Camden Academy

Chapter Two

The first day of September came quicker than expected. I hurried down the stairs to see mum, dad, and Jim waiting at the bottom. Mum had tears in her eyes, dad was smiling, and Jim just looked bored. Unsurprisingly, his hand kept creeping down to his pocket where his phone was. When he saw my uniform he snorted.

"You couldn't pay me to wear that," he said.

"Well, I doubt they'd make you wear a girl's uniform," I said.

Personally, I liked the uniform. I had on a freshly ironed white button-down on with a buttoned navy blazer over it and a red tie. The skirt I'd decided to wear (as opposed to the trousers) was red as well, and my black combat boots had thankfully been allowed. I thought it was smart, and I wasn't going to let Jim talk bad about it.

Mum took out her phone. I groaned. "Pictures, mum? Really?"

"I won't see you for a while-"

"-But I'm calling you every night!" I interrupted.

"So of course I'm taking pictures," she finished, talking over me.

I sighed and posed in front of the dark purple dining room wall, but it was "too dark" so I had to go have my picture taken in front of the oak in our yard. Finally mum was done and I was able to escape to the car after many tearful (on my parent's part) goodbyes.

Jim had been forced to drive me, and we drove there in silence. When we were less then a mile away, bouncing along a mostly deserted dirt road, when the car started making sputtering noises. Jim cursed and moved us quickly off the road, and not a moment too soon. The car sputtered and died.

He cursed again and hit the steering wheel.

"We'll have to call mum and ask her to come get us," he said.

"It's alright, Jim. It's not even a kilometer, I can walk," I said.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Yes," I insisted.

He shrugged. "Alright, whatever."

I got out and opened up the trunk. I only had one roller bag, since we had uniforms. I pulled up the handle, gave my brother a brief hug, and set off.

I didn't look back.

After a good fifteen minutes of maneuvering my bag over and around rocks, ditches, and the occasional dead animal, I started to get an odd feeling. The hair on the back of my neck actually did rise, something I'd thought only happened for dramatic effect in books.

A few seconds later, I broke into a quick walk. I heard footsteps pick up behind me, and I started running. The footsteps sped up. I was running full-out when I tripped over a large rock. I went one way, my bag went the other. Someone loomed over me. I looked up and saw... a girl?

She had short, dark hair, pale grey eyes, and a sharp, angular face. She extended a hand that I just blinked at. She sighed as if I'd just said the earth was only a thousand years old and I had scientific evidence.

"I'm helping you up," she said in an oddly posh accent.

"Thanks," I said, taking her hand.

She hauled me up and nodded at me. "Deck," she said.

"Um, Tylas," I said, assuming we were exchanging names. "What're you doing out here?"

"I prefer to walk the last kilometer or so to the Academy."

"Ah," I said. That's odd, I hadn't seen her when we were driving. I must've been reading.

She indicated my bag. "You might want to get that. I'm surprised you ran so far with a roller bag."