Planets: Chapter One: Lost and Found (revised)

Yeah, yeah, I know, Ginny can't actually finish a project. That's what you're all thinking right now. (sigh) This really is important though. I've changed stuff around, nothing too durastic but I figured I should post it anyway. This'll be fast, I'll post a new revised chapter as soon as I get a couple posts, so if you want this to go by fast, post, post, POST! (Just so you know, Brianne (my friend), Mia (my cousin), and Sarah (my other friend) chose these colors.)

Chapter One: Lost and Found

“Peter, look at this,” Sarah beckoned to her husband.
“What is it?” Peter grumbled. He had been examining some brown fungus that had sprouted from a decaying pine tree.
Sarah pointed to a bundle of home-spun blankets. “I know you don’t like to be disturbed when you’re about to make a major breakthrough in science but you have to see this,” she reached down and picked up the bundle. Sarah adjusted her wire-rimmed glasses ad looked carefully at the blankets. She carefully moved a blanket aside and gasped. “Look how sweet!” A baby about one and a half years old lay in the blanket sleeping soundly.
Peter glanced at the baby. “You’re not thinking of keeping it, are you?” The couple didn’t have any children yet, mostly since botany had been their main focus.
“Her, Peter and yes, we are going to keep her for a while, until we figure out what to do with her.” The two began to walk towards their small house, just a little ways away.
“I don’t know Sarah,” Peter looked at the baby uneasily. I just have this feeling that we shouldn’t keep her.”
“Nonsense,” Sarah looked at Peter with a hard glance. “It’s not like she’s going to grow poisonous fangs and kill us. Babies are completely harmless. We’ll keep her until we come up with something.”

“Hello,” Matron looked at the young couple with a small baby. “What is it you wanted to see me about?”
The woman began to talk first. Several blonde stands of hair had escaped the bun at the nape of her neck. She brushed them aside. “My name is Sarah Wagner and this is my husband Peter Wagner. The other day we found this baby in the woods near here. I wanted to keep her but my husband isn’t quite ready for children,” Sarah gave Peter a melancholy look. Matron could tell that this subject had been a matter of discussion for some time. “We figured that this was the best place for her.”
Matron looked at the child sadly. “There isn’t much room for new children. Are you sure that there is no way you can keep this child?”
“We are absolutely sure,” Peter’s voice was resolute. “There ’s something about this baby that . . . there’s no possible way.”
“Well, I’m sure we can make room for her. Does she have a name?” Matron smiled as the small baby cooed and played with Sarah’s glasses.
“Yes, we found “Kelsi” embroidered on one of the blankets that we found her wrapped in. Thank you,” Sarah gave Kelsi a kiss then left the office, hand-in-hand with her husband.

* * * * *

Kelsi gazed out the window. A couple was taking a three-year-old girl with blonde curls and blue eyes to their Sedan. She looked away quickly, not wanting tears to come to her eyes. It’s not fair! She wanted to shout. Why does a little kid get to get out of here but I don’t?
“Hey Kelsi,” a girl with a lilting voice called. “Want to listen to the top song on the radio? Oh never mind, you might blow it up!” She laughed, her strawberry blonde ponytail swishing.
Kelsi felt her face grow hot. It wasn’t her fault that almost anything electronic-related blew a fuse when she touched it! “At least things don’t die when I look at them, Olivia,” she retorted.
“Whatever,” Olivia turned away, attention turned to the latest songs on the radio.
Kelsi sighed. Sometimes she just felt like strangling Olivia. She couldn’t stand the preppy cheerleader. How could an orphan like herself become the captain of the cheer squad? It was totally beyond her.
Kelsi shifted her thoughts back to the geometry equation that she was working on before she had gotten distracted. She pushed a strand of muddy brown hair behind her ear and tapped her pencil against her cheek. At least geometry was semi-easy compared to her computer class. After all, how could she pass her computer class when she was banned from the lab? Even the simplest of calculators self-destructed in her hands. There she went again, her mind had yet again drifted back to electronics. It wasn’t just electronic though. Typewriters, cars and even gas-powered stoves would stop working when she touched them. It was as if Kelsi wasn’t even supposed to be in this century.
A loud bell sounded, letting everyone know that dinner was served. The hallways were soon filled with ravenous girls running to the mess hall. The girls sat in long rows and began to eat.
Kelsi frowned at the meager food. Each year more and more girls came to St. Bradwock’s and it was becoming harder and harder for the orphanage to provide enough food. Most of the food was given to the younger children since they were growing. Older children like Kelsi were expected to get jobs in the town and eat the cafeteria food at school. The orphanage staff worked hard to stretch what little food they had. Almost anything the orphans had to eat or drink was very watered down. Kelsi looked at the bread that was served with the watery soup. The thin slice of whole-wheat bread she had been given was almost see-through. She slowly ate the food, trying to make it last so she could fool her stomach into thinking it was full.
Mmmm . . . turnip soup! Kelsi thought. Nothing better than thin, bitter, cold soup! Now stop it! She silently rebuked herself. You need to stop being so sarcastic. At least you’re not blowing anything up.
Olivia’s shrill laugh cut through Kelsi’s silent musings. “To think that dumb, acne ridden Freshmen boy wanted to go out with ME, a pretty girl who is not only the captain of the cheerleading squad but first in the Sophomore class! I don’t know what on Nesserum possessed him to think of such a silly match!”
“Couldn’t you have at least given him a try?” One of Olivia’s younger followers asked. “Maybe he was really nice.”
Olivia smiled at the girl’s naivety. “Haven’t I taught you anything, Paula? Image is everything when you’re in High School. I know that you’re only in 7th grade but that’s why you need to learn this now. If you don’t you’ll be the social scape goat once you’re a Freshman. Do you really want to end up like Kelsi?”
Kelsi felt Olivia’s pointed look and made sure that she didn’t look up. She pretended she couldn’t hear. The other girls laughed in unison.
“Do you understand?” Olivia made sure that she had gotten her point across.
“Yes,” Paula replied.
“You’ll go far then,” Olivia daintily wiped her mouth and scooted in her chair. “I have to go study for a Biology test. Grades are also important too, Paula. Don’t forget that either.”
Paula nodded as another girl got up from her seat. “I’ll go study with you, Olivia.”
The two departed from the table, leaving their dishes for one of the younger girls to collect.
Kelsi leaned her head against her hand. She couldn’t even find refuge from her tormentors at the orphanage, her supposed home. No matter where she was she would always be an outcast.
She got up from the table and placed her plate on a long table that was already stacked high with dishes. Luckily she wasn’t on dish duty this week. As she trudged up the granite steps to her sleeping quarters she heard girls yell to each other, asking questions about homework that they received. After dinner the girls were expected to finish their homework and get ready for bed, lights were out at eight. Of course, there was always stuff going on after eight, lots of girls would stay up gossiping until midnight.
“‘Night Kelsi!” A little nine-year-old girl with a lisp shouted as she ran down the stairs to her room.
“‘Night Tara,” Kelsi waved at the little girl with short, straw colored hair. She finally reached her bedroom and crawled into her bed. Several hours passed as she waited for the other girls to finally quiet down. The whispering and laughing died down as each girl drifted away to the land of dreams. The room was finally silent so Kelsi closed her eyes.
Her mind wandered, thinking about her past, a puzzle that she felt would never be solved. Matron had told her about how a couple not ready for children had found her but Kelsi knew that there must be more to the story. Did the couple know her parents? Why didn’t her parents want her? Were her parents even alive? Questions buzzed through her head, like a swarm of angry bees. Kelsi heard the clock chime one time. It was one’o’clock. Even the swarm of questions could wait until her body received some rest. Her eyelids became heavy and she fell asleep.