Ellen felt… misplaced. She felt like she didn't belong there and she was most likely right. She had never been on the first-class part of a plane, and surely not with two strangers. The man with the silver hair named Squalo had explained that Ellen's admittance was a bit different from the other students. Ellen would have to know seven languages at the end of the school year instead of just three, and she had to have at least 90% on all her classes to pass school. Other than that there were no big changes. She decided it would be better not to ask why she got special treatment. Once their plane landed, Ellen, Squalo and the blond haired boy named Bel got on a car. They drove past the coast and Ellen looked at the sea, thinking about Tiny and how she would've loved to see it.
Soon the sight of the coast changed into trees passing by fast. In the distance Ellen could see a huge castle-like building. There she noticed there were actually three buildings. The three buildings were placed in a way that it would look like a square without bottom if looked at from above. Each building was huge, and looked like an exact copy of the other two from the outside. Ellen got out of the car about a kilometre before reaching the buildings. Bel said they would 'see each other later' before closing the door. She looked at the car driving away until it was out of sight, and then turned around to walk the last part of the way.
'Shishishi, I wonder if she can hold it out until graduation? She passed our tests, but they were much easier than those from that school.' Bel said once Ellen was out of sight. 'Voooooooi! Are you worried about her or something?' 'Of course not, cause I'm a prince.'
'Room number 313' Ellen mumbled as she stood in front of a wooden door with the numbers 313 placed on it in metal numbers. One of the staff had explained that the student living faculties such as the rooms and dining hall were in the building on the left.
She put her key in and turned it. Ellen dragged her luggage to the bed on the right that was empty and opened it. She opened the curtains which gave her a good sight of the court between the three buildings. The court had a big round centre with a fountain in the middle. There were four gardens surrounding the fountain, leaving only a path of roughly five metres for the students to walk.
A part of the path went into the woods surrounding the school, and most likely stopped at the cliff she had seen when she just arrived. Ellen took some stuff out of her luggage and placed them on her own desk next to her bed. She then closed her luggage and shoved it in the space meant for it under her bed. She got up and went down the stairs in the hall to the court.
It was still Saturday so Ellen had two days left to get used to the school. She had brought a book on Italian. The book had no way to identify if you pronounced it correctly, but that wouldn't be necessary since half of the school spoke Italian apparently. If she had trouble pronouncing something she just needed to listen to the other students talking.
She just realized she was busy learning Italian. That meant that if she learned Italian she would be closer to fulfilling the seven languages condition. How many languages did she know actually? She already knew Spanish, French, English, Dutch and a little bit of Italian. That meant she still had to learn two other languages.
She would have to think about those two later. Maybe she could learn Japanese? Some of her family members were Japanese. Then the next time the family held a gathering she could finally understand what those guys were saying to each other. She suspected her aunt of calling her abnormally tall. There was nothing wrong with her length! She was just a bit taller than most seventeen year old girls, nothing really abnormal. Or at least, that was what she thought herself. Ellen closed the book and stood up from the bench she had been sitting on for the past few hours. She had added a few more Italian words to her vocabulary: she now knew basic Italian. She decided to take a walk through the woods. She wondered how her roommate would be.
The dorms were divided in the female section that got the utmost left part, and the male section that got the right part of the building. There slept two students in every room and all teachers got a private room. Every room had one bathroom with bath, shower, toilet and sink. The lowest floors were used for the cafeterias. Yes, plural. For some reason the boys and girls didn't eat in the same room. The upper parts of the dorms were rooms, and on the highest floor was a recreation facility for both boys and girls. The students were allowed to stay there until 11:00 p.m.
Ellen looked at her watch. '19:28, time to go eat.' The cafeteria was filled with students. Ellen had to do her best not to lose her place in the row waiting for food, since there was a lot of pushing and pulling from girls who arrived late. When Ellen was finally first, a girl bumped into her and took her place. 'Hey, it's my turn!' 'Come on, it's just one place, it's not like that's going to make much of a difference.' Since Ellen couldn't think of anything to say back to her she just took her place after the girl. 'Sorry gals; that was the last one. You'll just have to do with the leftovers.' The lunch lady said as the other girl left. The girls behind Ellen left out deep sighs. Why, was there something wrong with leftovers? Soon Ellen knew the answer.
What exactly were those leftovers from? They tasted awful! Even food made by her self tasted better and those were always burnt to charcoal! She threw a glare at the girl that had cut in front of her. She answered with a most irritating smile. Even more irritating was that she looked beautiful with that orange, long hair and green eyes. Ellen let herself fall on her bed. She found it weird that her roommate wasn't there yet, but she was too tired to be bothered with it. She changed into her pyjamas, brushed her teeth and went to bed early.
Ellen woke up from the sound of a door closing. She sat up and looked at the bed of her roommate. The blanket was lying on the foot end, which proved that it was most likely her roommate that just left the room. She looked at the clock that was already standing on her bedside table. 'Who the fuck goes out at 6:00 a.m. on a Sunday?' Ellen tried to get some more sleep but she was already wide awake. Instead of lazily lying in bed she decided to go out. Exploring the school seemed like an interesting activity. Sadly enough the school building was still closed, so instead of the building Ellen explored the school grounds.
The school grounds existed out of a forest with numerous paths and a cliff with sight on the sea. Ellen imagined that those places were going to be filled with couples once the school started. For a second, she thought that maybe she too would come there with someone… She shook her head as to drive the thought away. There was no way she would be brave enough to ask someone there.
She spent the rest of the day reading in her Italian book or exploring the school grounds. She had already unpacked anything she needed the next day, and the lessons she would take would be chosen on Monday. She went to bed early after dinner but she couldn't fall asleep. She heard the door of her room open and she looked at the clock. 23:49 p.m. 'Nice to meet you.' Ellen said as she sat up in bed. 'Aaaah!' The light switched on and Ellen looked at the surprised face of most likely the most beautiful girl she had ever seen.
The girl in front of her had long, golden, curled locks of hair and deep blue eyes. She had a beautiful figure and looked beautiful in her dark blue skirt and white top. 'Ah, sorry for screaming.' She said as she noticed the one who had spoken was her new roommate. 'Don't worry about it; I can understand you were surprised. My name's Ellen, what's yours?' 'Tiffany, nice to meet you Ellen.' 'You were back pretty late, and you left early in the morning.' 'Yeah, I had some… problems with someone. Sorry if I woke you up.' 'You didn't. I couldn't sleep. Care to tell me what your problem is?'
Tiffany looked unwilling to at first, but she sighed and said: 'Okay then, I guess you deserve to know, since you're my roommate. There's this boy that likes me…' 'Can you blame him with your looks?' Ellen thought. 'It wouldn't be a problem if it was just that but… Recently he started… following me.' Tiffany said as she sat on her bed. 'A stalker you mean.' '… Yes. I've tried to tell him I'm not interested, but he won't accept it.' Tiffany sighed. 'I've been avoiding him, but he also goes to this school. I don't want him to find out what my room is, so I try to stay away from my room as long as I can.'
'…' 'Sorry, if this might trouble you.' 'What are you apologizing for? He likes you, you can't change that, and it'd be a waste to change your looks just so he'll stop stalking you. Can't you complain about him to the staff?' 'No! He's a nice guy; I don't want to get him into trouble…' 'You do know it's illegal to stalk someone?' 'Yes.' 'Well, imagine he continues to stalk you. Eventually he would start to stalk other people who are less nice than you. If that happens, won't they just report him to the police? I personally find going to jail worse than getting in trouble at school.' 'But…' 'No buts. Eventually he'll only get himself into more trouble, so it'd be best for both of you if you just go and report him to the staff.' '… You're right…' 'Okay. Now promise me you'll go to the staff first thing in the morning and report him, okay?' 'Fine, I promise.' 'Good. Now let's both try to sleep before we get too tired to wake up on our first day of school.'
'How did it go?' Ellen asked as soon as Tiffany came out of the director's office the next day. 'She said she'll look into it, and if he is indeed stalking me he'll get punishment, but not too strict.' 'That's great!' 'Yeah, thanks again for talking me into doing this.' 'Hey, as roommates we have to support each other, right?' 'Yeah!' 'Will all students gather in the auditorium for the entrance ceremony?' A speaker said. 'Uh oh, you don't want to be late. Let's hurry.' Ellen wanted to ask why not, but since Tiffany had been going to the school before, she decided to trust her on this one.
Tiffany was right. After a few minutes the auditorium was packed, and all the late students had to sit completely in the back. 'Glad we were here early.' 'Told you so.' 'Ssst!' someone said as the director walked on the podium. The director was an old lady with grey, curled, short hair. Even thought Ellen saw her for the first time, she knew she could trust her. She just gave of a warm feeling. 'Welcome, dear students to Naples high school! We sincerely hope that you…'
Ellen stopped listening half way. This was the exact same opening speech her old school had. She honestly doubted she was going to hear something interesting. Instead she looked around a bit. The auditorium was a large room, which could no doubt fit more than 300 students. According to the letter she had gotten after the opening ceremony students would be able to choose some of their classes. Of course there were classes you had whether you wanted or not, but you could choose half of the total amount of classes. Unless you excelled at some of your classes, you had to have at least 35 hours of lessons, of which 17 already chosen for you.
'… And that's it. We hope you enjoy your school days here and a good day!' The speech or ended surprisingly fast, or Ellen had been thinking deeper than she thought. Since her leg was sleeping she guessed the latter. Once outside somebody bumped into her. It was the girl that stole her place in the food row Saturday! 'Hey, look where you're walking!' Since Ellen didn't want to get in trouble she just went along. 'You're right, sorry.' 'Humph, at least someone who knows her place, unlike someone else I know…' The girl with orange hair smiled poisonously at Tiffany before turning around. 'Everything alright, Tiff?' Tiffany looked like she was about to cry. 'Y… Yeah, I'm fine…' She said as she wiped away some tears that rolled down her cheek. Ellen grabbed her by her hand and dragged her to the toilets.
'Damn that girl! First she makes me eat those leftovers, and then she makes you cry!' 'That's just how she is.' Tiffany said as she dried her face with a towel. 'You alright?' 'Yeah, I'm fine, thanks.' Tiffany smiled at Ellen. 'What was that girl's problem anyway?' 'She… Let's just say she and I have a bit of a history together.' 'Don't want to share it?' 'No. It's a bit painful…' 'I won't force you.' 'Thanks again.' 'No prob.' 'Where are you from by the way? I'm not familiar with your accent.' 'Spain. And you?' 'Germany.' 'Hmm, maybe I'll take German as one of my languages of choice.' 'Ah, because of the rule you need to know at least three languages at the end of the year, right?' 'Uh, I guess.' Ellen didn't feel like saying that she had to know at least seven languages; it would only make things complicated. 'What family are you from, by the way?' 'What?' 'What mafia family are you from? I'm from the Cavallone family, but my Dad's German and he wanted to stay in his own country when he married my mom.' 'Uh…' Oh shit.
