Andrew woke up early this morning because of the long day he would have. Firstly a trip to school so their home room teacher could do register, then a two hour bus ride to the hospital where the vaccine for the Caro-ves virus created.
The place where the brightest minds were created and the place where he would go when he finally graduated from the elite science academy Rodwell Institute. So Andrew figured he had two more years to work hard enough to qualify for the entrance exam, pass it and then his dream would come true.
Andrew really wanted to leave the life that he currently had. One where he was just a nobody in an orphanage, just another child that the government had to feed, that would eventually become a waste of space. Just another bed to be filled in the quarantine district before the virus ate up his flesh and he eventually died.
He was not going to end up like his parents. He was going to be more. Someone important.
Andrew had already made it to the shower, before everyone in the home because he did not want to be late. Walking out of the bathroom on the second floor he made his way to the room he shared with Jared.
Jared was the same age as him and they had practically grown up together, though they were best friends, they were hardly similar.
When he opened the door he found Jared still asleep on his single bed, with his leg sticking out. The curtains had not been drawn so the room was still dark.
Closing the door, Andrew made his way to the window and pulled the curtains letting some light in. Immediately, a groan escaped from Jared. His eyes fluttered and he turned to lay on his back before opening his eyes.
"Come on, Andrew did you really have to do that?"
Andrew smirked, "Yeah, I need to change and you need to take a shower. I am not going to be late because of you."
Jared rolled his eyes, "Okay fine princess, I get it." He said rubbing his eyes to get the sleep out of them. Jared then got off the bed and stood up squinting at Andrew. "This is really that important to you?" He asked Andrew.
The reason why he asked Andrew was because he had really wanted to bunk the field trip and do something else today with his friends from school but canceled. Jared looked at the taller boy that he considered a brother since they had the same green eyes.
When Andrew nodded, Jared nodded and made his way out of the room, with only his boxers on.
With Jared gone, Andrew looked at himself in the mirror that was next to the window. All he saw was a skinny boy with loose black curls and with glasses on. He sighned, personally he thought he looked pathetic but he hoped that one of the doctors at the hospital would see something special in him.
So, Andrew got dressed in his best jeans and white cotton golf shirt that he spent a year saving up for and white sneakers to match. He threw over a black sweater and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked both casual and presentable.
The only reason why Andrew got away with looking casual was because of his good looks. He may be skinny and a little too pale but he was also tall and had a really handsome face. He did not know where he got his looks from as both his parents died when he was a baby. They were just part of the millions that died in the sixth wave of the virus. Nobody even bothered to check their identities amidst the chaos.
Andrew did not bother waiting for Jared and made his way downstairs to get some breakfast. Andrew was always hungry but living in a house with ten other growing children, he had to watch the amount he ate.
Lidia, the orphanage cook had already started on breakfast, which was oatmeal, toast and scrambled eggs. When Andrew walked in the kitchen Lidia looked at him.
In her five years working at the orphanage she had always wondered why someone like Andrew was living here. Surely he would have been adopted at a younger age. The teenage boy was smart and handsome. She was sure that at a young age he showed some promise.
"The usual." Andrew said, as he took a seat at the large dining table in the kitchen.
"Good morning to you too Andrew." She said, feigning annoyance.
"Good morning Lidia." Andrew quickly said, "Can you please make breakfast as fast as possible, I need to get to school in thirty minutes. Please make Jared breakfast to go."
"How can I make oatmeal to go?" Lidia asked with a chuckle.
"Put it in a plastic cup?" Andrew raised his brows.
"Tell you what, I'll make scrambled egg sandwiches and I'll throw in some slices of ham. How does that sound?" Lidia asked.
Andrew looked at the middle aged lady with her curly brown hair that had specks of gray and her huge horn rimmed glasses and couldn't help but beam at her. After all the years of him staying in the orphanage, she was the first adult that he felt he could trust.
"That would be wonderful." Andrew finally said. "You're the best Lidia."
"I know." She smiled back at him and got onto making the sandwiches. "Gale said that he'll give you and Jared some lunch money for today's trip."
Andrew silently nodded as he drummed his fingers on the table. Andrew was shocked that Gale would remember that they were going on a field trip. Let alone give them some money.
Gale their caregiver/director was never up early in the morning, nor was he ever sober. Gale had been at the orphanage for as long as Andrew could remember. At first when Gale and his wife Millissa run the place, life here was fun. It left like a home for the most part. However, when Millissa died of cancer ten years ago Gale was never the same.
After ten minutes later, Lidia gave Andrew two paper bags filled with sandwiches, excited Andrew opened his bag and immediately began biting in his sandwich not paying mind to anything around.
"Leave some for me will you." Jared said as he walked in the kitchen in an outfit that screamed 'I could care less about this field trip.'
Jared was dressed in a white shirt, bagger black sweater that had holes in it and worn baggy jeans. To top it all off he wore sides socks. With his buzz cut and piercing anyone could tell the kinda look he was trying to give off.
"I can't wait for you two to leave so we can have more food in the house." Gale said, looking disgruntled in the gray gown he wore every hour of the day. He held out two twenty tokens out to Jared and walked back to his room like nothing happened.
Jared for one was speechless, shocked that the man that he had only seen a handful of times in the morning the past decade had actually woken up.
Andrew on the other hand carried on eating his sandwich. He was already so hungry that that it was barely making a dent.
Jared hurriedly sat down, facing Andrew, "Andrew I'm going to be honest with but everytime I saw that man out side of his room fore eight am, something bad always happened. "
"So?" Andrew stated nonchalantly.
"So, don't expect this to be the best day of your life." Jared answered, which earned him a whack on the back of his head from Lidia. "Aww, I was just saying." He scowled at Lidia.
"Don't worry Lidia, I don't believe anything he says anyway." Andrew stated before standing up to go give Lidia a kiss on the cheek goodbye. "Jared let's so get our bags so we can leave. "
"Who are you to order me around?" Jared scoffed. This earned him another hit on the head, this time by Andrew.
Andrew did not wait to hear his reaction as he run up the stairs to their room. He quickly picked up both their bags their bed posts and took a look at the entire room.
His bed was made and the blue covers were neatly folded at the edges. His study table had his books stacked neatly with all his stationery was in standing in a tin. He looked at Jared side of the room and lightly smiled. His side was messy with his unmade bed, cluttered table and articles of clothing sticking out under the bed.
Andrew liked to think of the both of them as two sides of the same coin. They may have been abandoned by their parents but they had made the best of it. They had stuck together and they'll do that till the end.