Bulma patted the long skirt down and plastered a smile onto her face
Faking a smile, Bulma slowly continued her ascent up the stairs, a safe distance away from the railing. She was just becoming used to the monotonous tone of her boots climbing the marble steps when a loud noise pierced her once silent surroundings, slicing through the calm like a knife.
0o0o0
The shrilling whine engulfed the whole academy, and Bulma's first reaction was to obey the war sirens and exit her ominous surroundings. Her second was to stay put. She knew the whine was nothing but the school bells, and no matter how desperately she wished to flee the academy grounds with her white flag waving high, even she couldn't fool herself to that extent.
"Hey, relax," a voice piped from beneath Bulma's uptight figure; Miss Katelin Uta was looking at Bulma with her ever-present smile.
"Sorry, I'm just tired," Bulma replied at once, afterwards wondering why she had to explain herself at all.
"Jet lag, eh?"
"You got it," Bulma let out a fake laugh. There was no doubt she was tired, but jet lag had nothing to do with it.
Bulma's phony chuckle barely had time to echo throughout the hall when a multitude of uniform clad cadets started filing out from their classrooms.
"And here are the students of Riverwood Military Academy, up close and personal," declared Katelin, and Bulma was suddenly reminded of cheesy sport commentators who liked to point out the obvious. But then she reminded herself Katelin meant no harm, and discarded her thoughts with a shrug.
"Is it always like this?" Bulma asked, referring to the cluster of students ahead. They were buzzing with an organized calm, so unnatural in any normal high school Bulma was having a hard time grasping that these was truly teenagers, not marble statues carved to match the academy's décor.
"Well, today is orientation, so everyone is on their best behavior. But it's not much different throughout the year," Katelin replied.
"Hey, don't worry," Katelin added as if sensing Bulma's apprehension, "we're like a big family here... I'm sure that once you become familiar, everyone will love you."
Bulma just flashed her guide yet another polite smile when she was quickly ordered to stand on the side of the staircase.
Confused, Bulma followed Katelin's instructions, and only when she noticed the swift onslaught of students heading her and the stair's way did she understand why.
The young cadets jogged down the stairs with ease, everything from their dry-cleaned uniforms to their long, measured strides radiating a strict adherence to an unknown set of rules. They progressed as a pack, laughing and chattering, looking perfectly at ease with their surroundings. Yet Bulma couldn't understand a single sentence they uttered. Her ears simply hummed with the multitude of conversations, picking only snippets of random banter, though what she heard proved to be surprisingly normal. Different professors and the word summer were mentioned a few times, along with a high pitched squeal and a male's deep laughter. If the crowed wasn't wearing funny military hats and loosened some collars, Bulma would have thought they were just a bunch of JROTC cadets from her old school.
The several quizzical glances thrown her way shook Bulma out of her reverie, and she flipped her long blue tresses behind her shoulders. Let them look. She wasn't ashamed of wearing something other then white and gray. But as the cadets proceeded farther and farther down the stairs, and as Bulma started comparing her current appearance to the academy norm, she couldn't help but self-consciously notice her hair was loose amidst a sea of tight buns, and now when she thought about it, she could have sworn she saw a mocking smirk or two directed towards her straight-off-the-runway Giorgio Armani boots.
The last cadet turned at the bottom of the stairs, and Bulma was left with a sudden dryness in her mouth. Licking her glossed lips, Katelin's words of encouragement came back to her mind, and Bulma couldn't help but give a very unladylike snort.
Oh, yeah.
They love me already.
0o0o0
"It matches your hair," Bulma heard a giggle escape from Katelin's grinning lips.
"I guess," the former replied uncertainly, looking at the aqua water with doubt. Her hair was bluer. And not that shiny.
Running her hand along the gravel she was sitting on, Bulma looked at the grand water fountain the base was supporting. It stood in the center of a wide courtyard, between the main academy building and another, smaller structure which housed the mess hall and dormitories. The courtyard's two remaining sides were flanked by opposing fields of green, the right of which played host to a variety of training grounds, and the left of which was an uninhibited, rolling stretch of grassland.
"Well, you do have weird hair," Katelin remarked absently. Shrugging her bony shoulder, she beamed at her charge and motioned for her to get up.
"Wha... Hey, I do not have weird hair!" Her hair was a touchy subject. Was it her fault it was such an odd shade of blue? And anyways, that odd shade of blue was exactly what attracted countless modeling agencies to her front door.
"Oh, I'm sorry, that came out too harsh. What I meant was your hair color, it's weird," she said kindly, as if that sounded better. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Bulma slowly following her and motioned for her to hurry up. They were almost in front of the cadet quarters.
"My hair color is not weird!" Bulma quickened her pace and touched her hair protectively. Was all the sun turning it green or something?
"Well it's the first time I've seen that color is all I'm saying. Right here," Katelin stood in front of two large oak doors, much like the lofty pair which greeted Bulma on her entrance to the main building. With fluidity only long familiarity can bring, Katelin located a small keypad perched by the left door and punched in a lengthy set of numbers. An elongated buzz sounded, and Bulma's guide opened the newly unlocked doors.
"You'll get your own pass code later on," Katelin assured and ushered her charge through the entryway.
"Just because you haven't seen it before doesn't mean it's weird," Bulma huffed, still speaking of her hair, and rubbed her arms at the change of temperature.
"Or bad," Katelin winked, and Bulma felt her genius IQ sink a few levels. Wow. Here was her guide throwing her own words back in her face, trying to comfort her about something she didn't even know she was showing. Was her resentment of her academy that obvious? She must hate it more than she realized. Oh well, she reasoned and rubbed her temples. The more the merrier.
Discarding her thoughts and looking around, Bulma noticed the interior of the new building resembled the main hall considerably, only it was smaller in size. It was covered in white marble, and three of the four walls were lined with long mosaic windows. The fourth and final wall was straddled in between two black marble staircases, in the center of which stood yet another pair of oak doors, though the golden letters above it dwindled most of the intimidation an unknown pair of doors could have created.
The Mess Hall.
A Mess Hall with perfectly normal, familiar food. Bulma smiled at it affectionately, feeling a surge of fondness and absolutely no shame for housing sentiments for a cafeteria. Desperation was taking its toll.
Her bonding time was suddenly interrupted when Kateling motioned for Bulma to follow her up the right staircase, explaining this new building was called the Cadet Quarters and the stairs they were currently climbing led to the girl's dormitories. Bulma nodded determinedly and tried to look interested in her surroundings.
It didn't work.
The ascent was finally over when the pair finally reached the top and final stair, and as if on cue, Bulma felt the whole weight of her day hit her full force. Her legs ached, her neck was stiff, and her last nerve felt like it was being gnawed on.
The next few minutes passed in a haze, and Bulma faintly recalled being led by Katelin down a narrow, whitewashed hallway. They stopped in front of a dormitory Katelin claimed was Bulma's, and the former stopped to unlock the door with her trusty master-key.
The door gave way without much more than a slight creak, and almost simultaneously, the smell of clean bed sheets and a light jasmine perfume engulfed the entryway, creating an odor Bulma's trademark trained noise could not identify.
"Go on," Katelin said with encouragement, and almost reluctantly, Bulma placed her hand on the door and pushed it forward entirely.
The room was covered in blues as diverse as the ocean's. Light, turquoise drapes hung from the walls, covering every piece of chipped paint the room had to offer. The carpet, a thick stretch of white plush, covered the room's standard tiling and disappeared under two adjacent cherry-wood bunk beds and their matching nightstands.
Bulma gingerly took a step into the room, instantaneously feeling her boot sinking into the depth of the wool-covered flooring. It reminded her pleasantly of a plush bed, a dangerous thought for the fatigued heiress.
"Nice, isn't it?" Katelin asked.
"Yes," Bulma replied, eyeing the bed as if it was a juicy piece of chocolate cake. Shaking her head, Bulma forced a pleasant smile onto her lips and turned to face her guide.
"You must be tired now, so it's fine if you miss the rest of orientation. But come by later today to the front office and I can arrange a used set of uniforms for you to wear tomorrow. That is if you don't have your uniforms yet," she asked almost rhetorically.
Bulma shook her head. She didn't own a set of those vile stretches of fabric yet.
"Well then, now you know what to do. Tomorrow classes will begin, but you will have time to go into the city during the weekend and get your own set of uniforms. Oh, and your schedule is on your bedside; if you have trouble getting to any of your classes, you might want to ask your roommate for some directions."
"Thank you," Bulma said earnestly, actually thankful for some instruction. It made her feel a little less lost.
"Just doing my job," Katelin chirped happily and turned towards the door.
"It was nice to meet you Bulma," she waved with a smile and, finishing their tour at last, left the heiress to do her own bidding.
Finally.
Savoring her new independence, Bulma tossed her boots onto the floor, flung her purse over her shoulder, and plunged headfirst onto her designated bed.
Finally.
0o0o0
Poke.
Poke. Poke.
"Mhmmhm…" A mumble sounded from deep within the pillow.
"Hey, uh, Billa? Uh, wake up."
Another mumble.
"What? Listen, I really have to go, so either get up now or I'm leaving."
"It's Bulma."
"What are you talking about?"
Lifting her face off the pillow, Bulma flipped her hair out of her eyes and blinked at the bright morning light.
"I said, it's Bulma. My name."
Her intruder, a girl of about Bulma's height with dark green eyes and a polished cadet's uniform, did not look impressed.
"Well, I'm sorry, but your suitcase tag read Billa. Listen, it's already 7:14 , and I know you're new, and I'm late too, so I thought I'd wake you up before both of our asses are kicked."
Replying with a long yawn, Bulma leisurely lifted her feet off the bed and stood gingerly, her muscles sore from sleeping so warped up.
"...it's seven?"
"Fourteen, yes, so get a move on-"
The heiress gave a faint groan at the confirmation.
"School starts in over an hour, why did you wake me up so early? Kami, now I won't be able to fall back asleep," she whined and threw herself back onto the bed.
She never made it.
"What the—hey, let me go! You're choking me!"
Bulma shrieked as she felt herself suspended in the air, her former intruder turned assailant holding her inches away from the bed by the edge of couture shirt... er, pajama.
"School started fourteen minutes ago, peaches. And we missed breakfast... there were waffles today too. But that's not the point. We're late. So either you move away from that pillow, or I'm leaving."
Bulma's eyes shot open. Waffles?
Her stomached churned appropriately, and Bulma tugged her shirt free from the scowling girl. Recollecting her composure, she smoothed her attire and turned around.
"Are you my room mate?"
"No, but my dorm is right across yours."
"So, you're like my neighbor or something?"
"No shit Sherlock," the girl rolled her green eyes and tugged at her shirt agitatedly. Her sharp nose was twisted slightly by her scowl, and she self-consciously flicked a stray lock of blonde hair from her eyes under Bulma's scrutiny.
"Do you mind?" she snapped at the blue haired girl and moved past her.
"I'm going to wait outside the door, you have five minutes to get dressed or I'm ditching," she barked and stomped off into the hall.
"You're one bright ray of sunshine."
Rolling her eyes at the fire cracker behind her door, Bulma ran her hands through her hair and remembered what Katelin said about strange not always being bad.
"Well good, because it's raining outside!"
Then again, Katelin also thought her hair resembled a water fountain.
Would wonders ever cease?
0o0o0
A/N: Yey, another chapter! Okay, so I have nothing to say that will excuse the fact I didn't update this story for about 3 months except the school year was finishing, then summer started, and writing this chapter proved to be such a long process. I wrote about 11 extra pages that contained snippets of other chapters, but it took me a while to finish writing this chapter. But I did! It's almost 2:00AM as I'm writing this so I'm sorry if this chapter has any obvious mistakes. I proofed it, and proofed it again, but it got to a point where when I read this chapter, I just skim over it. Anyways, I think this is about enough writing for this chapter... so, as always, all reviews received with much thanks & a smile!
Thanks for reading!
-thelovebugy