Not-so-basic Training

Chapter one

Sam Simons watched the clock ticking away and grimaced as she realised that she still had ten minutes left until the bell went. She sat bored at the back. She was a bit of a loner, not exactly by choice. People didn't like the way she did things. But that was okay with Sam. She wouldn't want friends that were shallow like that.

She began absent-mindedly doodling on the back of her Chemistry folder. She wondered if her father still be home when she got back. She drew a girl's eye with her lithe hand. Her mind drifted back to her father again and she imagined his drunken state in one of the clubs downtown. Sam sighed and drew a tear falling from the girl's deep and saddened eye.

The bell rang and she hastily put her biro away in her pencil case. She grabbed her things and hurried out the door, dodging other kids.

'Hey, weird kid!'

'Loser!'

'Freak…look at her!'

Sam ignored the blatant insults that were thrown her way and rushed through the corridors, grabbed her bag from the cloakroom and turned a sharp corner where the school met the outside world. Her bike was locked to the metal fence. It was silver and black, and her most prized possession because it reminded her of her big brother, as it used to be his. She shook her brother from her head as she remembered his last days, the sorrow, the pain, the heartache. He died of cancer a year ago.

Sam threw her leg over the seat of the bike and began to pedal. She enjoyed the wind in her hair and the freedom she felt. Houses and closing shops whipped past her as she rode. Sam let out a loud whoop and felt a rare smile making its way onto her face.

The red, peeling door of her house came into view. It was a council house; the most shabby on the estate. She despised the overgrown lawn and the disgustingly dirty interior, but no one cleaned it, and her stubbornness prevented her from doing it. She clambered off her bike and pushed it to the floor outside her house. She had no worries that it would get nicked, who would nick such an old bike. It was worth nothing, except the sentimental value it had to her.

As Sam opened the front door she heard the TV blaring and her stomach did a little flutter. She stepped onto the pale carpet and shook her muddy shoes off.

'Dad?' she called.

No reply.

She trotted into the kitchen to get something to drink when she saw the blood. The deep red, seeping blood that seemed to spread everywhere, soaking the whole kitchen in its malice and pain. She let out a scream and covered her mouth with her hands. It was her father, his wrists cut and a bottle smashed beside him. She dialled 999 on her mobile and ran from the kitchen, her body shaking and shivering all the while.

'Hello, what is your emergency?'

She told them everything, yet found herself calming quicker than it should have been. Perhaps it was because she no longer cared for her late father. Perhaps it was because since her brother had died, all her emotions had been dulled.

She arrived at the care home the next day with a small suitcase of possessions. A guy with curly ginger hair opened the door and gave her a warm hug and smile which surprised her, yet she welcomed the human contact.

'Sam! So nice to meet you. I'm Jamie, but you can call me Jay.' He said with a grin, "Let me show you your room.'

Sam smiled back hesitantly, 'okay, thanks.'

She lugged her bag up a flight of stairs, behind Jay. Her room was the last one down a short-ish corridor.

Jay opened the door and rolled his eyes as he said, 'the girl you're rooming with is a bit of a clean freak.'

He chuckled slightly and Sam followed him in. It was a small box shaped room with two camp beds and a wardrobe. Sam tentatively opened the door and grimaced at the overflowing girly clothes of pink and red and baby blue and the neatly lined high heels below them. She decided not to even try and find room for her stuff, and pushed her suitcase under the empty bed.

Jay raised his hand as he stepped out the door, 'see you later, Sam!'

Sam nodded with a wry smile and settled down on her bed with a sigh of exhaustion. She hadn't got much sleep the night before. Before she knew it, her eyes were drifting shut, and she settled down on her bed. She was just resting her eyes…

She was awoken by an annoying prodding in her shoulder. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes and looked up in annoyance at a tall blonde girl who stared at Sam with a grin.

'Hello there!' she said.

Sam yawned and sat up, 'Hi, I'm Sam.'

The girl giggled, 'I know, I know. Jay told me. I'm Annie.' She stared at Sam a little longer with a sly smile, and Sam excused herself to go to the bathroom. After she'd done her business she ran her hand through her long dark brown hair and glared at her reflection. She wasn't exactly confident about how she looked. She had boring hazel eyes and a splattering of freckled across her nose. She was quite fit due to her cycling frenzy, and her weight training that her gym teacher made her do when he "saw potential." But she didn't like her look. It was alright, but a bit boring. Annie was a pretty girl. Tall, with glossy blonde hair and blue eyes. She was the type of girl that boys liked.

Sam hurried back to the room after she'd washed her hands and found Annie sitting cross legged on the floor. She couldn't help but think that her roommate was a little odd.

'Sam you're back! Yay. By the way, I couldn't help but notice, you look like you work out?' she paused, 'That sounded way too perverted.'

Sam couldn't help but chuckled along with Annie, 'yeah I used too.'

Annie clapped her hands, 'that's fantastic.' She grinned, 'you look tired, get some sleep!'

Sam frowned, but yawned and made her way over to her bed. She pulled the covers back and collapsed, not caring that she was still in her jeans and her hoodie. She began to fall asleep, the last thing she remembered was feeling a quick pinch in her skin. But she was too tired to take any notice of it, and was soon dreaming away.