Maple Stream Riding Academy

Chapter Four: The Dorm

(I realized how confusing the dorm room must seem so heres a breif descrpition: You walk into the room and theres a big window centered on the back wall. The door is centered on the wall, so it 'separates' the two sides of the room. The room is wider than it is deep, so the white full sized bed have their backs agains the wall with the window on it, and they face the wall with the door. On each side, between the window and the bed, there is a desk . In front of the beds, on the side walls, there are small walk in closets. If you open the door, you are greeted my a mirror and you can put clothes on either side of the closet. The floor is light and tan hardwood. On the right side of the room, next to the closet, there is a bathroom the roomates can share. Thanks, sorry for confusion.)

When Mom, Dad, and Callie leave, I get straight to putting my stuff away. I had just decided that I would sleep on the bed on the right side of the room when I hear a knock on my door. I shuffle over to the door and open it.

"Hi, sorry to bother you, but when you're done unpacking and decorating, call me up and I'll help you understand your schedule," Laura says.

"Oh, alright! I'll do that," I say. "Thanks!" Laura leaves and shuts the door, so I start unpacking. I take the folder with all of my info in it on the desk next to my bed. I empty all of my clothes into the closet, my riding clothes on the right side and my normal clothes on the left side. I then take my bag that has my sheets in it - the only thing Mom told me about the dorms was that you needed to bring full sized sheets for your bed. I brought very light blue sheets and a grey comforter, and it looks great with the light green walls of the dorm. I hang up a few posters, one for Taylor Swift, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, and Band of Horses.

One thing I'm remarkably thankful for is that the headboard on the beds have bookshelves in the side (Pic to side, das my bed).

I tape a few photos of me and Raquel, me and my friends, and me and my family around my side of the room. I'm careful not to do anything to the other side of the room. I stick my head out of my door and yell for Laura. A few moments later, she walks up the stairs.

"Ready?" she asks. "It's simple once you go over the schedule a few times. Classes start a week after Monday so students can get used to the campus. Trust me, there's a lot to explore here."

"I know, I'm excited to start exploring," I say as I grab my schedule out of the folder. Instead of one schedule, there's two. I groan and Laura starts to explain.

"Each day, you have three school classes. You have all of your riding classes everyday. See here, it's a list of your classes. One is English, two is astronomy, three is algebra, four is US history, five is culinary, and six is 3D art. So, on odd days, you will have all your odd-numbered classes. On even days, you will have all of your even-numbered classes," she explains.

"Oh yea, that makes sense," I say. She continues to explain.

"Classes start at 8:00 so students have time to wake up, get dressed, feed and water their horses, and let them out. Classes are forty-five minutes long with a five minute transition period. At 8:45 when your first class is over, you have five minutes until you have to be at your second class at 8:50. When that class is over at 9:35, you go to your elective class at 9:40," She explains. Then she pulls something out of the folder and has me read it.

At 10:25, after electives, students go back to dorms to change into riding clothing. At 11:00, they go to main event for 90 minutes, until 12:30. At 12:35, lunch is served until 1:00 and students then go to their first secondary class. That class lasts an hour. At 2:05, any students with a second secondary class go to that class. Students with only one secondary class should go their dorm to finish school work. At 3:10, school is officially out. Students can ride on the trails, drive to town to shop or watch movies, etc. Only rule is that students have to be back in their assigned dorms by 8:30 so attendance can be taken. Once attendance has been taken, students can visit other students until 10:00, when lights officially go out.

"Sounds good," I say, collecting my papers and putting them back into my folder. I grab my MacBook from my last suitcase and sign onto my Skype. I see that Callie's online, so I call her.

"Cami! How is it so far?" She asks. "Mom, Dad, she's on Skype!"

"It's great so far, I really like it here. It's so different from all the other boarding schools where they yell at you. Laura is literally so nice and helpful. She just helped me figure out my schedule," I say as Mom and Dad walk into Callie's room.

"Hey honey! Can we see your room?" they ask. I pick up my laptop and carry it around so they see what I did.

"That picture of you and Callie is adorable!" Mom exclaims. The photo she's talking about is me and Callie at the beach. I was ten and she was five, and we made a sandcastle together.

"Yeah, I found it in my old journal," I say. Then I hear Laura talking to someone in the hallway. "Mom, I have to go, someone else is here. I'll talk to you guys later, bye!"

As I hang up the call, I hear a knock on my door.