It was relatively chilled outside, the sun added no warmth but instead an ironic sunny disposition that shone over the grey stone of Welton academy. At least there was time to kill before the dreaded opening ceremony.
"This'll be fun," There was a mocking sing-song note to the voice at Steven's ear. "Like usual." He turned to glance stoically at his twin sister who wore a bitter expression.
"Shut up, Rachel." Steven rolled his eyes as Rachel swung her suitcase in front of her absently.
"Thanks for your support." Rachel was slightly shorter than Steven, her features she had inherited from their father with a broad square face and rounded lips that seemed to always remain in a line. Her eyes were large, exactly like their father's and a deep intelligent brown.
"It's a huge part of my responsibility." Steven's mouth puckered as he scanned the smattering of people for a face or figure of one his friends. "Whatever you do," He looked to Rachel whose face was still adorned with a sour face, masking her insecurity, "Don't do anything stupid. I think you can find room assignments over there." He gestured to a crowd of people that had taken a wooden board hostage before he disappeared.
"Fantastic." Rachel ran a hand over her smooth and flawless bun, her hair a shade lighter than her brother's before she joined the clamoring crowd. It was a start.
Her younger brother by a whopping 127 seconds, wandered until someone found him. He had discovered that wandering with no intention was bound to come up with an intention eventually. The one approaching him not unlike a furious Bull was named Charlie Dalton. The sharp angles in his hair indicated he had been tugging it. Never a good sign when Charlie was concerned.
"Can you believe this?" Charlie's face was red in his anger as he stormed up to Steven. "Cameron, fucking Richard Cameron is my roommate! Kill! Kill!"
"My Summer vacation was good too, thanks." Steven adjusted his glasses, his brow furrowing as Charlie's faced snapped from fiery inferno to mute awe, his eyes fixated on something behind Steven's head. The redhead turned to see what had captivated Charlie's interested and saw a troupe of girls walk past in fashionable winter coats, carrying leather suitcases. "I thought the rumor was a joke, total bullshit…tell me that Hell has finally frozen over…" His voiced cracked and Steven sighed impatiently.
"Yeah, enough socialite parents whined about how they wanted their girls to grab the next "generation of best" first. When Nolan said no, tons of parents brought it to the Board and here they are. My sister has joined their ranks too." He lamented and Charlie broke away, his interest piqued as he looked to Steven, the Dalton smirk wide on his face.
"You don't say…" He trailed off in a suggestive sounding thought, rattling Steven purposely. Steven's complexion reddened as he huffily adjusted his glasses.
"Now you look here-" He was cut off by Charlie's loud laugh.
"Kidding, kidding," His draped his arm across Steven's shoulders lazily, happy to be back with at least one of his friends. "But you do realize what this means right?" Steven waited for a reply as Charlie lowered his voice wickedly. "Panty raids."
The boys discovered that some construction had been done on Welton, a new dorm. They also found that the shiny new building was for the girls and they bleated at the unfairness of it all-to each other.
Rachel was currently trudging down the eerily quiet dorm with pristine white walls looking for room 42 that she'd be sharing with a Wilde, Stephanie. The door was ajar when she approached her new room. She hesitated before entering and saw he new roommate sitting at the desk on the right side of the room. "Oh! Hi!" The blonde girl stood, taller than Rachel and offered a nervous wave. "Uhm, I wanted to wit for you to get here because I didn't know if you had a side preference or not."
It was silent as Rachel sized Stephanie up, trying to figure out her character other than she was obviously nervous. They had just met and Rachel was already intrigued. Stephanie's figure suggested that she was very active and the only reason her hair came into scrutiny was because nothing had been done with it. It was just down and everywhere, something Rachel didn't like and made her stiffen at the sight. "You…you are Rachel Meeks, right?"
Rachel dropped her suitcase, extending a professional hand. "Yes, Stephanie Wilde?" The blonde nodded, looking somewhat more relaxed when Rachel replied but didn't shake Rachel's hand. The same hand that ended up being flexed and rested back at Rachel's side.
"Side?" She inquired with her head at an incline, her long, straight hair spilling over her shoulders.
"I'm more prone to the right, if you don't mind." Rachel was testing her to see if Stephanie was as nice as she seemed.
"Noooo problem," Stephanie kicked her battered suitcases to the other side of the room. "We should probably leave soon, opening ceremony and everything." Stephanie bit her lower lip as she swayed on her feet, glancing towards the door.
"Yes," Rachel glanced at her watch. "About ten minutes."
The bagpipe squeaked its nasally tune as a procession followed suite with banners and pomp. Neil watched in the pew next to his father who looked uncharacteristically bored. "Neil, how many opening ceremonies have we been to now?" He whispered and Neil looked at his father incredulously.
"This would be the fourth, Father. Only one more aft-"
"No you nitwit," His father interrupted as Nolan started speaking. Neil snapped his back straight as he heard his father's irritated tone. "I mean, how many stories have we been in that we had to sit through this goddamn thing?" Neil immediately relaxed again and rolled his eyes.
"Too many fucking times to count." He folded his arms and slumped like a spoiled chilled before glaring up to the ceiling. "And now we're going to have to do it again." His father joined in glaring at where they assumed the omnipotent author sat staring down at them. Don't push me you assholes.
"No," Mr. Perry straightened his tie. "No me, not again." Exchanged glances were sent to all the main characters as Neil stood and the room fell silent. "You guys want to skip out of this chapter?" He thrusted a thumb towards the exit. "Nolan says the same thing every time except now there's girls at Welton."
"…Yeah, alright." Charlie was the first to agree and climb over people to the exit. The rest of their friends followed including Rachel and Stephanie because they had been introduced already.
"Not you." Cameron barred a brunette with fashionable glasses.
"And why the hell not?" She crossed her arms, daring him to fight with her.
"You're not a main character yet. You don't get introduced until a few chapters from now! Fuck off." He pushed her back in the direction of her seat as she steamed.
"Eric, you bastard. You better fix this soon." Look, being author/narrator really isn't easy when all of your characters decide to play hookie. I'm working on it. Just enjoy the opening ceremony.
Nolan cleared his throat impatiently. "May I continue?" He asked arrogantly.
Yes, continue. Please.
"As I was saying…"
