Warnings: Violence and description of rape later on, swears
Jenny looked up from her book when the car drove into a driveway. Her eyes widened as she saw the huge Victorian style house, and children of all ages in the front yard and on the porch. There was a cross on the porch, as this was a Christian Orphanage, run by nuns. Under the cross, there was sitting a group of older boys, with a girl their age stood up as the car stopped, and Jenna pulled her backpack on and slid out of the car. They boys watched her, but the girl (who Jenna noticed had very curly hair) studied her and smiled. As Jenny went inside, she saw the curly haired girl say something to a boy on a crutch. Someone came out of an office and said "Hello, Jenny. I'm Sister Sarah."
"Hello."
"If you'll follow me into my office…" The nun turned and led them into the room she had just left. She closed the door behind them and walked behind her desk and sat down. Her caseworker and Jenny sat down in two of the chairs. As the adults talked, Jenny looked around the office. It had six filing cabinets. Three of them were labeled "Boys" and the other "Girls". Next to that, there was a large box, full of what looked like stuff that had been confiscated. There were also pictures of Sister Sarah's predecessors and of saints. Sister Sarah was standing. "Now, I'll get someone to help you." She walked to the door and they heard her "Gabrielle! James! Stop that! Gabrielle, come here." Jenny turned around in the seat and saw the curly haired girl walking over to the nun. "Gabrielle, you know you are supposed to act like a lady. You've been here for ten years. You are supposed to set an example, not start kissing your boyfriend!" "Yes, Sister." "Now, come with me. I want you to take Jennifer around." Gabrielle, who had been staring at her feet looked up and over at Jenny. "Yes, Sister." She smiled at Jenny and said "C'mon! Let em talk." Jenny slid out of her seat and walked over to Gabrielle and Gabrielle closed the door and Jenny blurted out "Were you really kissing your boyfriend?"
Gabrielle nodded. "Sister Sarah doesn't really mind when Crutchy and I-"
"Crutchy? I thought his names James."
She laughed. "Everyone here has a nickname, something about them. Like I'm Curly. And James is Crutchy, because he uses a crutch."
"Why?"
"Because he was hit by a car a few years back. He used to be in a wheelchair and hated it so much, he worked hard to get up to two crutches, and now one. And sometimes he doesn't need it."
"Oh."
"C'mon, we better get moving." She went up a staircase and threw open a door. "This is your dorm. You'll share it with me, Midget and Skates." It was a medium sized room, with two bunk beds across from each other, with two desks by the door. At the foot of the beds, there were two trunks. "We each get our own trunk to put our stuff in. Clothes and such. If you have a diary or something private, keep it in the trunk and next trip into town get a lock for the trunk. During the week, we get up at six, or at least, we're supposed to. Then we get dressed, and the two with the morning showers shower, there's a big communal bathroom for all the girls and after we're done there, we come back here and we all get dressed in the uniform-you should get one once you're measured- and go down to the Mess Hall for Grace and Breakfast. Then us older ones help the younger ones clean up. Then we go into the main hall for inspection, or outside if it's nice out. After that, we come back up here, get our homework and fix anything wrong with inspection, and go to class. We have English, Free, History, Lunch- it's outside if it's nice, and in the Mess Hall if it's not. Then we have Religion, Math, Science then two Free. The free periods can be used for homework or electives, its up to you." Then we have our own time until dinner, at six. Most of us don't wear a uniform once school is out. We don't gotta wear them on weekends. On weekends, we usually just wake up, and go into town and hang out or see a movie or something. Got any questions?"
"How in the world am I gonna remember all this?"
Curly laughed. "Don't worry, you will."
"That's easy for you to say, you've been here ten years!"
Curly laughed again. "C'mon, I'll take you out to meet everyone."
Jenny followed Curly outside and Curly brought her over to the group of boys that Curly had been with before. "Kid Blink is the one with the eye patch, Cowboy has the cowboy hat, Mush is the one taking off his shirt, Racetrack is the one with the cards, and you already know who Crutchy is, Snitch is rubbing his nose, Specs has the glasses, Skittery is jiggling his leg, and Pie Eater needs to brush his hair. Everyone, this is Jennifer."