So I've had this chapter conveniently sitting done for months and I didn't even know- well I did but I forgot. I found it today. I hope that this extremely long wait hasn't turned you off my story :p Review!
"So that means that 42 rooms will be made up of 32 littles, and four LHHS kids. One room will have 26 littles, and ten LHHS kids. 33 rooms will have 30 LHHS kids. 8 rooms will have 29 LHHS kids." I stated. My head hurt as I looked at groups four-C and four-D. They were all slightly confused, but they figured that I'd done it right, so they could trust me. I didn't win the Math award last year, in grade nine for nothing.
"So, The smart thing to do would be to make the rooms larger, for the large people, so the rooms that will only contain LHHS kids will be larger, so we'll occupy the gyms, and every other large room. Then, the rest will get the smaller rooms." I continued.
"So, how're we going to set this up then, Florence, if you're so smart?" Alex sneered. He's never liked me, and I think seeing me doing something to help was really getting under his skin.
It made me blush slightly in embarrassment though- I mean, I wasn't popular with many people. He was making me feel inferior, and I didn't like it. I stopped with my self harm. I was done with that stuff.
"Well, I figure, at least for the first night, we could just count out 32 littles, and have the teens who brought them from the school each go into a room to watch them until we get everything else settled. We can organize which teens will sleep where that night. We can even try to put siblings together in rooms, but that will have to wait. We should put as much food as we can in the freezers in the cafeteria stores too, so that nothing spoils." I finished. "Kalea can figure out the rest."
They nodded, and a girl who looked to be around sixteen asked, "Why don't we spread out, and each get stationed in the rooms for the littles, so that we can direct them into the rooms they're supposed to go into."
"That's a great idea."
"Well let's get started then."
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I sped down the road on my bike, trying to catch up to group one. I saw some heads appearing, and within seconds I was almost on top of them. I slowed down, riding beside Sam, who was pushing a wheelbarrow full of pillows and blankets, and canned foods. We were almost at the school, and already I could hear some crying and yelling.
We entered the school, leaving our wheelbarrows, and wagons outside. "Alright. You ten- go down that hallway," I pointed to my left, just past the front office, "to get the kindergartens. Check the gym as well. You seven, go down that hallway," I pointed straight, and then to the left, just past the gym, "you thirteen, go down that hallway, and there's another branching off that I want you to go down as well. You five go through the library, and the computer lab," they were across from the gym, "the rest of you come with me down here. Meet up in the front of the school!" I turned to my right, and started down that hallway, turning into the first class. The people with me were Sam, Caine, Astrid, Diana, Taylor, Brianna, Lana, Dahra, Mace and Warren. Taylor and I went into the first room, and the others continued to the next classes.
Taylor started gathering the kids that were all huddled at the front and I walked to the back of the room, to where two girls were sitting. One had long, curly, red hair, and big brown eyes. The other had short, curly blonde hair, and deep blue eyes. They were both in grade one.
"Something bad is happening..." A little girl's voice said. I focused on creating a brick wall in my mind- I didn't want to hear how upset they were. I didn't need to hear their panicked thoughts.
"Hello girls. I'm Kalea. What are your names?" I crouched down, and looked into their faces.
"I'm Addison." The little blonde girl said, her lip quivering. Her voice was shaking, and she looked like she was barely holding herself together.
"I'm Anna." the other girl said, looking very solemn. One sole tear leaked from her eye, and she wiped it off quickly, her long curly red hair bouncing a little as she did.
"Well, Addison, Anna, why don't you girls come with me? I'm going to bring you to my school, where we're going to take very good care of you." I forced a smile, and grabbed their hands. They pulled themselves up and followed me.
We went out front, and everyone was already out there, waiting for us. I shushed them all, and started talking again, "Alright. So, what I'll get you to do is each teen please grab about fifteen kids." I grabbed Addison, Anna, and thirteen other kids, and had them form a line behind me, each holding the hand of a friend.
When everyone had a child, we started walking again, me walking the bike I'd taken from the back of the school, and the people who'd been pushing wheelbarrows and wagons had those as well.
I glared into the clear sky, thinking that it shouldn't be this gorgeous or this warm out, when a disaster was going on.
When we got to the school, it was quiet. I was met at the back door by my friend Ellaine, who then showed us where to bring the kids. The whole of my group stayed back in their respective rooms, except for Sam's group of people, who came from their FAYZ.
We were walking down the hallway when someone stopped me. "Are you Kalea?" He was tall, with short, spiky brown hair, and brown eyes.
"Yes, why?"
"I've been told to summon you. Let's go." he grabbed my wrist and I followed, beckoning for Sam and his group to come with us.
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"So, we have this as our plan." Florence showed me, and I saw Astrid scrutinizing it, looking for mistakes. Florence bit her lip, showing some pink braces and fairly straight teeth. Her brown hair was pulled up in a short ponytail and her glasses were set on the bridge of her nose.
After about a minute Astrid smiled, and nodded at Florence. "Nice work."
Florence practically glowed.
"So why was I called down here?" I asked.
"We wanted to know if we were counting you in on being one of the teens staying in a room with the littles." Florence explained, smoothing her polo shirt, and fidgeting restlessly.
"Yes. Definitely." I smiled. "Is that it?" I asked.
Florence bit her lip and looked uncomfortable. "Well... no. I don't know if this is me stepping out of my place but I think that we should figure some sort of democratic leadership thing now, before things get chaotic."
"Your place?" I asked.
"Well, you're obviously in charge..."
"Only because nobody else has stepped up." I smiled, and put a hand on her shoulder. "I think that's a fantastic idea. Do you think you could organize something like that, and have it ready in two or three days?" I asked.
She beamed. "Of course!"
"Perfect." I smiled.
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I dropped my pillow- and by my pillow, I literally mean the one that came from my bed at home- on the floor. I was so grateful that my house had been directly on the way to St. John's. On the way home I'd also been able to grab my blankets and some of my things. I also grabbed my sister's pillows and blankets and even some toys for both of them.
I set up my blankets so that they were like a sleeping bag, and so I could have cushioning and warmth. On one side of me was Anna, and she was almost asleep, as were all of the other littles. Addison was on Anna's other side.
On my left side, was Mace. He was lying down already, and looking exhausted.
Just across from us, were Caine and Dahra. "Will you guys please wake me up right when you do?" I asked, yawning. "I probably wont wake up if you don't."
Caine nodded sleepily, and flopped down, falling asleep almost instantly.
I lay down as well, on my side, facing Mace. "What do you think is going to happen to us?" he whispered.
"I wont let anything bad happen to us. I can't." I promised.
"I didn't mean that..." he frowned. "We're stuck here in a ball, according to the new kids. Does that mean we're just going to run out of food? Are we going to have to start hunting animals? Hunting each other?"
"No. We have corn fields. Apple orchards. Even some berry fields. Granted, there are a lot of us, but if we ration the food properly then it'll last awhile." I yawned again, my eyelids fluttering.
"Sleep." Mace whispered. "We'll talk about think in the morning."
My only response was the closing of my eyelids, as darkness embraced me.
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"Kalea. Get up. Now." Caine practically growled, and I looked up at him blearily.
"No need to growl Mister Grumpy Pants." I yawned. I ran my fingers through my hair in an attempt to make it look more presentable and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.
Caine rolled his eyes and ushered me out the door. I looked around and realized it wasn't even light outside yet.
"Why did you wake me?"
"Because we need to organize breakfast." He answered, and steered me down the hall.
I sighed, and complied, quickening my step. "What are we going to serve?" I asked.
"They each get a fruit, and a waffle." He answered.
"Alright." We entered the cafeteria kitchen, and I saw some people already cooking the waffles, and putting the fruit on display in the see-through fridge near the front. "Wow. Did you set this up?"
He smiled slightly. "Not by myself. But yes, I helped."
One of the girls walked up and nudged him with her elbow. "He planned it all. Don't let him lie to you." She was oriental, and even in the morning she looked good. She was much shorter than me, but she was only twelve. She smiled as if the day could only get better.
"You know, I don't think your brother gives you enough credit."
He raised an eyebrow. "How did you know we were brothers?"
"Mind thing. My wall fell for a little and I heard a bit..." I smiled mischievously. "He was worried you'd do something bad." I laughed. "I don't think you're that bad at all. A little misunderstood, maybe." I stepped closer, not really knowing what I was doing. "But, not bad." I cleared my throat when i realized what I was doing and turned away slightly. "Something happened back in your FAYZ, didn't it? Something between you and your brother."
He bit his lip and nodded.
"I can tell you don't want me to know, so I wont look and see. Just know that if it's something that will affect, and hurt anyone here, I will see to it myself that the punishment is equal to the crime."
The girl cleared her throat. "Sorry to interrupt, but kids have started to filter in. Do we just mark their hand, and give them something?"
I nodded. "Be sure to use permanent marker, and make the drawing large and irremovable. We don't want anyone coming for seconds."
She nodded. "Alright. I'm Lawra, by the way."
"Kalea."
"I know." she smiled.
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I sat in the room adjoining the office, at the head of the table with twenty-nine seats. There were about ten people in there with me.
"Okay, we need to try and get siblings together tonight." I started. "It's just after lunch right now. I have a plan, but I want to see if anyone has anything better." I said.
"Well, why don't we hear yours first?" Astrid asked.
"Alright." I nodded. "I think, if we call down all the LHHS students with a sibling in LHHS first, and get them organized first then we can switch around the rooms with just LHHS kids, and it will be a little less chaotic. Then, we can call down the LHHS kids with siblings in one of the elementary schools- and we can basically cross the french kids from Michaelle Jean off the list as well. We'd organize them after that."
Astrid nodded. "I like that. But, what if we were to go class to class and ask who has siblings where? We could then write down everyone's name on a list and organize it without having to deal with a large amount of people talking and bombarding us with questions."
I nodded. "Any objections?" I asked. There were none. "Perfect."
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"Kali!" Corra squealed and I beamed, scooping her up into a huge hug.
"Miss me?" My skinny nine-year-old sister squeezed me tight, her curly, sandy hair going in my face. I set her down, and saw her brown eyes brimming with tears.
"I didn't know where you were, Kali. I was so scared." her lower lip quivered.
"But now you don't need to be, because we're all here, safe and sound." I smiled.
Joss was behind her, standing awkwardly, her brown hair mussed. "Hey Joss." I smiled.
"Kalea." she smiled in spite of herself.
"How're you doing?"
"Good." her lip quivered.
I hesitantly hugged her, hoping that she wouldn't punch me. To my surprise, she embraced me tightly.