Someday, Somewhere, Somehow

Sage put one worn out Converse in front of another as she walked out of the big, silver bus. In one hand she held a small suitcase holding the only things that belonged to her and her sister's name, and in her other hand she grasped her sister's hand.

They followed the rest of the passengers up the stone walk, to the front doors., "Name?" A very formal looking lady smiled at the two of them.

"Sage and Ivory Bremmels," Sage said, with a confident voice.

The lady handed Sage two small plastic cards. "These are your room cards. As of right now we are able to keep siblings together. You will be placed in a room with another set of girls. Each hallway has a 'hallway monitor'. Yours will be stopping by later to get your sizes for uniforms, and to get you adjusted to your new surroundings."

"Thank you," Sage smiled, as she walked forward. They walked forward until they saw signs pointing to rooms.

They got to their room door, and walked in. Two girls were already in the room. One looked about Sage's age and the other about Ivory's age. They were both lying on their beds reading.

The older of the two jumped up and walked over, "Hey, my name's Lia and that's my sister Lacy. We were told you'd be coming."

"I am Sage, and this is Ivory." Sage said, nudging Ivory. Ivory gave them a bashful smile, and looked down at her toes.

"It's nice to meet you." Lia smiled at them. "Your beds and dressers are over there. You guys can unpack." She sat back down on her bed, continuing whatever they were doing earlier.

Sage removed her clothes from their worn out bag, placing them in the dresser. Next she removed Ivory's small teddy bear, and handed it to her. Ivory looked up and smiled at her, laying down on her bed and drifting off to sleep. It had been a long day.

Sage took out her small sketchbook and sat down on her own bed. When she was drawing, she could block out the whole world. It was her get away, the only place that could truly put her out of the worries of her life and into something better.

"What are you drawing?" A voice came from beside her. Scarlet jumped, looking over to her side. It was Lacy.

"Lace! Leave her alone, you don't want to annoy her on her first day being here." Lia scolded her from across the room.

"She's fine!" Sage laughed. "She just startled me, that's all."

Sage turned the paper towards Lacy so she could see it. She tucked a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear, and looked at it eagerly. "It's the school! That is really cool, you should become an artist." She said eagerly, a big grin appearing on her face.

"Thanks," Sage smiled.

"Wait, I want to see now." Lia said suddenly, jumping from her bed. She walked over to the two of them, "Wow, that is really good. You only saw the school once right? That's some memory you got there. Are you enrolled in any art classes?"

"We didn't really enroll for any classes yet." Sage spoke.

"You didn't?" Lia's eyebrows shot up. "Isn't that on the applications?"

"What applications?" Sage asked, confused.

"The ones to get accepted to this school in the first place?" Lia answered.

"We didn't fill out any applications. We didn't really even enroll. Our town's adoption facility closed down, and your school decided to take us in free of charge." Sage explained.

"What? That's crazy! There are kids who spend years trying to perfect their test scores just to get into this school. I can't believe they did that." Lia said, obviously shocked.

"Well, I'm very grateful." Smiled Sage.

A knock on the door cut into their conversation, and a lady dressed in a similar uniform as the one up front walked in. She smiled, "Hello girls. Sorry to interrupt, I'm here to measure for uniforms."

Sage set her notebook aside and stood up, shaking her sister awake.

"Okay, just stand over here and strip down, so I can get your measures right." The lady said, grabbing a tape measure.

Sage froze, "is there any way we can do it with my clothes still on, please?" She asked in a shaky voice.

"Oh, we're all girls here, it's quite alright." The lady tried to reassure her.

"We can step out if it's that big of a problem, Sage." Lia offered, nudging her sister.

"No it's not that. I...fine." Sage unzipped her pants and stepped out, followed by her shirt.

Everyone's eyes got big as they saw her stomach. Large bruises and scratches cut along her skin. As the cold air hit them, she winced. "Can you just measure me please?"

The lady was now silent, as she measured her. She did it quickly, and Sage was quick to replace her clothes back on her body.

A tear fell down her cheek as she made the nearest exit.

Secrets are meant to be hidden.