Chapter 9
Kurayami Academy
The foyer was gigantic. There was a grand staircase covered with velvet red carpet. The side bars where shining glossily of gold, but despite how old the school was they weren't rusted at all, they practically looked new. I heard a couple of kids laughter. I looked up to see two open hallways of the upstairs. The children looked about five, running around with pure bliss and happiness, smiling as if they actually enjoyed being there. Their feet were stampeding causing the crystal chandelier that huge from the ceiling to shake making a ringing noise to fill the air. So far it didn't seem like hell, but you know what they say, looks can be deceiving.
"Vlad," A petite girl with long brunette hair which was pulled into a side pony-tail sashayed in our direction. She was smaller than me by about two or three inches though she was in black stilettos. She was wearing a black uniform matching perfectly with the bulgy jewelery and stilettos. "I'll take it from here," She told him with a sing song voice.
"Vith pleasure Miss," He back away towards the door.
"I'm Nicole Ann Antique," She introduced herself with a bubbly attitude. "I'm going to show you guys to the dorms," She gave us a smile which was made for the pictures. It was obviously a fake smile. Real smiles don't lake that much real emotion. As we walked on she blabbered on and on about how we would love the school. I stared at her headband which had a huge ebony flower glued to it. There was something strange about it. I stopped in my tracks making both of them stop with me.
"Hey Nicole," She just looked at me suspiciously, "I just LOVE your headband. It's like totally cute. Where'd you get it?" I asked with fake enthusiasm.
"Actually I made it with my company," She gloated obviously loving the spotlight on her.
"Can I take a look at it?" And before I let her reply I grabbed it out of her hair. I looked right into the flower. "Might I ask why the heck you have a camera in here?" I plucked out the mini camera like a bug from a flower.
"N-No reason," Nicole stuttered and began walking again.
"Great observation," A cold chilly yet familiar voice said from behind us. I turned abruptly to see Mr. Dean Knight casually walking towards us. "I placed it there to keep an eye on you my dear. For I don't want you to cause any mischief as you spend your time her," He smirked, "By the way welcome to the Academy," He coldly walked past us. We all stared as he walked away from us, hands in pockets.
"A-Anyway let's go to the dorms," Nicole suggested. We went into an elevator, playing some really annoying elevator music. Nicole gracefully hopped into the elevator and pressed the fourth floor button with her manicured finger, painted in zebra stripes, black and white. The buttons went all the way up to sixth floor. How in the world could a school be six floors?
"Here we are," Nicole flipped her hair and pranced out of the elevator. "Floor 1-3 is the schooling floors. Level 3 has the auditorium. Level 4 is the girls' dorms. Level 5 is the boys' dorms. Level 6 is the students' lounge where you can eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, hang out with friends, or have make out moments," She grinned at the last part. I looked at Summer who looked at me with a worried look. Nicole Anne Antique wasn't the kind of lady she seemed to be. Maybe a slut rather than a lady. "I'm trying to beat the record of making out with every hot guy here. They all fawn over me," She bragged on and on about it.
"Sorry to burst your bubble," I spoke up, "But Summer and I really don't wanna listen to your make out moments," At first Nicole looked shocked, eyes wide.
"Well," She said through her grinding teeth, "Here's your guys room. 101," She tossed me the keys. I unlocked the door and opened it to reveal two beds
with practically nothing on it and a black room with two shelves, a bathroom, a working desk, and a make-up desk with mirror. "This floor has about two-thousand girls staying so there are 1001 rooms occupied,"
"Wouldn't there be 1000 if all the girls shared?" Summer asked.
"Well my dear, I, Myself have a single room because I'm the vice-prez of the student council. Aurora Black, my friend who is the secretary of the student council, has a room to herself right next to mine," Nicole explained with her nose held high.
"If you don't mind," I said, "Summer and I would like to unpack," I smiled at her.
"Sure thing," Another Hollywood smile, "There's an assembly at 10, where whatever you want, and I'll see you there," She gently closed the door behind her. In unison Summer and I both landed on our backs on the soft beds. We both sighed.
"Our life is really gonna change," Summer said.
"I know," I sighed heavily, "Are you nervous for the assembly,"
"If I have a pit-feeling in my stomach like I'm about to throw-up, does that mean yes?" Summer asked.
I laughed and answered, "Probably," Suddenly I remembered Chris Knight. I sat up in a sitting position and slowly managed to cough up, "Summer I
need to tell you something,"
She sat up and said, "What is it?"
"It's a long story, but come sit by me," I patted the empty spot next to me. "Okay so it started when I was jogging in my neighborhood..." This story was gonna take a while.
* * *
"Say what now?!" Summer jumped onto her feet, "That guy seems like a total jerk!" She screamed, "If I see him at the assembly I swear I'm gonna kick him where it counts!" I laughed.
"Calm down Summer," I genuinely smiled, "Don't worry, I'll find out what to do. Just unpack for now," I looked at the clock which blared 10:00 in white. "The assembly is in an hour. You gonna change?"
She shook her head, "I think I'm too lazy to change now. I'm just gonna unpack,"
"Same," I answered, "But I'm gonna wash up and re-do my make-up," I washed my face with a cherry blossom scented facial scrub. I re-did the same look with my make-up. We grabbed our room key and hopped into separate elevators.
"Last one there has to totally fall on top of a guy of the other girl's choice?" Summer dared.
"You're on!" I quickly pressed the button. But before I knew it some girl clicked the button on the outside so I stayed on the same floor. The elevators were made out of glass so I saw Summer point her finger laughing.
She mouthed, "I'm gonna win," I stuck my tongue out at her. The girl that came into the elevator finally.
"Hi there," She smiled at me, "Are you new?" She had a British accent, not too deep though because I could easily understand what she was saying. Maybe one of her parents were British and the other American, I guessed.
"Yup. Are you new?" I carried on the conversation, dying to get downstairs.
"Uh-huh! I'm so nervous for this assembly thing. I heard it's where we decided which side we're on," She had an ecstatic tone.
"Wait, sides?" I was lost.
"Yeah, you know like the Dark and Light side?" She looked at me innocently. I shook my head. "Well I don't know exactly what the sides are for, but the uniform is split like that. Black is the dark side. White is the light side,"
"That makes sense," I answered. We finally got to the floor and I sprinted down the hall.
"I'm sorry!" I yelled to the girl, "But I have a bet with a friend of mine," I opened the gigantic wooden doors. With my mouth wide open I saw Summer standing up by three chairs smiling and waving at me. I walked over to her and slumped into the seat she saved me.
"Thanks for the seat," I muttered.
"No prob," She smiled at me, bragging.
"Excuse me," The girl from the elevator inched towards us, "May I sit next to you guys?" She pointed at the empty chair beside me.
"Sure," I patted the chair. She sat down beside me. The girl looked about our age, had natural straight platinum blond hair, a pale face with a pinch of pink on her cheeks, aquamarine eyes, and if I remembered correctly she was about three inches shorter than me. She wore an azure t-shirt which read 'Fish are Friends not Food' with a picture of a clown fish pointing his fin like a teacher lecturing their students, jean capris with blue splatter-paint in random spots, and aqua high heel wedges, so if she was three inches shorter than me in those shoes she must be like five inches shorter than her is she wore flats.
"I'm Claire, by the way," She stuck out her petite hand, "Claire Swan,"
I shook her hand, "Nice to meet you," I smiled, "I'm Chesa Heart and this is my friend Summer," I moved out of the way so Summer and Claire could shake hands.
"Well it's a pleasure to at least know some people here," She said with relief. Before we knew it we all got into an animated conversation about Nicole
Anne Antique.
"I know right?" Claire agreed, "She acts like she runs the place. My question is did the Queen of England die and a stupid moron put her Nicole Anne Antique in charge?" We all were erupting in laughing, catching many people's glance.
"She was bragging to us about how she and her friend Aurora have single rooms to herself," I told Claire.
"They aren't the only ones," Claire started, "They say that lately somethings have been happening to many families and the rumor has it that the students drop out to mourn for their lost ones, but are never heard from again," That sent a chill down my spine, "But that's one of the reasons why I have a room to myself. I'm room 102,"
"No way!" Summer squealed, "We're the room right next to you!"
"Are you kidding?" Claire was astonished.
"Not at all," I smiled.
"Yes!" Summer said loudly, "We're gonna have a blast!" All of us laughed, suddenly a dark shadow covered us.
"I would advise you three to shut up," A familiar voice rang through my eardrums. I looked up to see Nicole Anne Antique smirking while clinging to Chris Knight. He was the one who stated the comment. Claire obeyed, silently looking down at her knees. Summer looked at me, unsure. I just glared at Chris.
"I'm sorry, um, who are you?" I placed my elbow on my knee and my chin on my hand.
"You're going to this school and you don't know who this is?" Nicole Anne was appalled and disgusted.
"Pretty much," I examined my nails, obviously bored with her stooping over us.
"Humph," She huffed, "Well let's just say he's the pride of the school, the star pupil, the one everyone admires," Summer silently snickered. "And," She added, "He's been my boyfriend for five months now,"
I froze up. Boyfriend?! I looked at him. He was just listening to Nicole Anne fawn all over him. That damned kid! He's been flirting with me and kissed me when he had a girlfriend all this freakin time. Summer carefully examined my face. I snapped back into character.
"You do know there's a difference between dating and stalking," I snapped.
"What did you say to me!" She shouted, getting the attention of everyone around us. "You cannot say that to me! I'm.. I'm,"
"A bitch? I know," I replied. A couple of boys near us ooo-ed at that comment. Saying different comments like 'you go girl!' or 'dang' or just whistling and whooping.
"A what?!" She had a really pissed off face on.
"As you can see you have no business here at the moment," I told her, "I was just happily laughing with my friends when your boyfriend rudely interrupted
us with the cold attitude. Which he could clean up. Can you just sit down and stop making yourself look like a fool," Her mouth dropped and she leered at me. She pulled Chris to the row right across from ours.
Claire stuck her hand in the air, "High five!" We high-fived, "Chesa you've got guts," She complimented. Summer smiled at me, reassuring me that I did good. Usually that is really out of character for me, but honestly every time I learn more and more about Chris every little detail pisses me off somehow. It was the first time I was ever fully betrayed by someone I sincerely trusted. He ruined that trust and it would take centuries for him to gain it back. My heart was burning with rage to hit something. Nicole Anne, the girl who has everything, was trying to make me jealous by kissing Chris every now and then, smirking at me. I rolled my eyes.
I just looked forward as more people piled into the auditorium. I noticed that a guy who vaguely reminded me of someone. He looked exactly like Chris! The difference was that his hair was black and his skin was tanner from the sun, but his eyes were exactly the same as Chris's: crystal blue. He wore a skin tight white t-shirt, not too tight of dark washed skinny jeans, a silver cross necklace, and black converse. He was staring straight at her, like he knew everything about her, like he was staring straight into her soul, his gaze slightly making me blush. I looked down. He was really hot and was totally staring, no, gazing at me with eyes of interest. Claire noticed it and giggled.
"Okay you wanna know who that is?" Claire asked. She didn't wait for my response, "That's Chris's brother, more like twin really. They're actually half-brothers. Dean Knight wasn't always with the women he's with now. Others say it's a rumor, but I believe it. What else explains why they look so alike and have birthdays in the same month, but they aren't twins," I listened intently and deeply thought of that possibility. "His name is Tristan. Everyone is sorta afraid of him,"
"Why?" I questioned.
"Well, he's like a rebel, the lone wolf. Quiet to himself and others, but gives off vibes that technically say 'I will kill you if you come near me'. But he never follows the dress code either, not even bothering to wear the expensive uniform. But he never gets in trouble for that. The reason is because he is Dean Knight's son," She explained. I wondered how Claire knew so much about this school and everyone in it, even thought it was her first year her. Strange.
"Test. Test," Mr. Braun, the man who assumed I was Tala's daughter, was in a black tuxedo, other male teachers were sitting in the front row, teachers in either black or white. I felt like I was in an old cartoon, a sea of black and white. "Attention all new incoming students. You may all be wondering why we brought you here or why you were chosen to this mysterious school. The truth is this school isn't just a school for learning normal subjects this is a special school," Some students snickered, "Instead of learning plain old math and what not you will be learning magic," Students froze, some giving bewildered looks to those around them, all the people in uniforms seemed calm. Were they seriously telling the truth? Magic? "It's not necessarily magic, but you will learn the reason behind all of it in your classes," People looked desperate, wanting to know more, curiosity. "Okay all the new years, we want you to come up onto the stage," About a crowd of thirty students went up. All ages. I'm guessing they didn't teach by age then. I his hand he held a tray of what seemed like rocks. The glossy colorful ones you get from a pet store in the fish section. Different colors gleamed and sparkled. "These are your future rocks. They'll tell us all where you will be placed. Choose the one which most appeals to you. Which one pulls you towards it like a magnet?" He let everyone take a good look at them. Suddenly they all turned clear. He shoved them all into what seemed like a magician hat which I thought was kind of cliché, for being in a magic school and all. He went by different students in a total random order, each student taking their time. Claire and Summer both had theirs in the palm of the hand.
Mr. Braun stepped in front of her and gave her a look like he was warning her. He said, "Choose wisely," I nodded. I reached my hand into the hat. I hovered over them with my hands, I felt the texture of them, and thought they all felt the same. But suddenly something was ice cold beneath my tips, then it changed to burning hot, and then felt itchy like grass. I grabbed that rock which suddenly felt light like a feather. I gripped it in my palm. Mr. Braun observed me than moved on to the next child. It took about twenty-four minutes just to get that over with.
"New student," Mr Braun bellowed. "I want all of you to sit down in the middle forming a circle, but make sure you all are inside it," He helped up make somehow an oval of some sort.
The young petite female teacher with brown eyes and long dirty blond hair that went down to her hips grabbed the microphone from Mr. Braun. She wore a pure white Chinese-style dress, stopping right above her knees, but the cut-slit went all the way to her mid-thigh. "Students, I introduce to you your student council. Your treasurer is Aaron Fray," A tall boy who looked about a year or two older than me walked onto the stage. He wore his white uniform. His brunette hair was straight yet wild, like a bedhead look. His eyes were a deep green, like cat eyes.
"Your Secretary, Aurora Black," Aurora walked out in a black uniform, with a skirt that looked like she had taken it from a toddler, maybe even shorter. She wore black wedges . The first two top buttons, out of four, were undone on the inner dress shirt, showing some cleavage. She had long tone legs, but showing them off wasn't necessary. Her strawberry-blond hair was pin-straight. She also had a flower headband, like the one Nicole Anne had when I found the camera, probably has one in there too.
"Your Vice-President, Nicole Anne Antique," the audience roared with applause and hollers as she stepped onto the stage in black stilettos, a very short skirt, a flower barrette, and her hair in an elegant up-do with curly strands waterfalling out of the messy bun. Her skirt was shorter than Aurora's which was impossible to even think it was possible. She had all four of the top buttons undone showing most of her cleavage and some of her neon pink bra. I rolled my eyes. Was all that show really necessary?
"And your President," She added a dramatic pause, "Chris Knight!" The girls screamed with delight, practically running to the stage like it was a band concert, the security pushing them back. "And we will continue this ceremony, so ladies who are up, sit down please," No one listened. I could've sworn I saw a nerve pop on her forehead, "Ladies sit your asses down!!" Everyone rushed to their chairs, causing a stampede, trying to escape from the teacher's wrath.
She cleared her throat, "Okay then, the council will form a circle around you, each lighting a candle," The candles alternated white and black. "Now students close your eyes, think of your happy place, and hold your future rock tightly," The students obeyed and clenched their rocks with their warm palms. I thought of being with my mom again. I flashed back to when we would play on the playground, racing to the top. We were running, tickling, and rolling on the ground laughing. Buying sweet creamy ice cream and each taking a huge bite of the cold frozen goodness. My mom wiping the corners of my mouth with a napkin. Then my thought drifted on into darkness. I had a quick flash of the murder scene, my mom's cold lifeless body on the floor. Suddenly it went back to the park. The scent of roses hit me. The scene of when I was crying about ignorant Chris, gazing up at the blue calming sky with salty tears rolling down my flushed cheeks.
"Now open your eyes," her voice harmonized like an angel, "Slowly open your palm and look at your future rock," The students peaked at their rocks. Some were pure white and others pitch-black like stormy clouds, but all had swirling fog of some color in them. I gawked at mine. It was surprisingly swirling black and white, like yin and yang.
"Now most of you have noticed the two different uniforms," She explained. "The black uniform, stands for the dark class, is a class where you learn things that are not for the faint-hearted, some might say it's for those who have a darker side to them. The white uniform, stands for the light class, representing pureness these classes are where you learn things that are more kinder, but still just as brave and noble as the dark class, but these are the ones who have more heart and innocence in them," The new students whispered to each other with excitement, looking at each other's rock color. "Now I, Ms. Sapphire Avery, would like those with black stones go to the right side of the stage and those with white stones to go to the left of the stage,"
O crap! Now what was I suppose to do? Before I could answer that question everyone moved to the side where they were instructed to go. What did I do? Stand there in the middle of the stage like a complete and utter idiot with the whole student body staring at me.