Lost in hammel or the beginning of something new [OPEN]

[Lucy Clayton]

The last few hours had passed in a flurry. Yesterday morning everything had been like always and now, about 36 hours later, everything had changed. Lucy hopped that it had changed for the better. Her social worker had been very optimistic that everything would get better, but Lucy didn’t want to allow her to hope too much. After all, the various social workers she had in the last year had all promised her the same. The school looked nice, way nicer then the foster home she had been, which was promising. They had in the early afternoon. Her social worker had delivered her to the schools offices and then had – after a few encouraging words – turned around to drive back. The secretary had asked her a few questions and had then walked her to her dorm room while giving her a few basic directions about the area. Not that Lucy had been able to remember most of it. Now an hour later Lucy was standing in the common area of the dorms unsure what to do or where to go next.

[Darian Barker]

Darian oftentimes lost his direction too, even though he'd been here for a couple of months now. The school was just so big! Where he'd come from, the middle school was tiny. There were a few rooms, usually shared with the other classes. But this one was just so full. Of course it would have to be, he supposed, with all the grades of students that attended, and all the special needs they had, each one of them.

So when he stumbled upon a new girl, standing there in the main dorm, he knew the face. That lost expression. He used to have it on his face all the time. He actually still had it on his face from time to time, when any given thing confused him. In sympathy, he felt the need to offer her some help whilst simultaneously hoping he didn't lead her astray.

"Miss?" he came up behind her and asked, trying to sound as sweet as he could manage, as unintimidating, "Hey, you look kinda lost. Need help?"

This was followed by one of his trademark toothy smiles, the one he was always told came off as either dumb or endearing. Not that that advice was even useful, it was the only smile he knew!

[Lucy Clayton]

It wasn’t the frist time that Lucy had arrived at a new place. Although her young age, she already had lived in a few different places. By now she had learned to not expect too much from any new place she got. Hammel was bigger than any other place she had been by now and she hoped that the other students would leave her alone after their initial curiosity had been satisfied.

Lucy was startled when she heard someone speak and it took her a moment to realise that the voice behind her had talked to her. She had been so absent, lost in her thoughts that she didn’t hear that someone had entered the room. Lucy turned around to face however had spoken to her. A boy, maybe two or three years older than her smiled at her.

“Uhh,” she said and the admitted a bit reluctantly: “yes, I’m sort of lost”. Lucy wasn’t really in the mood to talk to someone, but it would have been impolite to not answer the Boy. She might not stay long at Hammel, experience told her that after a few months or at best a few years the authorities would send her somewhere else. Still, being polite would make her life easier. She shrugged: “I’ve no idea what to do here, at Hammel I mean.”

[Darian Barker]

She seemed reluctant to even be talking to him; not even a smile. Fortunately for Darian, however -- Or, unfortunately for this girl -- he was a persistently friendly lad with a general thickness towards the subtleties. So as such, he didn't do what everyone else might have done and wave or back off, or maybe what she'd have preferred.

Besides, again, she seemed to need help. Darian didn't think of himself as regularly chivalrous, but he was still relatively new himself, and if more people had welcomed him in or had the regard to help him out with directions, he'd probably have a few more friends now.

"Ohhh, I know that feeling. I'm still kind of getting used to the place, myself, but I could show you around if you want." he chuckled, folding his arms, "Is there somewhere in particular you're trying to go?"

[Lucy Clayton]

It looked like the boy had no intention to leave her alone. It wasn’t that Lucy didn’t like to be around people or that she had trouble to get along with them. In contrary. She had a few friends in the past, but at some point she always had to leave them behind when the authorities moved her to a different location. Her parents had abandoned her and she never heard of aunt Bertha after she had to leave. For most people she was just that orphaned girl, someone they would look after because they felt that they needed to do that, but not someone they were really interested in. Lucy felt that it was best to not let other people get to close to her, it would hurt less when she never heard of them again.

They boy seemed really want to help her, which was really nice of him. And truthfully, she could use some help. She smiled slightly and answered: “Well, if you don’t mind showing me around, I would appreciate it. I’m not looking for a specific place. I’m just trying to get a feel for this place.”

[Darian Barker]

By the time she finished her sentence, he was already walking with a hearty "Cool!", expecting her to follow. He had actually learned and memorized most of the school at this point, but still in an effort to appear that he did entirely know the ropes, he pointed out a few things that were self-explanatory. The bench in front of the office door, a couple of sets of bathrooms as they passed them by. They were well out of the main building in no time, crossing across one of the walkways into another building.

Standing, he pointed into the distance. The grounds were actually quite beautiful, if one didn't mind post-rain chilliness and lots of green shrubbery.

"That way..." he pointed one way, into the distance, "Little ways off is the C building, and there's another path that leads to it." he pointed another way, "The pond's that way, probably my favorite place. It's like, not a lake, but it's totally big enough to swim around in."

That really was one of his favorite places, and definitely a location that he most frequented. Before continuing, he folded his hands behind his back and turned on a heel, looking to her and attempting to sound quite like a professional tourguide, "Any questions so far...?"