1
Underland Academy isn't too terrible. It's certainly an improvement from the last school, an entirely different world from the strict Catholic institution that expelled her for adding two Jabberwockies to the mural of Noah's arc.
As she's a senior, she only has one other roommate to share with. The dorm is a decent size, the standard two beds, dressers, and end tables made of ash wood, simple custard white walls and dark crushed rose colored carpet. Only one side of the dorm is decorated, the bed wrapped in white, fluffy sheets and topped off with faux fur white pillows. It appears as if it had snowed indoors on one side of the room, there's so much white. At least her roommate appears neat, and she only considers herself moderately messy.
Since this is a day set aside to help students move back in, known as Ostium, most students leave Alice Kingsleigh alone to settle in and establish herself in her new dorm.
Most of them.
One of the boys had decided to follow her around like a… well, like a cat, really. He's tiny, and his hair is powder blue, the same color as his large, inquisitive eyes, cut in a mid fade with messy curls on top. He wears a gray sweater with more blue stripes in the same shade, black jeans, and sneakers. His black lip ring flashes every time he smiles at her, which looks more like a smirk, which is often. Alice normally wouldn't have minded him, but he has yet to say a word to her, and he's done nothing but pad across her room on all fours. She hasn't even met her roommate yet, and he can't possibly be it.
After throwing another shirt into the dresser she gives up on trying to ignore him. "Can I help you?" she asks.
The boy only smirks at her again and leaps on top of her empty desk. Good thing she hasn't set anything on it yet.
"Look, I don't really mind you being in my room, but I'd like to at least know your name."
The boy stops and starts gesturing at her. It takes Alice a moment to realize that he's using sign language.
"Oh, sorry, I don't know how to sign."
He frowns, then pulls his phone out and types something.
"Chess." the automated voice says.
Alice eases up a little. At least knowing his name brings some comfort. "Hello, Chess. I'm Alice." She pulls out some light blue bedsheets and covers her bed, tucking and folding where need be.
He begins to type something else, only to be startled by someone barging into her room. He leaps down from her desk and darts under her bed immediately just before the door is wrenched open.
Her second intruder of the day is a stark contrast to the first. His hair is bright orange and wild and puffy, no rhyme or reason to it whatsoever. His eyes, one gold and one green, are frantic and dark, searching around her room while his long fingers fiddle with his dark blue bowtie. He wears a green collared shirt with so many pink swirls Alice gets a little dizzy just looking at it. The only normal components are his jeans and his shoes, which are slightly a bit too large for his feet.
"Whaur is he? whaur is 'at sneaky, connivin' little-" Spying something, he darts for the bed and reaches for it. "Ha! Thaur ye ur, ye bampot moggie!" He yanks Chess out from beneath the bed with surprising force for his long, skinny frame. "Gie it haur!"
Chess pouts but reaches underneath his sweater anyway and produces a smashed down reddish brown top hat tied around the middle with a pale pink sash. The boy snatches it back and pops it out before setting it on his head, smashing his hair down a little so only the sides stick out. His eyes brighten and calm and a satisfied smile lights his face. He turns back to Chess.
"Aam warnin' ye," he says. "Keep yer mucky paws aff mah hat." Chess merely bats at his leg in response as he stands. His voice changes, the Scottish accent disappearing altogether and shifts into a normal voice, this one much calmer with a slight trace of a lisp. "Hallo, sorry about that. I don't believe we've met." He extends his hand. "I'm Tarrant, Tarrant Hightopp."
Alice shakes it, a little bewildered. "Alice Kingsleigh. It's very nice to meet you." She peers down at Chess. "Both of you."
Chess gives her a shy smile that still manages to hold some mischief and scampers off.
Tarrant examines her room, pacing the length of it. "You're new, aren't you?"
Alice puts away a pair of socks. "What gave it away?"
"Oh, the open suitcase, your appearance, the empty bookshelf…"
Alice raises an eyebrow. "My appearance?"
"Most girls here don't dress so… masculine."
Alice glances down at her outfit. Heavy faded jean jacket, Bowie t-shirt, jeans and some Converse. She can't see anything that blatantly says 'male'. She pulls out her blanket and spreads it over the sheets, not sure of what to say to that.
"Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course." Tarrant recovers. "It's a nice change, actually."
"T-tarrant, you s-shouldn't b-be in the g-girl's d-dorms!"
Lovely, another visitor. It's another boy, this one with white hair styled into a slicked back side-part. He's small, scrawny, and shaky, tiny black eyes staring from behind massive, round, gold glasses. In one hand he clutches a pocketwatch, the other a small, brown cloth bag. He's dressed in a lavender button down and jeans as well as a pair of brown Oxfords. He's gritting his teeth, revealing two buck front choppers.
Tarrant merely laughs at him. "Neither should you, McTwisp. I was just welcoming our new arrival."
"T-that's M-mirana's j-job and you kn-know it!"
"Well, Mirana isn't here, now is she?" Tarrant grins. "Calm down, not everyone needs to take a side."
"Y-yes they d-do!" McTwisp insists, growing flustered. "Es-s-specially n-now."
Tarrant waves him off. "Let me deal with Mirana if she gets here today. Don't you have better things to do than patrol the halls while everyone else is outside?"
McTwisp glares at him but turns on his heel and walks off nonetheless.
Alice shoves her suitcase underneath her bed, finally almost unpacked. She can attend to her toiletries later. She sits down, feeling a little overwhelmed by so many new faces. "No one else is coming, right?"
Tarrant plops down beside her. "I don't believe so." he says. "Mirana won't try to sway you until tomorrow, at the first break, so you won't see anyone else but your roommate, whenever she decides to get here." He wiggles a little to get comfortable. "Do you even know who you're staying with, by the way?"
"Mirana."
Tarrant makes a strained hissing sound.
Alice is confused. "What's wrong with Mirana?"
"Oh, there's nothing wrong with Mirana as a person." he says, lying back on her bed. "It's really only what she believes in, and that ridiculous rivalry with her sister, Iracebeth, she's got going on."
Alice's interest is peaked. "Tell me more." she says.
"I suppose I can. You'd better hear this from an unbiased source. Some call her the White Queen…"
"So Mirana and Iracebeth's parents founded this school and they're both fighting for control of it, even though Iracebeth is technically the eldest, in some glorified popularity contest that all ends when prom court is announced."
"Essentially, yes." Tarrant grimaces. "And you don't want to be caught up in the middle of it. There are very few of us that are actually unbiased, and tensions are high this year since they're both graduating. Whoever wins the war becomes the Queen of Underland Academy and gains a special scholarship. It seems like a pointless title, really, since no one really cares about it except for their friends, if you can even call them that. If you ask me, though honestly no one really does anymore, it just sounds like a petty rivalry for their parents' love."
They walk past the Founder's statue surrounded by red and white roses for about the tenth time since starting their stroll along the curved walkways. All around them it's Aperio, which essentially means that it's dedicated time for students to catch up or get to know one another. The tall, white lanterns are lit, illuminating the vibrant green grass everyone is either sitting, rolling, or lying on. No one really pays them any mind at the moment, wrapped up in conversations of their own.
Alice nods, understanding a little better now. "And whose side are you on?"
"Myself?" Tarrant pauses. "I suppose I'm leaning more towards Mirana. She seems to be the lesser of two evils. Though you can't let her influence your decision, you must understand. She has a… a habit, I shall say, of making people fall in love with her to gain their allegiance. Not in a romantic sense, of course, that would be a mess, but a love of loyalty."
"And I'm meant to room with her."
"Yes. Good luck with that."
"That's it? Good luck? Haven't you got any advice?"
Tarrant laughs. "If she starts talking politics, change the discussion. Or ignore her. She'll lose interest if you're unresponsive. That's how I got her to leave me alone."
"Hi, Tarrant!" a set of cheerful voices call from behind. "And strange lady!"
Alice turns.
Standing before her is a set of two chubby bald twin boys, in black and white striped t-shirts and red pants. They both smile at her at the exact same time and bow, which Alice finds a little odd, but then again she did witness the essence of a cat trapped in a boy's body a few moments ago.
"Hello." she says, bowing back, unsure if this is an appropriate gesture or not. "Who are you two?"
"Timmy —" says one.
"And Tommy —" says the other.
"Dee." they say together.
"We're freshmen —"
"But we're really smart."
"Really —"
"Really — "
"Smart!"
There's a brief little pause, and then:
"Say, you haven't told us your name." Timmy says.
"Alice, Alice Kingsleigh."
"Pleasure to meet you Alice." they say together. "And good to see you Tarrant." And just as quickly as they approached, they're gone. Alice gives a little sigh of relief.
"You were going to meet them anyway." Tarrant explains as they continue their walk. "They make it their business to know everybody; they like friends."
"Do they have a stance?"
"No, they're undecided as well. Their logic is that if you choose a side, you cut your friends in half. I quite like it, personally."
"Hmm." Alice keeps walking, enjoying the night air. "I quite like you. I suppose that makes us friends?"
Tarrant laughs. "I quite like you too, so yes, I do suppose that makes us friends." He gets an idea and claps his hands excitedly. "Oh, that means I must introduce you to the others!"
"Others?" Alice freezes internally. She doesn't think she can handle seeing any other new faces, not today, if they're all as strange as Chess and the Dee twins.
"Oh, yes! Mally and Thackery! They'll like you, I'm sure, wait 'til you see —"
Alice stops him. "Maybe not today, Tarrant."
He frowns. "Why?"
"I'm tired, and I'd like to rest before seeing anyone new." Tarrant merely blinks. Alice tries again. "I need to recharge?"
Tarrant softens. "Oh! Of course, of course! Let me walk you back to your dorm."
The walk back takes up the rest of Aperio. Everyone else must be making their way back to the dormitories by now. Tarrant stops in the hallway that divides the girls and the boys.
"This is where I leave. Don't want that prat McTwisp to try writing me a citation again or something. I have no idea who shoved that stick up his arse, but I pray for the day it comes out."
Alice smiles. "Thank you. I'm glad we met."
Tarrant smiles back. "And I as well. Good night, Alice."
"Good night, Tarrant."
They both go to their respective dormitories, happy with the day's events.
As soon as Alice opens the door she doesn't bother changing for the night. She switches off the lights and flops onto her bed, exhausted. Sleep sounds so good right now. She lets the weight of the day roll off her body and into an unknown abyss, feeling lighter already. Maybe it won't be so bad here.
Spoken, er, thought, too soon. Someone is shaking her gently but enough to wake her up. Alice slowly opens her eyes to find herself face to face with a blurry figure smiling down at her with bright, white teeth.
"Hi."
"Aaaaagh!"
Alice screams and scrambles backwards, her back smacking the headboard in her frantic panic.
"Hey, hey, shhhhh." the figure says with a soft, breathy voice, covering her mouth with smooth, slender fingers. "It's all right." Alice continues to stare at her with wide eyes, not at all convinced that anything is "all right". The figure straightens up. "I'm sorry. I just couldn't wait until tomorrow morning to meet you." The figure's voice is practically glittering with excitement. The hand is removed from her lips. "Here, I'll put on the lights."
The lights flicker on, and Alice is finally able to get a better look at her intruder, who turns around and smiles at her.
Nothing could have prepared Alice for this.
The first thing she notices about her is that she is tall, far taller than Alice herself. She has to have at least have four inches on her. The second is that she is wearing a ridiculous amount of white. She has on a short white dress, a white cardigan, a pearl necklace, and white furry boots. Her hair is long and cream colored, with the faintest touch of blonde, and appears impossibly soft. Alice feels a sudden urge to run her fingers through it. Her lips, unlike the rest of her porcelain skin, are dark roses, full and perfectly shaped. Her bright smile lights up warm, dark brown eyes that stare at her with an almost childlike curiosity, sweet and innocent. Something within them seemed to tug at her heart, wanting to capture it as her own, just as Tarrant had said. Oh, no.
"Let's try this again." she says, seemingly unaware of the effect she's had on Alice. "Hello, I'm Mirana Marmoreal Underland." Every part of her name is punctuated and precise, rolling off her tongue like a river.
Alice wants to say 'I know', —because who else could she possibly be?— but simply stretches her legs out again, unbunching herself from her defensive position. "Alice."
She pulls back the covers again, suddenly feeling very awkward. Maybe it's the exhaustion or the purity of her beauty, but she is suddenly feeling very drawn to Mirana right now, as if by a magnet, and she can't have that happen, not until she's had time to make a decision for herself about all of this new information. She kicks off her shoes and peels her socks off, only realizing now that she'd forgotten to do that earlier.
"Well, we've met. Good night." She doesn't trust herself to say much else and turns on her side so her body faces the wall.
"Oh, that's right, you must be tired." Mirana sounds disappointed, and Alice nearly speaks again to appease her, but resists the urge. How is she having this much of an effect on her already? They've barely spoken and Alice is nearly in the palm of her hand. Mirana continues. "Well, we'll have plenty of time to chat tomorrow." Alice doesn't respond, keeping her mouth clamped firmly shut. "Oh. Good night then, Alice."
Alice burrows underneath the covers. This is dangerous. Tarrant had already warned her about taking sides. It's already going to be difficult enough being roommates with Mirana. She couldn't start falling for her and further complicate things. Besides, she doesn't even know a thing about her beyond what Tarrant had told her earlier. She snuggles deeper into the covers as the lights are turned off once again.
Tarrant's voice echoes in her thoughts: Don't get involved.
That might prove to be difficult.