I push past a couple in the center of the hallway, who are engaged in some heated tongue wrestling, I have no remorse, this corridor has enough traffic at this time of day as it is. I make my way to the library, not stopping to admire the giant portraits of past teachers, mounted on golden frames. When I finally make it inside the magical room, I'm forced to let all my irritation drain out of me, this place will never cease to amaze me, every wall is a giant shelf, spiral staircases lead to closed off study rooms, ladders climb up the wall, twisting and reaching to the ceiling like wooden vines, the ceiling itself is covered with consolations, created with twinkling lights. I spot Evan and Clara in a far corner, engrossed in textbooks. I'm about to head to the medieval literature section to research an assignment when I see Laci out of the corner of my eye, struggling to open the glass door, I rush over and open it for her and she stumbles inside, carrying a mountain of yellow folders.
"What are those?" I ask, taking half of the pile off her.
She blows her hair off of her forehead. "Freshmen student files, they have to be moved from the main office."
I glance at the top one, which has a label with the name Hera Rodgers in bold print, weird name, I think it's a Greek goddess? "Why is that your job?"
"I help out with the filing sometimes, didn't I tell you that?" She looks at me blankly. "No? Well, it's great for snooping on new kids, and finding your enemies weaknesses." This girl really isn't the sweet little kitten I first thought she was, she's more vicious than the rest of us, she just prefers having a strategy, which is terrifying.
"Wait, is that how you knew who we were when we first arrived?" I follow her to a door behind a returns bin, which she opens and goes inside, feeling slightly violated. A light is switched on, revealing a room filled with filing cabinets.
"Yeah, there wasn't much in it though, I couldn't quite figure you out." She states, not really seeing the issue. She shuffles though a cabinet labeled: Juniors. Pulling out a thick looking file. "Huh, seems you filled it up a bit since you got here." She hands it to me, and I look over it, trying not to shake.
MARGARET PARKER.
APPEARANCE: Green eyes, Dirty blonde hair, average height.
GRADES: C on average
BIRTH: July 18
DORMITORY: 47
PARENTS: Cara Parker (Deceased) Brian Parker.
SIBLINGS: Levi Parker (Brother)
TUITION: Scholarship student on condition of Father's contract.
NATIONALITY: Australian (Caucasian)
TRAITS AS DESCRIBED BY STAFF: needs to be needed, resentful, dwells on the past, indifferent, possessive, temperamental, Pessimistic, Suspicious, Insecure, Wavering emotions, inability to forgive easily, need to feel in control, no identity outside family, indecisive, stubborn, hates rejection, difficult, overthinks, volatile.
HEALTH: Physically fit. Mentally: may have minor anxiety and/or identity issues and/or irrational fears due to parental death.
SCHOOL OFFENSES: Truancy, breaking curfew, causation of assault, visiting other students after curfew, damage of school equipment, drug use.
After that, I couldn't read any more. I hand it back to Laci, who chews her lip.
"Don't take it personally, they're not really into using tact, mine says my mother is an alcoholic." She shrugs, I knit my brow, I never knew that much about her family. "Also that I'm meek, passive, and fragile." I watch her as she opens a cabinet, moving the new files into it.
"You aren't any of those things, Laci." I say, trying to be convincing.
"It doesn't matter how they see me, you can have a look if you want though." She goes back to her filing, but her tone seemed a tad bitter to me. So I open the Junior cabinet again, searching through the 'L' section. "Your birthday is coming up, isn't it?" She grins slyly, complete mood shift.
"Tomorrow." I say suspiciously.
"Shit. It's tomorrow?" She gasps, then giggles, "Don't worry, I didn't forget, I think you'll like your gift." I smile at her, already feeling apprehensive that she went over the top. "Seventeen, gosh you're old." She muses, I shoot her a glare.
"Um. Laci?" I check once for her file, twice, three times, nothing. Laci gives a sort of grunt. "There's nothing here."
"What?" She sighs, leaning over my shoulder. "Why are you looking in 'L'?"
"Because your name starts with L." I squint at her.
"What?" We stare at each other, equally confused. "My name starts with an 'A'"
"No. Laci starts with an L."
She just looks at me like that's the stupidest thing anyone ever said. "You know my name is Alacia, right?" I just look at her blankly as she starts laughing. "Laci is short for Alacia, you melon." Alacia Ayres, it has a nice ring to it. She goes back to her paperwork, leaving me to reassess my entire universe. I'm about to leave her to it when a cabinet on the other side of the room catches my eye labelled, 'Seniors.' I sidle up to it nonchalantly as I can manage. I open it, riffling through until I find the 'D' section. It's not an invasion of privacy, it's for research. I pull out Dylan's file, seating myself on a table. Laci catches my eye, then glances at the thin folder in my hand. "I thought we decided he was bad news?"
I hesitate, lifting the corner. "Yeah, well, I've never taken my own advice, why start now?" With that, I open it, expecting her to look at me with disapproval, but she only half smiles, with underlining triumph.
"But why?! He's an idiot!"
"I know."
"You love him, don't you?" Her sly grin grows wider, I ignore her, focusing on the papers.
DYLAN SMITH
APPEARANCE:
GRADES:
BIRTH: November 19
DORMITORY: 27
PARENTS: N/A
SIBLINGS: N/A
TUITION:
NATIONALITY: English (Anglo-Saxon)
TRAITS AS DESCRIBED BY STAFF:
HEALTH:
SCHOOL OFFENCES:
I knit my brow more and more as I read, becoming more and more confused. "Laci, there's something wrong with this." Laci takes the file from me, scanning it and handing it back.
"You probably just have the wrong file."
"No. His birthday, nationality, and room number are right."
"Can't be, his last name is Reid, right?" She furrows her brow.
"Yeah, why would it say 'Smith?"
"More importantly, where's all the other stuff, it's like he's a ghost."
I flip the page over, nothing. "Is this the school's fault?"
"Doubt it, they're pretty meticulous with paperwork." She puts it back in the cabinet, "On an unrelated note, I have a theory."
"Shoot." I mumble, still deep in trying to justify any of this.
She tilts her head at me, "I think it's every girls dream to find a bad boy just when he decides he doesn't want to be bad anymore."
"Are you making theories about me?" I turn to her, biting my lip.
"Hey, I said every girl, not specifically Maggie." She retorts, but winks.
"In that case, that was a broad generalization."
"I haven't met an exception so far, I could win a Nobel prize for this."
I punch her shoulder lightly, "Whatever."
She beams, immensely proud of herself. "That actually hurt, but in all seriousness, you should ask him about that file, I refuse to acknowledge I made a mistake."
"Fine." I roll my eyes, "I'll ask him, but I think we'll find that you're just incompetent."
"It's never happened before, how could I misspell a name that much anyway?"
I shrug, giving the impression that I couldn't care less, but to tell the truth, the more I find out about that boy, the more things don't add up.
YOU ARE READING
Welcome To The Circus (COMPLETE)
Teen Fiction"Welcome to the circus, are you a spectator, or a lion?" When Maggie Parker is offered a place at Vidre Grammar, located in New York, a school for the children of high society's rich and powerful elite with the security to match, she sees it as a ch...
