I walked into my first class which, to my relief, was art. I took a seat at the far back easel and listened to the obviously unexperienced teacher drone on about complementary colours. The sound of shuffling caught my attention and I turned to my right to see a boy folding something out of a piece of thick, watercolour paper.

His face was screwed up in concentration as he creased the lines with precision. I watched him until he had finished his origami which, to my surprise, was a paper boat. He looked over as he shoved it into his bag and noticed me staring at him. My face turn pink and I fought the urge to look away, but I knew he had caught me watching.

"A paper boat? What, are you five?" I whispered jokingly, trying to hide my embarrassment.

He laughed awkwardly and scratched his head. "I, uh, it's for my b-b-brother."

I stared at him curiously while he spoke. I wondered if he found his stutter annoying, or if he was so used to it he didn't even notice it anymore. I contemplated asking him but assumed that he'd feel embarrassed about it. I know all about getting bullied for things you have no control over.

"Sure." I laughed. I was about to say more but was cut off by a stern look from the teacher. We spent the rest of the class in silence.

The bell rang and I walked over to the boy as he packed his things. "So, are you going to tell me what the boat is really for, or are you just going to give me that lame excuse again?" I asked with a hint of a smile. He looked at me in surprise.

"N-no, it actually is f-for my brother." he said and continued to pack his things. I could see his ears turning pink and figured that he wasn't telling the truth, but I decided that I wasn't going to pester him anymore. Sometimes I forgot that I could come across as rude and blunt, but that was because it was the way I had been raised at home.

"Okay." I shrugged in reply. He turned to look at me again with his blue-green eyes.

"I'm B-bill." he said as he put his bag over his shoulder.

"I'm Lara." I smiled. We walked together out the door.

"Are you new? I d-don't think I've ever seen you before." he said as we walked slowly through the crowd of students in the hall.

"Yeah, today's my first day. Derry seems like a pretty nice town so far." I said, cringing at my attempt at small-talk.

"That's c-c-cool, I hope you like it here. I w-would show you around a bit, but I've got to go to my friends. I'll see you later?" he asked as we stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"Oh yeah, I'll see you around." I replied, slightly disappointed as I watched him walk away. I was hoping I'd have somebody to sit with at lunch, but it looked like I was going to be spending it alone. I kicked myself for getting my hopes up.

The sky was pouring rain when school finally ended. Unfortunately, I was riding my bike home and wasn't wearing a coat so by the time I got home, I was drenched head to toe. I leaned my bike against the garage and walked inside the empty house, running up to my room and immediately changing into dry clothes.

It looked like I was going to be spending the rest of my day indoors. I decided to work on some of my artwork that I would try to sell to make the money my mum wanted. I took out my pencils and started sketching. First, I finished the drawing of the cinema from my previous town. I always tried to make a record of every place I lived in so I could come back to these drawings and remember that part of my life. It made me feel less guilty about leaving people behind.

I took out my watercolour pencils and started to draw the scene from my window. The rain had started to lessen and I could see the glimmer of a rainbow forming in the sky. I preferred to draw things, rather than people. I could never get the faces right and it always ended up being a mess that I was never happy with. As my paintbrush moved across the paper, I realised rain in Derry was different to any I had experienced before. It was like it was washing away the pain and grief from the streets; pain and grief that would be forgotten once the sun came out again.

I was brought out of my thoughts by the sight of four boys riding their bikes down the street, laughing and racing each other in the light rain. I recognised Richie and Bill as the group stopped outside the house opposite mine. Bill waved goodbye to everyone and entered the house as the rest of the boys rode off.

At least it seemed that I knew one of the neighbours. My mum never made an effort to meet them - she said it was a stupid tradition.

I turned away from the window, looking back to my drawing. I managed to finish brushing water over the picture by six o'clock and when I stood up to stretch, I saw Bill leave his house again. This time he was in a dark blue raincoat. I watched curiously as he looked around, as if to make sure nobody was there, before setting down the street with something clutched in his hand.

Curiosity got the better of me and I grabbed my own red raincoat and ran outside to follow him. What was Bill doing outside in this weather? I reached the front of my house and looked in the direction that he went, spotting him a hundred metres down the road. I started to run, my canvas shoes getting drenched in a large puddle that I didn't bother to jump over. As we reached the corner of Jackson Street I was finally close enough to see what he was doing.

The thing that he had been holding in his hand was the paper boat he had folded in class, and it was floating down the water in the gutter. He ran after it, following it as it turned a corner.

So I was right, the boat wasn't for his brother. I understood why he didn't want to tell me the truth, though. I wouldn't want people knowing I liked to play with paper boats in my spare time, either.

I chuckled to myself and picked up my pace, wanting to confront him about his lie. I was about five metres away when I saw his boat pick up the pace and head towards a sewer. Thinking that Bill was going to stop the boat and pick it up, I slowed down, but he stopped walking altogether and watched as it was swept down with the water.

Bill stared at where the boat had disappeared. He didn't make any move to walk away or to see if it was still down there, he just simply stood there and stared.

"Bill?" I asked as I approached him. He turned around quickly in surprise.

"Oh, h-hi Lara. What are you doing out here? It's r-raining."

"No doy!" I joked but he didn't smile. "I saw you out here with your boat and followed you down the street. I thought you said it was for your brother."

He looked at me for a few seconds, not replying, but then finally opened his mouth and gave me an answer.

"It is f-for my brother."

I looked at him weirdly. He seriously didn't think I was stupid enough to still believe that.

He looked away, scrunching his eyebrows. "It is for my brother, b-but he's gone missing."

My heart dropped. "Oh, I'm sorry." I didn't know what to say. I'd never been the best with words, especially considering I'd never been comforted myself.

"I-It's okay. The last time I saw him was on a d-day like this. I made him a boat and he w-went out to play with it and never came back." He looked away and discomfort sympathy washed over me.

"How long has it been?" I asked.

"Six months."

"Oh." I replied sadly. If a little boy had been missing for half a year already, I felt like he wasn't going to come back.

We stood in silence for a little while until another question popped into my head.

"Why did you let it go down the gutter, then?"

He looked at me and bit his lip. "You're g-going to think I'm stupid."

"I promise I won't."

He sighed and looked at the drain. "If Georgie got sw-," he took a deep breath before he continued, "If Georgie got swept into the sewers by the storm and he's still down there, I-I want him to know that I'm still looking for him. Th-that's why I let the boat go d-down. So he knows I'm here."

A wave of sadness washed over me and I put my hand on his shoulder.

"I understand." I said.

But I didn't.