The switching on of a bright light rudely awakened Bette from a pleasant dream that she was sure had involved a certain blonde prison officer.
"Shane McCutcheon and Elizabeth Porter, get your stuff together, we're going to G Wing" announced the brunette officer at the door.
"Who's she?" Bette asked Shane quietly.
"No idea, must be new" Shane replied with a shrug.
Fifteen minutes later they were ready and following the officer to another section of the prison.
"Miss, I'm sorry but I don't know you, are you new?" Shane asked.
"I'm Officer Fairbanks, and yes, this is my second week" the brunette replied.
"Give you all the best jobs when you're new, don't they"
"Something like that. Right, here we are ladies" she announced, opening the gate to the wing.
"Home sweet home" said Shane under her breath.
"Shane!" a young looking women with wild curly hair and a tattoo on her neck came running up to them and embraced Shane.
"Alright Den!" Shane returned the hug "Denny, this is Bette. Bette, I'd like you to meet Denny"
"Nice to meet you" Bette smiled.
"Alright, hows it going?" Denny shook Bette's hand, causing Shane to chuckle.
"She's already had a run in with Bodybag, wound her up proper" Shane told her.
"Nice one! Here, Miss, is Shane coming back in the dorm with us?" Denny asked Officer Fairbanks.
The Officer checked her paperwork "Looks like today is your lucky day Denny"
"Wicked, come on mate!" Denny was practically dragging Shane across the hall.
"I'll catch up with you in a bit, Bette"
"Sure" Bette waved her off, slightly unwillingly as she didn't quite fancy facing her first moments on the wing alone.
"Right Bette, your cell is just down here. The governor likes to give older prisoners a cell of their own, so you won't have to worry about sharing with the young ones"
Bette just gave her a look.
"Not that I'm calling you old or anything" Officer Fairbanks added hurriedly, starting to blush.
"Of course"
"Right, follow me"
Officer Fairbanks led Bette down the hall until they reached an empty cell.
"Here you go, stick your stuff in here and try to settle in as best you can. I'm sure it'll feel more like home once you get some of your stuff around the place"
"Sure" Bette replied, not sounding convinced.
"I'll leave you to it. Your personal officer will be along to check on and arrange your meeting with the Wing Governor" Officer Fairbanks told her as she left her alone.
Bette sighed and sat down on the hard mattress. Slowly she began to pull her belongings from the clear plastic bag. Her chosen items of clothes, all well made but nothing obviously designer so as not to attract unwanted attention, and her washbag and make up. At the bottom of her bag were two photographs, one of her and Jodi and one of Kit. She chose the dirtiest part of the wall to fix them to in order to make the place look a little nicer.
"Awww how cute, those your girlfriends?" came a high pitched voice from behind her.
Bette turned to find a women with peroxide blonde hair leant against her door. The woman had on a tight blue miniskirt and a skimpy red top, and epitomised everything that Bette hated about women. Putting herself on show like that was the least attractive thing that Bette could imagine.
"One of them is, yeah. The other ones my sister"
"Nice"
The woman walked over to take a closer look, and Bette became aware of the overwhelming stench of cheap perfume. She covered her mouth subtly to keep from coughing or laughing, she wasn't sure which one would come out first.
"Wouldn't have had you down for a lezza. You don't look like the other ones in here" the blonde said.
"Well, I guess we come in all shapes and sizes" Bette said, folding her arms.
"I'm sorry, how very rude of me, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Shell" the blonde reached out to shake Bette's hand.
"Bette" the brunette replied simply.
Suddenly the mood changed and Shell squeezed Bette's hand firmly. She leant in and spoke in a lowered tone.
"Just thought we should get things straight from the start. I run this place see, so you wanna stick on the right side of me, you get it?" she stared at Bette.
"I'll mind my own business if you mind yours" Bette met her stare.
"You wanna watch your back, Bette" Shell said sharply.
"Oi, Dockley!" came another voice from the doorway "Stop annoying the new girl"
"Mind your own business Wade"
"Actually, I think we were done with the introductions here, weren't we Shell?" Bette said firmly, pulling her hand from Shell's grip.
"Whatever" Shell huffed, pushing her way past the woman in the doorway.
"So, have you come to tell me to watch my back too?" Bette asked suspiciously.
The woman laughed "In a round about way, I guess. I just saw that you had the pleasure of Dockley's visit and thought I'd save you from the boredom of listening to her spout on"
Bette's face softened and she smiled at the woman "Sorry, just, I guess I thought you can never be too careful in here"
"You're right there. But most of the ones who go on about it don't back it up with anything"
"Bette Porter" Bette held her hand out.
"Nikki Wade" the woman shook her hand "So, you met anyone else in here yet?"
"I came in with Shane, and just got introduced to Denny on the wing"
"Shane's a good kid, world screwed her over. She could make something of herself if someone just gave her a chance. But she's wiser than people give her credit for, she notices things"
"Yeah, I can see that"
"And Denny….well, she's a good kid too. Just needs some guidance, you know what I mean?"
Bette nodded, and at once felt pity for the young women she had met earlier. Already she was starting to change her views of people in prison. They weren't all necessarily bad people, just sometimes life stuck them in the shit and crime was their only way out.
"You wanna head out and get some breakfast? It's not great, but…"
"Sounds good, I'm starved" Bette followed Nikki gratefully.
The two women made their way to the servery, with the odd wolf whistle being aimed in Bette's direction.
Nikki turned to her "They'll soon get bored, don't worry"
"It's alright, I'll try and take it as a compliment"
They both laughed as they made it fairly quickly to the front of the queue. The food was being served by two blonde women, one tall and one short, who appeared to be surprisingly cheerful considering their situation.
"Julies, meet Bette. These are the Julies" Nikki introduced them.
"Hiya love" Julie S, the shorter woman smiled at her.
"Nice to meet you" Bette smiled back.
"Here we go, got some nice sausages here for you Nik, and for you Bette"
"Cheers Julies"
"Yeah, thanks" Bette smiled gratefully, thinking that the food didn't look as bad as she had expected it to.
"Nikki, Shane, over here!" Denny was waving them over from a table with two vacant seats.
They made their way over to the table where Denny was sat with Shane, a black woman with braided hair and a blonde woman with bags under her eyes. Shane gave her a smile as she sat down.
"Bette, I'd like you to meet Crystal" she indicated the black woman "and Zandra. My other two roommates"
The women smiled and all six of them tucked into their breakfast.
"Bette, can I have a word?"
Bette turned to the source of the voice that had filled her dreams the night before.
"Sure" she said smiling and walking to one side with Officer Kennard. She was sure right about now Shane was filling the table in about her previous lustful looks.
"I'd just like to introduce myself properly. I'm Tina, and I'm going to be your personal officer" Tina flashed her a smile that made her go weak at the knees.
"Err…great!" Bette struggled for words.
"Your meeting with Miss Stewart is scheduled for half an hours time so if you wanna finish up your breakfast and then I'll show you up, ok?"
"Sure, thanks Officer Kennard"
"You can call me Tina if you want" the blonde said with a wink, walking off to deal with two women who looked like their breakfast discussion was growing a little heated.
Shit, thought Bette. Keeping my mind off Tina Kennard is going to be a lot harder than I thought.