Chapter 4
“Damn it,” I murmured as I died again on the newest downloaded game app off of my even newer cell phone Serena bought me.
“Did you lose again?” Serena asked me, taking a glance at me while she drove in her dark, European sport car.
“Yeah,” I laughed, putting the cellphone in the pocket of my velvety grey cardigan. I looked at the mandatory (I hated the word) school uniform and sighed again. “Do I really have to wear this?”
Serena and I went shopping the day before. Apparently the school Granny was talking about was prestigious and very, very expensive. Serena picked most of the clothes for me after she got the gist of my preferred style when I did dress up while I read the brochure she gave me as I followed her around.
The opening paragraph and pictures deserved an award for their effort on it. The large school campus had had its own luxurious dorm rooms, along with a huge recreational building, a large park with a beautiful green scenery going on, latest state-of-the-art appliances for all the core and elective classes, numerous and longest streaking state championship awards from various sports the academy had, almost a hundred percent rate of graduating students accepted into ivy league universities, and so much more. What’s not to love?
“Yes, but rules are rules. Even I can’t change it, Ayasha.” She answered as I looked at the crisp, white; button-up shirt with a St. John logo on the breast pocket, navy blue skirt, thigh-high black socks and the shoes had to be a solid color. My black shoes had leather laces on top and a very thick platform. The shoes were the only thing that I liked.
I was reminded of my Granny when an old lady came inside the hotel room last night to take my measurements for the uniform. When I told her thank you before she left she was really surprised like I was the first of the three thousand and five hundred sixty St. John Academy students to ever thank her. This morning Serena had a laughing fit when she walked in and saw me struggling with the skirt. Evidently the skirt was supposed to be higher up my hips than what it already was. I was upset when I looked at the mirror, the skirt was bit shorter than what I was hoping for, but Serena denied it saying it was just an overreaction of mine from not wearing skirts often.
“I thought you said your father was the dean?”
“He’s the founder, Ayasha.” She corrected. “And I doubt even he would accept your request; he loves that school way more than he should.”
“Well, this sucks balls.” I complained, but she laughed instead.
She turned a corner on the road and the trees were finally fading away and I was able to see a tall, grey stone built wall. It kept on going to my side until we were finally at an entrance. The gate was just as tall as the wall, black metal gates with an intricate design of twirls and loops as a rectangle in the middle placated in huge, elegant calligraphy said St. John Academy. “Great,” I barely groaned.
I was barely able to survive the seven hours at a regular public high school, but this . . . was way too much. Only for you Granny.
“Don’t worry, it’s not that bad.” She said as we passed the now opened gates, the guards not telling us a word, only needing a glance at Serena.
I huffed as the she drove on the dark, smooth pavement slowly. The trees around us eventually cleared up. The first buildings that appeared were on Serena’s side and they were the same color as the wall surrounding the campus, but it was built with bricks instead from a stunning rock material, the dark marble sign in front of it said St. John Academy Campus Security and right next to that building was a St. John Academy Medical Center.
“How do you even know that this is the safest place for me?” I asked genuinely curious. It was too late now to protest against the idea of me coming here.
She pursed her lips before she answered. “A majority of the supernatural are very . . . well-off, so they’re very protective of their children like the snobs you see in movies. So the academy uses some of their tuition to provide a more advance protection.”
“Like what?”
“Like magic.” She used a jazzy hand making me laugh.
After we passed the other two buildings, there was a small parking lot to my right and a small, but fairly big building next to it, built with the same remarkable material. The sign in front of it said Admission office.
Serena parked. “You can stay here. I just need to pick up some paperwork and your schedule.”
“Okay,” And she closed the door.
I didn’t have to wait long and she soon handed me the warm, just printed paper as she reversed and was back on the long, curvy driveway. I looked at the schedule as I read the classes out loud randomly. “Calculus, Art, Biology, Psychology, English Literature, P.E. –“I groaned out loud.
“Sorry, I couldn’t get you out of that one; it’s mandatory.” I fumed at the word.
“Whatever. Animal Theory,” I raised an eyebrow.
“All the monsters have to take it for one year. Humans can’t get it, though.” I flinched when she said monsters, but she didn’t comment on it.
The scenery around us was starting to look more like a prep school as the trees were farther away from our sides and sidewalk on our sides and extra space on the road for joggers and cyclists. Flourishing planted trees and plants were all around the place in various gardens, all coming in vibrant colors considering the cold weather.
Serena stopped at a four-way intersection. Another marble sign to my right showing the directions of the library and recreation building to the right, the student dorms and staff housing and the park to the left, and the school straight ahead. And straight she went, though it was a walking distance to either one from the school.
She pulled up to the wide parking lot in front of the school. Once I grabbed my backpack and stepped out, my jaw fell to the floor. Fuck. The three-story building, made with the same material as the other buildings, had large windows facing us from the second and third floor. The long, white marble stairs had numerous automatic doors on the tallest step. Glass wrapping itself around the first floor, but there were numerous thick curtains covering their view from us. It was as if there were two huge cubed blocks standing on the opposite ends of the first floor; viewing the garden in between the two even from this angle. Behind the garden was another wall of the building facing us with the same large window as its edges connected to the ends of the two sides of the buildings that weren’t touching.
“How am I supposed to get to my classes in time with the school the size of a fucking mall?”
Serena rolled her eyes. “Relax. I’ve got it covered.” And she locked her sleek car with a small button on her car keys.
We walked next to each other and before we both entered as a gush of wind made me blind by my straightened hair Serena did for me this morning. The main office was straight ahead with glass walls surrounding it again and more curtains covering the inside. We both walked in the room and it was just like the rest of the building; its architectural structure able to compete with the empire state building or the Sydney opera house. The room smelled faintly of freshly made coffee and delicious donuts. Serena walked up to the bodacious receptionist.
