• I opened my eyes as my alarm rang sharply. My fist shot out of the covers, knocking the alarm off my nightstand. That meant I had to get up to turn it off. When I had eventually silenced the bell, I trudged downstairs to get breakfast. My mother was sitting at the table drinking coffee and reading the paper.
    "Oh, good morning Sarah." She yawned, "Off to school?"
    "Yes." I said, despite the fact I was still in my nerdy PJ's.
    "Honey, aren't you trying out for the cheerleading squad with Lola today?" Mom asked.
    "Yeah. Well, Lola is." I sniffed. My mother shook her head.
    "You used to be so positive, real cheerleader material. I know that your father passing was-" Mom tailed off and stared into her coffee mug. I decided it was best to leave her and I went to get dressed.

    Nate met me outside the school gates.
    "Mornin' princess." He said.
    "Call me that again and I'll kill you." I yawned.
    "Nice. Jesse, Jack and Tom are still in Scotland. Just us today." Nate grinned.
    "Darn." I rolled my eyes. Helena was still in hospital with a broken leg, Mac hadn't moved to the school yet and I hadn't met a lot of my other friends. I only really had Nate, Lola and Sylvia that day.
    "Oh my God." Nate gasped as we approached our lockers. Somebody had trashed them completely. Mine had the same words scrawled all over it. 'Go slit ur wrists Emo girl'. Nate had what looked like blood all over his. I touched it and smelt it. It was red hair dye. I broke down when I opened my door. Inside were all of my poems scrunched up and torn. I unfolded one only to discover that the same writing from my locker door was over my own neat copperplate handwriting.
    "Hmm... forgot one thing." A voice came from behind us. I turned to see Sasha, captain of the cheerleaders standing behind us. A couple of her clones stood by her side. She softly took my arm and shoved me into my locker. I heard a clicking sound and then some slamming. Silence. I tried to open the door but it was locked.
    "Sarah?" Nate's voice came from the locker next to mine.
    "Yeah?" I replied.
    "Have I ever told you that I hate high school?"