Sarah Jane Smith stood with her luggage on an unfamiliar street. Looking around for any sign of her location, she shook her head in disappointment when she saw the sign that said Aberdeen. She should have known it was too good to be true. Rummaging in her pocket, she found the card that had Harry's phone number at UNIT.

"Listen Harry, the Doctor's dropped me off and I'm a couple hundred kilometres from where I'm supposed to be. Any chance of a lift?"

A minute of dead silence followed. Just as she was about to hang up, Harry's voice came through the phone, sounding more haggard than she had ever heard it. "Sarah?" He asked, voice cracking slightly.

"Ah, Harry, you are there. About that lift?"

"Sarah Jane Smith?"

"Yes, Harry, we've established it's me. Now about that lift...?"

"Sarah. This is important. Do you know the date?"

"No, why? Has he messed it up again?"

Harry sighed into the phone. "You could say that, yeah. This is going to be a little complicated."

-"...Bag, phone, map of campus, bug spray, drivers licence... Yes dad, I'm sure I have everything I need."

Maria Jackson reassures her dad for about the millionth time.
It's her first day at the prestigious boarding school, Bannerman Prep, and her dad, Alan Jackson, is even more nervous than she is.

Which doesn't take much, given that Maria isn't nervous at all. Apparently, changing schools three times in as many years desensitises you to the 'traumas' of starting a new school.

While this wouldn't be a surprise to most people, to Maria's dad her lack of concern at changing schools (again), is Very Bad and A Portent of Bad Things To Come.

"Are you sure you want to do this? There's that small school in town, and you could go there during the day and come back at night. I could leave earlier in the morning and get time off in the afternoons to come and see you after dinner. You could let yourself in, and you'd probably enjoy the chance to get some homework done without your old man interfering."

Maria fixes a patient smile on her face and pulls her bag out of the car boot. Though she's old enough to drive and even has her own car (a present from her mother and her new boyfriend, as a "Congratulations for starting your new school, sweetie! We'd love to be there, you know we would, but Ivan's busy with work, you know how it is..." gift, her dad had insisted on driving her to the school because, "Well, it's not as if you're allowed to keep it on campus anyway, right? And besides, it's traditional for the parent to drop off the teenager at their fancy new school. Haven't you ever seen an American high school movie?"
Honestly. Maria loves her dad, but he really does have some weird ideas. Though she supposes all teenagers feel that way about their parents from time to time. It's practically the job description.

"Yes, dad. You're obsessed with them. Remember?" He laughs unselfconsciously. Sometimes she thinks he enjoys playing up the role of 'embarrassing dad'.
"Just remember, Maria, you have to make an enemy of the popular girls by being overly wholesome and resistant to gossip, and you have to end up dating either the school heartthrob (who's also on the football team) or the cute geeky guy who everyone secretly wants to date. Excuse me?"
This last bit is directed to a passing girl who looks around Maria's age.

Maria realises too late what he's trying to do, and her efforts to shush him go unheeded. "Excuse me!" He calls again, seemingly oblivious to Maria's frantic signals to stop. After the longest minute of Maria's life, he manages to gain the girls attention. Continuing to ignore Maria, he cheerfully calls out, "Excuse me, my daughter-" At this he grabs Maria and pulls her in front of him, where she promptly flushes red and tries to vanish into the ground.

"My daughter, Maria, is new today, and she needs some help finding her way around. Could you, maybe...?" The girl hesitates for a second, though she's clearly in a hurry.
"Sorry, but I'm really very busy. I have stuff to do, you know how it is..."

With that she turns and runs off, not looking back. Alan and Maria exchange a look. "Well," Alan says, clearly taken aback. Apparently he can't figure out why a random high school student doesn't want to stop and talk to a pair of strangers.

"That was a bit rude, wasn't it? I wonder what her problem is." By this point, Maria just wants to be gone. "Yes, dad, but it was fine, she's probably just busy. And anyway, I can find my own way. I've been here before, remember? For orientation day? You know- a whole day, dedicated to learning how to find your way around? You may have heard of this."
"Right. Yes. Well, better get going. You don't want to be late."
He holds out his arms for a hug, and Maria can't help but cling to him; now it's time to say goodbye, she isn't sure she wants to leave either. For a moment she wants to cling to him and beg to stay with him, b reality kicks in. She loves her dad, but she really needs some time away from him.

She pulls away from the hug with a (mostly real) lighthearted laugh. "Well, I should get going. Can you pop the boot for me?"
Ten minutes and a little swearing later, Maria is standing with her suitcase, overnight bag and backpack, all of which were filled with an assortment of clothes and schoolbooks in no particular order. She hugs her dad quickly, says she loved him one more time, pretends not to see his eyes looking a bit shinier than normal, and turns to leave.
"Maria?" She turns back to face him. "Yeah, dad?"
"Just... Take care of yourself, alright? And remember, you can always ring me if you need me. Any time." Maria smiles. "I know, dad. Don't worry, I know."

With that, she turns to follow the flock of other students carrying bags, and suitcases, and pillows.

Once more into the breach she goes.

"Maria Jackson. J-A-C-K-S-O-N. I was told I would get a room number and a timetable?"
She's been standing in the surprisingly bland reception of the otherwise almost palatial building for over ten minutes now, trying to wrangle a room key out of the office lady, who may as well be carved out of marble for how helpful she is.
"Do you have a note signed by your head of house?"
Maria gives her an incredulous look, and feels her eyebrow twitch. This is not an auspicious start to her final year. "I just got here? I haven't had time to-" Thankfully, she's interrupted by a girls voice asking,

"Are you Maria Jackson?"

Maria spins around, desperately hoping it's someone coming to save her from this bureaucratic hell. Her apparent knight in shining... shorts and a T-shirt, is a girl about her age with dark skin and shiny hair. She's wearing long dangly earrings, and her hair is in a high ponytail. She stalks up to the counter, incidentally bringing Maria's attention to her incredibly long legs.

"Hey, Miss, Dad just sent me to help the new girl find her way around."

The office lady levels a glare at the other girl that would have burned a hole through anyone else, but the other girl (and Maria really needed to find out her name) barely blinks. The two have a silent showdown for what seems like several hours, before the receptionist finally caves and hands over an information pack and two keys on a lanyard. The girl snatches them up and gestures for Maria to leave. Maria follows her out, glancing back to see the receptionist has already gone back to typing on the computer.

Once out of the reception area, the girl slows her brisk pace and turns to Maria.
"Right. Sorry about that; Mrs Brown has a tendency to drag things on for way longer than they need to be, for no reason other than she hates kids. My name is Rani, by the way. Rani Chandra. My dad is the Principal, so the receptionists are all paranoid that I'll tell on them if they make trouble."
Maria blinks, trying to take in this rapid-fire flood of information.
"Thanks, then. I'm Maria, but I guess you know that already."
The girl- Rani -grins. "Yeah, I do. Let's check what room you're in. You're in Grade Eleven, like me, so you're in Bannerman Block."
At Maria's confused look, she chuckles and elaborates. "Because this is a primary school as well as a high school, the wings are all weird. Basically, the primary school kids get the new building that looks like a cross between a school and a hotel, while the high schoolers get the old building. Which is good, in that we get our own bathrooms, but it's really drafty in winter. Grades 7 & 8 are in A Wing, 9 & 10 are in B Wing, and 11 & 12 are in Bannerman Wing, which is on the floor above everyone else, 'cos we can be trusted to be so far away from the teachers. Apparently." Maria does a weak impersonation of a grin. She's incredibly confused, and she hasn't even found her room yet. Clearly the orientation hadn't been as thorough as she'd told her dad.

Rani must see her confusion, because she stops talking and gives Maria a quick hug. "Sorry. I know this can be a little confusing for someone who's not used to all of this. It does make sense, I promise. It just takes a little while. That's why they suggest you arrive a couple of days before term starts; help you settle in, etcetera. Anyway, room number." She checks the key, handing it theatrically to Maria as she did so. "And your room number is-"
She stops mid-sentence, still holding the key. Maria looks at her, confused. "So," She prompts awkwardly, "The room number is...?"
Rani blinks, looks at the key, then looks back at her, looking like she's waking up from a dream. "Oh! Yes the room is number is 13. It's just that..." She trailed off again. Maria sighed. It had been a long day, and she honestly just wanted to get to her room, put her stuff down, and go to sleep. "It's just that... What?"
"Oh, nothing. It's just that your roommate..."
Maria sighs internally, expecting another pause, but this time Rani continues unprompted.
"...Is a bit odd." Maria waits, expecting more information. Seeing this information isn't forthcoming, she decides to change the subject.
"So... Where's your room?"
Rani blinks at her again, clearly grateful for the subject change. "Um. I'm across the hall from you. Number 14. My roommate is a girl called Kelsey Hooper. She's alright, but we're not really friends."
Before Maria has a chance to say anything, Rani keeps talking. "Anyway, we should get you to your room."

Ten minutes and two flights of stairs later, Maria is standing outside of her new room.
"And here it is. 13 Bannerman Wing. Your home-away-from home. Here's your key-"
She drapes the lanyard over Maria's neck.
"Aaaaand here's your info." She placed the information pack on top of Maria's suitcase, resting against the suitcase handle. "Don't forget, I'm here if you need anything. Breakfast goes from seven to nine tomorrow, so I'll probably see you there." And with that, she's off striding away down the corridor, presumably to help some other confused newbie.
Well. Maria thinks to herself. She was...odd. For someone who stood around talking to me for almost twenty minutes, she sure left quickly. I wonder what that was about?

Rationalising it away as Rani having a lot of work to do, she opens the information pack. The top sheet inside is a sheet with details about the room, with a photo of the layout and a short description of it. She looks further down the page and sure enough, there's the word Roommate, followed by a name. Maria looks at the name, trying to imagine what kind of person it belongs to. Sarah Jane Smith. Would she be... friendly? Unlikely, given what Rani said. What does 'odd' mean, anyway? Rude? A Hippie? A Satanist? What?
Well, only one way to find out. She gives a little knock, then opens the door slowly, looking around as she does. Her caution seems to be for naught, though, because the room appears empty. She steps further into the room, moving a little more confidently. There are two single beds, one on each side of the room. Only one half of the room looks lived in, with things on the bedside table and pictures on the wall. The bookshelf above the bed is full too, with textbooks and a couple of novels. The most interesting thing though is the wall decorations. Rather than posters or paintings of the ocean or whatever, what's on the wall is what looks like a bunch of... newspaper clippings? Maria puts her suitcase next to the other bed, and her overnight bag and backpack on the bed, before walking over to get a closer look. On closer inspection, most of the articles appear to be about governments keeping the existence of aliens secret, or about strange deaths or disappearances in the area. She starts reading an article about how a shady government organisation with a weird name is hiding the existence of aliens with the help of a humanoid alien called the Doctor. She's so absorbed, she doesn't notice the door opening.

"What are you doing?"
Maria jumps and spins around, then realises how guilty that makes her look. She tries in vain to fight down an embarrassed blush.

Of course her new roommate would choose now, when she's leaning over her bed staring at the wall like some complete weirdo, to walk in on her. Absolutely freaking typical.
She shoots back to her own bed like she's been fired from a cannon, before turning and looking at the girl. Given the way her luck is going, she isn't as surprised as she should be by the girl now standing at the other bed, arms crossed defensively. Because of course. It's the girl who was rude to her and her dad in the carpark- her new roommate, Sarah Jane Smith.

A/N:

This chapter is a reupload; it has been edited, and has some new content, but it is not yet a completely new chapter. Chapters will be posted once a week for the next few weeks until I get to the end of what I have written, then updates will be monthly.