Chapter 2
As I entered the front door of Regina house, I found all hell had broken loose. I was swarmed like a child, with a packet of hot chips and the students were my seagulls crying out for a bite. Something was wrong with the kitchen roaster and nobody had prepared the nights meals, Bernie had got her hands on a lighter and was on the second floor threatening to burn the year nine's room along with the entire building. Pandemonium had taken its toll and when the first war letter arrived panic flared their already over simulated brains. I groaned I hope to god that I was never this pathetic and jumpy.
I was over run and I had no one I could trust. I never realised my years of self-exile and seclusion would ever be a problem but now I was beginning to see the down side to it. My alone time was my freedom and now I was no more then a caged animal.
"What are you going to do about dinner for tonight?" Fired Amber in her usual annoying tone. I avoided looking at her instead scanning the room for a friendly face. Isolation had left me without an allies but then I spotted Katrina. She back in year seven had been one of my only friends, I just had to hope that she didn't hate me for one reason or another, most people did by now.
"Kat?" I called out to her. She came over giving me an enquiring look. "Can you organize our year to do the meal. I think salads and fruit would be best and least time consuming."
"Sure." Kat began rounding up the older girls and I noticed Amber was still standing in front of me with her hands with her hands on her hips.
"Excuse me Amber but I have a would be assassin on the second floor and I do believe you should be in the kitchen." I said cockily. She gave me a dirty look and huffed off to the kitchen. I smiled watching her. Ah the little pleasures in lifeā¦
"Tegan, Tegan!" I cringed at the sound of her voice. "I have the letter! See?" Audrey was jumping up and down with excitement. I snatched the envelope away from her grasps, climbing the stairs two at a time trying to loose her and find Bernie at the same time.
She was on the other end of the year nine room waving around her weapon of choice.
"Bernie," I said tiredly, "If you hand over the lighter, I'll let you go to the fair but if you burn anything or it's not in my hand in the next ten seconds I'll extend the ban indefinitely. Do you get what I am saying?" She nodded tossing the green lighter in the air. I caught it on the way down walking back out the door.
"Pleasure dong business with you." Bernie called but I was to far gone by then.
I went down to the common room to find a vacant chair. Slowly I opened the letter with half the girls creeping up behind me, reading over my shoulder.
Meeting in the sports shed twelve sharp.
I got up ignoring the whispers of worried girls. I was heading off to Cook house to see who was the leader of our only ally. In the war two houses had been teamed up together as long as anyone can remember. It was the two girl houses, Myrtle and Clarity on one side, the two boys houses Nelson and Martello in the other. Which left us over at Regina house to deal with the boys in Cook house.
I knocked on the door and a little year eight answered. He didn't seem to pleased to see me but went in to drag his house leader out. In a matter of moments their leader was standing in front of me, and I realized that the pair of us didn't stand a chance. I knew Alex Mitchell vaguely from the days when I was friends with Kat. From my memory he was a complete klutz and by the looks of him a few years on, he hadn't changed a bit.
"Tegan?" I nodded. "I was thinking that we do nothing."
"You've got to be kidding me." I growled staring at him. " We've lost most of the land, we above all the others need to do something."
He shook his head as if I was being unreasonable. " I am not saying we never do anything, just we let the others do most of the talking. They'll end up fighting and then we can slyly step in from the side."
"Fine." I snapped, it wasn't like a had a plan and we were already loosing the war. "I'll see you at the meeting tonight then."
