Guardian Academy - ♥Part 1♥

          Her stare cut into him life a knife. She was trying to read him, like she did everyone else. But she came up empty.

          “I’m sorry.”

          Those two words were the only words she could say.

          “Where?”

          “Away.”

          “But…where away?”

          “It doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”

          “Yeah,” he said. “It does.”

          The Academy was on an island all its own. She had been accepted months earlier, but telling a boyfriend was never easy…especially when it came to the topic of her being “special.”

          She had promised never to tell him…no matter what. No. Never. Not him. No. She had made this promise to him herself, though she hadn’t actually told him she’d never tell him the truth; the vow was silent.

          But it hurt just as much, letting go. She looked back at her hometown, and saw him, yelling at the train in the middle of the tracks. The men were dragging him away and her mother stood on the other side of the platform, watching the train go, tears streaming down her face.

          She dragged out her phone.

          I’ll be okay, Mom, promise.

          She hit send, and it wasn’t long before a reply came.

          I know. I love you. Please write.

          A smile came across her face.

          Every day. Promise.

          The train came to a halt, and she got to her feet. The doors slid open, and she stepped out. The platform was empty except for a woman standing at a gate, leading to a tropical road.

          She walked up to the desk, and the woman smiled.

          “Name?”

          “Esmeralda Cailin-Bambi,” she said. The woman pressed a button and the gate opened.

          “Enjoy your year, Esmeralda Cailin-Bambi,” she said, waving though Esmeralda hadn’t even moved.

          “What is she…a robot?” Esmeralda moaned under her breath. She gripped her bag and walked down the steps and onto the road, paved with flat stones that were dark brown.

          And then she saw it. It was like a Palace, looking a hundred feet tall. Bigger, maybe—it was bigger then a building back in the city. It was going to be a long walk.

          And then there was a beep. And then three more beeps followed the first. She turned around and saw a car coming straight for her.

          “FRICK!” she yelled, jumping out of the way as the car screamed past, and then came to a slamming halt. The driver floored it into reverse, and came back towards her.

          She had scrapes up and town her arms, gashes across her thighs, her nails were bleeding, and her outfit was ruined. She had managed to hit the ground twice before rolling into a mud puddle on the side of the road.

          “Ohmygosh!” squealed a feminine voice from the car. The girl got out of the car and helped Esmeralda to her feet. “I’m so sorry! Are you all right?”

          “Yeah, I’m fine.”

          “You look like crap.”

          “I wonder why.”

          She laughed, though she seemed guilty.

          “I’m Amber Blaine, who are you?”

          “Do you want my full name or half?”

          “Your full name, silly.”

          “Esmeralda Cailin-Bambi,” she said, and instantly, Amber smiled. She looked pretty relieved.

          “Then I found you!” she said, happily. “I’m your cousin, actually. Your mom called me, and told me you were coming—so I decided to drive out and pick you up!”

          “Cousin?” Esmeralda’s eyes filled with shock. She did look kind of like my mom, with her blue eyes and blonde hair…she was actually almost indentical! “I have a cousin?”

          “Yep—other side of the family, though—her side. The Blaines—kind of sounds like Plane…”

          “Oh, shut up!”

          The voice was tough, but also feminine. Esmeralda peered around her and saw a shorter girl, wearing shades and slipping a bottle of pink lip gloss over her lips.

          “We have a party to get to sometime today!”

          “Shh!” Amber went a shade of red. “Be quiet, Jody!”

          “Whatever,” said the girl with a slight movement of her hand she tossed her long brunette hair over her shoulder. She looked pretty cool, but alike Amber, she wasn’t a mini-version of my mother.

          “Who’s she?”

          “‘She’ has a name,” snapped the girl in the front seat. She got up and whipped her glasses off her face, folding them and tucking them on the collar of her school uniform. “I am Jody Robinson, for your information!”

          “Jody!” whined Amber. “Why do you do the whole cool-thing for all the new students?”

          “Because,” Jody said, sitting back down, flipping her glasses open and sliding them up her nose. “Little children have to learn the rules someway, Amber.”

          “She’s not usually this way, I assure you.” Amber said, sighing. “It’s just that…”

          “Tick-tock,” Jody busted in. “We’re going to be late!”

          Amber looked down at her watch and was red within seconds.

          “Shoot! Why do you have to be right?”

          Amber turned around and grabbed Esmeralda’s hand. She pushed her into the black corvette and back onto the leopard-printed seat in the back.

          “Come on, Esmeralda! We’re going to be late!”

          “Late?! Late for what?!”

          “Doesn’t matter!” yelled Amber, slamming down on the gas pedal. Esmeralda was rammed into the back seat, the wind shoving into like an air bag. There was the screech of the tires and then they throttled forward.

          How many skid marks did this girl leave?

          The car went around sharp corners, over bridges, around trees, all without hitting anything—or slowing down! Esmeralda felt her lunch coming all the way back up…but Jody just sat, filing her nails and Amber had the look of determination on her face…as if she were speed racing!

          And then it slammed to a halt. Esmeralda could her herself breathing in relief, having been holding her breathe the whole time Amber had been driving. Amber got up and out, and then Jody—and they both looked back at her, half-dead.

          “Whoa…do I drive that badly?” Amber asked, turning to Jody.

          Jody sighed, and looked her straight in the eye, tilting the sunglasses down to the tip of her nose. “Yes.”

          “Oh…” she blushed. “Whoopsie.”

          “Tell that to poor Esmeralda,” Jody said, using her pointer finger to push the glasses back up her nose. “Now she knows how I felt when you bought this death-trap.”

          Esmeralda unclipped the seat belt and fell forward, onto the console in between the two front seats. She was heaving for air now, and Jody was sighing in relief.

          “At least she’s still breathing…the last ten people had to go to the emergency room…and they wouldn’t go in the ambulance, so they had to be carried.”

          Esmeralda’s head was spinning. She just felt so lucky. Grabbing hold of the seat in front of her, she managed to climb out of Amber’s car…and was looking right into the face of Jody…

          …but she wasn’t wearing the sunglasses!

          “Kim!” snapped Jody. She grabbed hold of the girl and pulled her backwards, and the twin, Kim, let out a whine.

          “I wanna meet Esmeralda too!”

          “You can meet her later!” snapped Jody.

 But even as she said this, another brunette boy Jody’s height slipped behind her, and gripped Esmeralda by the shoulders, helping her to her feet.

“She looks exactly like Amber!” he announced. “Except…well, the height—but I have to admit, she’s cuter!”

“Excuse me?” said Esmeralda.

“EXCUSE ME?” screeched Amber.

“She looks more like an Ella then an Esmeralda,” he continued, ignoring Amber’s fuming aura, which was making Jody uneasy and Kim scared.

“I…AM…GOING…TO…KILL…YOU!”

She launched herself at him, but he simply moved himself and Esmeralda to the side, falling forward on the hood of the car—his face into Esmeralda’s chest.

“Whoa!” he exclaimed, backing up. “She’s got a better chest then Amber, that’s for sure!”

Esmeralda awoke from her trance and pushed him away, getting off the hood just as Amber launched herself at the boy again—and hit her instead.

“OWWW!” she screamed, the scrapes from before getting a full-blown emergency-room tackle.

“Whoopsie.” Amber said, blushing.

“Who’s older her?” the boy asked Jody.

“Hero, you are the stupidest piece of—”

Amber got to her feet and launched herself at Hero, but Hero moved—and there was Kim. Kim, however, launched herself at Amber, as if she were about to give her a hug…

…and turned into a giant tiger.

Amber stopped in mid-leap, her eyes filling with horror. She then began kicking in the air, trying to go backwards, and inches before the tiger hit Amber, Kim turned into a kitten—and cuddled into Amber’s chest, the two tumbling to the ground.

“Meow.” Kim said, licking Amber’s face.

“Well, then,” Hero said, a little grossed out. He turned back to Esmeralda, smiling. “Welcome, Ella, to Guardian Island…and to Guardian Academy.”

          “Welcome!” they all shouted together.  

And Esmeralda threw up.