What's this? No Peter in this chapter? He must be off raiding the fridge or something...
Chapter 2
Angela hated her room. It was dark, and old-looking, and it smelled weird in there. She huffed impatiently and kicked her empty suitcase under the bed, sauntering over to the full length mirror to examine her teeth, fix her hair, generally preen a little. It didn't matter if she ended up hating it, she thought, she wouldn't be staying too long. This was only the second boarding school her Father had tried, but she was sure that it wouldn't be long before she damaged something or got herself into trouble enough that she'd be thrown out of here too and have to go home.
Fetching a couple of candles out of a drawer, she lit them and started flicking through her albums for something to listen to. Something cool, she thought to herself, not lame stuff like Pink Floyd or whatever…. Settling on the latest Eurythmics album and popping it onto the little wind-up turntable she'd got for her birthday. She did have one of the new Walkmans – briefly – but it had short-circuited and blown up pretty fast. Angela had been so annoyed, she'd thought a battery-operated player would be safe from her little sparks and had saved her allowance for weeks to buy the thing. She flung herself down on the bed, folded her hands behind her head, mouthing along to the lyrics and trying to be happy here for the short time she thought she'd be staying. It wasn't long before a soft tap at the door disturbed her and she groaned as she went to open the door.
The girl standing outside was a little smaller than her, with long glossy black hair pulled into high pigtails and a big, pink-lipstick smile that she offered openly. Angela huffed again. Why bother making friends? She wasn't going to be sticking around.
"I'm Jubilation Lee" the girl at the door offered a hand, which Angela only eyed warily and didn't take, "people called me Jubilee"
"Angela Goldsmith" the newcomer replied, not standing aside, "People call me Troublemaker"
Jubilation frowned a little, then shrugged
"Well, I guess it's not bad for a codename" she said, and offered the little bow-tied package she held in her other hand, "I brought you some snacks. The Professor doesn't like us having lots of sweet stuff but there's a stash in the pantry if you ever get the craving"
Despite herself, Angela smiled at the proffered package of Ding Dongs that Jubilee held out to her, careful not to touch the girl's skin as she took them. She'd been determined not to give anyone around here an inch, but Jubilation's friendliness was catching, and she found herself standing aside a little to let the girl in.
"Wow, you have a gramophone!" she remarked, going over to eye the contraption, "totally retro"
Angela returned to sit down, where Jubilee joined her to sit cross-legged on the bed without invitation. Somehow though, even though Angela was used to holding people at arm's length, she didn't really mind. She carefully untied the yellow bow around the package of snacks and held one out to the other girl. Sitting for a moment or two in peaceful silence whilst they nibbled their treats.
"How do you like the school so far?"
"S'Okay," Angela shrugged, "It's better than Bradbury, where I was before"
"Isn't that the school that just had to be evacuated because the generator went nuts?"
"That's the one," Angela said glumly. She didn't elaborate, but Jubilation got the distinct feeling that she knew exactly what had happened there. She stayed quiet for a few minutes, letting the new girl come round in her own time, remembering how scary her first night had been.
"Y'know, it's alright here. There's some good people – and we're all a little unusual, so you don't have to worry about not fitting in"
Angela only made a little hmf sound, blowing her pink-streaked hair out of her eyes and shoving the rest of her treat into her mouth at once. Looking up in surprise as Jubilation giggled, covering her mouth with her hand and trying to control herself.
"Sorry… you just really reminded me of someone then"
"Oh really?" the girl asked sarcastically. She didn't betray much emotion on the surface, but out in the corridor the lights flickered a little. Jubilation noticed, and only smiled more kindly.
"You wanna see something cool?" she asked, not waiting for a reply before she raised both hands and wriggled her fingers slightly. Angela watched in fascination as little sparks started to shoot from the tips of her fingers, changing from red to blue to purple and back again to red. She grinned, suitably impressed.
"I can do it way bigger than that," Jubilation said proudly, "but it took me ages to learn to control it"
"That has gotta be the most useless thing I've ever seen," the girl said, "I love it"
Later, when they had both begun to yawn and Jubilation had returned to her own room, Angela changed into nightclothes and tried to get some sleep. Whilst it was a pretty good feeling to have ended up somewhere like this, she didn't hold out any hope that it would last. Nobody had ever been able to put up with her for too long – and honestly, why should they when she destroyed things and hurt people without even meaning to? She'd probably stick around here for a few weeks before that bald guy who'd shown her around would tell her, sorry, you're too much of a freak for us, and send her back home to her Dad again. She was getting used to that by now, though it still riled her up when people should know that she really couldn't help it.
Angela pulled the covers over her head and pretended she wasn't having a little weep at the idea that she wouldn't be able to stay here for long. She liked Jubilee, and the Professor, and even that weird guy from the lunch hall was at least interesting (and cute, don't forget cute). It would be a shame when she got kicked out of here too. From somewhere else in the building she could hear someone else's music, then a yell to turn it down. Someone laughing, and a few showers running. Best not settle in and get used to those noises, she thought, wondering why she'd even bothered unpacking her suitcase. Eventually, Angela fell into a miserable, snuffly doze.
