Notes

I won't update this quickly often but I will try to keep at a reasonable rate, this story will be relatively long if all goes as planned

Well that class had been a disappointment, the one class she had actually wanted to attend since she was nine and it was barely worth tuning up to, the teacher could barely tell the difference between a computer and rock. She could already code fluently in 7 separate languages and was in the process of writing her own which was much more efficient. However it did pose her with a question, who upgraded the school software because it clearly wasn't him. The only good that came out of the lesson though was the ports that he'd allowed her to plug her laptop into, after she'd convinced him it wasn't just going to blow up in all of their faces, had allowed her much easier access into the school system and probably the key to accessing the dark vault, as she'd taken to thinking of the unknown data as.

The last two lessons of the morning were pretty uneventful, she arrived on time and sat in the back corners of both lessons with the teachers only giving her a funny look as she pulled out her laptop once she had bored of the subject being taught. She knew though that from now on the teachers would be giving her a wide birth, they'd had time to all meet together and discuss the terror that is her, it happened every time, every school. She didn't mind it though, they left her alone to get on with her own thing and that's all she wanted. Finding a nice spot outside the school, with good wifi connection of course, thanks teacher who argued that they should have wifi so they could use laptops and iPads, she pulled out her lunch she had made back at the Sykes', she didn't have the money to buy lunch and it was much easier to nick food from them, peanut butter and nutella sandwich and an apple she'd stolen off a tree she passed on the walk to school. Not much but she had gone up to a week before with no food, that was a bad home, so she didn't need much to get by. The Sykes' were better than many of her previous homes, reasonably nice house, got her into the school pretty quick and fed her decently at home, but she knew they only took her in to get the extra money to help out with their own son Walter, who was stuck in a wheel chair and had large medical bills.

The final two lessons passed exactly as she expected, teachers tried so had to ignore her it became obvious, drawing more attention to her from the other students, which honestly is quite impressive after I already broke the record for shortest amount of time before getting called to the principals office, she though. Claudia was actually quite proud of that fact she had heard being whispered as she passed on her way here. But no matter how proud she was of the fact it was the reason she was headed down to the main hall at three rather than home. Walking in there was only one other student present along with the teacher.

"At least I made it through 3 days, though from what I hear you broke my record, well played." The boy spoke loudly his voice easily making it across the room to her, "How long did you get for that little display?"

"One week, but it works to my advantage. I was surprised though with what I got away with in home room, guess he let me off thanks to the awesome new kid status. What about you then, what you in for?" She quipped back looking over the room, the boy was sat on the bleachers at the side while the woman was stood clearly waiting for them to finish.

"Apparently using a teachers computer to send emails to other members of staff is highly frowned upon, I only convinced them to bring in loads of cupcakes though, didn't get to eat any as planned. Oh I'm Todd by the way." He came back with standing as Claudia reached him from across the hall.

"I'm…" She began to reply before being cut off by his hand.

"Claudia Donovan, new girl, walked into a class five minutes late got sent out 30 seconds later." he stated continuing after seeing the confused look she wore, "Small town, everybody knows everybody, also you look very distinctive no one else around here fits the description of, and I quote "I don't know if she's in a gang or was just picked up off the streets but you get the fuck out of her way." don't blame me, that's just what I heard, though I would have gone more with punk rock biker chick to be honest."

"Okay now we have all made introductions I am Mrs Lattimer and you two are the only ones to have managed to get detention quite this early on." The woman spoke while moving towards them, "Todd I was hoping that you could have made it at least a week before I saw you here and Miss Donovan, you I was hoping to not see for some time but I guess people don't often get what the want. Well come with me, Todd you know the drill." Mrs Lattimer began to walk towards the door while Todd followed, it took Claudia a second to realise what was happening before quickly walking after them and outside. "Now it hasn't been done all summer so lots to do, Todd show Claudia what to do and don't forget to wear gloves, you know what happened last time." Todd started to head towards a shed while Mrs Lattimer sat on a bench next to a large flower bed.

"Come on, trust me you want to be wearing gloves for this," called Todd over his shoulder and Claudia chased after him quickly catching up just as he entered the shed and threw a pair of thick, but small, gardening gloves to her.

"So are we gardening or something?" She asked while putting on the gloves and following him back out of the shed.

"The school only uses the grounds staff for areas like the football fields, to keep the rest of the place looking nice they use poor saps like us." as he spoke he knelt down next to the flower bed and began pulling up weeds, looking up and sensing her hesitation he patted the ground beside him, "Haven't you ever done work in a garden before?" he asked watching as she shook her head, "Alright then, it's simple pull out the weeds, trying to bring up all the roots too, and place them in a pile. Don't pull up the flowers. Wear gloves, thistles are sharp, and accept you will get muddy. Any questions? Nope, you seem smart you'll figure the rest out." Still puling up weeds as he spoke. Claudia got down onto her knees and joined him pulling out the weeds, making little competitions, who could find the biggest weed, who could get the most out in 30 seconds. Before she knew it Mrs Lattimer was stood above them telling them the hour was up and they could head home.

After Todd had headed off Claudia looked around, she could head home but there wasn't really anything for her there, the only thing she missed about her previous home was that they had a couple of guitars and so long as she didn't break them she had been allowed to play them. Maybe tomorrow she would look and see if there was anywhere in town she could get one cheap, she probably wouldn't though, it was hard enough to keep hold of the stuff in her duffle bag moving a guitar for house to house would be near impossible. In the end she decided to explore the town, however small it might be. Only after walking for five minutes did she truly understand that there was nothing in a town this small, other than stores for basic necessities there was very little else, she guessed that most people ordered from the internet or went for very long day trips to get anything. She did however find a dinner and, after checking her pockets where she found the five dollars she had swiped off a teachers desk earlier, went in to and ordered a milkshake and some chilli, extra onions. She sat there for over 2 hours slowly making her way through the food and noticing the lack of people sat near her at the counter, that was until Mr Nielsen from her homeroom earlier took the seat next to her. It took him a second to acknowledge her presence before he turned and asked.

"That computer you were using yesterday, did you make it?"

"About a year ago, why?" She replied unsure to his motives.

"And it works? Turns on and is fully functional?" He continued.

"Turns on and works better than any of the computers at the school at least." Before she could ask why he was asking a takeaway box was placed in front of him which he quickly picked up before walking off.

After she had finished her chilli she head home, moving through the house as quietly as she could reaching her room unnoticed and pulling out her laptop; she started to look up Nielsen hoping to find out what his interest was. Little did she know on the other side of town Arthur Nielsen was doing a little digging on her.

Please do review to let me know not only what you think but that you are there. The story is unbetad so all mistakes are my own but I will happily correct them if you let me know they are there.