J U M P E R

C H A P T E R | F O U R

Kieran was shown to her room after her conversation with Kat's father. Toby was his name. She would have to borrow some of the other girl's clothes for the time being, until they went out to get her some of her own tomorrow.

Her mind was still going a mile a minute, trying to connect dots, make sense of any of the information she'd just been given.

Her room was boring, to say the least. The walls were a light grey, the bed sheets bright white. The desk and the dresser were both made from dark wood. She was left alone for the rest of the night once Kat had lent her a pair of blue sleep shorts and a large white t-shirt.

Kieran walked over to the bed after changing and laid down. A discouraged sigh escaped her mouth as she pulled the duvet over her shoulders. She closed her eyes, hoping that when she woke up, she'd be back on the bus and all this would've been some crazy fever dream.

ΑΩ

Warm morning light seeped into the room. Kieran's vision was painted red as she kept her eyes closed and faced the light. She was still in Kat's house. She could smell something cooking downstairs and her stomach begged for food.

Upon sitting up she discovered that a new outfit had been placed on the corner of the desk. Her clothes from the day before were no longer where she'd left them on the floor. She climbed out of bed after staring at the wall for a minute and shimmied into the light blue jeans and black sweatshirt she'd been given. The smell of food was a lot stronger in the hall, and Kieran's stomach rumbled, urging her to eat.

Kat's mother Loraine was standing at the sink, rinsing dishes quickly before placing them in the dishwasher.

"There's a plate of eggs and toast here for you," She said distractedly without turning around.

Kieran spotted the plate and grabbed it, taking a seat at the table to eat, not bothering to wonder how she'd known she was there.

"Kat's going to take you into town to get you some clothes. She should be back any minute," Loraine announced.

True to that statement Kat walked into the kitchen just as Loraine stuck Kieran's plate and fork into the dishwasher. They left a few minutes later. The girls walked back to the crescent of houses where a car was waiting for them. Oli and some other boy were sitting inside. Oli nodded to them as they slid into the back seat.

"Kieran, this is John," Kat introduced, gesturing to the driver. "My mate."

They nodded to each other, and John started driving. The radio played softly in the background as Kat, John and Oli talked about something. Kieran had no idea what. She kept her gaze fixed to the trees passing by.

At least those will never change.

Twenty minutes later John pulled into a parking space at a mall. He and Oli followed as Kat dragged Kieran from store to store. The former used the boys as pack animals and loaded all of their bags onto their arms.

"I think we're good," Kieran declared. They'd been to every store she was sure, and she was tired. She'd never liked shopping much.

They left the store and made their way across the mall, back to where they'd parked. The trunk was stuffed full, and once the last bag was inside John backed out, and they were on the road again.

It had been nearly four hours since they'd left for the mall, the quiet of the car a testament to their lack of energy. John parked the car at the end of the gravel road once they got back and turned it off.  The four of them piled out and grabbed their share of bags.

"Well, that was fun," Kat said cheerily as they walked across the field to her house.

No one responded.

Once they made it into the house they separated Kieran's bags from Kat's. The boys left after that and the two girls went upstairs to put away their purchases. Kieran dug around in one of the bags for her new phone she'd gotten earlier that day. It would only be good for pictures and music, but it was something she was used to at least.

As they bought the device, Oli told her that cell phones weren't needed for communication in the pack. The only technology they had were computers and the internet. But only families with children in school had those things. Although it wasn't entirely necessary, Alexander made everyone get a formal education (to grade twelve) at the schools in the closest town. It was called Creekford and wasn't all that big. A couple hundred people at most.

Everyone in Creekford was human. That made Kieran a little less uneasy. She would have to finish the year there, but she wasn't the only human from the pack going. She'd been told that there were four other Jumpers in the pack, two of them were in high school. She hadn't been introduced to them or told what they looked like; she didn't even know their names. But having them there, people like her, made her less nervous about the whole thing. She hoped that they would help her out a little, at least while she adjusted to her new life.

Kieran had been pleasantly surprised when she'd used the mall's Wi-Fi to try and log into her Spotify account and it worked. So, as she unloaded all her shopping bags onto the bed, she turned the phone's speaker volume all the way up and put on her homework playlist.

She'd discovered while shopping that a lot of the artists she was used to hearing on the radio, didn't exist here. She concluded, as much as she hated to acknowledge it, that she was in some sort of parallel world. She knew that if either Tom or Allison were here they'd both be in full on geek mode.

They'd have probably loved it here.

She shook her head, mentally berating herself. She needed to stop thinking about home. She'd been told there was no way for her to get home. So, she resolved to just try and forget her old life.

She sang along quietly as she worked, How to Save a Life reflecting her mood almost perfectly. She was glad The Fray were a thing here. She might've gone insane if they weren't. She sorted everything they'd bought, folding it all into neat piles before finding a place for everything. Most of it ended up in the tall dresser on the far wall. Sweaters and any nice clothing were hung in the closet depending on what it was and how much she liked it. She kept out a pair of blue jeans, a black tank top and a red hoodie to change into so she could return Kat's clothes.