Guarding

2- Chapter Two

 “A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a short cut to meet it.” 

~J.R.R Tolkien

Chapter Two

Twice then three times. I lower my hand and stand aside, waiting for someone to answer the door. It's just turning noon and I'm dressed and ready to take Carolynn out to town. I couldn't stop thinking about it last night. Where will I take her? Maybe to a couple of shops if she has money, then to a cafe or something. My bottom lip starts bleeding - an outcome of my bad lip biting habit, which I can't help.

Carolynn answers the door dressed in denim shorts and a light blue tank top with sunglasses sitting on top of her blonde curls. Maybe I shouldn't have worn the purple top after all.

"Jade! You look great," she says contradicting my thoughts. There's no sarcasm in her voice. I'm not sure she's the type of person who uses it. 

"Hey, so do you. Are you ready?"

"Yeah, hang on, let me get my sandals." She rummages through a box of shoes before pulling out a pair of blue sandals. A few pairs of shoes fall out the box.

I put them back as she straps on her sandals. "So...uh, where do you want to go?" 

"Anywhere, I don't mind. It's your pick." She gets up and locks the door when we're both outside. 

"Right. Well, I'll take you into the shopping centre and then we'll grab a milkshake or something. I mean, if that's alright with you."

"Sounds good," she says, beaming her pearl white teeth at me. 

We take the bus, normally packed with noisy school kids on school days, now with empty seats and a grandma sitting alone at the front with her shopping bags. The seats upstairs are probably empty too, but I don't take any chances. The top deck of the bus is my living hell, school days or otherwise.

"It's quiet around here," Carolynn says when we're sitting down.

I clear my throat a little before saying, "Yeah, but on school days it's usually full with people from my school."

"Which school do you go to?" A strand of her hair falls onto her face. The window is slightly open, giving the bus a little ventilation on this hot summer day.

"Northside Hillary, I'll show you when we pass it."

"I think that's the one my brother signed me up for," she says a little hesitantly. "Yeah. It is."

"Did he? When?"

"Before we moved in, last week I think," the strand of hair that fell on her face, goes into her mouth a little. She tucks it behind her ear, "we looked it up online and he emailed the head teacher."

"Were you accepted?"

"Yeah, they sent me some questionnaires to fill in so that they can get to know me." She sounds over the moon. Little does she know that she's signing her own death wish. Who am I kidding? They'll love her. With her blonde hair and what not, she'll definitely be one of the populars, no matter how nice or genuine she is.

"Tell me about the school. The people, lessons, teachers. All that stuff." Her eyes focus on me, keen to know more.

"What year will you be in?"

"Nine."

"Nine?" I question. "I thought you were fourteen."

"No," she says. "I turned thirteen this May."