A close call to midnight

Finn

I wave my parents goodbye with very mixed feelings. I turn around and look at the big building in front of me—my new school—and if you think about it, it's kind of my new home, yikes.

Boarding school, how did my parents even come up with this idea? I mean, moving to a whole different city is one thing, but sending your kids away is something else...

''Finn, stop dreaming, come on!' my twin sister Sophie wakes me from my wonderings. I drag my bags across the ground and walk up the stairs behind my siblings.

'Do we have to ring the doorbell, or should we knock?' My oldest sister Tess is inspecting the big black front door. ''They don't even have a doorbell,'' I respond. My brother Liam pushes lightly against the door, and it opens effortlessly. ''Losers,'' he scoffs at us.

We walk into the hall, and honestly, I feel a bit nervous. Everywhere I look, there are teens. It also looks like everybody already knows each other, which makes sense because we are the new ones, not them. I don't see a decent place to sit, so I just keep standing up. I automatically unlock my phone and swipe across some apps.

''You know that phones are forbidden, right?'' A girl with a blonde ponytail looks at me and points at my phone. She seems not that nice.''I, erm, I'm sorry, I'm new here. I did not know, so I will put it away.''

I feel my face turn red as I talk to her. How nice. I put my phone back in my pocket as fast as I can. ''Well, clearly you have a lot to learn then'' she rolls her eyes at me. Ok... that was a warm welcome... She is probably fun at parties. Not...

The mean blonde girl walks away, and two other girls follow her immediately like they are her dogs. Yuk. ''Those girls are a lot to take, wow. '' Sophie, my twin sister, looks at them with her mouth wide open. She probably only saw those kinds of girls in movies. I agree with her; they sure are a lot to take.

It suddenly goes silent around us because everyone has stopped talking. A middle-aged woman climbs onto some kind of podium. Her hair is gray, and she is dressed very classically.

"Hello, everyone; nice to see you again. Most of you already know who I am, but I will introduce myself again to the new students over here," she points at us.

'' I am Miss Swanndrift, your director.''

I look around the big hall. Are we really the only new ones this year? That kinda sucks; all the attention will be on us. Miss Swanndrift starts talking again: ''I will read all the names from my list, and if you hear your name, please say yes, then I will tell you what class you will be in this year.'' She looks around strictly.

Wait a minute. Did Miss Swanndrift just say that she will name every kid here? There are at least 700 people here if not more. It looks like this is going to take a while. I stare at my siblings. They also don't seem very excited to listen to a middle-aged woman sum up some names.

Miss Swanndrift reads out all the names in a monotonous voice; if a person answers to their name, she tells them their class. Sometimes, a couple of girls scream because they find out they are in the same class.

"Belle Marshall...?" Miss Swanndrift looks around the hall. "I repeat... Belle Marshall?" No one responds to that name. A kid that is too late, probably...

Next to me, I hear a couple of girls talking. They whisper, but I'm close enough to listen to it.

" Of course, she isn't here. She is from such a poor family. The first time I saw her, I could immediately tell that she didn't belong here. Her parents don't even have enough money for a decent car, but they still send their daughter to a school like this. It's ridiculous!" A lot of girls agree with her by nodding their heads.