Breathe, Saffie.
But I couldn’t. The air was thick and dense and tight around my throat. Dr. Troy said this was a good idea. She’s a doctor. She knows better than I do. I have to at least try. I took a deep breath in just as a loud, shrill ringing noise ripped through the building. The sound was so sharp it made the wall behind me vibrate and echoed down the halls. In the blink of an eye, every single door down all three hallways flew open and slammed into the walls.
I gasped and gripped the edges of my seat. People poured through the doorways and flooded the hallway like a rising tide. My breath caught in my throat. What’s happening? But then I spotted bags hanging off their backs with straps around their shoulders. I glanced down to my feet, to where a black bag sat mostly empty. Landreia had called it a backpack, she’d said it was something all students carried to hold their books and stuff.
My jaw dropped. These are…students? My pulse skipped beats. These were the other students that attended school here, the ones I was expected to blend in with. I swallowed through the tightness in my throat and winced as the noise pierced my ears. It seemed like each and every single student passing by was talking. Everyone. At the same time.
Some of them sprinted by with flushed cheeks and panicked eyes. Others leaned against the metal contraptions, while some opened them to reveal they were little closets full of books. Two students were kissing against the wall — far too passionately for inside a school. Everywhere I looked, there they were. Rushing and moving in different directions. Doors opened and closed. Laughter echoed down the halls. A few students who looked younger than me hurried by, carrying stacks of books piled up to their chins.
Music I didn’t recognize blared from somewhere. The door closest opened again and four girls strolled out wearing skin-tight pants and shirts that didn’t cover their stomachs. They glanced in my direction and their noses turned up, like I was a rodent digging through trash. These girls were beautiful, their faces were painted on with flawless perfection. I spun in my seat and eyed my reflection in the window beside me.
My hair seemed to be redder than it was this morning. It was practically glowing, which did nothing to help the paleness of my skin. My face was bare of any kind of makeup, only the light splatter of freckles across my cheekbones. The lavender hue of my eyes was bright like flowers in the spring. They were pretty, or so I’d thought. Now I wasn’t so sure. I looked nothing like these girls. They looked so adult, so grownup. With my wild tousled hair and bare face I looked years younger than them.
“Gigi, ma’am, you give the devil your little finger he’s gonna take the whole damn hand,” a girl said with a thick accent I didn’t recognize.
I spun around in my seat just as two girls passed by me, heading straight for the office Landreia was in.
“Savannah.” The second girl shook her head and reached for the door handle.
“Listen, I’m just sayin—”
But whatever she was saying was cut off by the door closing. I turned and peaked through the glass into the office. The two girls had entered without knocking or anything – and the two other adult women let them. Landreia smiled wide at both of them, like they were old friends. I tried to see the two girls’ faces but their backs were to me. I could only tell which was which by the clothes they wore. The one with the accent, who’d been called Savannah, wore black pants and a black and red checkered shirt. The other girl, who’d been called Gigi, wore dark gray pants with a light gray sweater. They both had dark hair, but even from this distance I could see it wasn’t the same shade.
That was it, that was all I had to go on.
My stomach tightened into knots and I gnawed on my bottom lip.
Landreia, the two girls, and the two women turned and looked right at me.
I gasped and waved in a panic.
The woman wearing a suit walked to the door then popped her head out. She smiled. “Saraphina? Please come in now.”
Uh oh. Okay. I stood and tugged on the hem of my oversized black knit sweater. It was big and bulky and fell halfway down my thighs. As I walked toward the office, I just wanted to crawl inside it and live there. Instead, I balled my fists with my sleeves and tried to breathe through the racing of my heart.
Remember what Dr. Troy taught you! Count out of order.
Four.
Eight.
Eleven.
Two.
Three.
“Saraphina, come in!” The older woman with gray hair grinned from her desk.
I paused in the doorway.
“Hi sweetheart,” Landreia wrapped her arm around my shoulders and squeezed. “No need to be worried. You’re all set up and ready to go. I was just telling Mrs. Davis and Principle Strummer about your particular situation—”
“And they have come up with a wonderful idea.”
I frowned and eyed my new foster mother. “Oh?”
Landreia gestured in front of her. “These two girls are going to be your companions here at school. They’ll show you around campus and help you out.”
“Yes, and we arranged that you’ll be in all of their classes,” Mrs. Davis said with a warm smile. “This way you won’t be alone.”
“At least for right now.” The woman in the suit, Principle Strummer, walked back over to stand behind Mrs. Davis. “It’s the end of the semester, so if you’re still enrolled here after the holidays we will reevaluate.”
Semester? Reevaluate? What holidays? I groaned in my mind. I hated that I knew she was wearing a pant suit but didn’t know what a simple word meant. Note to self, ask Dr. Troy why I remember some words and not others.
“Hi, Savannah Grace, at your service.” She held her hand out in front of me, and I noticed her fingernails were painted black. “I promise we’re gonna be fun.”
I felt myself smile and just prayed it was believable. “Thank you, Savannah.”
Savannah winked one bright blue eye and it made something sparkle from her eyebrow. I looked and found little pieces of metal poking out from her skin. She also had a silver metal hoop that hung from the bottom of her nose. I hadn’t seen anyone else with one of those, but it looked cool. Her hair was even cooler. The top was black as night but at the bottom, near the ends, it was a bright ocean color.
“I’m not so sure fun is the ideal word for her, Savannah.” The other girl shook her head but she was smirking. Then she turned to me and pushed her red-rimmed glasses up higher on her nose. Her brown eyes were friendly and calm. She held her hand out to me. “I’m Gigi Corderro.”
I shook her hand. Her skin was several shades darker than mine and it was beautiful. I cleared my throat. “Thank you. I’m Saraphina Proctor, but you can call me Saffie.”
Gigi grinned and her teeth sparkled bright white against the bold red of her lips. “Saffie, that’s such a cute nickname. I love it.”
“Thanks,” I said and my cheeks warmed. I glanced over to Landreia, then to the other adults, then back to the two girls. “So…did they tell you I have amnesia? That I don’t remember anything but my name?”
“Hey, it could be worse. You could not know your name, too.” Savannah wagged her dark, perfectly shaped eyebrows as she rolled her red and black shirt up to her elbows. A black swirly tattoo peeked out on her arm. “But no worries. We’re your girls. We’ll teach you everything you need to know.”