Disclaimer: I don't own HOA. Can I get at least 5 reviews before the next chapter?

Chey's POV

I stared at the large house in front of me. I expected a little excitement to rush through me at being in a new place, but there was none. To me, boarding school felt the same as regular school. I had been here a few weeks before with my aunt and uncle as a kind of tour of the place, and now I would stay here for good. My fingers slid around the necklace my mother gave me before she died. It was a simple silver chain with a cobalt locket charm. Inside the locket held a picture of me with Mom and Dad. Another girl was in the photo, but I never knew who she was. Aunt Rose told me I used to have a sister… until she disappeared. Everyone thought she had died.

Trudy opened the door for me. "Oh, sweetie, come in!" she greeted. She met me on the little tour. "We're just settling down for supper. Why don't you leave your bags here and join us?" She gestured to a vacant corner near the stairs.

Mr. Sweet had told me a bit about my new housemates. I glanced around the table, placing names with what I hoped to be the right person. Trudy started the introductions, but I quickly asked if I could take a guess. "Nina, Fabian, Mick, Alfie, Patricia, Jerome, and Amber," I assumed, pointing to each person.

"Five seconds meeting you and I'm already impressed. I'm Nina, but you knew that. You named the rest of the house."

Patricia rolled her eyes. "Trudy, why did we have to get another American?" she asked in an even voice. I could tell she would bring problems in the future. "Why couldn't Joy come back?"

"Oh, not this again!" exclaimed Jerome. "Haven't we heard enough about her, Trixie?"

One word in that mocking tone told me he was the prankster. Across from him, Alfie seemed like he was biting back laughter. I reminded myself to keep an eye on them just in case.

"Ignore them," Fabian advised.

A phone rang from one of the rooms in the hallway behind us. Mick stood up. "That's probably Mara," he explained.

When he left, Amber motioned for me to sit down next to her. "Mara and Mick are dating," she said. "Mara got accepted into a fancier boarding school closer to London." A smile formed on her face. "Meanwhile, I'm dating Alfie, Patricia and Jerome are both single…"

"By choice," Jerome interrupted.

"And everybody's favorite couple is Fabina!" she concluded as though Jerome had never spoken. "I love thinking of couple names."

Yep, total girly-girl, I thought. Patricia, Jerome, and Alfie started whispering to each other, and by the way Nina and Fabian rolled their eyes I could guess what it was about. Once I heard the word 'initiation,' I spoke up. "This initiation wouldn't happen to be fake, would it?"

They sharply looked at me. "How…?" Jerome began, but I cut him off.

"I've been to a lot of schools. A joke of an initiation ceremony is the oldest thing in the book." I scoffed at ceremony.

"Well," Alfie replied. The word was short and staccato.

Fabian shook his head at his housemates. He turned to me. "You never told us your name," he observed.

"Cheyenne," I answered.

Nina tilted her head slightly at me in confusion. "Have I seen you somewhere before?" she queried. Before I could respond, she burst out, "Jersey! You were at Great Adventure when we took the school trip."

Now that she mentioned it, I remembered seeing her around in school. I nodded. "That was probably me." I pushed a few strands of wavy dark brown hair out of my face. "I love Six Flags."

After dinner, or supper as the Brits here called it, I went upstairs to unpack. Nina did not have a roommate yet, but I changed that. She helped me unpack most of my things… except for a small shoe box where I keep my most valuable items. It held the things Mom and Dad had given me as well as pictures Aunt Rose had found when she was cleaning her house's attic.

A sudden hush fell over the room. I turned to see Nina staring at a figure who stood between us. Curiosity surged through me, especially when I realized the person was a ghost.

"Sarah?"

"It's not over, child. There's more that needs to be solved." With that, she faded like mist.

Nina turned to me. "Did you just see her too?"

All I could do was nod. I was afraid that if I talked I would bombard her with questions she might not want to answer. There was a knock on the door when I went back to organizing my clothes in the closet.

"Hey Nins, hey Chey," he greeted, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. Barely a day in this house and someone figured out my nickname. It was fairly easy to, but still it surprised me. "You girls alright? I thought I heard something."

I looked at Nina. "Probably just the wind," she lied. Both Fabian and I saw right through it.

When he cocked an eyebrow at me, I sorted through the contents of my special box without taking them out. I was a good liar, but I just didn't feel like lying right now. As it turned out, I didn't have to.

"We saw Sarah," Nina admitted.

My head snapped around before I could have anything to do with it. "How does he know about her?"

Fabian gave his girlfriend a look that asked "Should we tell her?" Instantly, my curiosity grew. Nina simply nodded. With a sigh, Fabian turned back to me. "We went on this quest last term to find and put together the Cup of Ankh. Sarah Frobisher-Smythe, the woman you saw, gave Nina the Eye of Horus and helped us with the riddles. All members of our club Sibuna knew who Sarah was."

"I'm guessing you thought of Sibuna because it's Anubis backwards."

"Would you stop being so right?" Nina laughed.

We fell asleep peacefully after that. I knew I could seem like a know-it-all at times, but I was determined to recreate that title.

The next day

Fabian asked if he could walk with me to school because Nina left early to help one of the teachers with something (I didn't know what). The tense silence was killing me. "Fabian, I can tell when something's wrong. I've been to too many places in my life." I started walking backwards to face him. "So what's up?"

"I guess I've gotten used to the mystery with Nina last term. It's just kind of weird to be free of all that."

Not exactly, I thought, remembering what Sarah said last night. "Is that it?" I pressed.

He sighed. Worry crossed his face. "You know how Nina is my girlfriend." I nodded acknowledgement. "Well, there's this other girl I like…" He trailed off.

I turned back around and fell into step beside him. "Fabian, I'll tell you one thing: You can tell me anything. I'm not into gossip like other girls." I shook my head slightly. "It's surprising how fast a secret gets out with those rumor-mongers."

When he halted suddenly, I did, too. Only one other word passed his lips.

"Rufus."

I love cliffhangers. To highlight some points for you, Chey's the newbie, Nina and Chey saw Sarah in their room, and Fabian and Chey just ran into Rufus. This was only chapter 1, so it may or may not be good. Please review and tell me what you thought!