This week's snippet has us meeting Kacee, the Dormitory C assistant. While the older girl seems to have a connection with Marie, Leah isn't so sure. Enjoy!
So I gave in, just like I always did when my sister turned on the heat. Which is how I found myself lugging my lone suitcase up two flights of stairs to what I’d been told was Dormitory C. The stark white walls and faded green linoleum barely registered as I followed Marie, who for the first time in recent history was babbling like a chimpanzee. She obviously felt a connection to the young woman guiding us. Marie was like that. She had some sorta of super sense for other kids who were like her. She was a super-genius magnet, while I on the other hand found myself surrounded by boys more often than not, since I didn’t care for dresses, make-up or any of that girly-girl stuff. I was comfortable in my own skin.
Still I hadn’t expected Mrs. Brindle to just up and abandon us when we arrived, after the concern she’d shown at Mrs. Leham’s. But when we’d arrived on campus, she’d been greeted a grumpy looking man who insisted that she had matters to attend to, barely giving Mrs. Brindle time to line up a replacement to take us to what was going to be our new home until we aged out of the system. Less than five minutes later, she’d pulled the dormitory assistant out of class and left us in Kacee Pope’s capable hands. I wasn’t sure what to think of the slender red-head. She seemed nice enough. Chatting up Marie like an old friend while trying to involve me in their conversation about some upcoming science fair.
“Here we are.” Kacee tossed her long braid over her shoulder. “This is the girls side. The boys are across the hall and two doors down. After nine o’clock there is no fraternization with them but we do share a common room and kitchen area with them. Don’t let Aaron trick you into doing KP. He’s perfectly capable of washing dishes despite being in a wheel chair.” She winked, before ushering us inside. “You two can have the last two beds closest to the window.” She gestured two two beds on the far end of the room.
Long but narrow, the room had a total of eight beds lining one wall while upright lockers lined the other. There was one locker for every bed it looked like. Several of them had boy band pictures and the latest Disney star taped the shiny metal doors. Each of the ones that were occupied had the owner’s name stenciled on the upper corner of the right hand door. I was surprised to see my own name on one, and Marie’s name on the other.
“Man, you must work fast.” I nodded toward the lockers.
Kacee gave a short nod. “Mrs. Brindle expects us to be efficient.” The way she said it had the hairs on the back of my neck rising. Why did it seem like there was more than that?
“Guess there’s nothing wrong with being efficient,” I mumbled as I set down my bag on the bed across from the locker with my name on it.
“You’ll find your life will be much easier here if you do.” She gave us a smile. “Once you put your stuff away, I’ll take you down to the kitchen. We’ll be having lunch in less than a half hour and I can introduce you to the rest of the group.”
“Sure thing, Kacee.” Marie opened her bag and began to unpack. I still couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more to Kacee than met the eye. Was she special like me and Marie or was she merely another orphaned girl?
©Becki Gylberte All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. No portion of this work may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.
