Okay people, don't be mad. I may or may not have rearranged stuff so Claire doesn't really have a roommate officially. The selected girls are in the room next door. Okay?

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Chapter One

Check-In

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Winston Academy is ah-mazing, I thought as the car pulled into the parking lot. I could see many buildings past the check-in booth thingie. There was a tall, square building, at least four floors, with windows on all sides. Next door was a building slmost identical, but with a glass wall revealing tables. Probably the cafeteria.

Across the street was a building only one story tall, or maybe two. It had no windows, not counting the skylight. Next to it was a building identical to the first.

At the end of the road was a building similar to the others in the fact that it was square and white. It had tiles in varying shades of blue and green around all the doors and windows. I caught a glimpse of blue. The pool, I'm guessing. The last building was smaller and had one huge window with a mural of a book surrounding it. Inside were lots of books and couches. The library.

"Here we are, Claire!" Mom said excitedly. "Let's check in at the dorm building. Dad and Todd will get your things."

"No!" I shrieked at the sight of Todd lifting my precious sunshine yellow cello case. It was hard plastic with a sticker saying "Mello Cello" on it, but it was extremely breakable. Trust me. "I can carry the cello."

I took the case from Todd and unfolded the backpack-like straps. Carrying the instrument on my back, I followed Mom towards the first building, unsure of what was ahead.

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"Hi! I'm Abby, the assistant for the first time campers. And you are?" A skinny blonde sat in front of me with a megawatt smile.

"Claire Lyons," I answered smoothly. Abby shuffled through some papers while muttering to herself.

"Ah, here we go!" She pulled out a sheet of paper and a brochure, then handed them to me. "That's your map and student directory. Here is your room key," she slid a bronze-colored key across the table, "and your meal card." A blue plastic card followed close behind.

"Keep these with you at all times," she instructed. "It's a $20 fee for losing the meal card and $50 for a lost key. You can get a lanyard to keep them on. Blue or white?"

"Um, white," I responded.

"Great! Here you go! You're room 233. Go straight through that door. You can't miss it." Abby smiled, handed over my lanyard, and moved on to the next girl.

"Okay Claire," Mom said, "let's go find your dorm room." We walked down a hall painted a light yellowish tan with matted gray carpet. "Here we go! You open it," Mom instructed.

I turned the knob and slowly pushed the door open. It glided noiselessly inwards until… thunk. It stopped against something.

"Crap!" a girl muttered. "I'm sorry. Hold on a second here…" I could hear something being dragged across the carpet. "That should be good."

I pushed the door open the rest of the way. A girl in a coral-colored shirt and dark wash jeans was facing away from me and unpacking on her bed. Her hair was dark brown and kind of curly. More like wavy, I guess. There were sheets and pillows piled on the floor by her bed. The door of the mini fridge was open, revealing Dr. Pepper and a few cupcakes.

"I'm T," the girl said, turning around. She had a wide smile, which was good. There was a ring through her nose and three in her right ear. Her left ear had a cartilage piercing, four earlobe piercings, and a ring in the other side of the cartilage.

"Claire," I responded.

"Cool. Help me with unpacking?" T asked.

"Sure, but you need to help me too," I warned.

"No problem," she laughed.

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After about a half hour of unpacking and organizing, I had to say goodbye. It would be hard, not having Mom and Dad – and even Todd – around to talk to. But at boarding school, I really could make new friends. Plus, I could work on my music.

"Bye Mom," I whispered, hugging her tightly through her light pink sweater. "I'll miss you."

"You too, sweetie," she whispered back.

"Bye Dad," I sniffled, repeating the hug.

"Wait a minute," he said. "We have something for you!"

He pulls a phone out of his back pocket. It can't be my phone, can it?

"Call every weekend," Mom instructed jokingly. "Our numbers are programmed in already."

No. Way! My own iPhone!

"Bye Claire," Todd mumbled. "See ya in two months."

As they left, Mom slipped something onto my bed. Once the door closed, I sprang on the object and held it up. It was a pale blue case with a glittery gold heart! So cute!

"Come on, miss brand-new phone. Let's get those sheets onto our bed!" T said.

Laughing, I snapped the case onto my phone and put it in the pocket of my boot-cut jeans. I was so ready for boarding school!

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T and I were walking with the other students towards the cafeteria. She was laughing and talking about something.

"Wait until you meet my friends! They are so awesome, oh my gosh. We all met last year, so that's okay. Including you, that makes eleven of us. You remember Primrose and Gracie, right?"

I nodded. Prim and Gracie were in the room next door. Prim was a little taller than me. She had twin curly brown pigtails that fell almost to her shoulders and a sprinkling of freckles beneath her dark brown eyes. I soon learned she has synesthesia. So basically, she sees the color lavender whenever she plays or hears piano music.

Gracie was tall for an eighth grader. She was about 5' 6" in her lime green converse. She also wore a lime green Aeropostale shirt over a light wash jean skirt. Gracie's nice, but got a little snappy when I knocked over her plate of sushi. She was a little scary too, with her blue eyes suddenly turning icy cold under a swoop of her highlighted brown hair. Either way, she got over it, and we were quick friends.

"Okay, well, they should be at that table by the window. See? Gracie's already there," T pointed out. I scanned the room for her ultra-bright shirt and found her by the window, waving madly to a girl outside.

"Yeah, I see her," I said. "Come on, I'm starving." We hurried through the line, with T grabbing a hamburger, fries, a Diet Coke, and a brownie, and me with the same, except I had cake and a Sprite.

"Hurry up!" I said. "I wanna meet everybody!"

"Okay, but I'm warning you, they can get a little crazy," T laughed. Her nose ring glinted in the sunlight.

We headed towards the table that was now filled except for three empty seats. At the end of the table was a pile of instrument cases. I counted four that looked about the size of a lunch box and one that held a violin or viola. I'm guessing it was a viola, Gracie's instrument of choice. Prim played piano, so it was probably not in the case pile.

T sat down in the chair at the end of the table, across from another chair holding a cello case. I plopped down in the chair next to T and began to dig in to my burger. The girl across from me slid a bottle of ketchup towards me.

"Thanks!" I said. I then squirted it onto my plate.

"No problem," she responded evenly. "I'm Danielle St. James."

Her glossy brown hair flowed over her shoulders. A tiny braid ran through it and was secured with a teal bow. She wore a sweater with varying shades of blue and white on top of white jeans. Her outfit was finished with white ballet flats and pink lip gloss.

"And I'm Veronica White," the girl sitting next to her cut in. "But you can call me Ronnie."

Ronnie had curly light brown hair secured in a tight bun. She wore dark wash jeans and an orange shirt with a hamster on it, along with black Doc Martens. She was tapping away on her iPhone in a black otterbox case.

"I'm Naomi Grassfield," the girl on my other side said. "Don't laugh at my name, it's mean."

Naomi had long brown hair with ombre tips trailing in her pizza. Her piercing blue eyes were framed with thick black frames and were fixed on her off-white shirt proclaiming, "Boys stink – literally" and tiffany blue leggings.

"Sierra Bentley," another girl said. She was sitting at one of the two seats at the end of the table. Sierra's wavy blonde tresses were illuminated by the sunlight, which also caused her sea green eyes to squint. A gold necklace dropped down into her ruffly light pink tank top, which she had paired with a white skirt and white sandals. Her toes were painted pink with gold sparkles.

"I'm Melissa Brent, the artistic one," said the girl next to Sierra. She had long hair in a shade almost like honey. It was pulled back with a light blue headband that appeared to be made out of recycled jeans. Silver and blue heart earrings glinted in her ears, matching the blue liner around her green eyes. She wore a light gray shirt and jeans.

"And I'm Riley Kramer, the normal one," a girl at the very end said. She had high cheekbones and reddish-brown hair that fell around her warm brown eyes. She had a light pink scarf that tumbled over her white sweater and halted right above her olive green cargo pants. She looked skinny, like bad skinny.

"I'm Lela Fisher, the other normal one," the girl beside her said. She had long auburn hair that dropped straight down to her ribs and bangs that just dusted the eyelashes over her silvery blue eyes. She wore a navy blue dress over white leggings and anchored with a hot pink belt.

"I'm Claire Lyons," I responded. We all chatted for a bit, then left in a fit of laughter for that night's activity.

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So? Thoughts on the story? Did I get your OC right? Are you mad at me for not having Claire have roommates anymore? Tell me in a review :)