Summary: Set after T2 in the year 1997. John is sent to a juvenile detention centre where he meets a group of kids who know more about him than they should.
Start Chapter 2:
"So you're the new kid, huh?" standing in front of John, the muscled skinhead known as Scuzz gave the younger boy his meanest glare, "We like new kids, don't we Russell?"
"That we do boss," a tall, rather thin boy with shoulder-length brown hair said, smiling in the way a weasel would if weasels could smile.
Also smiling, Scuzz cracked his knuckles. John, who was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall with his legs stretched out in front of him, looked up at the three boys in front of him, shaking his head to get his hair out of his eyes. He knew that he was going to get beaten up, but he had learnt from his own experiences that it was best not to show how scared you were, so stared obstinately back at Scuzz.
"You want to know why we like new kids?" Scuzz asked, not breaking his eye contact with John for a second as the younger boy stood up.
"Well I'm getting the strangest feeling that you're gonna tell me anyway," John said, tilting his head slightly.
His smile broadening, Scuzz looked at the lackey on his left; a blond with pale blue eyes, "Why do we like new kids, Zack?" he asked.
"We like new kids . . ." Zack paused, moving closer to John, who glared at him, "because they'll fight, they got more attitude, and because they got more stuff," he smiled a smile that would have turned most girls into mush. He was one of the oldest kids in the centre, with the sort of bad boy look most girls went crazy for, although his ear and eyebrow piercing had closed up, and the wax he usually used to spike his hair wasn't permitted. He was one of the oldest as well; younger only than Federico and Scuzz, and had there been any girls other than Lily, who was taken, and Saz, who was, well, Saz, he would have been a major love interest.
"Have you got nothing better to do than beat me up?" John raised an eyebrow. Scuzz, Zack and Russell exchanged a look.
"Nah…" Scuzz replied, and then punched him in the stomach.
"Six days," Lily observed, "Longer than most of us thought."
"Who won?" Fed asked, raising an eyebrow as Lily pulled a tightly folded piece of paper from its hiding place inside her shirt.
"Liam," Lily replied, "he was closest with five."
"They don't usually leave it that long," Fed commented, "Well I'd better help the poor kid. Doesn't talk much, but he's alright," pushing himself away from the wall he'd been leaning against, he made his way across the courtyard to where John was being held upright a few inches off the ground by Zack, while Scuzz and Russell were both taking it in turns to punch him in the stomach, making a kind of competition out of who could provoke the most entertaining reaction. They'd obviously been hitting John around the face, as his lip and nose were bleeding, and he had a bruise forming on his cheekbone.
"Leave him alone, ya fucking losers," grabbing Russell's hair and the back of Scuzz's shirt, Fed pulled the boys backwards, away from John, then slammed their heads together, a rather hollow thud resounding before both boys fell to the floor, having been pulled off balance when Fed grabbed them. Hardly sparing them a glance, Fed stepped over them, cracking his knuckles as he stood in front of Zack, who was weighing up the situation in his mind. Considering that Fed had left both Scuzz and Russell on the floor after only one hit, he reluctantly dropped the practically unconscious John into Fed's arms before scarpering, sharpish. Scuzz and Russell followed suit, holding their heads and muttering threats under their breath.
Lowering John to the ground, Fed watched sympathetically as the younger boy proceeded to retch up his partly digested breakfast. This combined with the blood dripping from his nose and lip made John a rather sorry sight.
"Ouch… they usually go easy on the new kids," joining the two boys, Lily knelt down beside John and pushed his hair back so it didn't get in his way. His breathing ragged due to the fact inhaling hurt like hell, John finally managed to control his stomach and sat up, giving Lily a weak smile of thanks as she handed him a tissue.
"Only because they can't threaten someone who's in the medical room," Fed reasoned, folding his arms across his chest as he watched John trying to staunch the steady flow of blood pouring from his nose, "And I think that might be where you'd be better off, squirt. Can you stand?"
"I'm fine," John replied darkly, wincing as he realised how much talking hurt and then grimacing as he swallowed blood. Making a feeble attempt to get up, he winced again as the movement made his stomach twinge. Fed and Lily exchanged a sympathetic look, and then turned in unison as a door slammed on the other side of the courtyard, and two orderlies emerged, looking rather annoyed.
"Oh shit…" Fed muttered, as the orderlies headed towards them.
"Alright Reese, what'd you do?" the first orderly asked, attempting to look threatening but failing; although this was partly owing to a broken nose he'd received earlier on in the week, courtesy of a certain Ms Peterson he'd attempted to sedate.
"I did what you told me," shrugging, Fed glared over Carl's shoulder at Scuzz, Russell and Zack, who were observing the situation from across the courtyard, grinning widely.
"I don't call this looking after him, Federico," the other orderly, who through a long chain of coincidences happened to be Ben, arched an eyebrow.
"Hey, I stopped them beating him up, didn't I?" Fed shrugged.
"According to Russell, Zack and Steven, you were the one doing the beating," Carl pointed out.
"I don't believe in taking advantage of people smaller than me," Fed informed him, grinning as John objected to his comment with a "Hey!" that promptly directed attention from the apparent culprit to the obvious victim.
"Holy f… rench fries," Ben stopped and corrected himself as he remembered how he wasn't supposed to set a bad example. Tilting John's chin up so he could inspect the damage, he ignored the impatient look he was receiving from the teen, who was now able to stand by himself as long as he ignored the stabbing pains in his stomach.
"Okay, let's get you cleaned up," Ben said eventually, gesturing for John to follow him as he led the way inside.
Feeling rather redundant since Ben had taken over, Carl gave Fed and Lily a final glare before stalking off.
The two teenagers exchanged a look, and smiled. Carl had to be the meanest, most annoying orderly in the centre, and pissing him off had become almost a game among the braver kids. Apparently Fed and Lily were winning.
Change scene:
John returned to the dining room that evening with few visible signs of his earlier injuries. Besides the cut on his lip and the bruise on his cheekbone, he looked fine. The pains in his stomach were small enough to ignore, the bruises there hidden by his shirt and his hair covered the cut next to his eyebrow.
Collecting his food, he joined Federico and Lily at their usual place in the corner of the room.
"Hey John," Lily greeted him with a smile as she always did, causing Federico to turn and face him.
"Johnny boy, 'sup?" grinning at the younger boy, Fed gestured for him to sit down, "It's your lucky day, squirt. Tuesday. Know what that means?" he took the time John used to reply as an opportunity to eat some more of his fries before Lily did.
Sitting down, John thought for a moment, "Litter pickup?" he suggested randomly, arching an eyebrow. To his surprise, Lily nodded, looking a little impressed.
"You're fast, squirt. Litter pickup. Now, you arrived on Wednesday- not the best day to arrive 'cause I was making an idiot out of myself getting beat by a girl, but whatever. Where was I? Ah, Wednesday. This means?" he paused to let John figure it out. It was probably annoying the kid, and he knew it, but he had to keep himself entertained somehow.
John looked blank, but knew that Federico wouldn't continue unless he gave it a try, "It's about a week since then?" he suggested, wincing as he went to raise a sarcastic eyebrow.
"If you lick cuts they'll heal quicker," Lily thought she'd mention through a mouthful of food, noticing John's pain, "Lions do it," she added informatively, smiling as John frowned and stuck his tongue out in a mock attempt to lick his eyebrow. Obviously failing this, he licked the back of his hand and wiped it across the offending area.
"Lil', I'm talking," Fed pouted cutely at Lily, who rolled her eyes and nodded, returning to her food, "Good girl," he said, clearing his remaining food onto her plate.
"'Rico, you need to eat too," feeling guilty, Lily gave Fed's food back to him. He arched an eyebrow, unconvinced, and Lily followed suit, "I can manage on mine, you know that. This place'd get sued into the next world war if I died, don't worry," leaning across the table, she kissed Fed on the cheek, "Talk to John," she prompted, nodding in the younger boy's direction, "You've got something to tell him."
"Oh, right, yeah," forgetting surprisingly quickly about Lily's apparent welfare, Fed continued his conversation with John where he had left off.
"You're good, kid, it's been a week. Now, this fight I had with Saz. I didn't get punished, right?" for once, he didn't wait for an answer, much to John's relief, "but unfortunately Saz did. She's in solitary, been there since Wednesday. Now, the staff don't want fewer slaves than usual on their litter pickup now, do they? Means they might actually have to do some work for a change. So?" he looked at John expectantly.
"So…" John paused, giving the impression he was thinking to please Federico, although he'd known what was coming for a while now; he'd heard some of the staff talking about it while he was in the medical room, "She gets let out a day early?" he suggested, a hint of a question in his voice as an addition to his charade.
Looking pleased, Fed nodded, "You got it. They couldn't have her out for Saturday's duty, defeats the whole object of being in solitary confinement, but Tuesday? It's only a day early, makes no difference, right? Right. So if you're gonna do something that'll get you shoved in solitary for a week, do it Wednesday, Friday or Sunday. Best piece of advice I can give you, 'cept for the whole not bribing of Carl. He'll take your stuff then get you shoved in solitary for corruption, stealing, whatever depending on the stuff and where you got it. Lost 3 packs of Saz's cigarettes that way a while back; she was one unhappy bunny…" pulling a face, Fed offered Lily his last chip, which she declined. Shrugging, he ate it himself.
"Speaking of Saz . . ." Lily started, "Guess who's back," She smiled at the approaching girl, who was looking carefully neutral as she made her way to her usual seat next to Lily; a sure sign that she was pissed off about something. Taking a seat, she pulled the cheese and pepperoni off her pizza, and then passed her plate and the rest of her food to Lily in exchange for her plate, which was empty apart from her own pizza toppings. Because Saz's foster mother paid money to the centre every year, Saz received privileges, among which were the deserts she got at lunch and dinner. In exchange for half of her chocolate doughnut, the cheese from Federico's pizza was added to Saz's collection.
Understandably, John was a little freaked out by this. Lily smiled at him.
"Saz is a picky eater," she explained, "She doesn't eat a lot of different things, so we swap what she likes for what she doesn't."
Not feeling terribly convinced but nodding all the same, John looked at Saz, who was staring at her plate, seemingly rather moody. Frowning, John wondered why Saz was acting so differently to the rather pleasant, talkative- if a little cold at times- girl Federico had described so often.
"So, Saz-meister, what's up with you?" Federico asked, having apparently made the same observation as John, Saz looked up at him, her expression neutral as it always seemed to be.
"I lost my visit next week, and it's the only day off Robert can get before Christmas," Saz said by way of explanation, leaning her elbow on the table and resting her cheek on her palm as she continued to eat. She spoke with little expression or emotion, and John got the impression that this was her way of handling loss or pain; hiding it from the rest of the world as though she didn't want to trouble them. He made a mental note not to get her pissed off enough to release all of this energy on him; he'd seen what she'd done to Federico last week and didn't feel like going through that himself.
"Ouch. Sorry babes," Fed sympathised, unable to console his friend from across the table but smiling in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. A little more capable than her male companion, Lily put her arm around Saz, who leaned her head on Lily's shoulder, staring at the table for a moment. A moment later, however, her disposition changed completely.
"But since we're getting out of here soon it doesn't matter anyway," she said cheerfully, smiling now although it wasn't quite as bright a smile as it could have been.
"That's it, Saz, keep the right attitude," Fed grinned, stuffing his share of Saz's donut in his mouth whole. Lily gave him a reprimanding look, and he looked guiltily at the table.
Saz smiled slightly, obviously glad to see her friends again after a while without them, and then frowned slightly as she noticed Federico's companion.
"Who's this?" she asked, nodding in John's direction.
"Oh yeah. Saz, meet John Connor. John, this is Saz," Federico introduced the two twelve year olds to each other, who both nodded a greeting, smiling in what seemed to be a friendly manner although they were both slightly guarded.
"Your mom's pretty cool, huh?" Saz said, her eyes not leaving John's as she watched his reactions, considering his ability as part of the group.
John was quiet for a moment, remembering all his mother had done during her life, and all she had done for him, "Yeah. I guess she is."
Change scene:
"Hey, something's going on out there…" staring out of the window, Lisa frowned as she saw the car pull up outside, straining in an attempt to see around the bars that adorned the window. She failed miserably, and returned to her thoughts having attracted the attention of no one in the room. Across the room, three other women exchanged a look; Lisa was always trying to make more out of life than she was ever going to get. Everyone in the common room knew that they had problems that would prevent them from living anything remotely similar to a normal life, and they all dealt with it in their own way; most of them choosing to accept their fate while a couple of them- such as Lisa- tried to remain optimistic. It was a futile attempt; anyone who had spent any amount of time in even the minimum security section of a mental institution like Pescadero would be unlikely to lead a very successful life after their release.
A few minutes later, however, it began to seem as though Lisa may have had a point. Something was going on, and that something was a visitor. Immediately, the hopes of almost everyone in the room leaped, thinking that this visitor could be there to see them. However, there was one woman who sat in the corner, completely unaffected by the prospect of someone from what was increasingly known as the 'outside world'. She continued to read her paperback book, merely glancing up as Doctor "call me Carly" Paterson opened the door.
"Sorry, girls, we've only got one visitor for one of you," she smiled brightly and checked her clipboard. Fourteen pairs of expectant eyes- and a pair of disinterested ones- looked at her. Fourteen prayers were left unanswered.
"Sarah Connor?" Carly looked around the room to see nothing but disappointed expressions. She chewed her lip nervously, hoping that disappointment wouldn't lead to rage as it had done on occasion in the past, and then smiled broadly as she recognised the figure in the corner, who was calmly placing her book on the table next to her and beginning to stand up. She thought it was a mistake; there was only one person who would visit her in her new 'home' and he wouldn't have been let out of the latest juvenile delinquent center forced into taking him a few days ago.
"Hello Sarah," the ever-annoying Doctor Silberman greeted her as she reached the visitor's area, smiling in almost convincing happiness to see her. Sarah glared at him.
"You've got thirty minutes, Sarah. Remember the rules," the doctor opened the door to the closely watched visiting room. Sarah may have been moved to minimum security since her capture, but she could tell by the mounted cameras and mirrored walls that they weren't about to take any chances.
Continuing to glare at Doctor Silberman, Sarah stepped into the brightly white room in front of her, although she might as well have left it open considering that anyone who wanted to- and more besides- could watch it anyway.
"Ms Connor," her visitor greeted her calmly, gesturing for her to take a seat.
Sarah's eyebrows shot up into her fringe. Maybe it wasn't a mistake after all.
"Call me Sarah," she replied, obviously surprised but taking a seat across from her visitor despite this. Placing her hands flat on top of the desk (this being one of the many rules in the visiting room) she was slightly unsure of what to say. This problem, however, was solved for her as her visitor spoke first.
"I want to help," she said simply, "What can I do?"
Taking in the serious expression of her companion, Sarah had to use all of her willpower to follow the plan she'd decided on the moment she'd been caught by the police.
"I don't know what you mean."
End
Oooooh, mysterious stranger. Who d'you think it is? Hopefully you don't know, because that would spoil my fun, but you can guess anyway to keep me entertained. So yeah, celebrate, chapter 2 is finally uploaded! It would have been uploaded sooner but my internet stuffed up last night... but yeah. Keep the reviews coming, I love getting feedback, even if it isn't very good. And I'm kind of expecting some that isn't great because I've actually hardly gone anywhere yet and I said I'd have action in this chapter. Well it'll be in the next one. It will. Hooray!