Chapter 1
"In here, Sage," Mr. Kloppmann said, beckoning her to follow him. He place his hand on Sage's back but she pulled away.
"This is your room. You've got it to yourself, seeing as you're the only girl. Um, the boys are around here somewhere. Dinner's at six and the bathroom's down the hall on yer left. Curfew is at eleven, so no going out after eleven. Um, I think that's it. The boys'll make sure you're up and ready for school when it starts in August. Questions?" he asked.
When she just stared at him, he awkwardly said, "Ok then, I'll be in my office if ya need anything. Like I said the boys are probably in the gym or something so ya might check there."
He left and Sage looked around the room. 'There's no way I'm staying here,' Sage thought to herself, 'Tonight after everyone's asleep I'll leave.'
She wandered around the house, hands in her pockets and her short, brown, hair behind her ears. She examined every nook and cranny in the house, finding all the weak spots and places that'd be easy to escape. There was also an alarm system. How nice.
She ended up finding a window that was cracked open with a book that was covered in dust and cobwebs, which probably meant they kept that window open. Sage decided to sneak back over there that night to leave.
As she continued to walk around the house, she found the gym. It was a large room that had been messily painted a light red. There was an old looking basketball hoop at the end of the room and a closet that had balls spilling out of it next to it.
Sage saw a large group of boys throwing a football. Two little ones tackled a taller one, knocking him to the ground. "Dog pile!" a boy about her height shouted. The boys began jumping on the three boys on the ground.
"This is how it normally is 'round here," a voice said. Sage turned at the voice and saw a boy with a crutch and a lopsided smile.
"Why aren't you out there with them?" she asked, jerking her head towards the group as he limped over to her, not bothering to be nice.
"Cause of my leg," he answered, gesturing to the crutch under his arm and his limp leg.
She glanced at it with a blank face then back at the pile of boys. "I'm guessing you're Sage?" the boy with the crutch asked.
"How'd you know that?" Sage asked, frowning at him. His smile didn't falter. "Mr. Kloppmann's been talkin' bout ya. Telling us to be nice and welcoming to you," he explained.
She didn't say anything. "I'm Crutchie," the boy continued, still grinning. "Crutchie?" she asked, her frown now turning to confusion.
"It's a nickname. All the boys have them, except Albert and Henry. They kinda refused one. You'll probably get one too," he said, still grinning.
She turned back towards the boys. They'd gotten off the taller boy, who was rubbing his head and scowling at the other boys.
"That's Race. He's just mad because Henry stole his cigar," Crutchie explained.
When Crutchie saw Sage's shocked expression, he quickly added, "He doesn't actually smoke. Just puts it in his mouth."
She just watched as the boys started another game.
"Hey guys, come meet Sage!" Crutchie shouted, making the boys' heads turn. They trickled over and a tall boy with brown hair and blue eyes held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Sage, I'm Jack," he said.
She looked down at his hand then back up at him, crossing her arms over her chest.
He seemed to realize she wasn't going to shake his hand and put it back down.
"Sage, this is Mush, Specs, Race, Sniper, Elmer, Albert, Jojo, Finch, Henry, Crutchie, Buttons, and Romeo," Jack introduced. Said boys waved.
"So Sage, how old are ya?" Romeo asked. "Eleven," she replied shortly. "Sage, you wanna play with us? We were just about to start another game," Jojo invited, a kind smile on the young boy's face. The look on her face made Jojo regret his invitation.
She continued to scowl at them until they went back to their game. Crutchie went to watch and Sage expected Jack to leave with them but he stayed.
"You're smart to be guarded. But it's safe here, Sage, we're not gonna let anything happen to ya," Jack said gently. "You don't know anything about me," Sage scowled. "You're right, I don't. But I know these boys. They've got stories too, Sage, stories that are probably a lot like yours," Jack explained.
"How would you know? What do you know about my story, Jack?" Sage snapped. Jack's kind expression faltered a bit, but didn't change. "Nothing. But I didn't know anything about these boys either when they came. Most of them were scared and angry like you. I'm guessing you guys aren't that much different," he explained.
"I'm not scared, I can take care of myself. I've done it before and I can do it now," she said, but her voice was much softer now as if she was tired. Jack nodded but still didn't go back to the game. His eyes were examining the younger girl as she watched the game.
He'd seen this many times before. He'd been at the Lodge since he was probably no older than five, he'd seen every kid come and go from here. Sage was no different. She was just a scared, angry, bitter, girl. He knew her type. He guessed that she'd either try to escape tonight or sometime this week.
Anyway, that night at dinner they began trying to decide Sage's nickname, while said girl ignored them and picked at her food.
Sage got into a fight with Romeo after he suggested her nickname should be 'Sweet Thang'. After that Jack put a hold on the nickname decision. When dinner was over Jack sent everyone to their rooms to calm down for bed. Sage headed to her room to plan her escape.
A/N: So this is the first chapter of 'A Girl Called Fox'! It's going to update every Tuesday and all of the chapters are already pre-written. Please give me feedback!