The Golden Rules 1

Chapter 1 - A train to nowhere?

"Why am I not a few inches taller?" Sophie asked herself as she looked in the mirror. But this thought remained in her head only a few seconds. She paid more attention to her to her scarf, which she still had to set up a little. For her, it was extremely important that the Scout uniform made a decent impression, at least on the first day of the trip. After all, she wore the gap with pride: when wearing this garment she felt like a part of something bigger, and at the same time like someone special. Therefore, it was so important that everything looked good.
  "Sophie! Hurry up! The train doesn't wait for you." Her mother called from the kitchen. Hurriedly the redhead took a glance at her alarm clock and saw that she was actually very late. So she hoisted her backpack on her back, grabbed her train ticket and  quickly ran into the kitchen to say goodbye to her mother. The woman in her forties was happily humming in front of the stove, stirring a fragrant potato soup.
  "Oh, how mean! Why do you cook something that delicious when I have to leave?"
  "When you come back, I'll make you chicken fricassee. Promise. But now be off, or you'll be late."
  "Yes, yes, I'm already gone. I'll remember the chicken fricassee! See you in two weeks, mama."
Sophie gave her mother a little kiss on the cheek and left the apartment shortly thereafter.

The way to the station was not long, but with this monster of a backpack on her back she was  not  as fast  as she could have been. In addition, it was very hot this summer and the heat drove Sophie the beads of sweat on the forehead.
The people in the pedestrian zone looked a bit puzzled, as the short red-haired girl, rushed past them.
She had not thought that the city would be so crowded. Again and again she had to dodge people and manoeuvre around larger small groups. That was very obstructive to their schedule because she was already very late. As she ran up to the big old station building, the great clock at the front entrance showed that she had exactly two minutes left to reach the train in time.

It was only due to her good condition that she could still lodge a short sprint, so she could jump into the rain just a second before the doors closed behind her. Panting and sweating, Sophie slumped to the ground and her hands gratefully welcomed the cold tile floor.
Wait! Tiles? In a train?