𝐆𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬 (Book #1 - The Hidden Truth)

Chapter 1

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

I groaned and rolled over in my bed as the shrill sound of my alarm clock filled my ears. I slammed my hand down on top of the darned thing to stop it abruptly through the middle of another beep.  Sighing with relief, I waited for my ears to stop ringing from the loud noises.

"Macy! Get out of bed! If you miss your bus today don't think I'm gonna drive you to school! And don't expect you can stay here either, I don't want you to be around ruining everything."

With a snort of disgust, I got out of my small bed and made my way to where my school clothes lay in my cramped up room. Well, I don't know if you could actually call it a room, maybe a really big closet with a bed in it would be more like it. Slipping on my school uniform, I hurried down the stairs to the kitchen where my foster mother was waiting for me. She glared at me as soon as I entered the room.

"What the hell took you so long, Macy? Did your old parents forget to teach you to wake up in the mornings?"

My hands curled into fists. How could she even talk about my parents like that? She didn't know what it was like to lose people so close to you, she didn't even try to care for me and feel bad for what happened! I'd only been with them till I was eight, so maybe she was the only reason why at 14 I was still sleeping in the mornings. I didn't even bother to say anything cause I knew she just wanted a reaction so she could give me back to the orphanage, instead I just chucked a piece of bread in my mouth, slung my bag over my shoulder and headed out the door.

I didn't listen to my foster mothers screams at me as I headed out the door, I was already too used to it. She originally only took me from the orphanage because her husband got her too, but it wasn't long before she decided to move away from him. As far as I could see, she'd only married him for the money and the house, which she still owned. Now, all she wanted to do was kick me out but since she'd signed a contract to have me, she couldn't do that unless I got too violent or she actually had a valid reason too. So, all she'd do was try and make me get violent so I would go back to the orphanage, but if I'm gonna be honest, I prefer the worst room of her house where she makes me sleep rather than the orphanage. I still remember growing up for a few years in that dreaded place - and it was not fun.

I started kicking a stone with my shoe as I watched down the footpath. Getting out a scrunched up piece of paper with my timetable from my pocket, I looked at what we had today. I nearly choked on the piece of bread still in my mouth when I saw the double maths in the afternoon but the rest of the day was okay, English and Health followed by double VisCom. Trying to forget I ever saw those math periods in my timetable, I looked up and saw my bus starting to pull out from the bus station.

My bus.

I ran after it as fast as my legs could go, which was pretty fast considering I was the quickest person in my entire high school. Knowing that grumpy bus driver, he wasn't going to pull over for me. With a sigh, I sprinted past the still driving bus and ran all the way to the next bus stop. By the time the bus got there, I had gotten my breath back and didn't even give the bus driver a second look as he glared at me.

Seriously, what is with old man bus drivers with big beards getting grumpy at everyone?

As I made my way to the back of the bus I could hear the kids from my school whispering about me.

"Who would even miss their bus though?"

"I know right? It's not even that early!"

"Did you see how far she ran?"

"Yeah, what a freak!"

"I heard she was going to go to nationals for all the athletic contests that she chose and cross country but apparently her mum didn't let her."