"We're almost there!" Diana cried joyously as the helicopter neared their destination, Calisteo Academy, a gathering place for all aspiring fossil fighters and researchers. Dino nodded his head, his sister's excitement contagious.
They were also excited for another reason; they were reuniting with an old friend, Todd. The trio had met a few years back and became fast friends. Though Todd had moved, they had kept in touch, so they were looking forward to seeing their old friend again. The helicopter touched down on the ground and immediately as the doors slid open, Diana and Dino saw Todd waving madly at them. He wore his trademark green explorer-like clothing and his beige hat covered his brown hair. He ran up and gave them a hug.
"It's so great to see you guys again! But I guess this was a no-brainer considering your talents in fossil battles. Anyway, since I'm your friend, I'll be escorting you to the office for admin and then I'll give you a grand tour of the place."
"Thanks Todd!" said Diana as the group grabbed their luggage and headed into academy. The academy itself was one building, a very, extremely large building. There were gardens and park areas outside, as well as an airport for the students to be able to travel around the islands easily. Thankfully, the way to the office was straightforward; up a flight of stairs and down a hallway, the door also had a sign reading 'Principal Wildwest'. The group entered the room, the chair spun around and the familiar face of Joe appeared.
"Well, I take it you two are the new additions to the school, nice to meet ya."
Diana smiled back and said, "Thanks again for rescuing my brother and I from that Allo two years ago."
His smile faltered as confusion entered in his eyes, "I don't know what you are talking about, but anyway, welcome to Calisteo Academy a great place to learn and train to become fossil fighters and researchers. I'd bore you with the details but I think that seeing is believing. You'll definitely enjoy your school life here. Todd here shall give you a tour, first stop is admin, make sure you talk with my secretary, she'll give you the information and stuff given to every student here." He waved goodbye as Diana, Dino and Todd exited the office. Diana and Dino were confused about 's reaction; however they thought that since it was not a big deal probably to him, that the fact simply slipped his mind.
They were greeted by a young woman with her brown hair in a bun and professionally looking blue blazer and pencil skirt. "Hello, my name is Wendy, here are your schedules, information about living arrangements and your Paleopagers."
"…Paleopagers?" Diana asked.
"They are handed to each student and are used to send messages between students and for important school wide announcements. You'll also get a scanner and a fossil case for fossil hunting." Wendy handed the two of them their things and waved goodbye as the group began their tour.
Dino and Diana saw the lay of the land: the gardens, the hallways, the cafeteria and many other places. As they were entering the school, they bumped into a cute girl with fluffy pink hair in pigtails, wearing a rather revealing flowery top and a green hula skirt with yellow shorts as well as a large bracelet with strange markings. Todd, recognizing the person waved and called her over.
"This is my friend, Pauleen. Pauleen, these are Diana and Dino, some old friends who just enrolled here."
She came up to them and shook their hands, "Pleasure to meet you, I hope we'll get along with each other." Diana and Dino smiled back, the two siblings thought that the girl was very friendly and they would get along easily with her. Since she had some free time, she decided to tag along for the rest of the tour. Continuing inside the school building the group was blocked by a mob of girls in the main hallway. I
n front of them was a single guy dressed in a red coat and dark pants with silver hair and golden eyes. He was quite handsome; no doubt the reason for the fan girls swarming about him. As he stood there, he seemed bored and annoyed, at least to Diana. The other girls gave no indication that they realized that their antics were bothersome. Seeing that the mob would be occupying the hallway for an indefinite amount of time, the group decided to take a different route, however as they started to walk away, a group of girls rushed by to join the mob and bumped into Diana, sending her tumbling backward through the wall of people and landing on the ground with a cry of surprise. She ended up right in front of the young man all the girls were admiring, he offered his hand to help her up and she grasped it, prompting some gasps and jealous looks from the other girls.
"Thank you" said Diana. The guy smiled back and replied, "Not a problem at all." This prompted the girls to begin screaming like lunatics and somehow at the same time, look daggers at Diana. Wondering what the big commotion was, she turned and returned to the group with the others asking if she was okay. She replied that she was fine and the tour continued.
Hmm… interesting, she must be one of the new transfer students. She seems different from the others, one of the few who do not act like these annoying fan girls. He stared after the group as they walked away, curious and thoughtful.
"What was with all those crazy girls?" asked Dino the moment they were out of earshot.
"Oh, that's Rupert. He's the son of the president of Fossil Corporation, that really big company that manufactures anything really related to vivosaurs. He's also a really strong fossil fighter; he hasn't lost a single battle ever. He also good looking, so when you put all that together, instant celebrity." Explained Todd and Pauleen nodded in agreement.
"For someone so popular, he didn't seem to enjoy all the attention" she murmured, almost to herself. The others looked at her curiously and she felt a blush fighting to emerge on her cheeks, she waved her hands in front of her as she told them to ignore what she just said. As they had been talking the tour of the inside of the school had been completed and Todd was leading outside towards one of the gardens. Just one or two would do, as the general layout was the same with minor changes.
They neared the center of the garden and Dino noticed a girl watching the flowers and the little animals that appeared nearby. Her long dark hair obscured her face from view and her dark cloak contrasted sharply with the bright colours of the flowers. As if noticing she was being watched, the girl lifted her head to look at him; her dark eyes seemed to see beyond what was in front of her and seemed to be clouded over for an unknown reason. She turned and walked away, her heels clicking on the stone walkway, heading towards what seemed to be the female dorms. The others, noticing that he had strayed walked over and asked what had happened. Dino described the girl and Todd's eyes widened and his mouth opened.
"Did she talk to you?!" When Dino shook his head, Todd calmed down and began to explain. "Her name is Sena, she's known to be really strange, and most people usually ignore her. She wears an eye patch though no one knows why."
Pauleen interrupted and said, "She is not sociable at all, I should know since I'm her roommate." Todd smirked and Pauleen glared, "Other than that she seems to be a decent person." Dino had more questions too ask, but decided against it as it was probable they did not have the answers. The group continued on with the tour around the remaining areas, the time passed quickly and soon it was time for dinner.
Diana and company entered the cafeteria, grabbed their trays and food and sat down to chat and eat. The meal passed peacefully between them at least as the appearance of two people in particular to cause the other students to react extremely. First was Rupert, as soon as he entered the room, all the girls (except Diana and Pauleen for the most part) started to squeal, he ignored them and continued on, grabbed his lunch and regally exited the room, whisperings continuing even though he was gone, a mixture of admiration and envy.
A few minutes later, a similar event occurred but the reaction was the complete opposite. Dino heard a small creak as the double doors of the cafeteria opened just wide enough for a person to slip in. Sena seemed to make no sound as she walked across the floor; the other students took no notice, too absorbed in their own private conversations. That changed as she took her food and proceeded towards the doors, like a wave the cafeteria fell silent, one could hear a pin drop.
A couple of guys sitting nearby started to jeer, "Hurry and leave already, you freak!" Some others joined; the ones who did not simply relayed the message with their eyes. A shadow of a smirk appeared on her face for a moment, it disappeared as her face betrayed nothing about her emotional state. Dino thought he must have been imagining things. She walked out, blatantly ignoring the mean remarks, which stopped following her exit. The moment Sena's back was turned away and the door shut, she smirked, internally laughing about the sheer irony of the situation.
Those people call me a freak to demean me, I wonder what they would think if their taunts were actually the truth? Even so, their insults are weak.
Compso, hearing what she thought, fiercely replied; You are not a freak! Don't listen to a word they say. One day you'll fine great friends who will accept you.
"As if anyone would want to be friends with me once they find out." She whispered bitterly as she walked to her customary eating spot in the nearest garden; a place where she could relax and avoid all the hustle and bustle with peace and quiet.
Back in the cafeteria, the others noticed that Dino seemed distracted from eating and the conversation.
"Hey, earth to Dino, what is up? You seem to be staring off into space" said Todd, waving his hand in front of Dino's face, trying to get his attention.
Dino snapped back and replied, "Oh sorry about that." "You seem to have been awfully distracted for a while…" Diana trailed off as she put two and two together and a grin appeared on her face, her eyes dancing with mischief.
"You saw a pretty girl, didn't you?" Dino flushed at the statement and vehemently denied it. Pauleen and Todd stared expectantly at him, and he caved in, "I just think that that girl Sena is very interesting." He said as quietly as he could.
The rest of the group giggled but Todd said seriously, "Be careful, there are bad rumours swirling around her; pretty much everyone tries to avoid her." Dino nodded his head.
You're not actually going to do that are you? Spinax said, Dino did not respond however the vivosaur could tell that what he said was true.
The group finished eating, put away their trays and exited the cafeteria. The day was almost over and the siblings had the basic knowledge of the premises, tomorrow would be their first day of school. The last location for the day was the dorms, a pair of identical buildings for the students to call home during their studies. Pauleen explained that they were assigned rooms; the room number, roommates and room key were in the envelope given to them earlier today. Diana and Dino opened the envelopes and extracted the required paper and everyone peered at the contents. Dino would be sharing a room with Todd and Diana would be roommates with Pauleen. Both were happy with the arrangement.
"Finally, I have someone to talk to." Pauleen said happily, Todd nodded as well. "Do you two not have roommates?" Dino asked.
"We do but they aren't very social..."
"Rupert's my roommate, he probably doesn't like like me very much and all the crazy fans don't help. He is the school idol after all." Explained Todd, Pauleen began right after. "I think I told you before but my roommate is Sena, that girl in the cafeteria. She almost does not talk at all and everyone avoids her. She seems kind of unapproachable."
"I think that since we're roommates, we could become friends." Diana said stubbornly. Pauleen and Todd looked exasperated at her, then at Dino who just shook his head.
"Its useless, once she starts something, she will not give up until the end."
The group split and entered their respective dorms and walked over to their rooms. They were the same type of room, with three beds, closets, desks and a window looking out towards a scenic view of the island. As Diana and Pauleen entered the room, Sena looked up from her book, confusion flashed across her face at the newcomer. After she did not say anything and simply observed. Diana decided to take a chance and introduced herself.
"Hi! My name is Diana. I just enrolled here; I hope we'll become friends." She offered her hand to the other girl. Sena tentatively the hand and slightly tilted her head. With the introductions done, Diana began to unpack her things with some help from Pauleen while Sena continued reading her book. Diana felt that she had made a good first impression with her roommates. Once that was done, the three girls changed and went to bed. As they lay in bed, each with their own thoughts.
Diana: Today has been great, I've already made some friends. Everyone here is so nice, even that Rupert guy. He is pretty good looking, no wonder he has all those fans... Wait, why am I thinking about him? He wouldn't bother with me anyways. I will do my best and become a great fossil fighter.
Pauleen: Who knew Todd had such nice friends. They seem to be so naturally easygoing and nice. I'm envious; I wish I could be like them.
Sena: I seem to have found the one I have been looking for, though she seems to be missing something. I'll have to keep an eye on her. That other guy seems similar to her, but there is something different about him. I'd better stay away and watch from the shadows. Nothing good has ever happened when I let my guard down in the presence of others.
Going back to when the group split up, Todd and Dino also entered the dorm and entered their room. The curtains were drawn and the lights were on, though the sun had not yet set. Rupert made no motion to acknowledge that people had entered as he sat writing at a table. Todd stared disapprovingly at the young man, sighed and began introductions.
"This is my friend Dino, he's one of the transfer students. The three of us are going to be roommates."
Rupert looked up from his work, pen in hand and said, "I hope you are a better fossil fighter than Todd over here." Confused, Dino did not say anything and Todd replied angrily, "Dino and his sister Diana are really strong! I bet Diana could beat your winning streak."
"Hmm...she's that girl I bumped into earlier today, right? Interesting...we'll see about that." Rupert replied as he set down his pen on the table.
Turning slightly to face Dino, he said "Anyway, welcome to the academy." Dino nodded his head and then proceeded to unpack with some help from Todd. Part way through Dino asked, "Why are the curtains closed? There is still light outside." Todd grimaced and replied, "If they weren't closed, the entire window would be covered with the faces of Rupert's fan club members."
"Aren't we on the second floor though?" Dino continued. "Well that doesn't stop them in the slightest." Todd replied. The conversation stopped there and they continued unpacking Dino's belongings. By the time they were done, night was about to fall, Rupert was already in bed and presumably sleeping. Todd and Dino prepared for bed as well and crawled into bed. Like the girls, they also had some thoughts as they laid in the bed, waiting for sleep.
Todd: Thank goodness I have a new roommate. I cannot believe that Dino and his sister are enrolling here as well; this year is going to be great.
Rupert: Great, another roommate, I hope this guy isn't as annoying as Todd. His sister seems different from the other girls here; for one thing she does not squeal and scream on sight of me. In addition, according to Todd, she is a strong fossil fighter. I hope this is true; it'll be nice to have a battle that is not boring.
Dino: Today was fun, I hope the rest of the year passes peacefully, though I have a feeling that something will happen. I wonder why everyone avoids Sena; I hope that she and Diana become friends. Diana would surely not rest if she decides to be friends.
The moon hung in the sky as the academy students fell asleep, waiting for their alarm clocks to sound the beginning of the next school day.
