~ It's Like They Are Everywhere ~

Hair flew all around the place as Lazuli Pattinson hurried out of the door, a CD in hand, bread in the other. Her backpack was lazily slapped over her shoulders while her headphones were set on her ears - iPod set on shuffle. Creepin' Towards the Door by Griffinilla. Lazuli hummed quietly, not to mention quickly as she sprinted straight across the road, towards the bus stop. Safety can be followed later.

'My heart beat

Skips, like a phonograph

Old machines weren't built to last

But they keep creeping towards the door.

They keep creeping towards the door

Their bodies

Reek, like they're carrying a corpse

Their footsteps

Creak, as they circle in

And the power's running thin

But they keep creeping towards the door.'

Lazuli adjusted her midnight blue bow tie and pulled up her socks as she realised that she was only less than a metre away from the bus stop. She had began to run at full speed, mouthing the most important thing in the world as the wind pushed it all away. Lazuli's humming came to a halt as soon as the bus stop was not so far away, silence filling in. Moments later, she noticed that I was late. Not late enough to miss the bus itself, but late enough to see most students who take the bus. Unfortunately, it was very damp that morning...

'Hopefully, it'll brighten up as the day passes.'

Lazuli stuck both of her hands into her pockets, her (5th Generation) iPod nano inside one hand. Ten to fourteen children were at this particular stop in their typical uniform colours, taking no notice of her like last year. She kicked her feet and jumped up onto the bus.

'They need me. I'm their alarm.'

Climbing atop the stairs, Lazuli simply scanned my card, giving a curt nod and a 'good morning' to the driver, before seating herself in the exact same seat as last year - right in the front. She silently watched as each and every person sat in the exact spot they'd sat in previously. She had pulled out my schedule for her classes. It was a new year, therefore, new time tables.

'Reading - 8:30 AM

Music with Mrs. Curtis - 8:50 AM . . .'

Lazuli's booklet was sent crashing to the floor as the bus came to a sudden halt. Out the typically square windows, there were two boys running across the path, one blonde far ahead, while the other blonde pretty far behind. At last, the two kids got onto the bus. Of course, it's a new year so it's a possible they could be new students, considering 'I don't have my ever precious magicality.'

One of the kids had dirty blonde hair, the strangest thingsticking out of the front of his head, and the other had a light, golden colour of blonde and cringe-worthy eyebrows. As Lazuli's ocean-like, blue eyes narrowed, she stared back at the boy with the thing poking out of his head. That look must be saying, 'Look, I want to date you', because his friend with the strange brows was trying to jerk him away. She was sort of shocked to find one of the tardy children to take a seat next to her. The boy kind of looked surprised at the hard, stoic stare that he received and Lazuli hurriedly slapped the stupidity off of my face. Bright blue eyes and dirty blonde hair. He had this bomber jacket, thin-rimmed glasses and these silly pants and black gloves. Lazuli had thought he'd probably be quite the one to play football.

"Hey, the driver told me that it was you who stopped the bus. Thanks, dudette!" He said.
"It's no big deal... Now answer me this, why are you this late..."
"Alfred - Alfred Jones."
"Oh right, it was 'Iggy's' fault that we're late..."
"It was not!" The other boy spoke in a British accent.

The bus then came to a stop at the shining, silvery gates of the academy as they arrived.

Otake Riddle Academy.

Different to the rest who were making their noisy way to their classes, Lazuli ran straight over to the library. It was a large spacious room with lots of books, bookshelves, mind you. Behind the front desk sat Professor Tipp, a young woman in her mid 20's. She waltz over to her, giving a big grin and almost straight away asked if there was another copy of her schedule.

"Nice to see you on this... Cold, wet morning... Anyways, just wondering if you have another copy of my schedule?" Lazuli said dropping a sweat.
"And you too~ Ah, yes! In fact, I do." She replied, handing me a small booklet, virtually identically to my other one the younger girl had lost on the bus.

And with that done and over with, Lazuli exited the library or as most call it 'the media room'. The second she had exited the library, she had received a whole lot of books from Flim, an old friend of hers.

"Okay, you'll need Riddles and Tricks... Magic for Dummies, Practise of the Arts... Flower Assortments... Potions - And that's it!"

"Er... Flim, will I really be needing all this? I mean, it's my seventh year here..."
"Of course you'll be needing those books! It even says on the back of the schedule the list each and every item you'd need a copy of."

As Lazuli got to her homeroom, she got out her book as soon as she sat on her seat. The Outlander.

"Hey, I'm Cecelia."
"Hi, I'm Lemia!"
"And hello, I'm Mina,"
"And congratulations for making it this far!"
"And now, do face yourself so that we may now perform 'The Star Spangled Banner'.

Chairs squeaked as everyone got up and turned to face the flag. I noticed a few of them were watching everyone, they're faces stern and forced smiles upon their lips, as they began the pledge. Were they all foreign exchange students?

'Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!'

Everyone then sat back down in their respected seats as a photo appeared on the interactive whiteboard.
"You want books? We're in a library! The best weapon in the world!"
-The Doctor

Lazuli took out her book - The Outlander - and continued to read last where she left off. While she was reading, she heard Mina's voice in the background.

"And that is all, ladies and gentlemen."

Lazuli yanked her bookmark from the table, sticking it into her book before she shut it and stuffed it into her bag. She searched around for a certain curly, brown haired student inside the classroom.

'Aha! There was Tom!'

As she caught up to him, she caught him reading one of the Harry Potter books.

"So Tom~ What did ya did over the term break?"
"Oh hello - I didn't do much in that forte night..." He said back, dropping a sweat.
"Have you seen Prof. Tobin? I haven't seen him since this morning..." Tom had only shrugged, shaking his head.
"I hope the prof. is here somewhere..." Lazuli mumbled as she walked outside and over to Music with Professor Curtis, bag rested on shoulders.

Lazuli took out her dark soprano recorder and her music book from her bag and hurried over to the music room. Inside the room was Professor Curtis, obviously. Lazuli looked at her. Large, emerald green eyes, short golden blonde hair and peach pink lips. Her piercings were out of sight, but it was better like that. She walked over to the professor.

"Good morning, Professor Curtis . Have you seen Professor Tobin, today?"
"Good morning to you as well, and no, I haven't seen him today."
"Why don't you have a look in the basketball court, he'd usually be there teaching." Lazuli gave Prof. Curtis a nod and a 'thank you', before shortly sitting down with recorder and booklet in hand.
"Have you seen the two new students today? I mean, there have been so many since last year!" She exclaimed at her.
"No idea what you are going on about, Pattinson. But there aren't any new ones..."
"Maybe - Just maybe, Professor."

At the basketball court - where PE just ended at - Lazuli heard a whistle and turned to see the youngest teacher the school ever had - Professor Tobin. It's like he's only just out of university.

"Oh right... Her." I muttered under my breath.
"Professor Mary-Ann and Professor Tobin."

The two teachers stood side by side each other, like a married couple.

"The students in Professor Tobin's class on the left, my students on the right." Called out Professor Mary-Ann.

Lazuli had only just noticed an unfamiliar face in the crowd of moving children. A very foreign face. She had separated from Tom as both classes had head off to their respective activities, Science and... Home Economics. Lazuli entered the room, heading towards Mr. White's way before sitting down in a seat. She spotted Toru Tobins - Professor Tobins' daughter - on the next table on from myself.

We'd be doing knitting, then move onto Home Economics and end the session off with Art, because that was a thing. Professor White got the students to listen to him while he thoroughly explained through the rules while in Knitting. Once someone threw both their knitting needles across the room and they had jabbed two students in the eye - They had to go to hospital.

"Hey, what's up, Ru?" Lazuli asked Toru.
"Oh, nothing." She said, staring down at her lap.

They had both glanced up at Professor White to take attendance. While he was doing the roll, Lazuli found herself just staring awkwardly at Ebony. Ebony had got to be one of the most Sue-like people in the world. She thought. She had pale white skin and red, layered hair and she was practically so 'clichéd'.

Lazuli began to silently groan, when she noticed something off. A boy - short platinum blonde hair and purplish eyes - who sat at the back of the class, eyes boring into her soul. He looked... Well, pretty tall.

'It's like they're following my footsteps everywhere I go...'

He definitely was the tallest out of all the students in the entire grade. A strange aura was sort of swirling around him, making Lazuli a bit nervous. This one could become an ally, a friend, an enemy, or just nobody. For all she knew, he probably doesn't come from around here!

It was roughly another hour and a half before Lazuli had retreated back to Professor Moss for Art. Her bag - filled with the essentials, a sketchpad, my iPod Nano, some pencils, a sharpener, erasers, some books and two forms, one for an excursion and the other for her new PE uniform - was pretty full right now and she couldn't possibly stuff any more things into it.

Lazuli sat down in the exact same seat she had sat in last year. Fifth year here at Otake Riddle was paper maching and sixth year here was practicing drawing animals. This year, seventh year? Who knows? Is it fun?

Probably... not.