“See you during the Christmas Holidays, darling,”
father joyously said while smiling me off. Ah,
they’re almost TOO happy about this whole boarding school thing. I subtly
gritted my teeth as I hugged mother.
“Uh… yeah. Be careful not to burn the house down or
anything…”
“Heh, we won’t, we won’t,” father waved the idea away
and both my loving parents embarked in their glorious ’86 Ford and left their
eldest daughter at the mercy of that big scary school filled with equally scary
students. I turned around and faced the imposing four-storey building that
stood there mockingly.
“You won’t
make it here, kid.” I swear I could
hear the school talk to me.
“Yeah? Well, we’ll see about that!” I replied,
shooting the cold auburn bricks a deadly glare.
“Ah, great. Another nut-case enrolled. My God, this
place is losing its prestige,” I heard a hoarse voice sigh behind me. My head
snapped in the direction of the voice, and I saw… well… I saw… I’m not sure what I saw, but it had wings and a
devilish smirk on his face.
“What are you
supposed to be? No, don’t tell me… you think you can talk to objects and that’s
why they brought you here, right?” he continued as he began to walk around me,
measuring me with his piercing eyes. He was of average height, but there was
something in his attitude which made him tower over me like I was a speck of
dust on his leather jacket. If that’s the
boys’ uniform, life is completely and absurdly unfair. His black, messy
hair seemed to perpetually get in his dark green eyes which were so curiously
studying me at that moment. He looked like a regular high school student…
except maybe for the slightly pointy ears covered in pierces and the black scaly
w…wings on his back. Hmm, I wonder how he
manages with those things. I mean it’s not like they can magically appear on
the other side of clothes… they’re troublesome, if anything at all. I wouldn’t
like to have wings. Hah, glad my special ability isn’t flying, although it
would be nice to actually HAVE a special ability any-
“Earth to Strange Girl. Are you still here? I repeat,
are you still here?”
I just stared back at him, still floating around in my
daydream.
“Oh no, we’ve lost another one,” he concluded, one
corner of his mouth rising in mockery. “Were you mentally connecting with the
tree over there?”
“Look who’s talking about ‘strange’,” I finally
snapped. “And you are..? Lord of the flying Lizards?”
“So she was listening
to me after all,” he muttered on a sarcastic tone. “I’m Lucas… Lucas Hawkshaw.”
His eyes gleamed. “’Lucas’ to my friends, ‘My Lord’ to you,” he smiled disdainfully.
“Sorry, but I’m not a lizard, so I couldn’t possibly
refer to you as ‘My Lord’,” I smiled back and mentally congratulated myself for
the quick comeback.
“Is that so?” his eyebrow raised a little, a playful
yet dangerous twinkle awakening in his eyes. He started to walk towards me.
“Because, you know…”
He was now two feet away.
“I could…”
Only one foot.
“Make you…”
A few inches.
“Call me whatever I damn well please.”
His words burned all over my cheek. Come on Emma, you can take this guy on.
“Sorry, but I’m having a hard time believing that,” I
grinned, standing my ground as I shot him a satisfied glare. He’s chuckling. WHY is he chuckling??
“Oh, you’d better bel-”
“Master Hawkshaw!! Stop picking on the new students
and report to the headmaster’s office immediately! Your father wishes to see
you!” a voice in the shape of a butler-looking grey-haired man echoed over the
school grounds. Lucas broke our little staring contest and, mumbling, headed
towards the entrance to the main building. The school had many different
buildings, the middle -and the largest one, being the headquarters of the
headmaster. He lived in a separate wing, the rest of the construction being
used for classes, or so mother told me. I watched Lucas leave, hoping I would
never have to see his mocking face again.
“I still
don’t think you’ll make it here, kid. You’ve made the worst kind of enemy. And
on your first day, too,” the cold
bricks stared at me in pity.
“Oh shut up!”
“Who are you talking to?” I heard another voice behind
me. Deja-vu, Deja-vu. Only this time,
it was a female one. I turned around to face the cutest looking girl ever. She
had long, golden hair pinned up with ribbons, huge blue eyes, pointy ears… Wait. Pointy ears? Is EVERYBODY here weird?
I rubbed my eyes. Nope, the pointy ears were still
there. She must have noticed the target of my stare, because she immediately
covered her ears blushing.
“Err… these are… well… I’m… I’m Victoria… and as you
probably noticed, I’m an elf,” she murmured, staring at her feet. Aaawww, how adorable. I feel the sudden urge
to give the girl cookies. “The headmaster sent me to show you to the girls’
dormitories. It’s customary for him to show the new students around himself,
but there was a problem with some sudden fires appearing throughout the school,
so he had to deal with that right now.” My brain started making connections at
an amazing rate. Sudden fires?
Headmaster? Hawkshaw Institute? Lucas Hawkshaw called by the headm... his
father? HIS FATHER IS THE HEADMASTER?? This is NOT happening. No. I refuse. No.
“Excuse me, Victoria… Uhm… is the one called Lucas
Hawkshaw related to the headmaster by any chance?” I asked naively.
“Well… yes. Did you think it was a name coincidence?
He’s the headmaster’s son. And he’s the worst. The absolute worst,” she aggressively
shook her head, her attitude changing as soon as I mentioned Lucas.
“O… oh… I see.”
“If you need my advice, I say don’t go near him.
Ever.” The light blue of her eyes started to whirl in anger. Too late for that, huh? Damn it, Emma. Damn
it. “And how on Earth do you even know his name?” she spat.
“We just-”
“Anyhow, we should get going, the sun is about to set
and I don’t feel very comfortable walking around when it’s dark outside,” she
gracefully changed the subject, along with her attitude, as she shot the
setting sun a frightened look. “Oh, won’t you be needing those?” Victoria
asked, since I was preparing to leave my luggage behind, completely oblivious
of its presence.
“Ah, right. My bags. Almost forgot they were there,” I
giggled nervously as I tried to lift a heavier case. Victoria offered to help
me and before I even knew it, she was violently dragging three of the heavier
trunks towards the building which I supposed had to be the girls’ dormitories. I
followed her in amazement, since she was dragging those things like they had
merely a pound each, and I knew they
had a minimum of twenty pounds, give or take a few elephants.
“Er… Victoria… are you alright with those?” I asked,
now practically running to keep up with her. She’s crazy. Crazy.
“Yes, of course!” she replied enthusiastically as she
reached a majestically carved wooden door, held open by a lump of fur. A big
lump of fur. A very big lump of fur. What
exactly IS that?
“He…” Victoria started. “…is Ted. The guardian.” Did she just read my mind? No, couldn’t be.
“No, I can’t read minds,” she said out of the blue,
confusing me beyond the legal limit of confusion.
“But you just-”
“Can I help you with that, young miss?” the lump o-… I
mean Ted, politely interrupted me, nodding towards the small bag I was
carrying.
“Her name is Emma Sheffield,” Victoria pointed out.
“How did-”
“Let’s just show Miss Sheffield to her room now, Ted.
Be a doll and help us with the luggage. Thank you,” Victoria smiled as she
shoved the three bags in Ted’s arms, which immediately hit the ground under the
massive weight. He groaned and picked them up again, muttering something along
the lines of “…evil, could’ve told me they were heavy…always… annoying…” The
string of words continued to flow from the very disgruntled Ted, who was now
leading the way up a case of stone stairs. The steps were covered in a
luxurious red carpet with little golden details. Rather fancy for a school, isn’t it? Carpets covered in Fleur du lis?
Dazzling chandeliers? And all that in a measly girls’ dormitory. I mean, it
looks just like a palace or something. I bet the rooms have four-poster beds
and velvet all over. Hah, that’d be a sight.
“Here we are, Miss Sheffield,” Ted said, having
stopped in front of a door on the second floor. He placed the bags on the
luxurious carpet. “I believe Miss Victoria is more than qualified to show you
around the room. I’ll be taking my leave now. Welcome to Hawkshaw, Miss,” he
concluded and began descending the staircase towards his guardian duties or
something. I took advantage of his leave and asked Victoria what I was aching
to ask all that time.
“Uhm… Victoria?”
“Yes, Emma?” she said, freezing in the middle of turning
the door knob. A very pretty door knob, encrusted with the symbol of a dragon.
“What exactly is
Ted?”
“Ah, I thought you would’ve realized it by now,” she
laughed. “He’s a werewolf. A permanent one. He will never gain human form,”
Victoria explained, resuming her door knob turning endeavour and actually
opening the door this time. The room was certainly a sight for sore eyes,
making me forget all about Ted’s never-gain-human-form problem. Oh my… I can’t believe this. A four-poster
bed covered in purple velvet!! Bed! Velvet! Velvet! I’m clairvoyant!!! I
foresaw this!! Take that, mind reading elf chick!
“Here we go,” Victoria exhaled as she placed my bags
next to the bed. She straightened her back, planted her arms on her hips and
took a proud look around the room. I followed her gaze, as she scanned every
little piece of furniture. A vanity table. A dresser. An armchair. A big desk
in one corner. Balcony doors. On those she lingered.
“I can’t believe how lucky you are,” she sighed.
“You’ve got a balcony-room. You have no idea
how much the girls here desire balcony-rooms,” her eyes grew soft as they caressed
the wooden frame of the renowned balcony door. “I never had the luck of getting
one, though,” she continued, mostly to herself this time. In just half an hour
since we’ve met in the courtyard she had gone through shyness, anger, fright,
enthusiasm, calm and sadness. That range of emotions in such a short time was
way too wide, even for a girl. She immediately snapped out of the dreamy
‘why-don’t-i-have-a-balcony-room-too?’ state and cheerfully turned towards the
bed on which I was now sitting, patiently waiting for her to stop visually
molesting my room.
“Well, I’d better take my leave. I believe you can
handle everything from here, right?” she smiled, her eyes wandering towards the
infamous balcony one last time before she turned to grab the knob.
I watched her slide over the doorway, when I suddenly
remembered something vital.
“Hey, Vic...” She stopped in the door frame and turned
her beautiful blond head around. “Where exactly
is the washroom?”
“Vic? Hmm, I could get used to that,” she rubbed her
chin in delight. “The washrooms are common for every floor. Just go down the
hall and keep your nose out for the smell of shampoo. You’ll find it in no
time.” Victoria waved her hand and, with a final ‘see you tomorrow’, she took
off. I was now alone in my new palace-like-balcony-room. I shot my luggage a
long stare. I am SO not in the unpacking
mood right now. And I’m tired…Plus, tomorrow’s Sunday, so I’ll have a whole day
at my disposal… I yawned heartily while stretching my arms and throwing
myself on the absurdly huge four-poster. Uuuhh,
so soooooft… and what fluffy pillows… mmm… And I drifted away in a well-deserved
sleep, still fully dressed.
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