Guarded Light

The Morning ~ Chapter 3

Today I wake up to the sound of my new alarm clock I set up yesterday. It was tuned to a song from Poland. I hum to the melody in my bed until I hear one of the girls knock on my door. "Come in." I see Cara walk in. "Morning. Breakfast is ready. Also, I forgot to tell you." I stared at her. Did I have my music too loud or something? "I don't think you've noticed, but I'm in some of your classes. I've tried to wave to you, but you seem like your in your own little world. That's all. Thanks!" She backed out of the room and shut the door. I got up and turned down my music, I felt like I was making people wake up. I found a nice outfit, thank goodness there was no dress code. I walked over to a mirror I put up yesterday and put on my outfit, a teal sweater that reached my knees, brown leggings and black flats. I put my hair up in a ponytail, and walk out. I realise that I left my bag on my desk, so I walked back and slung it around my shoulder. I put my phone in the side pocket, which reminds me, I need everyone's phone number in the dorm. It'd be really bad if I needed help, and I couldn't contact anyone. I know for sure Cara is awake, so I walk to the kitchen. Cara is sitting at the island in the middle working on papers. "Want some help with those?" She looks up and puts her pencil down, "If you don't mind, sure. It's the project for social studies." She hands me the paper. "I was writing about John Abbott, who did you get?" I grabbed my bag from my side and put it on the island. I opened it and pulled out my copy of the paper, "Jerry Douglas. It's actually more fun than I thought. The only question I had was why? Why did we write about male actors?" I let her take my copy as a reference. "Thanks, I put everyone's breakfast in the oven so it wouldn't cool. I don't think the others will wake up for a while. I just heard your music, so I thought you were awake. I wanted to make sure you knew breakfast was ready." Man, Cara is one of the sweetest girls I've met. She's kind, but knows when to say 'no.' "So, I know you always take care of the food, do you like to cook?" She nodded. "How long have you been cooking? Do you make your own recipes?" She pointed to her bag. I walked over to look, inside was a lot of folders and free papers, and a journal. I grabbed the journal and held it up to her. She kinda did that hand motion that means 'go ahead and open it' I saw the cover just said Cara, it looked engraved on the book. I opened it to the first page, it looked like a child's journal, covered in marker and crayon colors. The image itself looked like some kind of drink. I'm guessing this was her record for every new thing she made, and the recipes that went with it. It was thick for a recipe book, so maybe it had recipes from other family members. I didn't want to look at the recipes, but the pictures later on looked so good, I wanted to eat the picture. I saw how her records changed over time, from hand drawings to photographs. I put the book back in the bag. I went to look for the oven kettle, because I heard footsteps upstairs, people were waking up. I wanted to make something, and even though I won't be as good as Cara, I can still make a wicked cup of tea. "What kind of tea should I make today?" Cara got up from her place at the island, opens the tea stash, and pointed to her favorite, hojicha. "After you make it, let it steep for a few minutes, come back and add some milk. It tastes better that way." Then she took out the plates in the oven and put them out for people to grab. They all had names on them. I guess they were specialized for each girl. After setting up the kettle, I put it into the hot oven to boil. I used my watch as a stopwatch. The hojicha had to boil for 3 minutes before it can steep. I sit back down and watch Cara work. I hear someone come down the stairs, "Cara?" "Hph..?" "What happens if Kais has no kettle?" Cara shutters "I don't want to think about it. The last time she had no kettle, she turned into one herself!" She chuckled. "...Mornin..." Mideli walked in, today she had light pink hair. "Breakfast is ready, and tea will be done soon." Mideli gave a sleepy thumbs up, and yawned. She grabbed the plate with her name on it and walked out to the meeting room. I check my watch, and now the tea was ready. I pulled it out of the oven and let it steep. I hear it whistle for a minute, "Now. Add the milk, the tea is ready for it." "How much milk?" "Just a little, like, one quick pour." I find the milk and pour it into the kettle. I smell a sweet, caramel-like scent from the kettle. The door opened once more to reveal Kais. She had awful bed head, and she walked to the kettle like Pooh Bear to honey. I had a tea cup ready by the kettle. Kais poured the tea into the cup and chugged it. She then proceeded to pour another cup, but calmly drank this one slowly. "Ah... Caffeine. Morning you two. You made a good choice. Perfect for today." Cara clapped. "I knew you could do it. You pleased the beast, well done!" Kais laughed, "Why are you calling me a beast? I'm not that bad am I?" I clapped my hands together. "Right! Guys, I need your phone numbers." "Sure." Kais pulled out her phone and Cara's from her bag. "Here, you have to give them back though!" Kais took her plate, and walked up to the bathroom to fix her hair. I got a cup of tea and ate breakfast with Cara and Ashi in the kitchen. I got Ashi's number whilst I was at it. Ashi was ready for today as well as me. I sent Cara up to her room to get ready, and I checked on Mideli. She was conked out on the couch. She had a stray hair in her mouth. I still have the blanket from the couch in my room. It's too fuzzy to give up though. "Hey Mideli." I shook her awake. "Huh.. WHOSAT?" She jumped up into some karate pose. She looked around, "Hey Deia. Sorry." "You might want to get ready, there is some tea in the other room if you want to perk up a bit." She walked off, I looked at the time myself and I decided I would head out. I walked back into the kitchen to grab my bag. Cara was rushing to finish her project. "You can keep that until social studies if you'd like." "Thanks. Here is your bag." She handed me my bag from under her seat. "I was keeping it safe from the messes of the kitchen." I grabbed the bag, slung it over my shoulder and headed out the door. I was at the school early today. So, I walked around. I haven't looked around the grounds before, so I took a stroll. I like looking at the students that are hanging around. They look happy, groups of friends. There aren't many people there before school. I guess the majority of the school comes at the first warning bell. I don't want to walk to first period yet, but I think I've explored the entire school grounds at this point. I give up, I walk to the gym locker room. No one is there on the girls side, so I get ready alone. I hear the teacher on the outside of the locker room. I look at the sign that says today's game. I'm glad, its not swimming today. What I'm not happy about is the game. We are playing dodge-ball. I change into my normal gym clothes and put on my tennis shoes. "Why are they called tennis shoes if they are used for everything in sports? That just makes no sense to me." I pace around to get them to feel comfortable again, "Ask the coach. He might know about it." I squealed, and then covered my mouth. "Did I scare you?" I recognised the voice. It was the bullied kid from the past two days. Then he spoke again, "Sorry 'bout that. I guess you don't know me." He knocked a locker near the curtain. "Can I move this? I'd like to meet you, face to face." I was still frozen. Did I say no to make him go away? I wanted to say yes, I'd only seen his back or front before, never his face, I couldn't see much from where I sat previously. "Yes, go ahead." He pulled the curtain back a little, "Hi." He said it simply. I was still thinking about if this was right. Did I make the right decision? Too late. "I'm Luka, you're the new kid right?" He held out his hand. I was hesitant, but I took it. "Deia, nice to meet you." "This would be less awkward if we went outside to talk." I paused. "Yeah, your right." I let go of his hand and he let go of the curtain. I walked to the door. I decided to leave my things in the locker room, it's not like they were going to be stolen. He meets me outside of the doors to the locker room. "You've been here for two days now, right?" I nodded. I hear the first warning bell ring. People were probably going to come. He sat down on a bench opposite the locker room, whilst I leaned against a wall. "So, you used to the place yet? It's hard to understand at first, but sooner or later, you'll figure it out." Hopefully. "Just about yeah. It's nice around here, and I live with great room mates." "Good. Glad to see you are getting along fine here." He stops and looks off, then hunches over. I see the bully at the far end of the hallway. Luka gets up and faces me, "Sorry to cut this short, but I need to go." The bully walks down the hallway, and at about halfway he stops. I think I know what will happen, so I push Luka to go faster. Once he gets in the locker room, the bully starts walking again. I hope I helped dodge a bullet. I walk into the locker room myself, and get into the pry position. My prediction was right. Luka was glowing once more, yet the bully was farther away. I have an idea about that... I hear the door open and slam shut. Luka isn't worried though, he looks happy this time. "So, you've captured the new girl to help you huh?" The second warning bell rings. "What about it? She doesn't know anything." the bully laughs. "How are you so sure? Didn't she push you out of the way?" Luka frowns, then sighs. "I'm sure. But even then, I think she knows the rules, who is higher on the food chain." How could I know that if I was never told? "Alright. As long as she doesn't know anything..." The bully turns to the curtain. I'm dead! Nononononono! "...Then she won't understand when she WATCHES US!" He runs up to me and kicked my chest. Hard. Luka gets up in an attempt to stop him. "Owww!" Luka pulls the bully away. "Hey! What are you doing?!" The bully turns and faces Luka, "I'm getting revenge." "For what??" The bully points to me, "She has been watching ever since her first day." This time, I can't sit and watch. I rise from my hiding place. My chest burns as I get up, it hurts to breathe. "I only have been watching because of what happened the first day. I got worried when I heard something crash. After that, I wanted to figure out what the heck is with this school!" The bully looked confounded, yet Luka nodded his head. "I haven't had any answers. I've never asked for them to be fair, but I could have figured it out on my own, I thought anyway. Guess not." Luka let go of the bully, and walked towards me. "Why haven't you asked?" I couldn't look at either of them, so I stare at the ground. "I didn't want to be rude. After your reaction to-" I pointed to both of their glowing chests, "-That, I thought that it was a rude topic. In other words. I didn't want to upset anyone." Luka laughed at me. "It's not- it's just, not what I was expecting. I'll explain later, OK?" I nodded. I noticed the bully hadn't said anything for awhile. He turned back to me, "Sorry." He mumbled. I looked behind me, no one there. I walked out of the guys side of the locker room to find Cara there, watching me. "So, that's what has been on your mind right? What was it like, being on their side? Anyone strange?" I shook my head. I didn't want to explain right now, my head was foggy enough as it was.