Sky Goes To School

A/N: OK, so I know I've neglected When Cavaliers Attack for far too long, but I wrote myself into a corner and I'm still trying to get out of it! If anyone has any ideas, please feel free to share. Then Lis died, and any desire to write SJA kinda went out the window. With Series 5, however, my plot bunnies have returned, inspired mainly by Sky, who has been left relatively unfleshed by tragic circumstance. For fanfic purposes, this is ideal. And I wanted to see school through Sky's pov, in much the same way we saw Luke's in Revenge of the Slitheen. Plus, school stories were my first love as both reader and writer, so this story will pay homage to the genre. Please, please do review. They keep me going and keep me focused - I tend to flit, and if stories aren't getting feedback inspiration drops off - as most of you know, being writers yourselves! It's still a minor mystery to me how I actually managed to complete a published book, given the general lack of review-fix. Concrit also very welcome - typos, lapses in characterisation, plot holes etc - feel free to point 'em out. Most of all, enjoy!

Chapter One: Adults and Other Alien Species

Sky Smith tilted the mirror in her – Luke's – her bedroom until it was at a suitable angle, and surveyed her reflection gravely.

She saw a small girl of twelve, neatly attired in school uniform. The tie was regulation length and tucked neatly into her knee length skirt, and her hair was in two short braids. She looked, in fact, to be the very model of a schoolgirl, and left her room suffused with satisfied confidence. She was ready to begin for her first initiation into the Real World in the shape of going to school (as opposed to the weird and wonderful world of Sarah Jane Smith, with which Sky was already entirely at home).

She was, therefore, rather discomfited by the manner of her greeting when she entered the kitchen for her breakfast. Rani's eyes widened and Clyde's expression turned poker faced, the way it did when he was trying very hard not to laugh.

'What?' she asked anxiously as she sat at the table and slurped the tea that was awaiting her. 'Is it wrong?'

'You look very tidy, Sky,' Sarah Jane told her as she placed a plate of burnt toast in front of the girl. 'I'm sure Haresh will approve.'

Clyde snorted. 'He'll approve, all right.' He eyed Sky warily. 'It's what everyone else will do that's the problem.'

Rani shoved him out of the way and sat down next to Sky, in the place Sarah Jane usually used. 'Sky, what's – uh – this about?' she asked cautiously picking up one of the brown plaits and replacing it with equal care. As if it might start fizzing electricity.

Sky beamed at her. 'It was a picture on one of Sarah Jane's books,' she said. 'The girl looked about twelve, and she was dressed like this for school. I thought it was OK,' she went on, a little less excitedly. 'But it isn't, is it?' Her shoulders drooped.

Rani frowned, grimaced, scratched her forehead, and cast Sarah Jane an apologetic look. 'Um, how old was the book, Sky?' she asked delicately.

Clyde stole a crust from Sky's place and snorted again. 'Probably fifty years old.' He grinned at Sarah Jane, mischief plain in his face. 'Did you like school stories, Sarah Jane?'

The older woman returned his grin with half-hearted glare. 'I had very little time for them, but my aunt considered it proper reading for a young girl. And then,' she went on, turning to look out of the kitchen window, 'she turned it into reality by packing me off to boarding school when I was ten.'

Clyde was still smirking. 'Did she make you have little pigtails?'

Sarah Jane tried to maintain her glare, but it turned into an unwilling laugh. 'As it happens, she did, and I wore them until I got on the train with the other girls. Then we all took our braids out and let our hair blow any which way, much to the horror of the prefects. But then,' she went on with a slight sigh, 'it was the Sixties.'

'What's that?' Sky asked, wide-eyed.

'A very long time ago, Sparky,' Clyde told her, dodging Sarah Jane's punch. 'And even they ditched the plaits. Take 'em out, Sparks. You'll never hear the end of it if you don't. And do something with your tie,' he finished, pointing at the long tie that disappeared under Sky's jumper.

'You need to make it shorter,' Rani advised when Sky frowned. 'Look, I'll show you.' She untied her own tie and did it again. 'See?'

Obediently, Sky copied her actions, her earlier excitement turning into a sense of profound disquiet. Whoever knew that going to school could be so complicated?

Sky's confusion only deepened when they got to school. When she tried to follow Rani and Clyde into the building, Sarah Jane halted her with a hand on her shoulder.

'You can't go with them, Sky.'

Sky raised sorrowful dark eyes to her adopted mother's face. 'Why? They're my friends. You said I would like school because I'd be with my friends, and that's Rani and Clyde.'

Sarah Jane put an arm around her, pulling Sky close. 'I know. They'll still be your friends, I promise, but you can't hang around with them at school. They're sixth formers – nearly grown up – and you'll be a first year, at the very bottom of the pile.'

Sky leaned into the half-embrace, suddenly feeling very scared. She had been looking forward to school, but now it all seemed… alien, and she felt utterly lost. 'Do I have to go?' she asked in a very small voice.

Sarah Jane cupped Sky's face with her hands. 'I won't lie to you and tell you it's going to be easy,' she told the child. 'School is hard. It's a fact of life. It's hard for everyone, for one reason or another. Luke felt as you do, and I bet Rani and Clyde will tell you they felt the same. Well, perhaps not Clyde,' she added with a smile.

'Clyde's never scared of anything,' Sky told her earnestly.

Sarah Jane laughed. 'He's turned you into a little padowan, all right. Oh, believe me, Clyde gets scared like everyone else. He just doesn't like showing it. Just remember, you're a Smith, and you're part of our team. What's rule number one?'

'We never tell anyone what we do,' Sky parroted, having heard this numerous times over the past week. 'And the other rule number one is that we stick together.' A line deepened between her brows. 'If they're both rule number one, which one comes first?'

Sarah Jane laughed again and hugged her. 'They're all rule number one because they're all equally important, but that's not what I was talking about.'

Sky pulled back and goggled up at her. 'You mean there's another one?'

'Get used to rules, kid. They're a part of life. No, the other important rule is that we never, ever panic and we never, ever give up.'

'That's two rules,' Sky objected.

'Not really. People panic, and that makes them give up, because they think they can't do whatever it is they're afraid of. We feel the fear and do it anyway. Just remember, Sky, you're like Luke: you saved the world on the day you were born, near enough. No matter what the other children say, they can't beat that, can they?'

'I suppose not,' Sky agreed, starting to feel a little better. She glanced nervously about her; the phalanx of big and little people that had surrounded them on their arrival had dissipated. 'Where's everyone gone?'

Sarah Jane turned to check that the car was locked before putting an arm about Sky's shoulders once again. 'It's nearly time for registration,' she explained as she steered the young girl in the direction of the double glass doors that was the school's main entrance. 'You need to go to see Haresh first.'

'Why? He just lives across the road.'

'Yes, but there he's just our neighbour. Here, he's the Headmaster and very important. It's polite.'

Sky sighed. 'I'll never understand humans,' she said despondently.

'You and me both,' she heard Sarah Jane mutter as they entered the building, and Sky pressed even closer to her foster mother. It was sterile and pristine and gleaming, their steps echoing sharply, and awoke some fear deep within her.

'Let's go and see Haresh,' Sarah Jane said brightly, as if she knew how Sky was feeling, and Sky held on the older woman's hand very tightly, more truly scared than she ever had been before.

Seeing Haresh was not at all what Sky had expected. Despite her fear, she had greeted him with her usual beam, anticipating the smile that customarily softened his sculpted features at sight of her. This time, he simply nodded at her and rose from behind a big desk to shake Sarah Jane's hand, just as if they hadn't spoken to each other only last night.

'Welcome to Park Vale, Sky,' Haresh told her as Sky sat down next to Sarah Jane.

Haresh himself had returned to his seat, and he looked very formal and formidable there. Sky shrank into her chair, wishing she could disappear.

'Luke did very well here,' Haresh was saying, 'and I'm sure you will too, isn't that right, Sarah Jane?'

'Absolutely,' Sarah Jane agreed, one hand going to squeeze Sky's. 'Now, let's get down to business, shall we?'

Sky zoned in and out over the next ten minutes, studying the items in the study and outdoor scene beyond, the one she could see in the window behind Haresh. Her adopted mother and neighbour where talking about things that didn't make sense, like cohorts and attainment targets and key stages. Sky wondered what a key stage was; was it a special kind of platform that let you into something else?

Mr Smith had promised her that she was ready to go into first year at Park Vale, and for the first time Sky found herself doubting her Xylok friend. What if Mr Smith was wrong? Why didn't she understand all the things Sarah Jane was talking about? After all, what could Mr Smith know? He was an alien too, just like Sky was…

She jerked back to attention when Haresh said, 'So, Sky, we're going to try you in 7BJ this term. We'll move you if we need to, but it's a good place to be while you find your feet. Miss Jones started the same year Luke did, and she's got a lot of experience with G&T kids.'

Sky looked puzzled. 'Isn't G&T a drink?'

A quick smile crossed Haresh's face and disappeared almost at once, as if he was afraid of showing how he felt. 'It is, but in school it means 'gifted and talented'. You're clearly a very bright girl, and – well, if Miss Jones could deal with Luke, I'm sure she'll have no trouble with you!'

Great, thought Sky as she slumped back in her chair again. Luke again. Always Luke…

'Do you want to take her to Room Twenty, Sarah Jane?' Haresh said, standing up. 'We wouldn't want to get lost on our first day, would we, Sky?'

He smiled again, and this time it was his proper smile, the one he used when she asked for a second helping of his macaroni cheese, and Sky relaxed and beamed at him, jumping to her own feet.

'Thanks Haresh!' she bubbled. 'Getting lost would be awful!'

Haresh's face froze, the smile becoming fixed. 'Good. I'll see you later. Sarah Jane,' he said, giving Sky's adopted mum a look that Sky knew meant something.

'Come along, Sky,' Sarah Jane said briskly, nodding at Haresh. 'Let's get you settled in.'

When the office door closed behind them and they were once again in the horrid corridor, Sky turned to Sarah Jane. 'What did I do wrong?'

'Oh, Sky. Come here. Come and sit for a minute.' Sarah Jane sat down on one of the straight chairs that stood in the corridor and patted an empty seat beside her.

'Won't I be late?' Sky asked anxiously. 'I don't want to get anything else wrong.'

'You're new, you're allowed to be late,' Sarah Jane told her firmly, patting the seat again.

Sky sat down, right at very edge. She wasn't convinced that Sarah Jane was right. Sarah Jane knew all about aliens and saving the world, but Sky found herself wondering whether Sarah Jane really understood about school.

'Do you remember what I said about Haresh being the Headmaster?' Sarah Jane began. 'He's the most important person in the school.'

Sky nodded.

'That means, Sky, that in future you have to call him "Mr Chandra",' Sarah Jane said softly. 'It shows respect.'

'Does that mean that Rani and Clyde and Har- Mr Chandra, I mean – don't respect you?' Sky asked, scuffing a toe of her brand new leather shoes against the floor. 'They don't call you "Miss Smith".'

'I don't care about that, so long as I can do my job,' Sarah Jane told her firmly. 'But Har- Mr Chandra – does care, and it doesn't look good if the other children hear you using his first name. Even Rani has to call him "Mr Chandra" in school,' she added.

Sky's eyes widened. 'But he's her dad!' she protested.

'I know, it seems rather silly, doesn't it? It's just one of those rules about being polite to important people, or people who are older than you are. It's also why you won't see much of Rani and Clyde in school. Humans like to divide themselves up, you see.'

Sky groaned and bent forward so that her single ponytail (Rani had taken the plaits out before they left Bannerman Road) swung forward over her shoulder. 'Can't I just stay out of school and help you fight aliens?' she asked hopefully.

Sarah Jane laughed and stood up, pulling Sky with her. 'Even if you didn't go to school, you'd still need to learn,' she told Sky, directing her down one of those long corridors. 'It's the law. Besides, the more you know, the more you can help, yes?'

'Promise?' Sky asked, looking up at Sarah Jane.

'Promise,' Sarah Jane told her as they came to a stop in front of a red door with a shiny glass window in the middle. The window was lined with funny lines, turning it into a grid. Sky stared at it, fascinated.

'Ready to start school?' Sarah Jane asked.

Sky tore her gaze from the window and fixed it on Sarah Jane. She swallowed, her momentary distraction gone. 'Yes,' she said quietly.

'You'll be fine,' Sarah Jane said, 'and there's Rani and Clyde and Har – Mr Chandra – here if you need anything, and I'm just a phone call away.' Her smile was reassurance and safety and home, all at once.

Sky surprised herself by throwing herself into Sarah Jane's arms. 'I'll be fine,' she whispered into her adopted mum's leather jacket, and then she stepped back, squared her small shoulders, and prepared to begin life at school.

TBC?

Worth continuing? If so, review!