The School Gate

Hey, this is a story I wrote in English for an exam :) So yeah, hope you enjoy!

If I hadn't been so scared, I would've found it funny how a few pieces of iron welded together petrified me. To me, it wasn't a school gate. It was more like the opening to personal prison.

I must have looked quite stupid, just standing there in the pouring rain, staring at the school gate. I knew if I opened the gate, there was no turning back. I would be stuck in school for another seven hours. Then when I got home, I would have to do my homework. Homework was like a constant reminder of what I had to endure earlier in the day.

I was jerked back to reality when a 'boy' in fourth year pushed past me and slammed me into the ground. Ym face hit the ground before my body could react. The rough concrete scratched at my face, tearing he skin from my cheek. My chest, having taken most of the impact, felt numb. It was like all the air in my lungs had been knocked out. I could feel them rapidly inflating and deflating.

I quickly blinked back the tears that stung at my eyes. Crying in school was not an option. If you were ever seen sniffling, it was like being executed. Publicly. I could feel a familiar swirling sensation in my stomach. Vomit.

Through my pain and nausea, I could hear the thug's friends jeering at me. I groaned and rolled over on to my back. All the boys in my school are like gorillas. Big, hairy and illiterate.

A girl, complete with purple hair and badly tanned skin threw her cigarette down at my feet, not bothering to stamp it out. Tendrils of smoke rose from it, making their way downey throat. My lungs panicked. They still hadn't recovered from my fall. It took a lot of self-control not to throw up the contents of my stomach.

I slowly made it back up to my feet, hanging on to the wall for support. I tenderly prodded my cheek to see what damage had been done. There didn't seem to be much blood, but the skin was torn and scraped.

I decided it was now or never. If I didn't go up the driveway now, I would be late for registration. As I opened the gate, it creaked loudly. It was like in a horror story, but ten times worse. In horror stories, the monsters were ghosts, vampires and skeletons. What I encountered each day was far more scary. Violent boys, arrogant girls and angry teachers.

The gate swung shut behind me, with a horrible noise that made me want to cover my ears. The driveway in front of me must have been only one hundred metres long, but to me it felt like five miles. It was like the Walk of Shame. You were usually sneered at, pushed over, laughed at and shouted at.

I set off, knowing it was better to get it over with. The rain continued to splatter down, drenching my short hair. I narrowly avoided a muddy puddle while staying out of the way of the other pupils.

All of the pupils at the school were the same. All horrible, nasty teenagers. I wish I went to one of those schools where the smart pupils are prided. Instead, I went to a school where exclusion happened on a daily basis, and the desks were practically made out of chewing gum. I think I'm the only pupil in this school who has half a chance of succeeding in life.

Another neanderthal pushed past me, rolling me into a murky puddle. It didn't look like a fun day for me.