The Academy

The Academy - 2

"And this will be your house, Miss Carylye." Mr. Nathan Billings told me. Mr. Billings was the Head of Security at Ravenwood. He seemed like a somewhat nice man, but he also didn't seem to care much about me as an individual.

Mr. Billings had shown me around the academy. The principle, Ms. Charlene Winston, had begun the tour, but was distracted by some students smoking on the grass. I had seen all three main school buildings and he had concluded the tour by showing me the five houses where students stayed. He took me over to a specific one.

"Here's your key," Mr. Billings handed me a silver key. "Your room number is 211. It's the second floor and on the left." Mr. Billings then turned abruptly and walked away.

"Um, thank you!" I called after him awkwardly.

I struggled to get all of my suitcases into the building and up the flight of stairs, but I finally reached 211. I took the key out of my pocket and unlocked the door.

The room was painted all white. There was a mattress, a desk, a small closet, and an empty bookcase. Otherwise the room was mine to decorate.

I started with my clothes. I put everything into the closet, having to pull off all the tags as I went.

I then put my new sheets and comforter onto my bed. After that I only had a few books and pictures to put on the bookshelf. When my fingers finally found the picture of me with my parents my eyes teared up a little.

Our family had been anything but perfect. When I was young my father had had a drug problem, but he had overcome it with pressure from my mother and I. Unfortunately by this time my father was deep in debt and we had no way of paying it back.

There was no doubt in my mind that was why they had murdered my parents and attempted to kill me. In the drug world a debt always had to be paid, one way or another.

I was so deep in thought I only noticed the girl in my doorway when she cleared her throat.

"Hi," She smiled at me.

"Hello," I replied.

"You're clearly new." She stated. I nodded. "I'm Cecily." She walked into my room and offered me her hand. "But everyone calls me Cece."

"I'm M-" I had to stop short. I had almost already given myself up. "I'm Sawyer, Sawyer Carlyle." Cece seemed to look me up and down. I knew she had heard my slip up, but she seemed to ignore it.

"You didn't pack much did you," Cece noticed as she walked into my room more.

"I kind of got told I was coming on short notice." I lied. She looked at my blank walls.

"No kidding," She muttered. Then she came across the picture of my parents and I. "What do your parents do?" She asked as she picked up the picture to examine it.

"Peace Corps officers." I responded, remembering my alibi. I heard her chuckle slightly. "What about you?"

"My dad is the owner of CeliStar Security Systems," Cece explained in a bored tone as she set down the picture. I was surprised to hear her bored tone. I knew CeliStar was a billion dollar company. "He named it after me too. He always used to call me his star."

"That's nice," I said. She looked at me for a moment.

"Hold on," Cece told me before walking passed me and to the room across the hall. When she came back she held a vintage looking camera in her hands. Cece walked right over to me and held the camera up.

"Smile." She instructed as she snapped a picture of us. The photo came out of the bottom of the camera. She waved it around a moment before looking at it. "That's a good one." She declared and showed me the picture. It was a decent photo of the two of us.