The Academy

Chapter 1: Theron

      I always hated the first day of school because of all of the mosquitos. Even though it was early September, the mosquitos in northern Maine were still acting up and irritating me more than ever. I swatted away five more of them as I adjusted the strap on the duffle bag slung over my shoulder. I took a look around and scanned the faces of everyone around me. I was a senior this year so I had already been at The Academy for three previous years. In that time, I had gotten to know my peers pretty well, but I still saw some new faces.

     The first face I honed in on was Elizabeth Greene; easily the wealthiest girl at our entire school. She was standing in one of the lines directly across from me waiting to check in like all us common folk. I could tell the being this close to people whose families made about six figures less than her a year was making her pretty nauseous. I laughed to myself a little and then turned my attention to the girl standing in front of her. She was pretty tall. At least six feet. She was standing with her arms crossed across her chest and her ragged, used suitcase laying at her feet. She had on a tight white t-shirt and dark black pants. She had no expression on her face, but I knew she was anxious.

      After all, she was new. I had never seen this girl before but I could tell she was trouble. Maybe it was the resting bitch face or maybe it was the tattoos scattered across both of her arms. Whatever it was, I knew that I did not want to get on this girl's bad side.

      I turned my head forward as my line started to move. However, I then sighed in annoyance as I came to another stop only about two feet later. I knew I would be in this line forever. Oh, the joys of move-in day!

"I'm right there with you, girl. Move-in day fucking sucks."

      I knew immediately who that voice belonged to. I quickly turned around and wrapped my arms around my close friend. I hadn't seen Callen since the last day of school a few months earlier.i had missed her a lot and tried to get a hold of her over the summer but I never seemed able to reach her. I let out a little yelp in joy and then pulled away from her.

"Oh my God, dude, I missed you so much. How was your summer! Did you get any of my texts? I wanted to hang out with you so bad but it was like I could never get a hold of you." Callen shifted on her feet when I asked her about this and started to look anywhere but at me.

"Yeah, uh, sorry 'bout that I was like really busy this summer y'know? I was out of the country a lot so that might be why your messages weren't getting to me."

      I didn't believe this answer so much but I decided to let it go for right now, I would just have to talk to her more later.

I shrugged my shoulders in response and linked my arm with hers.

"Well, no worries. We have alllllll year to make up for your absence this summer." She gave me a small smile and then turned her head back to the front.

      She started to scan the crowd as I had minutes earlier and her eyes stopped on the tall tattoo'ed girl I had noticed only minutes earlier myself. Her eyes seemed to linger a little and then she quickly averted her stare and looked back at me.

"Is she new? That girl standing by Greene?"

"Who? Oh yeah, her, I saw her a few minutes ago. I think she is, I mean, I've never seen her before today and, as you know, I am quite the social butterfly."

      I wiggled my eyebrows at her with my last statement and she rolled her eyes playfully before giving me a soft nudge with her elbow.

"You're such a dick sometimes, y'know?"

I laughed and slung my arm over her shoulder.

"Yeah, but you love me anyway."

"Sadly." She responded with a smile.

      I was happy that Callen and I had become friends last year. I had noticed her in the library around winter time. It was hard to miss her since we were probably two of the few students who weren't going home for their winter break. I remember we had talked for hours and it felt so good to be able to talk to someone about myself rather than others. I could tell she was kind of shy when I first met her, but she opened up to me quickly.

I could confidently say that she was one of the closest friends I had made in years.

      We stood in line together for another thirty minutes just talking and joking around with each other before we made it up to the front. Once we got up there we had to pick up our student folder that had everything from or lunch cards to who our roommate would be for this year.

      Even though I was a senior and Callen was a junior, there was still a small chance we could be roommates since there was always an odd number of juniors and seniors, so sometimes they got roomed together. However, those hopes were quickly slashed when we opened up our folders and saw who we were really rooming with.

      I looked at the name written on my paper and audibly groaned. Samantha Collins. She was literally the last person I ever would have chosen to room with this year. After all, she's the reason that my boyfriend and I broke up only three months ago right before school ended. I had found out that he was messing around with a girl at my school and when I found out who it was it made my blood boil even more. Samantha Collins used to be my best friend once upon a time, but that was all ruined when we were freshman and she told me that she didn't want to be my friend because of all the time I was spending with my new boyfriend.

It's kind of funny actually because she ended up ruining that relationship by hooking up with the boyfriend she was apparently so annoyed with.

      Callen looked over and saw the name written on my paper after I groaned and she gave me a sympathetic smile. She knew all about Samantha and what she had done and she'd been there for me when I needed her. I was really lucky to have her at that point last year, I don't know how I would've gotten through some of those days with her. She gave me a side hug from where she was standing.

"Hey, it's okay. You and I know you're never really in your room anyway except to sleep and eat sometimes. You won't ever really even have to see her. That's good, right?"

      I shrugged my shoulders and kept staring at the paper for a bit just trying to comprehend how this could have happened. I shook my head and looked over at my friend, plastering a fake smile on my face.

"Yeah, you're right, I don't need to freak. Who did you get?"

She looked down at her paper and furrowed her brow a bit before responding:

"I'm not sure who she is, but I know she's a senior. Her name is Jess Thomas."

I gave her a smirk and then teased,

"Hm, well maybe it's that new girl we saw earlier. You know the one with all the tattoos and the 'bite me' face?"

When I said this Callen's face got pale and she slowly turned to face me.

"Oh my god, no. I hope it isn't dude I can't room with her she looks like a complete monster to be around."

I laughed and slung my arm over her shoulder again before responding.

"Yeah, well, I'll just wish you a good luck, but who knows, it could be a different new girl."

She shook my arm off and huffed.

"No, now you've got me all nervous, thanks a lot."

I laughed again and grabbed her arm.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, come on, let's go get our stuff, I'll walk you to your dorm."

      She sighed and allowed me to drag her to the giant carts situated just a few feet away. I laughed and then thought about how I had to room with Samantha for an entire year. The girl who made me leave the love of my life all because she couldn't keep her hands to herself. I wanted to talk more about it but I didn't want to annoy Callen, especially not when she was so nervous about her new roommate. I guess I would talk to her about it later, I just hoped I wouldn't run into Samantha just yet.