The Rebirth

Chapter 6

Sylvie was sitting at an old wooden desk at the back of a classroom in Finishing School. Maverick had taken her into the class, and had tried to ease her nerves. She was nervous but she was more excited than anything. There was so much to learn. Sylvie had a niggling feeling that something wasn’t right but she couldn’t place it so she pushed it to the back of her mind.

            The classroom was painted burgundy, and it was starting to fade. There was a large black board at the front of room, and in front of that stood an ebony desk. Flowers had been carved into its legs. There were only four others sitting at desks. No one spoke to each other.

            The door to the classroom opened and a young man walked in. He had curly blonde hair and a handsome face. He looked over every member of the class, and Sylvie felt his eyes linger on her longer than he did the others.

            “Welcome to Finishing School, my name is Henry Watts and I’ll be your teacher until you graduate,” he said, displaying a row of pearly teeth. “Now I’ve introduced myself, it’s your turn.” He nodded to the boy nearest him. The boy stood up, he was slender with strawberry blonde hair and small eyes.

            “My name is Tevan Ferguson and I’m seventeen,” the boy called Tevan said nervously. Sylvie watched as Tevan awkwardly sat back down behind his desk, his eyes averted to his lap. Henry gestured for the next person to stand up.

            “My name is Davina Sandu,” said the girl, in a bright orange patterned tunic. She had light brown skin and thick black hair to her waist which hung in large curls. She had large almond shaped eyes and a wide mouth. Sylvie thought she looked beautifully exotic. “I am twenty-one,” she said in her slight accent. Automatically the next girl stood up.

            “I’m Kimberly Mitchell, I’m eighteen and I’m a twin,” Kimberly said proudly. She was confident. She was tall and thin, with short cropped white blonde hair. The boy that stood next to her was her double. Sylvie thought it would be hard to tell the two apart as the boy’s hair was exactly the same as Kimberly’s. “And this is Kale.”

            Everyone was now looking at Sylvie expectantly. She stood up and put her shaking hands behind her back. Henry was staring at her warmly, he was encouraging her to speak.

            “My name’s Sylvie Knight,” she said, and in hearing her voice wobble she cleared her throat. “And I’m twenty-years-old…just.” She didn’t know why she had said that. Henry was looking at her curiously, his eyebrows raised. Kimberly laughed. Sylvie gave a small smile before sitting down at her desk. She wrapped her hair around her fingers, and watched Henry as he began to scrawl in white chalk on the board. He wrote his name.

            “So I will start from the basics, please feel free to interrupt me at any time with questions,” Henry said, pulling himself up onto his desk. “First I’m sure you’d like to know why you are here. You are here because you were adopted, by your parents, from the mainland. You were then admitted into the Rebirth Centre where a good standard of health is maintained. We live on Island 4, which is its official name, not very creative I know, but we just call it the Island. There are six other islands across the world. Here on the Island…”

            “What about the other islands?” Davina asked in a small voice.

            “That is something you can learn about at the University after you graduate from Finishing School. You must take up Geography: a very interesting course. Yes here we have a university, an army barracks, the hospital, the finishing school, the council and numerous businesses. These are all places you should consider for your future careers.