It all started a few weeks after the virus had been discovered around the bigger cities. It was still believed that the country side was safe from the virus. I'd been sent to the country side by my parents to stay safe, sure I was safe, but not safe from boys. I was sent to an all girls' school that funnily enough was located not that far from an all boys' boot camp. From some of the classrooms I could see over the roofs of the houses that were surrounding the boot camp, which made it possible to see the boys all lined up.
"Girls listen up!" the teacher said as he had once again noticed that most of us girls were staring out the window. I turned my head and looked back up at the teacher. I was easily distracted by the boys.
"I wonder whose bright idea it was to locate all these girls next to the boys' boot camp." I heard the teacher mumble under his breath. I snickered. This didn't go unnoticed by the teacher.
"Miss Taylor." My teacher said firmly, as I tried to suffocate my snickering. It didn't work too well.
"Detention for you Miss Taylor." Mr. Dink, the teacher said. This made me frown. I didn't want detention. I couldn't really say I had anything to do, because I didn't. I was trapped out here, in a school in the middle of nowhere. I almost swore, but stopped myself before I did, since that would just add more detention.
As the afternoon came I was sent down to the boys' boot camp to clean the equipment they had. It really stunk. The only upside was that I had company by two of the boys.
"Looks like we're getting company." I heard one of the boys say to the other. The one who spoke had short cropped black hair and was smaller than the other boy. The other boy was burlier and bigger, and he had short cropped hair, but his was more blond brown.
"Hello." The second boy said as I reached them.
"Hi." I retorted, pretending I hadn't heard them speak before.
"What you doing here?" the black haired one asked me.
"Detention." Was all I said as I grabbed some of the cleaning supplies and got to cleaning one of the mats.
"What did you get detention for?" the one of the guys asked, since I had my back against them, I couldn't tell who it was that spoke, so I just rolled my eyes as I went to cleaning the mat. It smelled awfully disgusting.
"Aren't you gonna answer?" the boy asked again, I could tell that it was the same one on the voice. I shook my head for an answer.
"Leave it be Lex." I figured that it was the other boy who said it, since he said leave it be, and if it had been him who had been asking he wouldn't have told himself to leave it be.
"Fine." Lex replied as he went back to whatever it was the two were cleaning.
"So what's your name?" the boy whose name I didn't know asked me when I had turned around so that I was facing the two. (Alexander (Lex) Morris and Ryan Jenkins, author's note)
"Trudy Taylor." I said smiling slightly and blushing slightly as I looked up at him.
"I'm Ryan Jenkins." The burlier kid said and then mentioned to his friend and said "That's Alexander Morris, but he goes by Lex." I nodded and looked over at Lex then I went back to focusing on the stain on the mat.
Two hours had passed before my teacher came and fetched me. While we cleaned, me and Ryan spoke to each other about the most trivial things. Favorite color, and food. And things like it. We avoided the subject of the Virus and our parents. It seemed like neither of use wanted to speak of our parents. I thought it had to do with the fact that we didn't know if they were alive or not.
"Miss Taylor, come now. You are to head straight for bed, without supper." My teacher Mr. Dink said as he led me out of the room. The two boys remained quiet and I wondered why.
"That isn't fair." I said loudly to my teacher, responding to the fact that I wasn't getting any dinner.
"Mouthing off, gives you two more hours of detention, tomorrow." Mr. Dink said and I swore silently under my breath. I was starting to hate my teacher more and more. When I reached my bedroom I slumped down on the bed and pulled out my homework. I finished it in two hours, and it was eight pm. My roommate just entered the room, she had been sent here a lot sooner than I had. It was because she had lived closer to the town that had had the first cases of the Virus reported. My best friend how ever had the room next to mine. Her name's Zandra, well her full name is Alexandra Renee Goldhart. Everyone calls her Zandra since she hates Alexandra. Her roommates name is Amber Martins, and is a friend of mine too, but she's closer to Zandra since they're sharing a room.
"Hey Trude." Zandra said as she came waltzing in to the room. I smiled as I saw what she had in her hands. She had sneaked some bread with her out of the dining hall.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." I said several times as I hugged Zandra. I took the bread and ate it. It was better than nothing at all. I loved it that I had a bet friend who was smart enough to sneak food with her when she didn't see me in the dining hall.
Me and Zandra chatted for a while, up until our boarding parents came and told us lights out.
The Next Morning
As we sat and ate breakfast together, our little group. Me, Zandra and Amber. One of our teacher came in and told us that more girls were arriving and that we'd have to share rooms, three in each room. I was stuck in my room with my roommate and one other girl I didn't know. It bothered me that I wasn't allowed to share a room with my friends. At least we had our classes together.
"Come on, let's go to our English class." I said to Zandra and Amber who both tagged along.
As Mr. Dink was speaking about viruses, Zandra was doing her make-up and told me to hold her mirror for her. Amber on the other hand, was paying attention to the teacher.
"Mr. Dink?" I heard Amber ask and listened to what Mr. Dink said.
"Yes?"
"You spelled bacteria wrong. It's spelled with a C not a K." Amber pointed out as she scribbled it down in her notebook. "Mr. Dink, misspelled bacteria, with a K instead of a C." I turned around and looked at Mr. Dink's face. He was furious.
"Detention Miss Martins. The same goes for Miss Taylor and Miss Goldhart that are both doing their make-up in class." Mr. Dink, and I just glowered at him. I was thinking about protesting and remembered the day before. Mouthing off did no good. I sighed as I kept my mouth shut.
When the afternoon came all three of us were sent down to the boot camp. We were met by Mam.
"So you have been misbehaving girls. That's not good." She said as she showed us into the indoor facility. I noticed that the boys from the previous detention were there today again. I just smiled. I hated detention, but there was one thing that made it bearable. My friends. I sat down next to Ryan and helped him cleaning boots. Amber and Zandra just stared at me, which made Mam yell at them.
"GET TO WORK GIRLIES!" this made them jump and hurry over to me. They settled down with a pair of shoes each and started to clean them. I just giggled.
"Work and stay quiet." Mam said and left us.
"So detention again Trudy. How come?" Ryan asked quietly as he worked on a boot.
"Mouthing off isn't a smart thing to do. Nor helping Zan with her make-up." I said smiling as I pointed over at Zandra whom was staring at Lex. She looked like she recognized him. Amber was mostly focused on the boots, but she glanced up at Lex from time to time. Every time I looked over at Lex, he looked down. This annoyed me.
"I know, that's what got us detention for a week." Ryan said as he put one shoe away and grabbed the second one.
"Ah, and Lex stop staring at me and then pretend you aren't." I said as I shifted boot.
"Lex?" I heard Zandra say and I waited to hear his reply.
"Yeah." He said shortly as he looked up at Zandra. "Do I know you?"
"Yeah, it's me Zandra. Remember, we went to kindergarten together, before my family moved." She said which made me giggle. "Zan don't waste your breath." I said as I went back to focusing on the boot I was working on.
"Oh really, well you've grown up." I heard Lex say, I just rolled my eyes.
"Guys, quiet." I said in a hushed voice. We were all sitting silently working, as the door opened. It was Mam, she was back. She checked up on us. She observed us closely, the only reason I knew this is that when she was walking closer I stole sideway glances of her. Amber on the other hand was glancing up at Lex from time to time.
"Focus on your work Miss Martins, if you do not want more detention." Mam told Amber when she spotted her eyeing Lex.
When Mam had left, we were talking to each other again, but this time in a lot more hushed voices. Amber and Lex were talking to each other while Zandra, me and Ryan were speaking. Well Zandra was mostly quiet while me and Ryan spoke. This time we spoke more about our families, even if it was a sore subject, since we didn't know if we would ever see our families again.
"Girls it is dinner time." Mr. Dink said as he came and got us. We had polished and cleaned half of the pair of boots we had been assigned, when he came and got us after two whole hours of cleaning, thankfully the company had made the time fly away.
While we were eating dinner the headmaster announced that there was to be a dance, the following evening. They said it was so that we could have some fun. I didn't care why they were arranging it, we all had a chance to get dressed up and look pretty.
"Zan, you have to do my hair and make-up." Both me and Amber said at the same time which caused us to burst out in laughter. This also of course made Zandra start laughing.
It was Saturday morning, and that night was the night of the Dance. The boys would all be coming over, and the dance would be held in our huge dining hall. Zandra and I and of course Amber were in Zandra and Amber's room trying out Zandra's dresses. She was the only one of us who had brought dresses. I ended up wearing a red dress with spaghetti straps, with a red cute leather jacket over it. Zandra was wearing a dark purple dress, strapless with a shawl draped around her shoulders, while Amber was wearing a light blue dress, that wasn't as feminine as the one me and Zandra was wearing. Zandra did two braids that started at the front of my head just above my ears, and went to the back on the head, and gathered up my long brown hair into a ponytail braid. Amber's blonde hair was up in knots, twelve of them. Zandra herself put her hair in two buns which made her look like Minnie Mouse. Our make-up was subtle and matched our outfits. When we were all done it was time for the dance. We had skipped lunch.
The dining hall looked beautiful with different colored lights, and the tables pushed up against the walls with food, decorations and drinks.
The boys were already there, and the adults who supervised us were Mam, and Mr. Dink. Amber sought out Lex, and I Ryan. Amber just danced with Lex, and then she hung out with him and Zandra mostly. Me and Ryan were mostly dancing around the room, but when we had gotten Zandra and Lex to create a diversion for us, we suck out, down to the boot camp that was completely empty. We snuck into the indoor practice room, kissing. It didn't take us long for it to lead a lot further. We ended up on the floor tumbling around kissing at first. Ryan kissed my shoulders as I helped him unbutton his pants.
Half an hour later, I was fixing the dress, making sure if looked as it should, and Ryan was buttoning his pants, and shirt. Thankfully, my hair looked the same as it had done before, the same couldn't be said for my make-up. We made our way back up to the school, the dance was still going on. I snuck into the bathroom and checked my make-up and fixed it. Thankfully Zandra had put it in a bag and hid it in the bathroom, if it would be needed. So I fixed my make-up and headed back in to the dining hall. Me and Ryan went back to dancing, and talking quietly.