Home Alone Book 2 ~ Moving On

By Susan Brown

Once again my thanks go to Kristina LS for knocking this into shape

It would be advisable for those who haven’t done so, to read Home Alone before continuing with the story. http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/story/216/home-alone-1

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‘Katie, get up, its time for school.’

My eyes snapped open and I smiled to myself. I was going to my new school today!

Sitting up abruptly made my kitten Honey jump and then curl up again. Lazy girl!

I went into the bathroom, took my nightie off and jumped into the shower.

As the water cascaded down me I thought about what was going to happen today and the changes that had occurred over such a short amount of time.

I had moved with my parents to a lovely house in the country. I was 11 years old and about to start at a new school. However, we had been involved in a horrid car accident and I… I lost my parents.

After trying, unsuccessfully to live by myself in the house and a few other heart stopping adventures, I found myself in the tender care of Mr and Mrs Bright, who are now my new parents. I have a new sister who is also my best friend, Nicola. She’s a little scatty and a bit of a nut case but I love her dearly.

Unfortunately, I have what they call type 1 diabetes, and I have to watch what I eat and need to inject myself at certain times of the day. I hate injections, but the needles are very fine and don’t hurt, much!

I have to check my blood glucose levels regularly and carry glucose around all the time, just in case. It’s all a bit boring but better than feeling yucky all the time and wanting to constantly drink and have to go wee. Dad has said that I might go over to using a continuous insulin pump at some stage, that will make it easier for me but for now, as I am a newbie, they want to see how I go.

Anyway, here I was getting a bit prunie under the shower, so I shut the water off, got my big fluffy towel and dried myself off quickly.

The wardrobe had my uniform hanging there on the door, all crisp and new. The one that I'd bought for myself was just a bit scruffy and was to be used for spares, if and when needed.

‘Katie, hurry up or you’ll miss your breakfast!’

‘Yes, Mum.’

I put on some pink knickers, (I LOVE pink) my white blouse, grey skirt and white knee socks and then grabbed my straw boater and purple blazer and rushed downstairs. I got half way down and realised that I had forgotten my shoes.

Back I went. I picked up my shoes went downstairs again with another rush. Living in such a big house had its disadvantages, the kitchen seemed like it was miles away!

I skidded into the kitchen, aquaplaning slightly on the highly polished parquet flooring and ended up breathless at the kitchen table.

‘Ooh Katie,’ said Nicola with a smug look on her face, ‘You look all hot and bothered.’

‘Well, you were supposed to wake me up.’

‘Oops, sorry, I forgot.’

‘Hmm.’

‘Now, now girls, don’t start. Get yourself some cornflakes Katie, and don’t forget your injection.’

‘Yes Mum.’

‘Don’t say it like that. You know that I hate reminding you.’

I went over and gave her a hug. ‘Sorry, Mum. I know that you are trying to help.'

I went over to the bench seat by the picture window, picked up my med kit and injected myself in my thigh. There was a tiny dot of pain, but it soon went away.

Nicola and I talked about school a bit.

I was quite apprehensive about going although I had been there before. Firstly while I was still living by myself and again a couple of times when I had to see the headmistress to see if I was ‘suitable.’ I was very much a new girl.

It was a boarding school and Nicola and I would be staying at the school during the week and as we lived reasonably close, coming home at weekends. Not every weekend, as the school had quite a few trips and in-school activities at weekends, but most times I would be home with my new parents. I went all squishy thinking about that. It was lovely to be part of a family again.

The cases were packed and in the back of the Landrover. I was saying a tearful goodbye to Honey.

‘Now you be good for Mum and don’t bring any mice into the house.’

I kissed her on the nose and she licked mine back. I put her down and she ran off to terrorise the neighbourhood wildlife.

‘Don’t I get a kiss from you two heathens?’ We turned round and there was Dad with open arms.

Nicola and I rushed over and gave him a big kiss and cuddle.

‘Bye, Dad,’ we said in unison.

‘Nicola, be good and don’t burn down the school and Katie, ignore any bad things that Nicola does and don’t forget to check your levels, eat properly and do your injections at the right time.’

‘Yes, Daddy.’

In no time we were waving at Dad through the windows as we went down the long gravel drive and out onto the lane.

‘Now, girls; what your father said was right. Try to stay out of trouble and be a credit to the family. Nicola, I expect you to look after your sister, as she is new, and don’t lead her astray.’

‘Yes Mum,’ said a particularly angelic sounding Nicola.

‘Hmm,’ said Mum, not convinced.

I looked out the window, imagining what things were going to be like. I was scared and excited all at the same time.

Would I fit in with the other children? There were boys as well as girls at the school. It used to be all girls, but things had changed about ten years before.

Would I make friends? Will the fact that I still had male bits make my life difficult? So many questions ran through my head as we got nearer to the school.

On the way, we passed my old house. We had talked about selling it but I begged my new parents not too because it was the last remaining tie that I had with my old life. Perhaps, some day it would be sold, but not now.

I looked down at myself, wearing my smart new school uniform; straw hat on my lap with sky blue house ribbon, pure white socks and shiny bright shoes. A lot had happened to me recently, not all of it good, but some of it great.

I wondered what my birth parents would say if they saw me now. I somehow think that they would be proud of me. I sincerely hoped so.

In no time we were going through the huge school gates and going up the drive leading to the main school building of St Winifred's.

Lots of children were milling around saying goodbye to their parents.

The kids came in all shapes and sizes; some looked huge, almost grown up to me, especially the big boys.

I kind of sidled up closely to my mother, a bit shy and overawed by all these people. They all looked as if they knew where they were going. They belonged; would I belong soon? Oh I hoped so.

‘Come on girls, let’s go to the office.’ Mum held on to my hand, perhaps realising that this was all a bit much for me.

Nicola was waving and shouting ‘hi,’ to lots of different people as we weaved our way through the noisy crowd and into the comparative quiet of the school office.

‘Hello, Mrs Bright, Nicola,’ said the lady behind the counter. ‘Is this Katie?’

I nodded, shyly.

‘Well, I hope that you’re not as noisy as Nicola, she gives us a few headaches from time to time.’

‘Who, me?’ said Nicola, all innocent.

‘Yes you,’ said Mum and the receptionist together.

‘Now, Katie, you are in the same house as Nicola, which is Dickens, of course. Luckily, you will be in the same dormitory, as Lucy Padgett moved abroad at the end of last term. Perhaps Nicola will take you up and get you settled in, whilst we sort out the paperwork here?’

‘Ok. Miss Jones,’ said Nicola.

‘Don’t I get a goodbye hug?’

‘Sorry Mum, forgot,’ said Nicola giving Mum a nice big hug.

After she finished, I went over and hugged Mum too. I held her tight, not wanting to let go. Even though I had not been in her life for long, I felt that she loved me as much as I loved her.

Nicola led me up some stairs, along several corridors until finally, we arrived at our destination.

Our dormitory was a long room with eight beds in it, four each side.

At the end of the room were two open doors, one leading into a sitting room and the other a bathroom.

‘This is your bed, Katie,’ said Nicola, ‘next to mine.’

I sat on the bed, which was surprisingly soft and springy. I bounced up and down a bit.

‘This feels good,’ I said as I looked around the room.

The dormitory looked homely and lived in and wasn’t as I had imagined it to be. I thought that it would be all severe, exposed brickwork, huge radiators and hard beds.

The walls were painted magnolia and dotted around were cheerful pictures, obviously painted by past and present students.

I went over to the large window and looked out.

The view from the windows was lovely. Immediately in front was a large sports field, where some girls were playing hockey. To the left, boys were playing soccer and making a lot of noise about it.

Further in the distance I could see some woods, a church spire and a river, sparkling in the sunshine. I wondered if it was connected to the stream where my old house was.

‘Katie, look at this.’ I turned to Nicola who was over in the corner of the room. There was a curtain on the wall with a cord by the side of it.

She pulled the cord, the curtains moved out of the way and I gasped. It was the biggest flat screen TV that I had ever seen. It was massive!

‘Wow.’

‘Good, isn’t it? We can watch TV or DVD’s up to 10.00pm and it has a great sound system too.’

I was definitely beginning to like the idea of staying away at school. Mum and Dad only allowed us to stay up until 9.30 most nights.

The door burst open and it seemed like thousands of screaming girls ran in, laughing and jostling each other.

They stopped dead when they saw me. All was quiet and I was getting a bit worried. Were they going to do something nasty? I had heard stories about boarding schools; bullying, sticking heads down toilets and stuff like that.

One of the girls came over and stuck out her hand. ‘Hi, I’m Stephanie. This is Julia, Phillipa, Denise, Portia , her parents like yucky Shakespeare and finally, the red head is George?’

‘George,’ I squeaked.

‘Short for Georgina.’ Said the girl in question, with a smile showing an alarming set of braces on her teeth.

‘You must be Nicola’s sister, Katie, right?’

‘Yes, that’s me.’

‘How do you like the dump so far?’

‘Do you like netball?

The questions came thick and fast. It didn’t seem to matter that I didn’t have time to answer any of them.

‘Well, um … ah, I like your hair.’

I heard the sound of a bell in the distance.

‘Registration,’ shouted all the girls together.

I was dragged downstairs, out into a sort of a quadrangle across some grass that had signs that clearly said ‘No walking on the grass,’ up some more stairs and into a large classroom, full to the brim with boys and girls about my age.

‘Sit down children,’ said a woman sitting at a desk in front of the class.

We all grabbed seats; it didn’t seem to matter where you sat as this was only registration.

The teacher said, ‘answer your names please.’ She coughed, looked at her list, ballpoint over the first name.

‘Andrew.’

‘Here Miss.’

‘Brian,’

‘Here Miss.’

‘Denise.’

She read a few other names and then got to me.

‘Katie.’

‘Here Miss.’

She looked up and smiled at me. ‘We’ll talk later, dear,’ then went onto the next person on the list.

Once she finished the list she turned to us. ‘Now children, could you please make sure that you make your beds properly in the mornings. I have had complaints. No names of course, but Julia, you should most certainly be embarrassed.’

We all laughed at this as Julia turned a bright red.

George, your mother has asked that your hair is cut before going home as she can’t stand to see so many split ends.’

More laughter greeted this.

‘Finally, I would like to welcome Katie to our school. It’s all very new to her, and as her registration class; I look to you all to be nice to her and help her out as much as possible.’

I am sure that I was as red as Julia was at this unwanted attention but everyone seemed to be nice, it wasn’t too bad.

‘Now, everyone but Nicola and Katie, push off to your classes, quietly, please.’

There was a general exodus to the door though it was far from quiet. I could hear children from other classes rushing along the corridor outside too. This place was pretty noisy!

The teacher shook her head and turned to us. ‘Now Katie; how are you feeling, dear?’

‘Fine thanks.’

‘Good. I know that all this is strange to you and that you have had a number of personal problems but everyone is here to help you. Have you got your medi kit for diabetes?’

I nodded.

‘Well, make sure that you keep it with you, and if you have any worries about that, see the school nurse. Now Nicola, can you wait outside for a minute, I need to speak to Katie privately. I’ll call you when I’ve finished. We won’t be long.’

‘OK, Miss.’

With that, Nicola rushed out.

‘That girl does not know how to walk! Now Katie, Oh by the way, I’m Miss Stevens, if you haven’t been told. I know your personal circumstances, all the teachers do. None of the children are aware of the fact that you are officially male. The parents of the kids in your dormitory do know though. We thought it only fair that they know what happened to you, and they are happy for you to be with the other girls. We pride ourselves at this school that we not only pick the nicest kids, but parents also. We abhor intolerance in any way, shape or form.’

‘So the other children don’t know about me?’

‘That’s right. It’s up to you if you wish to tell them. It’s very personal and we would not tell anyone who does not strictly need to know.’

‘What about when I get undressed and things? Someone might notice that I have a, um, er, willy.’

‘Well, this is one thing we can help with. Some children are self conscious and do not like to dress and undress in front of others. They go into the dormitory toilets to change. You will see that you all have an individual wash cubicle where you can lock the door and change in private. It shouldn’t be a problem, but if it is, let me know. Have you any other questions? No? Okay. You can call me any time on extension 254 or pop in here. I’m here quite a bit. Now off you go with Nicola, she will show you to your next class.’

I went out to see Nicola kicking her heels outside.

‘Hi Katie, all okay?’

‘Yes, she’s nice.’

‘Mm, she’s a sweetie. I’ll show you the cafeteria now. We missed History, and Social Science doesn’t start for half an hour. We can grab a drink and then go to class.’

We made our way to the cafeteria. Like most of the other rooms, it was cheerful bright and airy.

We got some Cokes from a drinks dispenser and sat outside on a wall overlooking the playing fields.

‘Well, said Nicola between sucking loudly on a straw, ‘what do you think, so far?’

‘Better than my wildest dreams. Everyone has been so nice to me.’

‘Yes. There’re not a bad bunch. Even the teachers are more than semi human.’

‘Do you know that none of the kids realise that I have boy stuff?’

‘You mean a willy.’

‘Mmm.’

‘I don’t think it matters. You scream girl. God, you're more girly than most of the girls I know. It doesn’t matter. When you get to know everyone, just tell them. They won’t shout and scream or anything, I’m sure.’

Just then a bell went.

‘Time for the next lesson; social science. I wonder who’s taking it? Miss Shaw who normally does it, is off having twins.’

We sucked the remaining Coke out of the tins, put them in a bin and joined the packed masses trying to fight their way to the next class.

We walked into a large classroom with about twenty desks and sat about half way back to the right of centre.

The teacher wasn’t there yet and we just chatted as we waited.

The door opened and the room went quiet as a man walked up the centre of the room and put some books on his desk. He turned around and the smile on my face fell and my heart flipped as I saw who it was.

It was the horrible social worker who made me run away from home, Jackson!

His eyes roved around the room and then stopped, looking straight at me.

I felt like I wanted to die.

To be continued?

Please leave comments as I would like to know if you wish me to continue ~ Thanks