The Guardian

Jenna's POV My alarm woke me up at 6am blaring. After switching it off and giving myself a small pep talk for the day ahead, I went into the bathroom adjoining my room and showered. Next was make -up, hair blah blah blah. I dressed in dark blue skinny jeans and a grey oversized t-shirt that said 'Not Today' in white on the front. Grabbing my stuff on the way from my room I slugged down the stairs for some toast and made myself a cup of tea in my to go cup. “Morning Jen don’t look so negative, it's the first day of the rest of your life. Enjoy it. See you later” So that's my mum. She's full of positive little statements like that but she's not really involved in my life. She means well but most of the time she's too busy for me really. But I know she loves me in her own way.  We don't discuss boys, The fact that I was bullied every single day of my high school life or the fact that I feel like a total outsider in my own family despite being the middle child of 3 siblings. That’s just my mother's side. My father is absent and unreliable. Again, he loves me in his own way. I have another 3 Younger sisters that came along after he left. But that's a story for another day. So, what you need to know about me. I moved here a couple days ago. Where is here you ask? Good question. I’m not actually sure, I’m somewhere close to the Canadian border but I don’t really know where, eh I’ll figure that our when I’ve got the important stuff on track. Long story short I needed a new start, and my mum came to help me get set up. I have 2 sons 10 & 8 so I really needed the help. They're my world and I wanted a better life for them so here we are, and I start at university today. I'm nervous because most of the 'students' starting today are late teens to early 20’, I'm 26. Due to having my boys so young I don't have much of an education so here I am at 26 years old starting my life as I should have at 18. But that's ok those were the choices I made, and I don't have any regrets. Well at least not regarding my career, or lack thereof, I drove over to the uni in my golf. Mum and I agreed that I needed a car to get around so I chose this one when we arrived, she's old, she’s a bit ratty but she's mine and she's got more under the bonnet than any other car I could afford which is awesome.   Deep breaths Jen, it’s a new Uni, a new country for crying out loud, a fresh start, it's going to be ok. I get out and follow the signs for the reception. I'm not a skinny girl or what people would call sexy. I'm not ugly and I’m not fat but I’m a little overweight, that's something I've been working on. My hair is naturally dirty blonde, but I’ve been dying it purple for years now. I dodged and side stepped a few students who didn't even seem to notice me but finally got to the office. “Hi, uhh it's my first day I was told to report here before 9am” I smiled at the greying lady at the desk. “I'm Mrs Norton, you probably won't see me much but if you need anything I'm here most of the time, now here's your class schedule, your student ID, A map of the grounds and a few more fuddy duddy bits that we have to give you. If you want to take a seat over there, I'll call Maria, she’s been assigned to show you around” She smiled, and I thanked her before going to the seat she had pointed to. I was reading through my class schedule when the door crashed open, and a frazzled looking Brunette rushed in just as the bell sounds. “Sorry Mrs Norton, my car broke down and I had to run for the bus, is she here already?” I assumed she meant me, so I stood up and walked over to her. “Maria this is Jenna, You two girls should get going so you’re not too late” I turned to Maria “Hi Maria, Jenna Michaels, Nice to meet you and sorry to be a burden after an apparently already stressful day” I Chuckled. She beamed at me “Hey, I'm Maria Kennedy. I volunteered for this, you’re not a bother at all. I heard there was a new student and offered to show you around in exchange for a little extra credit” I nodded at her smiling again 'Well you sound like a girl who knows what you want and I like that” She chuckled. “Yeah, you could say that” and off we went.   We made small talk on our journey, she pointed out toilets, the nurses office, the lunchroom and she also pointed out a few apparent trouble makers that passed us by. I didn't tell her about the boys. We kept it pretty casual. She left me at my first class which was Business studies, I introduced myself to the teacher whose name I won't even attempt to pronounce, and he told me to take a seat at the back and just take notes for today. I slid into my seat, got out my notebook and fired a quick text over to my mum to check in while we waited for the rest of the students to file in. Someone’s hands slammed down on my desk, and I glanced up to see a black short haired girl glaring at me. Here we go. “You’re in my seat, move” I sighed quietly “I was told there was no assigned seating, I'm more than happy to move, when you ask me like a normal person” Her eyes flashed with anger, and she knocked my phone and notebook on the floor. I chuckled “Look, I've got no interest in playing these little games with silly little girls, if you want me to move all you have to do it ask” She stood glaring at me for a moment longer before standing up and crossing her arms “You just made a big mistake b***h!”  I rolled my eyes as she stomped away and bent to pick up my phone and notebook. A perky looking blonde girl sat in the seat beside me, so I smiled politely and gave her a little wave. “Hi I'm Jenna” She looked at me and beamed “Oh I know, Anyone who stands up to Kat is a friend of mine, I'm Kara James. Maria mentioned she was showing the new girl round. Maria's my best friend we grew up together and I'm dating her brother Kyle” I was about to respond when the teacher called for our attention. I smiled at her and turned to face the front of the class.    First period went by slowly, I took notes and chatted a little with Kara as the class dragged on. Finally, the bell rang, and everyone packed up and started to file out. Kara stayed by my side as I waited for Maria outside the classroom. I took out my schedule and Kara took it from my hand “Oh good you've got either me or Maria in every one of your classes, and we all have 5th period free so we can hang out if you want? When Maria's car is fixed, we can all hang out after school too, but we’ll have to be on the bus until then”' She clearly wasn't happy about taking the bus which made me giggle a bit. After a few minutes longer Maria arrived, and we started walking to English. The two of them were talking constantly and I joined in here and there. English went by quickly with the two of them constantly chattering away. Then it was time for lunch. I sat down with a salad and started picking out the tomato, Maria jabbering on the whole time. I already love this girl. Kara dropped into the chair opposite me and looked like she was about to cry. “Hey what's up?” Tears started streaming down her face, so I abandoned my salad, grabbed her hand and dragged her from the lunchroom to a secluded area with Maria in tow. I pulled her into a hug and looked at Maria. She looked like she was daydreaming, so I focused on Kara. She pulled away from me and I passed her a tissue. “You don't have to talk to me about it, I'm a stranger I know but just tell me if you're ok or not. If you want, I can take you home or I can go and kick someone's ass” She laughed a little while wiping at her eyes with the tissue. Maria seemed to snap back to reality. “Hey where did you go?” She shrugged at my question and hugged Kara. I was so confused. “Ok, here take my car key and wait in my car I’ll be there in 10 mins, ok?” Now they looked confused so I laughed “I'm going to get us all out of here for a bit and if you’re feeling better in a bit we can come back if not then we can do something else ok?” They both smiled and hugged me before going to find my car. I went to reception “Mrs Norton, Hi, Kara has just thrown up in the girl’s bathroom, I cleaned it up, but it might want disinfecting. I'm going to take her home is that ok? Maria is coming to as I don't know where she lives and Kara’s asleep in my car right now” Mrs Norton just looked at me and smiled and thanked me for taking care of her. I feel like I’m missing something.  I jumped into my car, gave Kara my phone and told her to pick something that would make her feel better. 10 seconds later 'The intro' began blaring from my speakers and I turned it up even more. Maria directed me to the local Starbucks, and we all got a drink then I parked in the car park. “So, if you don't want to tell me it's totally fine but something clearly upset you. Are you ok?” Kara and Maria looked at each other, then me. Maria was the first to speak “It's hard to explain, Kara has been dating my brother Kyle for 3 years now, they thought they had something special, I guess you could say that they thought they were soulmates” She paused and looked at Kara “Well it turns out that they're not, He broke it off with her today because he met someone” Kara sniffed next to me and I put my hand on her knee “I'm sorry hun that sucks. Do you want to watch me kick him in the balls or do you want plausible deniability?” They both burst out laughing at my totally sympathetic tone of voice, I wasn't joking at all but my friends were laughing and I liked that. They directed me back to their house. Apparently, they live together in some sort of community, I made a few jokes about them being in a cult during our drive and they tried to explain it a little better but eventually they conceded and agreed that yeah they pretty much live in a cult. We drove past a large iron gate with 'Crystal Lake' in big letters and a sign stating that it was Private land and trespassers will be shot. “Yeah, not a cult my arse” I laughed and so did they. They directed me past a few dozen houses and had me pull up at a house the size of a castle.   I wasn’t going to get out the car, but they insisted saying that the least they could do was invite me in for dinner. “Uhh just let me call my mum she might want me home” She picked up on the 3rd ring “Hey Jen how's your first day been?” “Uh good I made some friends and am giving them a lift home, they invited me to have dinner, but the boys bus should be at the stop in about 20 mins” “Ok well you enjoy dinner with your friends, I'll take the boys for dinner tonight and to the cinema. I want to spend some time with my grandsons before I have to leave. Enjoy yourself and I'll see you later” Then she hung up. I smiled to myself and got out the car. The girls head inside the gigantic building and I followed them into a home cinema room “Holy s**t, this place is amazing what are the rules and where do I sign?” “It's complicated, but dinner is at 6pm and we thought we could watch a movie before then” They both beamed at me. “Ok but no chick flicks, I'm not that kind of girl” “Good!” They both shouted, “What’s your favourite film?” “Gone in 60 seconds” “Gone in 60 seconds it is” We settled in with some popcorn and bottles of Cherry Coke for one of the best films of all time.    The film was almost finished when we heard and almighty growl from the main house. I shot of my seat like the flash “What the f**k was that?” Kara bolted from the room “It was probably one of the dogs here that’s all” I looked at Maria like she had 3 heads. “Bullshit Maria, that was no god damn dog” Before she could argue I ran in the same direction Kara went and ran into what was clearly about to be a fight Kara was holding back a guy with cropped black hair and an expression that screamed Kill. I stopped walking a little unsure of what to do. There were about 7 people in the room including me and the girls. I looked around and figured that if this was a cult, they wouldn’t appreciate my involvement. “Uhm I’m going to get out of the way, Kara you’ve got my number, text me later or whatever” With that I swiftly left the house and got into my car. You could have cut the testosterone in that room with a knife. Within minutes Maria called me and I put it on speaker “Hey what the hell was that are you guys ok? I figured it was best for me to get out of the way. Cult drama and all” nothing, “uhh Maria? You there?” I heard whispering in the background “Sorry Jen, Yeah, we’re here sorry about that, you didn’t have to leave though it’s all sorted now, and dinner will be ready in 15 if you want to come back?” “Are you sure? I don’t want to be a bother or anything?” more whispers “Yeah definitely come back we’ll wait out front” Then she hung up, I guess I’m going back then. I turned around and head back.