Fighting On

F I V E

"Hi! You must be Jessica?" I say as I approach the dark-haired girl I'd never seen before.

"Uh yes, I prefer Jess. Are you Scarlett?" she says looking down at the piece of paper in her hand.
"I am, now I will be your guide for the morning and hopefully your friend." I say sounding much more positive then I actually am considering my lack of sleep.

"Well I see you've been to the office to see Mrs Reynolds," I say gesturing to her arms which are full of papers and time tables.

"So, let's get started. We will take the first period off so I can show you around the school and then I'll get you to the rest of your classes." I sate as we begin walking

"Okay." She mumbles shyly with red staining her pale cheeks. Adorable.

"So where did you move here from?" I ask nicely whilst we are making our way to the gymnasium. The path is a smooth one and it leads us there quickly.

"Cincinnati." She states.

"Ah, good old Ohio, so why move down here?" I question once more to keep small conversation going and to try and worm out the awkward and make her feel as comfortable as possible. God knows it's hard to start at a new school, especially if you're starting at this school.

"My dad's job, he is a technology specialist, he got moved down here so my mum and I decided to follow him." She answers not leaving much room for further conversation.

"Cool." I say as I lead her around more of the school showing off its gardens, lockers and our ever so friendly staff and students. Note the sarcasm.

"Well Jess, it's been lovely taking you around, I'll see you around!" I say as I drop her off at her class before making my way to my own. Walking through the halls towards my room I glance down to check my phone to see it had been spammed by Alec wondering where I was. Glancing at them briefly before turning my phone off I arrive at the door of the room.

Entering the already begun class I hand the teacher my note and take my seat next to the one and only Alec.

"Where were you?" he leans in and whispers in my ear.

"I was showing a new girl around the campus, Mr. Brian singed me up for it." I say groaning in response. He just looks at me for a few seconds before turning his attention back to the teacher and resuming taking notes.

I watched him for a while just taking in his concentred features. Not that he needed full concentration he was already top of the class for most subjects. Turning away from him again before he notices, I continue to feign attention to the teacher.

"I was thinking we should go do our weekly check on the house now to see if everything is ok." He suggests as we get in his car, ready to go back to his apartment.

"Sure." I agree. We decided it would be smart to check up every three to seven days on the house just to make sure it's all intact. Would be a pity if that house burnt down especially because it's one of the last remaining memories of my family as they left it for me in their will. Driving with silence between us but the soft hum of the radio is comfortable between us making it a calm ride there.

Pulling up in the driveway all seems good from the outside but just for the sake of checking we go in. unlocking the all too familiar mahogany door we begin the check. The check mainly consists of checking if there are any more mysterious notes or things missing.

Walking through the familiar home feels strange. It's like there's something in the air that indicates it hasn't been occupied in a while. Finishing my section of the house, I go and check on Alec in the kitchen.