BLOODSTONE ACADEMY

9: Orientation.

"Miss Carnell, I am assigning you to be Miss Eadwald's official guide, until she's settled and properly accustomed to the school,"

Princical Fernsby gave the auburn-haired girl standing beside me a sugary smile.

"Don't worry about running behind on your schedule. I've made sure both of your schedules align, so you don't have to worry about clashes." She glanced between both of us, then let her gaze rest surreptitiously on the auburn-haired girl.

"Please take good care of her, Brittany. I trust I'm leaving her in safe hands with you?"

The girl nodded and gave the principal a noble smile. "Yes, Principal Fernsby. You can trust me!"

"Alright then! Shoo! Off you go, you two! Assembly starts in less than ten minutes!"

The girl hurried out of the Principal's office after giving her one last noble smile, and I followed behind her begrudgingly.

Not to be judgy, but she was so hyper and all over the place. I didn't know if I could match her energy. I didn't even want to.

"Hi! I'm Brittany! You can call me Brit!" She grinned and held a dainty, perfectly manicured hand towards me as we walked along the dim-lit, stone-walled halls.

I shook her hand grimly, unable to return her enthusiasm. "Jade." I said simply, and she nodded energetically, her carefully curled auburn hair bouncing all over the place.

"I know!" Her grin widened as she raised a brow at me. "Everyone's been talking about you since yesterday!"

My eyes bulged in surprise. Everyone's been talking about me? How? What? Why?

Brittany's pretty, freckled face puckered into a conspiratorial smile as she leaned in closer to me. I leaned away instinctively.

"I heard you had a mini showdown with Roman," She whispered, her emerald eyes bright with gossip.

Roman? That arrogant block of ice? My brows furrowed into a frown as I recalled the white-haired boy from yesterday, and how easily he had inspired so much annoyance and irritation within me.

It felt disconcerting that he'd been able to get under my skin so easily. I usually prided myself in my ability to keep a cool head, no matter the situation, and I'd just flipped at a total stranger yesterday.

"It wasn't really a...showdown," I shrugged as we turned a corner and came into a...locker hallway?

"I had bumped into him by accident, and before I could apologize, he said something rude and I said something in response. The principal butted in before it could escalate. I think I must have just been on edge," I rambled.

I knew I was over-explaining. For some weird reason, I didn't want to be seen as the new girl who snapped at people. But Brittany's grin returned and her bright emerald eyes sparkled.

"Everyone's been talking about it! You're nothing short of popular already! A lot of people are glad someone finally stood up to Roman." Brittany informed, and I rolled my tongue around in my mouth, wondering why it was so.

"Why? Is he like a...bully or something?" I asked with a small frown as Brittany came to a halt in front of a row of wooden lockers.

"We're locker mates!" Brittany grinned as she pointed to the locker beside hers, momentarily ignoring my question.

I'd only seen metal lockers in movies before. This was new. Extravagant, if you will. Its length ran all the way from the middle of the wall to the floor. The wooden structure was made of sleek black, shiny oak wood, with a series of computerized locks on it.

The lock on mine was a small black screen, and the numbers 69 blinked incessantly at the top of the screen to indicate the locker number. Brittany's was 68.

Underneath the locker number, the words, 'input password to access' continuously blinked in green uppercase, small-font letters.

Principal Fernsby had handed me a file that consisted of timetables and schedules for my classes, and my default locker password was on one of the booklets. I could change it if I wished.

"Well, you could say he's a bully of some sort," Brittany continued, then halted thoughtfully after putting in her locker password, and letting it beep as it clicked open. "But it's more like a weird intimidation thing he does,"

"He inspires fear in people and is so good at manipulation tactics, that he can get anyone to do just about anything for him. So yes, I'd say he's a bully. Just not your typical high-school type,"

I hmned after Brittany's explanation, resisting the urge to scoff.

Inspires fear? The only thing the dude had inspired in me was irritation. Why would anybody fear him? Because he's tall and muscular? Bullshit.

But even as I thought that and scoffed in my head, I couldn't shake off the memory of the coldness that had seeped from his eyes when I'd looked up at him. It had been deep, silent and bone-chilling, and it had seemed to emanate from every pore of his being.

I understood why people would be scared of him.

"So, I guess I'll start your orientation by letting you in on the most important details of the school first," Brittany whispered conversationally to me as she picked out a few books from her locker, before throwing her duffel bag inside and letting it hit the floor roughly.

"Roman Augustus is the leader of 'The Eight'; the most notorious clique in the school. They're at the top of the elite circle, and they're the richest kids in all of Bloodstone Academy. You don't want to mess with any of them!"

Brittany's eyes grew wider as she explained. I nodded absentmindedly as I fiddled with the computer on my locker, attempting to change the default password.

I genuinely didn't care about Brittany's ramblings and the school's elite circle she was telling me about. I'd seen enough of those pathetic loser types in Netflix high-school shows. I just wanted to get to class and hopefully...see Vasilis.

I had been glancing around since the minute I walked out of the car, hoping to run into him, but he was either late...again. Or he was in class already.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! Turn around very slowly! Very casually! Don't be too obvious!" Brittany was suddenly whisper-shrieking in my ear as I successfully changed the password on my locker and heard it beep into place.

I turned around, holding back an eye-roll.

"That's them!" She shrieked. "The Eight!"

I let my bored gaze follow the trail of hers, and it was then I saw him. The arrogant, white-haired block of ice.

Roman.