Blood Bender *Book 1*

I need someone to explain to me why this parents evening is a good idea. My mother had no idea about any of this. At least as far as I knew she didn't. How would I even begin to explain it to her? Not only that but would she even be sober enough? Sober enough to come, sober enough to stay sober?

Part of me hoped she'd forgotten I even existed. I hated to say it but I was almost embarrassed of her. She was a drunk and barely coherent on a good day. The most conversation I've had with her in years was me saying bye to her. I felt my mood change from a happy one to an anxious one.

I couldn't have my mum come here, I just couldn't.

I was in a daze, on auto pilot and before I knew it, I was sat down in English.

"You okay Tina? You haven't been very talkative since we were in our room." Maiah asked me.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine." I said, still trapped in my thoughts. Miss. Indra waltzed into the room, clapping her hands to get our attention.

"Right class," She continued talking but I stopped listening. A minute or so later, the door banged open and Phoenix came in with a cheeky smile on his face.

"I may have to buy you a watch Mr. Blaise." The teacher said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Why? Mine works perfectly fine." Phoenix replied, pulling up his sleeve to show her his empty wrist. She sighed heavily before motioning for him to sit down. He looked around the room, catching my eye, then came to sit on the vacant desk in front of me.

"Sup Splash?" He grinned at me.

"Shh." Maiah and I shh'ed him at the same time. He put his hands up in defence, half turning back to his desk. We were still learning about an inspector calls, which rather baffled me. It was a small book and not a lot to interpret. When we were allowed to converse, Phoenix turned around, looking at me. He frowned after a second.

"What's wrong?" My eyes went wide.

"Nothing." I answered rather quickly. He turned to Maiah.

"What's wrong with her?" Phoenix asked Maiah, motioning to me.

"I don't know. She's been like this ever since she read the letter about parents evening." She replied, looking at me with concern. Phoenix looked at me as well.

"Want to talk about it?" He asked.

"Not really, no."

"Okay, shall we crack on with the assignment then?" He asked, picking up the pen he left on his desk. I was relieved that he asked if I wanted to talk about it and didn't pressure me into saying anything. We talked quietly amongst the three of us, mainly about the work sheet we'd been given and when the bell went for the end of lesson, I let out a breath of relief.

"What's your next lesson, Splash?"

"History, what's yours Match Stick?"

"Is that with Mr. Alon?"

"Sure is."

"Huh, I might actually go to this lesson then." Phoenix said, more so to himself. I saw Maiah look between the two of us and I could tell she was thinking something, I just didn't know what. The three of us made our way to Mr. Alon's class, not really talking to each other. Phoenix sat behind us when we made it to the classroom and when other students came in, one of his friends sat next to him and started talking to him. Mr. Alon made the same entrance he did in the last lesson, but this time I felt his presence before he appeared in front of us.

"Morning all." He boomed, making some people jump. He started the lesson talking about the royal family. As it turns out, they're all air elements. The lesson dragged on and felt like it lasted eight hours instead of the one. I could feel myself slowly start to drift off but every time I closed my eyes, I just saw the red ones boring deep into my soul.