FROST- Jotun Chronicles #1

New School

Chapter One

            “Eat the toast, Megan.”

            “It’s burnt.” I looked sullenly at my foster-mother from underneath my bangs, mostly because I knew she hated it. “I don’t want it.”

            “You burnt it, you eat it,” she snapped. She was busy fussing with Stephanie’s bib. The little monster had smeared peanut butter and jam all over it, and the perfect-obsessed Janet Walker would not tolerate a messy child, it would contrast too much with the perfectly gleaming kitchen that several interior decorators had laboured over last week.

            Dave, the nicer half of my foster parent duo, glided into the room whistling happily.

            “Morning.”

            “Take Megan to school,” Janet ordered, “and make sure she eats her damn toast.” She momentarily transformed, giving baby Stephanie a sappy smile, cooing over her daughter’s ability to eat strawberries in a non-messy fashion. What a talent.

            Dave gestured at me, a sort of let’s-get-out-of-here-while-we-can motion, and we both exited the kitchen hastily.

            It took us several minutes to get out the door. Back in California you could throw on a jacket and bam, you were ready to go. Here there's this strange sort of ritual involved with going outside. Layers upon layers must be applied to brave the outdoors. Dave and I wrapped up until we both looked like giant marshmallows and I wondered if we would fit through the door.

            Even with multiple layers though, it was still bitterly cold. Luckily the snow had ceased flaking, so we only had to worry about wading through the ankle-deep snow to get to the truck.

            I blinked against the white glare the snow created, listening to the crunching of our footsteps. Pausing at the passenger side of the huge black truck, I struggled to lever myself up so I could climb into the leather interior. The Walkers just bought the truck when we moved here, and it was so jacked up you needed a pole vault just to get in the damn thing.

            “Excited about your first day?” Dave grinned at me as the truck roared to life. 

            “Kinda. I’m nervous though.” That was an understatement. Dave and Janet Walker had moved us to Grande Prairie without even asking me if I wanted to go. I didn’t. It was a hick town, and now I had to be the new student at a hick school. What if they threw cow patties at me or something?

            “It’s just two more grades,” Dave said. “Even if you don’t like it, you’ll be graduated before you know it.”

            I’m not sure if that was meant to be comforting or not…

            At last the truck was defrosted and Dave backed slowly out of the driveway. I was hoping he wouldn't notice how tightly I clutched the door handle. My foster-father wasn’t a bad driver, but he was a Californian, and he had no clue how to drive in the snow.

            “You start your new job today too.” I swallowed, trying to stop thinking about how awful my new school might be. “Are you excited?”

            “Excited to be out of the house.” Dave smiled thinly. His eyes were tired, and the frown lines around his mouth seemed to have deepened in the last few years. I couldn’t imagine being married to Janet, and I honestly didn't see why he still was. Probably something to do with baby Stephanie. I wondered if he ever regretted having her. I know Janet regretted fostering me, after they told her she couldn’t have kids. Well, it turns out she could have kids, and now she had to deal with a baby and a rebellious adolescent.