Scarlet Stone

 Chapter One

Don’t wee your knickers.

The kids stare at me with their owl eyes as my knees wobble with each step.

Don’t wee your knickers.

The first day of school shouldn’t be this scary. The other kids have rucksacks with animated characters and glitter. I have a brown leather case with a four-digit lock code keeping my spiral notepad, three #2 pencils, a twelve pack of crayons, scissors, and my packed lunch safe. Oscar promised I would fit in fantastically on my first day of primary school.

I’ve already been asked nine times, “Why did you bring a suitcase to school?”

“It’s an attaché case that used to belong to a German diplomat. Oscar gave it to me,” I reply—nine times.

Once all eighteen children find a seat and the room is silent, we’re invited one at a time to share a bit about ourselves. I am the fourth to go and after bingeing on too many Jammie Dodgers and a liter of milk for breakfast, I feel ready to chunder.

I don’t. Instead, I answer the same basic questions that were shared before me. “Oscar is a locksmith, but he carries a gun because not everyone respects a good locksmith.” I pick at the dry skin on my lips while slowly twisting my body side to side, as everyone else stares at me. Their mouths hang open. Why do they look so surprised? His job is boring, not cool. The boy who spoke before me has a dad who drives a train. That’s cool.

I continue, “He’s my dad, but he told me to call him Oscar because I’m not a baby.” I ignore the whispers and continue. “My mum died from doctors poisoning her.”

The whispers stop, leaving seventeen pairs of wide eyes on me. Even my teacher looks like she ate something that’s ready to come back up her throat.

“Oh …” I continue, having forgotten the most important piece of information. “My dad calls me Ruby, but my name is Scarlet Stone.”