It’s the first day back to school since the summer holidays. There had only been six weeks, but to Ashleighn, it feels longer. She dislikes the long breaks from school, she would much rather have shorter weeks off but more of them in the school year.

She has spent a lot of her summer playing football, either with her brother Jamie, or entering in competitions with her team. Over all it was five they had entered in, they had won two, came second in two and third in one.

Ashleighn plays centre forward, usually alongside Abigail who plays on the left. It has been her favourite position since she was little. They play in the colour red, with the numbers printed on the back in black. Ashleighn’s number is ten, it is her lucky number and Lionel Messi, her favourite player in the world also wears that number.

In some ways it’s been him who has inspired her to work hard at it, making her want to get better. She wants to be able to play at that level of perfection, so she will always push herself that one step further, hoping that one day someone will notice her.

The remaining days in the summer when she wasn’t out playing football, she spent with Rachel. Most of the time they had ended up just relaxing at the pool, or shopping in the city, Ashleighn wasn’t a huge fan of shopping, but Rachel always found some way to make it enjoyable. One weekend they had gone camping. The weather before had said it would be warm with sun, but they ended up spending most of it getting wet by the rain.

The first day back to school is continuously the worst, for it’s the day when you got your new timetables, new classmates, and have to spend the first two hours stuck in form listening to the teacher going on about the new school rules.

Ashleighn leaves her hair down, allowing it to fall past her shoulders. She doesn’t wear any make-up only lip gloss. Her white blouse is tucked into her skirt which is just above the knee, she wears her black V-neck jumper over her blouse, and the blazer over that.

Rachel knocks on the door, as Ashleighn grabs her bag.

“Ready?” Rachel speaks whilst fiddling with her hair.

Rachel has blonde wavy hair, just below the shoulders slightly shorter than Ashleighn’s. Her eyes are a grey misty colour, and lip a pale pink. She isn’t overly tall, but she is taller than Ashleighn.

Un-like Ashleighn, Rachel wears make-up. She never goes anywhere without it. Rachel’s not the type to wear loads, just a little bit of: mascara, eye shadow, eyeliner, lip gloss, and a light foundation.

The school is bustling with life, new students and old. The older students look relaxed and just stood around talking about what they did over the summer. New students however, stand in big groups of friends all looking nervous. But who can blame them, it exists as a new school to them which is much bigger than the schools they have come from, plus they are with students who are much older than them.

Ashleighn and Rachel walk through the school gates and into the building on the right, heading straight to the locker room. Their lockers are next to each other’s, and also besides their form room where they’re to go once the bell rings.

Like she always does, Ashleighn feels nervous. She’s nervous that people will talk about her or are talking about her behind her back, or that she’ll do something wrong and mess up, making a complete fool out of herself.

Rachel on the other hand feels confident. Ashleighn envy’s her in that way. For Rachel always knows what to say and when to say it. She is not afraid to make a fool out of herself, and mostly, she doesn’t care what people thinks of her. So for that, Ashleighn envy’s her. She wishes she can be more like Rachel, but she knows she’ll never be like her. They were just too different.

The only time Ashleighn ever feels confident, or isn’t afraid of what people think, is when she’s out on the pitch playing the game she loves. Only then does she believe she can be herself, and do what she’s born to do.

Rachel is laughing as she stands beside her locker as she watches the guys from across the hall have a boxing match. It’s something you can never get tired of at school, and at all times it makes her laugh.

“It’s good to see you again Rachel,” Luke spoke as he passes into the classroom.

He’s been crushing on Rachel for the past two years. Everyone knows it, she knows it, but he just hasn’t yet had the courage to ask her out. Ashleighn often tells Rachel to ask him out first, she likes him as well, so what difference would it make. But she says no every time, saying it’s not normal for a girl to ask the boy out, so she’s just waiting.

“Hey Luke, how was your summer? “She asks as she follows Luke into the classroom closely followed by Ashleighn.

Every year they sit in the same place. Ashleighn sits at the back in the corner, attempting to avoid the girls she so dislikes in her form. Rachel sits beside Ashleighn, and beside Rachel is Luke. All the popular girls sat at the other end of the class in the two middle rows, with the popular guys at the back beside Ashleighn and Luke, and everyone else just sit wherever there is a spare seat.

“It was good, didn’t do much, just spent most of my time playing football. I saw you at some of the tournaments my team was entered in.”

“Yeah I saw you too. You were great.” Rachel responds now tracing her finger through her hair like she always does when she is talking to Luke.

Flirting’s one of Rachel’s many talents, along with successfully scoring dates whenever a guy asks. It was only ever the one date, with nothing else after except just a peck on the cheek if she feels that he deserves it. Most the guys just think she is one of the popular girls that have just been booted out of the circle, but she isn’t. She’s just one of the girls who are naturally confidant in themselves and don’t care what anyone thought. Never has Rachel wished she is one of the popular girls, one of the girls who got whatever they want, who they want, and who run the senior year. It’s not in her interest, yes she is a girly girl who loves shopping for clothes and make-up, and going out with guys, but she isn’t the type who changed her image to fit in at the top.

“And the goal you scored was just great, it was like the best goal I’ve seen in ages.” She tells him putting on her high pitched girly voice.

“Alright people listen up.” Mr Dean, the classes form tutor, speaks as he walks through the door. “It’s the start of the new school year, and this time we want no school drama. This year we will be the best form, and we will be going on the trip at the end of the year, have I made myself clear? Now get back to chatting about what you did over the summer, or whatever else it was you were talking about.”

“Ashleighn, what did you make of his speech this year? ‘No school drama’ last year’s wasn’t really that bad was it, and besides, school wouldn’t be the same without it.” Rachel asks now leaning over onto Ashleighn’s desk, laughing silently to herself about it.

Last year had been the year of fall outs with best friends, over dramatic break-ups between boyfriends and girlfriends, fights over who has the best boyfriend and any other girl related drama. Students thought that it was funny to see, for it was like they were in their own teen drama on television. But the teachers thought otherwise, to them it was ruining the reputation of the school, so to try and raise the school’s reputation they cancelled the trip at the end of the year, and this year they seemed to be trying to do the same.



*



Rachel’s POV



I look carefully at myself in the mirror, making sure my hair and make-up is styled to perfection. My hair I left straight, allowing it to fall just longer than my shoulders, eyeliner and mascara wasn’t smudged and no lip gloss was on my teeth. ‘Perfect’ I think to myself I slip into my black heels that match my black halter dress which sits just above my knees, and descended down the stairs.

Luke’s waiting at the bottom of the stairs, wearing a white button down shirt with a blazer over the top and black jeans. ‘Boy does he look fine’ I thought to myself as a small smile escapes from my lips.

“Ready?” he asks taking my hand and kissing it gently as I reach the bottom.

I nod, taking his hand as I do so. My mum walks through into the hall telling me how beautiful I look, before leading us out into the cool night air. As neither of me or Luke is old enough to drive, mum offers to take us to the restaurant and pick us up when we’re ready to leave.

Opening the car door, Luke let me slide into the back seats and he follows after. We sit in silence for the journey, aware that my mother will probably listen to anything we say, so we sit still like five year olds do by sneaking glances at each other and smiling all the way.

Mum pulls up at the restaurant saying ‘good-bye’ and ‘have a nice time’. I say bye as I climb out of the car, and walk hand in hand with Luke to the front doors of the restaurant.



*



Luke’s POV



She looks stunning, mesmerizing; even more beautiful than she usually does. Why I didn’t ask her out sooner I don’t know, but now is better than never. The way her hair shines in the light is like the moon shining on a still river, her eyes; they sparkle like diamonds making me loose myself in them every time I look at her. And her smile, well it’s the most warming and most welcoming thing I’ve ever seen.

“You look beautiful,” I tell her as we made our way to the table.

“Thank you,” she replies, going ever so slightly red in the face. “You don’t look too bad yourself.”



*

I love her laugh, she’s been laughing all night long and not once has she stopped since we began talking. No longer was it just the flirty talk we’ve been doing for the past two years, but the more ‘I want to get to know you better’ talk.

And already I feel like I knew her more, more of her past, what she is interested in, and what she wishes to be in the future. For most of the time I’ve known her I thought that she was just one of those people who didn’t make it with the popular girls, but now I know she never wanted to be one of them, only herself. I now know that she is interested in sport, and that she didn’t just talk about it with me for the sake of it. She has a good sense of humour and laughs at almost everything that’s funny, but at the same time she’s also mature so she doesn’t laugh at something that would come across as racist or sexist, and I like that about her.

She has no specific hobbies, except for shopping which she does most weekends. Whenever she isn’t out in town, she is with Ashleighn. Before this date with Rachel, I always thought it weird that they were friends for they didn’t seem anything alike, Ashleighn’s the shy one who likes sport and Rachel’s the one who’s mad about shopping, make-up and boys.

But Rachel said ‘It doesn’t matter if we don’t like the same things or share the same interests, what really matters is that we’re there for each other when we need it.’

“Well it’s been a great night” I tell her as her mother drops me of at her house. “See you on Monday Rachel.”

“Yes, it’s been great. Bye Luke.” Rachel replies smiling.

I stand on the pavement in front of my house, watching as the car pulls away thinking of the date me and Rachel have just been on. Parts of me are thinking if I should call her when she gets home or if I should wait, and the other part was still think about Rachel.