Burning Revenge

7

I was just admiring the roses surrounding the lion statue when Eveland rung the doorbell. Only a few seconds later the door opened wide and a tall woman with pink glasses stepped into the doorframe. She was very slender and her hair was tied up in a strict bun. Although her features made her look extremely strict, her voice was kind and warm when she spoke. "Ah, you must be the Firestone's."

Jemma nodded and smiled sweetly, showing of her little white teeth.

"And you young lady must be Jemma. Am I right?"

Jemma nodded again, her brown curls wiggling with her every move.

"I'm Dorothea Dawson. But you two will be calling me MISS Dawson." She winked at us and pointed to the door. "Shall we go inside?"

Miss Dawson led the way in, and the first thing I noticed was the unmistakeable smell of chocolate-chip cookies. When I glanced at Jemma and saw how her eyes lit up, I knew she had found out aswell. Miss Dawson smiled at us again, we must have been drooling all over the carpets. "Yes, what you are smelling are the cookies our cook Mrs. Rubbleberry made. She always does that when we have new children."

We were nearly at the end of the corridoor and I thought I heard some whispering. I hope no one will make a big deal about us, was the last thing I thought before I stepped into the crowded lounge. Little children, they must have been around Jemma's age, were all sitting on red sofas. The whispering stopped when we came in.

The children just stared at us. I felt my heart sink. Little baby children. I hope I'm not going to be their babysitter or something.

I was beginning to feel very awkward, just standing there in a room full of children half my age, staring at me.

Jemma smiled and waved, "Hello, I'm Jemma. But everyone calls me Jem."

Suddenly, the curious, staring kids smiled and waved back. A little blond boy with blue sparkling eyes jumped up and took Jemma's hand. He ran up the stairs holding on tight to her hand, while the little kids followed, laughing and shouting.

I was so startled I just stayed rooted to the spot and stared at the place my sister had stood. "Well, she found friends fast," Officer Eveland said, his eyes wide. "Ah yes," Miss Dawson laughed, "I think that's all a lot easier when you're young."

I shook my head as if to clear it and took in the lounge. It had five small, red sofas all around the room, and games, pencils and paper were scattered ontop of them.

"Olivia?" Miss Dawson asked from behind me, "how about you go upstairs into the living room? They're allready waiting impatiently." I nodded and climbed the stairs, trying to hide my confusion. Who is 'they'?

Finally reaching the top of the stairs I saw a door with a sign saying: LIVING ROOM

I pushed it open, my hands sweating a little. "Um.. hello?"

Inside, seven girls and boys around my age were sitting around a huge table. They had been playing cards until I had barged in. Right now, they were staring at me. What is it with these people and staring?!

After a few more minutes of awkward staring I cleared my throat and said, in my still croaky voice: "Hi.."

They all jumped up, throwing their cards onto the table and walked up to me. An asian-looking girl with short, dark hair going to her chin embraced me, smiling. "Hi, I'm Juma. Nice to meet you," she said. I relaxed in her embrace and felt a small ache in my heart. I quickly ignored it and smiled back. The others seemed to have relaxed aswell and Juma said cheerfully,"Come sit with us."

I sat in between Juma and a very handsome boy with messy blond hair and blue eyes. He eyed me curiously while I tucked a strand of my curly hair behind my ear.

"So.." a girl with long black hair and pale skin said, her green eyes sparkling with a mixsture of joy and curiosity, "I'm Isabelle. But you can call me Izzy." I smiled, as if to say 'nice to meet you' because I didn't want anyone to hear my croaky voice again.

Juma pointed at a small boy with red hair and freckles. "That's Leo. He's scottish and pretty sporty. But don't tell him to keep watch over your food while your gone somewhere, he'll just eat it up," Juma said giggling. The boy called Leo rolled his eyes at her and snorted, "You're not still on about that are you Juma?! That was half a year ago!" Everyone laughed. I just smiled.

"You don't say much do you?" another girl with blond, curly hair and glasses said, leaning her head into her arms. I cleared my throat and said quietly, "I usually do, but I have some problems with my voice at the moment, some smoke practically boiled my vocal cords." I tried a smile, and the girl blushed. "I'm sorry. I'm Cassy by the way."

"Wow. You really sounded like an seventy-four year old smoker just then," the handsome boy grinned next to me. I blushed and shrugged.

"What's your name anyway?" he asked, still grinning.

"Olivia Firestone."

"Olivia, what a nice name." He put his arm behind me and winked, "I'm Jaz. Nice to meet you, beautiful."

"Oh give her a break, she's only just got here!" a red haired girl with blue eyes laughed. "I'm Alyssa. If you love books as much as I do, we'll become great friends."

I winked and nodded, I allready liked Alyssa quite a bit. Looking around the table I knew that I was going to get to know these people a lot better soon.

"And I'm Dylan. Hope you'll start feeling better soon," a dark skinned, but extremely well built boy smiled sympatheticly. Behind his dark brown eyes I could see sadness, and it reminded me, made me actually realize, that I was going to stay here. Live here.

"So.." I croaked, my voice small, "I'm guessing from Dylan's comment you all know how I ended up here?"

There was a general nodding of heads and a few murmered a 'yes'. I let my curls fall into my face as I stared into my lap.

Everyone was silent. Something warm trickled down my cheak as I looked up, and by the look of their pittying eyes I knew it was tears.

I sniffed and wiped them away quickly. "How much do you know?"

Jaz put his arms atound me, not in any way flirtatious anymore and hugged me to his side. Izzy spoke, her voice soft and careful, "We know you lost your parents in a car crash. And that they were the famous Firestones that everyone knows about. They were, like, the Einsteins of our time! And we also know that you can do medicine and stuff."

My head snapped up and I looked at all there faces cautiously. "How do you know that?" No magazines or newspapers were ever allowed to interview me, my parents had made sure of that. So how-

"I heard Miss Dawson talk to a man earlier on, just before you got here."

I frowned. Who could Miss Dawson have been talking to? He must've known me pretty well to know that.

"Is that all you guys know about me and my sister Jemma?" I asked, my voice better but still raspy. It's probably going to stay raspy, I thought to myself.

They all nodded. I took a deep breath.

Time to tell them everything from the start.

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I haven't written much in the other chapters (I'm sorry) but here i am now with an extremely long one :)

Sorry about the spelling if you find something