Work Text:
Writing – Task C
Write a text where you show someone standing out in school, in a positive or negative way. You may use the preparation material as inspiration for your text. Write between 350 and 550 words.
Lily leaned against the cold brick wall, pulling a lightweight, silver cigarette case out of the pocket of her thin jacket with shaking fingers. The case had belonged to her mother. She didn’t even particularly want the nicotine right now, maybe just the practiced calm the motions brought her. The ineffable goodness it brings.
Her lighter was cheap and decrepit (not especially surprising, considering it had been stolen multiple times) but it seemed to finally get the gist, lighting her smoke up quite nicely. She took a deep drag of the cigarette and her eyes flicked to the nearest no-smoking sign, breathing out a plume of billowing grey smoke, watching the swirling fumes draw patterns in the frigid air, painting the world in spirals and spiderwebs.
The bell would ring soon. The chatter of her classmates would grow faint, and she would have to follow, if she wanted to avoid suspension. Lily couldn’t afford to be suspended.
They couldn’t suspend her if she were taking advantage of her rights constituting fair breaks though, could they? She quickly put out her smoke against the red brick wall, watching it crumble as she mushed it against stone. Waste of hard-earned money, putting it out so soon.
She dragged herself towards the corner, entering the overfilled schoolyard. Noise exploded around her as the younger kids hurled snowballs across the yard and played amongst themselves, while her own grade consumed themselves with idle conversation, a clump of snow periodically finding one of the taller boys, Kevin, seemingly in an attempt to provoke. The young boy throwing snowballs looked eerily similar to Kevin, so Lily immediately decided they must be brothers.
She continued walking towards the main entrance, her goal so close now. The stares and incessant laughter made her feel sick and out of place, she wanted out.
“Lily! Lily, darling¾where have you been! We’ve been looking all over, you okay?” Tara asked, running up to her, a deep, unsettling furrow to her brow.
“M’ fine,” she muttered, increasing her speed as Tara continued to pester her in the most overbearing, fussy tone Lily had ever heard. It’s a wonder she ever liked her.
She managed to lose Tara in the winding corridors leading to the upper-floor bathrooms, the loud clacks of her shoes against the linoleum becoming the sole sound she heard for a long while. When she finally reached her destination, she rushed into the farthest stall and locked the door.
The bathroom was filled with nonsense nomenclature she didn’t care to make sense of. Scribbles and half-finished drawings in every imaginable colour were scrawled across all surfaces, some obscure rhyme written on the rooftile overlooking the chipped sink.
The mirror was cracked as well, and for a minute moment Lily thought she might’ve seen a ghost. The one from that one movie Tara liked, crawling through the TV. Dark, untended hair hung limply over her face, and deep circles had formed beneath her eyes. She looked pale and meagre. She looked horrible. But she doesn’t feel horrible. She’s in a good place right now. The occasional cigarette has lifted her spirits considerably these last couple of months, and she feels better than ever before. She’s in a good place. The cheap stuff she buys from Barry is working. It’s working wonders.