‘ The sun beat down merciless- ” I stopped writing, scribbling over the words in disgust. My seat creaked as I shifted restlessly. It wasn’t even much of a seat, really. Just a slowly rotting plank of wood painted in blue strung across two short poles stuck in the concrete. Annoyingly enough, it was located just far enough in the shade that you’d freeze when even the slightest breeze blew and yet far enough in the sun that on a hot summers day you’d find yourself sweating and chafing without even moving. In fact, that’s what was happening at that very time. The sun did beat down mercilessly upon the backs of the students around me. Whipping its subjects into action in the form of sports, games, or simple mucking around. A drip of sweat traced my jaw line coming to a precarious stop just on the edge of my chin. Wiping it away, I stood up in frustration, cracking my book shut with the pen inside and fleeing to the shade, causing yet more leaks from my pores from the exertion. I grimaced with the heat. The cool shade was refreshing, exhilarating. I savoured the feeling for a second before proceeding along the uneven and cracked concrete toward the footworn stairs before me. A warm draught followed me down the corridor, up the two flights of stairs and the short walk along the hall to the narrow, old, wooden door that was the entrance to my next class. This, too, was blue. They liked blue in this school for some reason. Some it’s red, some it’s yellow, and in this one, it’s blue.

“Ugh. Blue…” I muttered distastefully, shaking my head a little, unconsciously. The blue bag racks shuddered a little as I tossed my backpack up carelessly and began rummaging around inside.

It was an unspoken rule that I was always the first to get to class, and the last to leave, simply because of all the crap I obsessively carried around and the amount of time it takes me to retrieve anything from my bag. The distant monotonous buzz overruled the shouts of the few remaining, religiously active students, signalling that they should proceed to their class. They never listened. I was glad for it today. I felt lethargic from the heat and needed the extra few minutes delay to complete my ritual of unpacking. I heard muffled voices on the staircase just along up the hall and I muttered under my breathe at my bad luck. My back was a hose as it sprayed sweat everywhere, soaking my light, cotton shirt. It, too, was blue. For god sakes. The shirt clung to my back, patterns of dark patches, suspiciously resembling the shape of my bag, shifting around as the shirt attempted to slide into a new position. I sighed in disgust. I hated summer. All the happy people out playing sports, not a drop of sweat on them.