Crossfire.8

Erin
It had been a relatively uneventful week. Especially after the scaring I'd had last Sunday. It was strange.
Today was the most interesting thing that had happened all week. It was a Monday - I despise Monday's - and so I was feeling slightly depressed. And yet when I met with my neighbour Ryan on the sidewalk, who I always walk to school with, I realised there was another person with him. And for some reason, this improved my mood.
"Erin, meet Anna." He said, indicating the girl stood slightly behind him.
She was very pretty. She had golden hair - maybe a white-gold colour - that went slightly lower than her shoulders and eyes so green they seemed to pierce my soul. She looked extremely comfortable in the school uniform; the brilliant combination of not-too-perfect uniform and perfect uniform making her look at ease in it, something I was unable to manage. I noticed all of this in about three seconds, and she seemed to make the same assessment of me. My dark brown hair, cut close to my head in a cropped style, seemed suddenly plain. My light blue eyes seemed no longer pretty in comparison to her. My pale skin seemed off, sickly, looking at her fair skin.
"And Anna, meet Erin."
She held out her hand with a smile, and I mustered all the niceness and happiness I could to smile back and shook her hand. When I touched her hand, my depression and anxiety suddenly seemed to melt away, simply leaving me with happiness. It was a brilliant feeling, though I couldn't help but wonder where it had come from. Not that I was complaining.
As I experienced this feeling of happiness, Anna frowned. Had she sensed the change in me?
As we began to walk down to school, I made my decision about Anna. She seemed nice, happy and cheerful. She and Ryan seemed to have an easy way of talking to each other; joking at the others expense, that sort of thing. However, Anna seemed to have strange mood swings every so often. When we walked past someone, she would fall silent and walk closer to Ryan. Or at random points, she would suddenly stop talking and gasp slightly. But I disregarded this, as overall she seemed like a really nice person. Even if she wasn't completely...'normal'.
Just as I began to wonder how Anna knew Ryan, he turned to me as he continued to walk - only now he was walking backwards.
"My mum knows Anna's, so we grew up together, but they moved away when we were little. When Anna transferred to our school, I got stuck with watching her." He said with a smile, turning around and wrapping one arm around Anna, squeezing her lightly and making her giggle.
We continued to talk, asking Anna about her old school, plans for the weekend - when it would finally come around - figuring out which lessons we all had. That sort of thing.
We reached school just as the bell rang, and I quickly raced to form to beat the crowds, leaving Ryan and Anna trying to figure out where Anna's form room was.
After about ten minutes, Anna walked through the door to my form, a small slightly-embarrassed smile on her face. And yet on Anna, it didn't seem an odd expression, and she still seemed at ease - maybe more amused than anything else.
When she saw me, her smile turned to one of friendly recognition, and she walked towards me.
"Hi, Anna." I said cheerily, glad that at least she would know two people on her new day, so as not to be completely terrified. I know I was on my first day.
But after a few moments of her sitting next to me, one of the boys - about age 17 - came over to speak with Anna.
"Angel?" He asked.
She turned to look up at him, and beamed. "James!" She shouted, leaping up and hugging him. James chuckled, hugging her back.
James stood back, and the two sat down. He leaned over to me and said "Erin, have you been looking after Anna on her first day?"
I shrugged. "Not really, but I think we have the same third lesson. I could show you the way if you want." I directed the last section at Anna.
She nodded. "Oh, thank you! That would be brilliant." Her voice sounded very pretty - almost musical, as though she was singing - when she was happy.
James smiled at her as he looked at her timetable. "I've got the same first lesson as you. Shall I show you the way?"
She nodded to him again.
"Hey, James! Stop flirting and get over here!" One of his friends called, and he laughed. "I'll see ya around, Anna." he called as he walked back over to them. I shuddered, thinking back to my encounter with the HellHound - he'd said ya as well. I didn't normally hear words like that too often. Mind, this is a school, and some of the people here decide to say things in a stupid way. Like 'sup'. Or 'bruv'.
When he'd gone, I asked Anna "So you know him?"
She nodded. "I know him from when I was younger." She told me vaguely.
The bell went, and we all got up to go to our lessons. I smiled at Anna's back as James showed her the way, glad that she knew where to go.
How lucky was it that she'd been in my form and ended up seeing him?