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Ch. 5

We barely crossed the threshold of my new school before we were greeted by one of the most stunning people I think I’ve ever seen in my life. Long red hair fell down in the most spectacular spiral curls, perfectly winged eyeliner and red lips matched her skin tight red dress to perfection.

“Hi there, I’m Maggie Henderson the head office administrator here, it’s my duty to accompany all new students around campus when they first arrive.” If I didn’t find her attractive before, I definitely did now, her voice sounded like whiskey, smooth and sweet with a bite at the end. I snuck a peak over at mom and could tell she was just as awestruck as I was.

She cleared her throat and looked at me, “And you must be…” my cheeks burned with embarrassment, I realized I had been staring and had yet to utter a single word, luckily for me mom found her voice first.

“So sorry, we’ve had a long drive and the campus is just leaving us breathless… this is my Daughter Charlee, and I’m Cheryl, Charlee and Cheryl Jones that is.” Before my mother could even finish extending her hand for a shake Mrs Henderson eyes snapped away from hers and bore into mine, “So, you’re Charlee Jones, the new scholarship student.” In that moment I could have sworn I saw her eyes flash from brown to red. Impossible, I shook my head and extended my hand instead.

“Yes, that’s right, it’s very nice to meet you, and sorry this is all just a little bit overwhelming.”

“I would suppose it would be.” Her voice was clipped, no longer reminding me of a sweet whiskey, but a bitter tequila. She grabbed my hand then, and holy shit this woman was strong. Before this situation could be any more awkward I noticed an equally if not more attractive person coming down the hall to my left.

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to great you properly, my name is Mrs. Lafoex, Headmistress here.”

“Surely you don’t have time to meet everyone new here?” my mother asked

“We are a small school, we take great interest in our new students, especially our scholarship students. We do our best to make everyone feel at home the second they walked through those doors.” She waved her hands elegantly towards the threshold we just came from. 

“Well, isn’t that…nice.” She nudged me in the side, and I realized that I once again had been staring. Is everyone here this attractive? Where Mrs. Henderson was a redhead, Mrs. Lafoex had hair black as night it almost looked blue, with ridiculously blue eyes, they almost looked violet if you stared long enough… which I realized I was doing.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Charlee Jones.” I muttered still a little awestruck

“Well of course you are, you are the only new freshmen this year." She adverted her eyes from me, "Mrs. Henderson maybe you should go check on some of our other students make sure they are finding their new room assignments for the year just fine.” With a look that could kill and a curt nod, Mrs. Henderson started off down the hall.

“I’m sorry, what?” “The only new freshman, how is that possible?” I squeaked

“We have a High School just down the ways, very rarely do we get students at the college who haven’t been enrolled at our High School, in fact, you are the first one Ms. Jones.”

“How is that possible?” My mother said thankfully because I’m not sure I could get a sentence out. Not only was I hundreds of miles away from the only life I’ve ever known but now everyone would have been at school together for years and I’d be the outsider. Great, Tay was right- I should have just gone to New York with her.

“We have a few very important students here whose parents would rather there location not be known to the general public. But we offer the absolute best education, Charlee would not have been invited to attend school here if there were any other place better suited for her to study. Alas there is not, shall we get a move on? I would suspect you would like to see your dorm and meet your roommate, perhaps if we go quickly enough there will be enough time for you to grab some dinner before the hall closes. Ms. Jones…”

“It’s Cheryl, Please.”

“Cheryl, we find it easier for students to engage with others if parents aren’t hovering over them…”

“Oh, right, of course. But I figured I would at least be helping Charlee bring her things to her room.”

“It’s already been taken care of.”

“What...how?” I stammered

“Some of the other students have already brought your things to your dorm while we were making introductions.”

“Oh okay…” My nerves were officially kicking in, I looked at my mother not wanting to say goodbye just yet.

“Well, kiddo, I guess that’s my que…”

“I’m going to miss you mom, more then you know.”

“I know sweetie, but I’m only a phone call or a text away. Or a 15 hour drive.” She winked at me. I pulled her into a hug before I could start crying.

“Drive safe, please let me know when you get home.”

“I will, try and have some fun, this is the next chapter of your life.” She whispered into my head.

I stood hugging her until I heard a throat clear behind me.

“Bye mom, I love you.”

“Love you too.” And with a last squeeze and wave, she turned around and headed back to the car. I was officially alone.

“Shall we? Please call me Olivia, it makes it easier.”

“Okay…Olivia…” I followed as she turned on her heel, and lead me up the stairwell to the left.

“Now, our campus is far bigger than it appears, we have the girls’ dorms to the left and the boys to the right. You are adults and will be treated as such, but we expect you to be safe in all areas since we give you a lot of freedom here.” My face burned with heat, I can’t believe the headmistress of the school was giving me a sex talk. She continued on despite my embarrassment. “Now, since you are here in June these next few months will be you getting to know your peers, your teachers, and getting used to our advanced curriculum. Once you seemed to have….- She stopped talking and looked at me as if searching for the right words..- developed an interest in a particular study we will help design your class schedule around it.” She looked back at me and raised her eyebrows as if asking me if I had any questions and when I didn’t say anything, “Right then, you will be rooming with Laura, she’s a freshmen as well but was enrolled in our high school for four years, and she should be the perfect roommate for you. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or any other member of the faculty as we are all here to help you. Ah, yes here we are.” We stopped abruptly outside a dark wood door, it looked out of place amongst all the stone. Mrs. Lafo… I mean, Olivia, walked in without knocking. I peered over her shoulder, and gasped, it was the room in my dreams. The huge stone foyer, the fire place, the pictures on the walls… just no blood.

“Are you okay Charlee?”

“Uh… yeah… I just had the strangest sense of De ja Vu.” She upturned her eyebrows at me but before she could say anything a girl with the greenest eyes I’d ever seen came out of the first bedroom.

“Ah there you are, Charlee, this is Laura. Laura this is Charlee.”

“Hey, you’re new…. We don’t get many new students here.”

“So I’ve heard…” Unease set in at the pit of my stomach.

“Well, welcome, I’m Laura this is our room… I would assume that since you have blue eyes your apart of…”

“LAURA.” Olivia all but shouted and interrupted her. “Charlee is new here and has an undeclared major, you are to help her figure it out.”

“Figure it out… what do you mean? Her eyes are blue.” She looked genuinely confused

“Yes, her eyes are blue, and yours are green and mine are blue. Please stop with the eyes, you’re surely making Charlee uncomfortable- you know the rules no hazing on campus. Perhaps if you would have showed to our meeting this afternoon you wouldn’t have been so unprepared for your new roommate. If you would please step outside into the hallway with me Laura so we can discuss something quickly.”

Olivia opened the door to usher her out, and Laura glared in my general direction as she passed. Great, piss off your roommate day one, way to go. I tried to press my ear up against the door but could only here harsh whispers and couldn’t make anything out. So I decided to look around the room, we had the “Living room” or as I would call it the blood room from my dreams it was furnished with a small flat screen TV, sofa, and a small kitchen table with a few chairs, off to the side we had a small kitchen with fridge, sink, and microwave. I made my way past the door Laura came out of not wanting to invade her privacy and opened the second door, the room was cozy and offered comfort- unlike the living room. The room was painted a navy blue with white accents on the walls that appeared to be waves, the comforter on the bed was a light blue, a book shelf which to my surprise already had some books on it, a desk with a laptop and what appeared to be something along the lines of an ipad, and all my stuff was neatly stacked off to the side. I heard the door to our dorm slam and debated hiding away in the comfort of this room forever, but ultimately decided against it.

I peered out of my door and saw Laura muttering to herself…”and somehow I’m a goddamn babysitter…”

“Oh sorry, I didn’t see that you came out.” She said

“It’s okay… look I’m really sorry about you being stuck with me. I’m sure I could find my way around, don’t worry about it.”

She sighed, “No you can’t. Let’s just say I got into a bit of trouble my last year in high school and this is a way to redeem myself in the eyes of the prestigious elders. So you’re stuck with me.”

“I’m sorry… did you just say elders? As in your grandparents?”

She snickered, “Yeah, we will go with that. Man, you really have no idea do you?”

“About this college or college in general? No, freshmen here… remember?” I sighed and slumped onto the sofa and put my face in my hands.

“Don’t worry Chika, i'll teach you everything there is to know about Blackbird academy”

“Really?”

“Yup. Rule number one, Survive it.”

I looked up hoping to any sign of her kidding, but she looked deadly serious, and her green eyes appeared to be glowing.

What is this place?

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