FicWad

This story is also being posted on my blog - MissSophiaBlog.com - go there to read more chapters sooner



"You ready?" Kimi turned to face her brother, her wide green eyes were filled with sadness as she pulled her deep red ringlets into a high ponytail. She nodded and Blake, her tall, dark haired older brother sighed, "Look, Kimi, I know this is hard on you-"
"Whether you feel sorry for me or not, it isn’t going to change the situation so just let it go." She said quietly. He bit his tongue, holding back any reply he could muster. His youngest sister wouldn’t accept an apology, not from his lips or anyone else’s. She was the kind of girl that just went through everything - keeping herself to herself, never letting her wall down, not even once.
"You’ll be out of there in no time, honey.” Leila, Kimi’s older sister, said sympathetically, stepping out from behind Blake. Kimi sighed and shook her head,
"It doesn’t matter." she mumbled, hitching her battered backpack up, which was futile because it sunk back down as soon as she released the strap. She stood up and slipped her high top trainers on, walking past her siblings, towards the stairs.
"Kimi, one last thing," Leila stopped her, Kimi didn’t look up from the worn shoes on her feet, afraid she would cry if she saw the mist of tears in her sisters eyes again, “It’ll be okay. I promise." Kimi nodded and headed downstairs, waiting by the front door for Blake.
"I’m glad you’re going." Kimi gritted her teeth at the sound of her smarmy step sister’s voice,
"Hm." She replied bluntly. Fiona pushed herself off of the cool blue wall, taking a slow step towards Kimi and smirking at her bawled fists.
“I can have your room and you’re finally going to the dog house where you belong-" she stopped when Kimi sent her the coldest glare she could conjure and opened her mouth to snap back but wasn’t given the chance when her step mum, Karma, appeared behind her daughter.
"Kimi, aren’t you supposed to be going now? Being late on your first day wouldn’t give the school the best impression now, would it?" she raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow and gave her a disapproving look before steering Fiona into the living room by her shoulders.
"As if they have a good impression of me anyway. It’s not a school, it’s practically a bloody prison." Kimi muttered to herself. Blake rolled his eyes as he stepped down from the last stair, she looked up at him apologetically and he shook his head, offering her an understanding smile.
"Come on kid, it’s a long drive." He tossed his keys in the air and caught them with one hand, Kimi smiled slightly, grateful he was taking her and not Karma.
*
The gravel crunched under the cars wheels like dry bones as Blake pulled into the school drive through the big black iron gates, slowly coming to a stop.
“Kimi-“
“Save it.” She said quietly, putting her hand up to signal stop. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I guess this is It.” In just a few movements, she unclipped her seatbelt, threw her bag over her shoulder and seeped down in her chair. Blake put his arms around her, twisting himself into an uncomfortable position.
“It’ll be fine. Half term will come before you know it.” He assured softly, Kimi nodded and forced a smiled,
“Yeah, you’re right. Thanks Blake.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek and got out, taking her suitcase from the boot and making her way over to the grey double doors, the entrance to St Alexandria’s Juvenile Institute. SAJI.
“Full name?” The woman at the front desk asked, her greying brown hair was in a tight ponytail. She had broad shoulders, a knitted jumper and black trousers. Her eyes were cold and emotionless, making Kimi fidget.
“Kimi Delilah Colby.” She replied, the woman nodded and tapped it into her keyboard. She left Kimi standing in the musty front reception as she picked her phone up, dialling a number and letting it ring.
“Hello, can you send Cora down to the main entrance please? The new girl’s here.” She hung up and looked at Kimi then pointed to one of the grey plastic chairs lined against the wall, welded to the floor.
Safety precaution Kimi thought, already getting images of scenarios where young men had picked chairs up, throwing them at each other in a ferocious fight, as she sat down, waiting patiently and taking in her surroundings. Walls the same colour as her downstairs hallway back home, perhaps a coat of paint less, the floor was white and tiled. Everything else was a dull grey.
“Hey! I’m Cora.” a slim black haired girl bounced in to Kimi’s eye line, flashing a wide smile. Her lips were a daring shade of purple and her dark blue eyes were lined with thick black liner. She wore a red tartan skirt and a skull and cross bones top. Too friendly to be a stereotypical Goth.
“Kimi.” She replied standing up,
“Nice name, did you know it means secret?” Kimi shrugged and shook her head, “well, there you go, already learning.” Kimi didn’t say anything as she stood up, Cora sighed and her smile faded, a sympathetic glint in her eye as she put a hand on Kimi’s shoulder, “Don’t look so scared, this place isn’t as bad as it seems. Come on.” Kimi watched for a second as the young girls thick souled boots thumped across the floor. When she was roughly three feet away, Kimi began to follow.
“Hey guys, newbie alert.” Cora said, opening door number 35, Kimi stepped into the room, overpowered by the sweet scent that filled it in contrast to the dirty, musty smell of the reception. Three girls were sat in the room, one with luscious platinum blonde waves, pushed back by a fluffy white headband, bright blue eyes and no make-up other than a few layers of mascara, she was sat on one of the beds. One of the other girls was sat on the white carpeted floor, phone in hands, she had a fiery mane, half covering her face which she then flicked out of the way to see Kimi properly and smiled, ruby red lips and sharp emerald eyes that were a whole lot more noticeably green than Kimi’s and a few pale freckles peppering her nose. The third girl had a short, black pixie cut with blue tips and dark grey eyes with the same kind of make-up Cora was wearing, she was laid out on the other bed, propped up by two pillows, a gothic vampire book in her hands, she ignored Kimi, not even acknowledging her presence by looking up like the other two. “Alright, that’s Brandy, she’s our leprechaun,” Cora said, pointing to the red head who held her middle finger up at the bubbly Goth,
“She means I’m Irish.” She said, Kimi nodded,
“And that’s Cameron, the school gossip,” she nodded towards the blonde who just rolled her eyes, “and this lovely happy chappy over here is Lorelei, or Lolly. She’s a lesbian.” The girl with the pixie cut sighed,
“Not lesbian, Cora. I swing both ways.” She informed Kimi with a shrug, Cora ignored her,
“Anyway, stick with us and you’ll have a much easier time here.” Kimi bobbed her head slowly, almost jumping back when Cora bounced on her toes, clapping her hands with far too much enthusiasm, “Time to show you our room!” She grinned,
“Our?” Kimi asked faintly, feeling queasy at all of the new information, environment and people. Everything seemed so off, this wasn’t how she imagined St Alexandria’s to be at all. Why were they all so happy? This place was practically a prison for young offenders. Cora sighed,
“Yes, it’s kind of complicated. They pair a newbie with one of the familiar pupils and they share a room for a week, just until the new kid gets to grips with things, then they get their own room- oh, the dorms are coed by the way so, like, don’t go out in your underwear or anything.” Lorelei nodded in agreement, Kimi’s eyebrows furrowed, it wasn’t like she planned on going out in her underwear but Cora looked overly serious about her words,
“Why? I mean, why do you say it like that?”
“Well you are in a boarding school for under twenty-one criminals, this place can get dangerous if you’re too careless, you know… Young offenders and all.” She shrugged like it was nothing,
“She means rapists.” Cameron stated nonchalantly. Kimi’s mouth went dry,
“Huh.” She breathed. Cora tilted her head at Cameron in disbelief, clearly annoyed that she’d said it so outright. With a shake of her head, she turned back to Kimi, brushing the comment off like it was nothing.
“Don’t worry about that, there are only like, three in the whole school.” Kimi was sure she meant it as a good thing but it didn’t add any positivity to the situation at all. She blinked and pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind before looking at Lorelei, changing the subject,
“So why are you two sharing then? Are one of you new?” Both girls shook their heads,
“Nope,” Lorelei said, clapping her book shut and standing up. She walked over to the sink and fluffed at her hair in the mirror, “my roommate, another new girl, hung herself.” Kimi took in a sharp breath at the blasé tone in Lorelei’s reply, Cora looked down to her thick industrial boots,
“You’ll get over the initial shock of suicides in this place soon enough, they’re quite common.” Her eyes drifted up to meet Kimi’s, “that’s why you have to be careful who you choose to be friends with. You don’t want to lose them.” The way she had worded it sounded like a warning and Kimi nodded obediently, feeling relieved when her new roommate smiled, brightening the atmosphere, “now, to our room!” She cheered, “Bye girls.” They left the room, walking down the corridor that looked as if it would never end.
Cora opened the door to her bedroom, holding it as Kimi followed her in. It wasn’t the most organised environment. Her desk was overflowing with poetry books, a book on voodoo and a book on name meanings, Kimi also spotted a few on mythology. The full length mirror was decorated with white fairy lights and a glittery black scarf hanging off the corner, the carpet was grey and the walls were covered in posters of hard-core metal bands that Kimi had never heard of. Cora’s own bed had a dark purple duvet and plenty of black fluffy cushions, a large difference in comparison to the spare bed dressed in plain white sheets.
"Home sweet home." Cora said with a small satisfied smile as she dropped down on her bed and shrugged, "well, close enough." She leaned over, reaching under her bed and pulling out an iPod, earphones dangling from it,
“Where did you get that?” Kimi asked, her brows drawn together in confusion, “on the letter it said we weren’t allowed phones or iPods.” She lowered herself down onto the other bed, finally ditching her backpack and suitcase. Cora smirked,
”I have my connections. Just keep quiet about it though, yeah? Most of us have out phones not that it helps. There’s hardly any signal in this place, we only really use them to reach each other.” Kimi nodded and Cora put her earphones in. She bobbed her head along to the music, giving Kimi some time to her own thoughts as she adjusted to her bedroom for the following week or two. She sat, looking at her reflection in the mirror opposite her bed as she chewed on the white hood string to her red jacket. After a few minutes, Cora sighed and stood up. She walked across the room, picking up discarded clothes and a hairbrush along her way before dumping them on top of everything on her desk then turning to her wardrobe. It looked like it had been coloured in with black marker pen and from the impression Kimi got from Cora, it wouldn’t surprise her. The doors creaked open and Cora slid the clothes across the pole, making a metallic scraping sound as the coat hangers were forced to the other side, "Ah!" Kimi quickly looked over to her new friend when she made the sudden sound of triumph and she was greeted by a face full of different school uniforms, all black, white and red colour coded. "Pick something to wear for classes tomorrow, that’s your uniform selection." Cora informed her. Kimi nodded, searching through the garments. Ten minutes later, she had settled for a white blouse, a pleated skirt and a red cardigan.
“Cute.” Cora mumbled from the corner of the bedroom after seeing what Kimi had decided to wear. It was slightly patronising but then, it did look like her mum had picked it out.
“I didn’t really expect a uniform.” Kimi murmured, taking things out of her suitcase and setting them out on her bed. Cora laughed loudly,
"Come off it, this place isn’t far from forcing us to dress in luminous orange jumpsuits. Mind you, some of the boys in this year wouldn’t make them look half bad." She sent Kimi a sideways glance and simpered, taking the remaining clothes off of Kimi’s bed and cramming them back into the wardrobe.
"Speaking of boys," Kimi started as Cora began pulling her own uniform from the wardrobe, a black school dress and a white blouse, "where are they all?"
“Ah, the boys. They’re around. Somewhere. Probably breaking one rule or another.” She rolled her shoulders and froze, tapping an acrylic nail against her tooth and slowly rotating to face Kimi. A Cheshire cat smile spread across her face and she grabbed a book, dropping down on the end of Kimi’s bed and opening it. "Full name" she ordered, Kimi looked at her, brows together,
"Sorry?" Cora sighed, shifting slightly,
“Your full name. What is it?”
"Kimi Delilah Colby," She mumbled. Cora searched her book for five minutes and raised her eyebrows when she found what she was looking for,
"Wow. Quite an awesome name you’ve got yourself."
“Why?” Kimi questioned, confused by Cora’s continuous vagueness,
"Because,” She said obviously, “it means secret seductive dark one, how cool is that?" Kimi shrugged,
“I guess…" Cora tilted her head at her,
"Oh come on! That’s a freakin’ kiss ass name, beats mine. Coraline Patricks." She scrunched her nose up at it and Kimi smiled, it didn’t fit her at all. "Ah, she smiles!" Cora cheered, standing up and walking into the bathroom, "I’ll go down and get us some food soon." She called, a second later, walking out with a small bottle of perfume, "anything in particular that you like?” The sweet smell of her fragrance filled the room and it was oddly comforting, “I mean, it’s not like there’s a huge selection but drinks wise, there’s water, blackcurrant or orange and then there’s apple, banana or orange for… Dessert? But the main will probably be the usual off "what the hell is that?" Kimi laughed at Cora’s surprised and disgusted facial expression,
"It’s probably still better than what my step mum cooks."
An hour later, the girls were sat on Kimi’s bed, munching on warm green apples, a bottle of water each,
"So, what’s your dirt?" Cora asked, breaking the silence,
"What do you mean?" Kimi replied, taking another bite, the juice ran down her chin, Cora shrugged, waiting for her to finish wiping the escaping liquid.
"Well, no one gets sent to this hell hole for nothing, what did you do?" Kimi fell quiet, looking down at her white socks, the apple went twice as sour in her mouth. She cleared her throat and shook her head, Cora nodded, getting her drift, "fair play, you tell me in your own time." She smiled and Kimi nodded,
"Yeah."