CHAPTER 1
Rose looked up at the heavy metal door, and then down at the creased piece of paper in her hand. The receptionist had scrawled the number '29' on the paper. The door had the number '29' on it. Yep, it was the right one. But Rose hesitated for a little while longer.
"Hi I'm Rose; I'm your new roommate."
"The name's Azalea. Rose Azalea. I'm gonna be staying with you for a while…" She sighed and, taking a deep breath, knocked on the door. Nothing for a while, was anyone even in there? Eventually the door opened and a friendly looking girl with copper coloured hair and midnight blue eyes looked her up and down.
"Can I help you?" She said, putting on a posh voice and trying to hide a smirk.
"Umm…I'm Rose? I was told to board with you…" Finally the girl couldn't hold it in anymore and grinned like a maniac.
"I know, we heard you planning your little speech outside, I just wanted to see which one you went for. Personally, I liked the 'Azalea. Rose Azalea' one. Cool surname by the way. Come in, come in!" She moved out of the way so Rose could get in and in the process revealed a pretty Asian girl sitting on a bed, on her phone.
"I'm Brianna by the way, and this is Taylor. Welcome to our crib Rose, you can have the bottom bunk, seeing as it's the only one left…I would offer you the top bunk, but it's mine and I'm not a push over." She winked and Rose dumped her suitcase on the bottom bunk. "So come on, get that uniform on, it's nearly dinner and we need to show you off to the others!" Rose smiled weakly and went over to the desk where a red uniform lay folded with a note saying 'Uniform' on it. No shiz, thought Rose, but didn't say anything. With a quick glance up at her new roommates she realised she was gonna have to get used to not having any privacy anymore, and quickly changed out of her shorts and t-shirt into the posh new uniform. The two girls looked up at her admiringly, and she went to take a look in the bathroom mirror to examine her reflection. The uniform consisted of a short pleated black skirt, a crisp white blouse with the school logo on it, a red and gold tie, a plain red jumper and a red and gold blazer with the school crest and Latin motto.
It wasn't too bad for a uniform, but still, that was something she would have to get used to. She'd liked being able to express herself with her clothes at her previous school, now she was being forced to be the same as everyone else. It was like a prison! But she already knew that, that was why she was being sent here. As a punishment. For what exactly she wasn't clear on, all she knew was that her mother had never liked her and had done everything she could to get rid of her: sending her to multiple after school clubs, taking her round 'friends' houses, even though she had hated the people who's houses she'd been sent to, and dropping her off with her nana in the school holidays. Her nana was the only decent one in the family, the days spent with her had been the happiest ones she'd had, and obviously being at school, away from her 'parents'. Rose's dad had died when Rose was 5, committed suicide. She didn't blame him, having to live with her mother. But she was still flooded with a wave of grief when she thought of him. Denny, that had been his name. He was the sweetest guy in the world. He used to do everything for Rose, as well as work hard to provide for the family. Marisa, Rose's darling mother, had been far too busy gossiping at friends' houses, shopping for designer clothes that Rose would puke all over, and partying with celebrities. She had never had time for her baby girl, employing nannies and dropping her off at crèches. And then Denny had died, and it wasn't even 2 months later before Marisa had another guy on her arm. A wealthy man, exactly the same as her, Tevin was his name. And everything had gone downhill from there. Well, Rose was glad to be rid of them. She snapped out of her trance and smiled at Brianna, who was looking at her curiously. She smiled uneasily back.
"So, err, dinner then?" She said and Rose nodded. Marisa hadn't bother wasting her precious money on a last meal for Rose, money she could put towards a new designer handbag. She was surprised she was bothering to pay the fees for Coates Academy, but Rose supposed it must have been worth it to get her out of the way. She sighed and followed the two girls out of the room.
