the palm of her hand. Alice took it slowly and pocketed it, protectively. 

"Have a good day at work dad," She whispered, quietly. Her dad flashed her a thumbs up before leaving her room. She heard the front door open and close and let out the breath she had been holding in. 

"I can do this," She mouthed to herself, "I can do this..." 

---

She hobbled out onto the busy London streets, watching the busy city rise out of its slumber. She could see businessmen hurrying to work, carrying important briefcases. She could see young primary school children running to school, laughing and squealing at the top of their lungs without a care in the world. They were followed by panicked parents, who were frantically rushing to keep up with them. 

She dug her shoulders even deeper into her blazer as she felt a light breeze of frigid air blow past her. Alice was very thankful that it wasn't raining as she had completely forgotten to grab her coat. 

She waited at the bus station, just like Mr Smith had told her, and to her tremendous relief, she could see several other girls dressed in the same apple green school uniform. They were all on their phones looking unbothered and bored. Alice badly wanted to fit it, so she took out her phone and started scrolling pointlessly through her tabs, mimicking their expressions. 

The bus arrived after about five minutes wait. A gigantic, colossal red bus parked beside the bus stop with the big numbers 52 displayed on the front of the bus. She let the other girls hop on board first before she followed shyly. 

"A return ticket to West Bridge Secondary School, please," She asked, trying to stop her voice from shaking. She handed out the money and the Driver took it and handed her a ticket. It accidentally slipped out of her fingers and, red-faced and embarrassed, she scrabbled onto the floor to retrieve it. 

She shot into the first seat she could see, tucking the receipt away in her blazer pocket. Her sharp eyes picked out the other school girls fiddling with their phones and she decided to follow suit, messing around with her tabs once again. 

She felt extremely out of her depth and rather stupid at that point, but the one question that kept floating around in her head was:

How bad was this day going to be?