The Academy

Chapter Five

         Even after just the second week, I was already used to Ivy bursting into our dorm room at any given moment. She would constantly make spontaneous entrances, so I tried to always be prepared for it.

"Have you guys seen the note?" she asked Marisol and I. Despite the energy that her voice had, she looked exhausted. Her white-blonde hair was tied up in a messy bun, pieces of hair poking every which way, and she was dressed in her pajamas, consisting of a pair of lime-green sweatpants and a white tank top.

"Note?" I asked, looking up from my physics book. I was also used to not being able to study half the time. There was always something going on. Fortunately, my grades were showing no signs of suffering. At least, they weren't yet.

"On the bulletin board," she clarified. The bulletin board was in the very front of the school building and had information about almost all of the clubs and sports the school offered.

Marisol and I shook our heads in unison. We'd been in our dorm every since classes let out studying for this major physics test tomorrow. Two weeks in and we were already getting tested.

Ivy's eyes grew wide and a look of fear crossed her face. "You guys need to come look at it."

Marisol and I exchanged a glance and got up from our beds at the same time. We followed Ivy down the long hallway toward the foyer of the school, where there was a large crowd of students in front of the bulletin board.

"What the hell?" Marisol said to herself, but loud enough for me to hear.

Ivy's tiny hands grabbed ahold of each of our arms and dragged us through the crowd so we could see what was going on.

Everything had been taken off the bulletin board, except for a sheet of notebook paper, which had been stapled on. In beautiful calligraphy, a note to an unaddressed someone was written.

Someone knows, it said. The secret won't be hidden much longer, and you will pay. It was signed by Vivienne Aldridge.

Carlisle appeared beside us. "Vivienne Aldridge," she said to herself. "I've never heard that name before, and I know every single student and staff member here."
"Maybe it's a new student," Aspen, who was beside her, offered.

Carlisle turned to her and gave her a scolding look. "Who, from this century, is named Vivienne Aldridge?"

"It's probably an alias," I told her.

She glanced over at me, a not-so-pleasant look displayed on her face. I expected her to say something rude to me, maybe about how I should mind my own business or that she had already come up with that idea, but instead, she said, "I think you're right."

I would've been less surprised if she had slapped me in the face. But, maybe, she was making an effort. I had been hanging out with the group almost constantly. Maybe she was starting to accept me. Unlikely, but it was a possibility.

Headmaster Rosterford appeared from his office right beside the bulletin board and pushed students out of his way, making his way to the note. He tore it off, ripped it up, and yelled, "Everyone, get back to your dorm rooms!" before disappearing back into his office with the ripped-up shreds of paper.

"That was odd," Aspen thought aloud.

"I'm going to the library," Carlisle announced, elbowing her way through the crowd of teenage girls. Both Aspen and Marisol turned on their heels to follow her, and I didn't want to be alone, so I followed as well.