Jailbird

c h a p t e r II

MADDOX HAD NEVER BEEN someone to like change. Consistency was something he liked, he liked that he knew the people around him and that they didn't really know anything about him except his best friend Enzo, so of course when the director, Mr. Olsen had announced the arriving of new students, like every year, he was a little skeptical about them.

Usually they would try to lay low and not attract too much trouble. When you arrive in a new dangerous environment and you have no friends, making enemies isn't the smartest move. Of course there were pretentious kids that'd come and act like they owned the place, but after a few days they'd realize they were far from being the worst. He was the worst, well at least in his section. The school was separated in four sections to prevent the chaos that would happen from all of them being together. Freshmen in section one, Sophomores in two, Juniors, his section, in three and finally Seniors in four. And each section separated in levels from one to five. Five being the most dangerous, his level. To add to Maddox's reputation he was also friends with the level five of section four, people he had met before even going to the school.

"Hey Maddox want to go play basketball? Julian and Amaya are already there." Enzo asked from his place on Maddox's bed.

"Yeah sure," he said but didn't move from his seat near the window.

"Come on Maddoline what are you waiting for?"

Maddox snapped his head in his direction, "I told you not to call me that."

"Yeah yeah, you also told me to not transform Mr. Olsen's office in a barbie princess castle, guess who arrived in barbie world when he returned from his vacation?" Enzo snickered remembering Mr. Olsen's face.

Maddox had no idea how his friend had managed to do that, the whole office had been painted in pink, barbies were scattered all over the room and posters of Barbie were on the walls. He also had put pink glitter everywhere in the office, everywhere.

"You're a pain, I hope you know that," Maddox grunted getting up and following Enzo.

"But that's why you love me my little Maddoline ," Enzo laughed.

Maddox rolled his eyes but followed him nonetheless. He was used to his jokes and playful attitude by now. Even if Enzo wasn't the smartest person on earth, he did have his wise moments from time to time.

"Hey guys!" Julian smiled as they arrived, Amaya on his back with the ball in her hands.

Julian and Amaya had been a couple for the past few months. At first it was more of an on and off relationship but it got serious four months ago. Amaya had always liked Julian but being the unobservant person he was, he had been totally oblivious to her feelings until one day she just came up to him and smashed her lips on his, let's say he wasn't oblivious after that.

"I heard the new duckies are coming this morning," Amaya grinned getting off Julian making him pout a little.

Enzo frowned, "I hope there'll be more fights than last year, none of them had balls, they were all borderline shitting their pants and I didn't even get to make my threats."

Maddox frowned too, "Yeah that was boring."

Maddox enjoyed the fights, a lot. It reminded him of his childhood, when everything was fun and everyone was carefree.

S A P P H I R E

The rest of the journey had been kind of calmer. Aviva's jokes and remarks on the boy's now red nose had made everyone laugh on the bus including the guards, making the atmosphere lighter.

"We're here," a guard said looking outside.

The bus drove through giant metal gates leading to fortress of stone.

The Vela reform school

Sapphire had heard of Vela like most of her friends. Parents all over the country sent their kids to this school in hope of changing their behaviors, well usually they would go here as a sentence ordered by a judge but that's just a detail.

Looks more like a castle than a prison if you ask me

No one asked you

Shut up

The bus stopped in front of some glass doors leading inside and they started getting off. The bright sun blinded Sapphire for a second before she started looking around. Rays of sunlight illuminated the vibrant grass as a gentle breeze made it dance. Pale flowers like sparkles of stars, their delicate shadows adding to the magical effect. A basketball court was on the right side of the school, some boys and a girl already playing and dribbling the ball while laughing.

That looks nothing like a school for delinquents, maybe they made a mistake and sent me to a magical dimension

Sureee and maybe some unicorns are going to pop out of nowhere and start barfing rainbows

A track was on the left side with a large field in the middle, probably used for P. E.. The kids on the basketball field stopped playing when they noticed the new people looking around. Sapphire didn't like the feeling of being analyzed so she ignored the looks and continued observing the school hopefully finding a spot where she could escape when she wanted.

She spotted small windows from the outside adorned with metal bars preventing people from getting out. A high metal fence was surrounding the whole school extremely appealing to Sapphire's climbing skills.

They entered through the doors eyeing the interior that wasn't nearly as pretty as outside. It was morbid, looking more like a morgue than anything. The walls were made of stone and the floor was covered with big white tiles. She already knew the lights would give her headaches, with their brightness. Metal detectors laid in front of her and a small man stood in front of them.

"This is Mr. Olsen, the principal of this school," a guard said.

Sapphire snorted, "Yeah, right."

The man in front of her scowled, "I'm sorry?"

She snorted again, "You're telling me that the principal of THE Vela reform school is the leprechaun in front of me, yeah right."

In her head, the small red head in front of her was not principal. To handle students that were criminal you needed a big buff guy that would emanate power and that would be respected, not him.

His face turned as red as his hair adding to her laughter, "I AM THE PRINCIPAL OF THIS SCHOOL!!"

"What ever helps you sleep at night," she said smiling mischievously, raising her hands.