“Sarah, you’ve got school today! Come on, the bus won’t wait all day!” my aunt screamed from the bottom of the stairs. She was a beautiful, young-looking woman who had ginger hair and always wore a sky-blue dress that was covered with daisies. “Noo, I don’t want to go to school!” I moaned, twisting and turning on my bed. “Uuuh, but I have maths today!”

She was getting really mad now because I could hear her footsteps travelling up the stairs. “If you don’t come down here right this second, I’m taking away all of your Harry Potter collection.” 

I loved the Harry Potter series and I couldn’t live a day without talking about it, “Ok, ok. I’m coming now, just wait a second.” I jumped out the bed, rolling onto the floor and briskly slid my robe on. 

I absolutely hated school and I couldn’t bear to start school again on a Monday, especially after I had such a boring weekend. However, there was this smell in the morning that made my eyes shoot right open. Lying on our oak, rusty table was my favourite croissant from ‘The Royal Family Bakery”. “Well, I thought you could use with a little boost of energy before you go on the bus,” my aunt sighed.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, Auntie Alice!” I exclaimed, hugging her tightly. She smiled softly, separating the hug to catch a breath.
“Ok. Well, hurry up. The bus is coming in twenty minutes.” Without saying a word, I rushed upstairs and gathered all my books, chucking them into my bag. My pens were scattered along the floor but why would I even bother picking them up? And I didn’t. Yep, that did mean I didn’t bring any equipment to school, but that wasn’t important then.

I looked at the clock that lived on the kitchen wall. Our kitchen was small; everything, including all the towels to dry our hands was cherry red. The floor had square-pattern tiles which were, of course, red and white. Paintings by Leonardo de Vinci, Edward Hopper and Tracey Emin hung across the whole kitchen. Next to the toaster stood a cage where I kept my collection of insects. In there, you could find: spiders, caterpillars, beetles, bees, ants, ladybugs and silver fishes (silver fishes are actually insects). In the middle of our table was a clear vase which held some of the flowers that I picked from the forest that grew just around the corner of our house. 

Auntie Alice was in my room as I could hear the stomps of her feet as she disappointingly looked at my grubby, littered and disorganised room. “Sarah Gonzales, don’t you need your pens? This room is garbage; you’re clearing this up before you take one step out that door.”

“Sorry, auntie! No, no, not today. I don’t need my pens. Don’t worry, I’ll clean it as soon as I get home today!”
“No, no, young lady! You clean it now!”
“Look, sorry, I have to go! As you said, the bus won’t wait all day.” I swiftly put my trainers on and sprinted out of the door.
“Saaaarraahhh!!” her words echoed through the hallways of the house, but it didn’t get to me. 

Busy streets, random strangers, and isolated cats was the definition of my neighbourhood and it was the worst. I still had a few minutes until the bus would arrive, so I went to the corner shop where they sold my favourite Doritos. “Morning, Mr Maxwell. Everything ok?” I asked. His face was melting and I could tell something was wrong.
“Oh, business is horrible these days. Nobody will come in,” he sighed.
I felt very sorry for him, and wished that I could do something about it, but the only words that came out were, “It’s ok, sir. I come in everyday and I promise you’ll have the best business that anyone has ever heard of.”
“Sarah, Sarah, what would I do without you?”
“Nothing.” Maxwell chuckled at my words. “It’s true though.” I picked a packet of Doritos from the shelves and headed to the counter. “Well, I’m gonna need my Doritos now.”
“Alrighty ‘o. Looks like you’re too late now; the bus has already left.”
“No.” I was not surprised, but then I was at the same time. Only problem was that I would be late to school again. As quick as a flash, I snatched the Doritos from the counter and made my way out of the door. “Thanks for the Doritos, Mr. Maxwell!” The wind brushed past my hair as I dashed through the bustling streets. “Excuse me, pardon me!” I’d shout as I’d push all the people out of the way.

That’s when I saw the bright green school bus leaving the bus stop. I didn’t realise at that time that I was standing there wasting more of my time. I guess I was thinking about my detention with Mrs Jones and her grumpy voice going on about her dog dying and how he always used to hunt the neighbour’s cat. Oh my, I must know that story very well now that I’ve heard it for the- I don’t know, maybe billionth time. I was not going to miss the bus this time, definitely not after all those horrid months and days where I walked into the class and the first words that my teacher would say were, “That is a 40 minute after school detention.” I know, right? Teachers can be so annoying these days.

So, I had all my usual thoughts as I was struggling to catch the bus. However, something peculiar happened that day, something that could only happen in my dreams, something that I’ve always wished for. I felt like I was flying, like my feet had come of the floor and I was floating above the ground. Unfortunately, that’s not exactly what happened. I was fast (not the fast as in Usain Bolt. I was faster) and the objects, signs, people around me seemed to disappear as soon as I was even able to look at them. Is this really happening? I thought to myself. Yeah, it was. As I was getting dizzy, I stopped and looked around me and found myself being stared at some random, local people as if I were a monster or a complete maniac. I heard people whisper, “Who is she?”, “What a freak!”, “Wow, she must be an alien!” I took some of them as compliments, and others as insults.

But the only thing that mattered then was that I was fast, and probably the fastest person in the world. Sorry, Usain Bolt, but I think you’ve just found your competition. It was getting so weird, people still weren’t leaving and they carried on staring at me so I finally announced, “Ok, sorry fans, I’ll get signatures done tomorrow!” Then I sprinted off.

After a few seconds or so, I realised that the bus was parked in the middle of the road and the driver was peeking out from the door. At first, I didn’t know what he was looking at, but when all the students climbed out of the bus, I knew they were looking at me.

Trying to ignore the unfamiliar and confused faces, I slowly walked to the bus driver. “Umm, can I come in?” I asked, as he was the blocking the entrance. 
“Crikey, are you ok, young lady?” 
“Yes,” I whispered, handing him the money before he said anything else. Then everything went crazy.