I had nothing better to do so I slowly climbed off of the bed. I was a little lightheaded at first, but it passed. I walked around the room and collected my cell phone and my bag and then I headed off through the door. Now what did I have to do first. I wondered to myself. Hmm... Walk down the hall then turn right, that's it. I remembered. I walked down the dark hallway. The only light was coming from a small oil lantern that was hanging off the wall. The hallway in front of me broke off into two different directions. Turn right. I said to myself. I must have turned too quickly because I went all lightheaded again and I must have lost my footing. The next thing I knew, two strong hands were on my back, holding me up.
"Are you ok? Asked a male voice.
I waited for the dizzy feeling to go away before I turned around slowly.
"Yeah I'm fine" I replied.
The guy who had caught me had dark brown hair and the most gorgeous brown eyes that were now lingering on my mark. And I knew why. His mark was just an outline. Mine was fully coloured in.
"Um... Yeah, Thanks" I said to distract myself from him. It wasn't until I said that, that he realised he was still holding me. He let go awkwardly.
"I'm Zoey" I said trying to make normal conversation.
"I know. News travels fast around here. I'm Eric Night." He said politely.
"Eerriicc." Sang a voice from the shadows.
"Coming Aphrodite" he called back to her.
"I have got to go." He turned around and ran off into the shadows to whoever Aphrodite was. So apparently everyone already knew about me. I thought to myself. I turned around and continued heading down the right hallway. I came to the three doors and opened the door on the left. Inside was a recreation area with TV's surrounded by groups of girls huddling around them. Up the stairs I could see the rooms. When I stopped taking in the room I realised that everyone had stopped talking and were now staring at me. I quickly walked up the stairs and once I was out of view I stopped and listened. The room came to life and I heard many voices that said 'that must be Zoey'. I followed the numbers on the doors. 32, 33, of the doors were covered in stickers or posters to personalise them. The one in front of me was covered on pictures of cowgirls and horses. I knocked on the door and a country voice called out from inside the room.
"You can come in. I don't bite."
I slowly turned the handle on the door and the door swung open. The room was very plain. All the room had was a minibar, a closet and two double beds. Sitting on one of the beds was a strawberry blonde country girl. I could tell because of the way she dressed and her voice. The girl jumped off her bed and walked up to me.
"Hi, I'm Stevie-Rae and I'll be your roommate." She said excitedly.
"Hi..." I said awkwardly. "Um... Nice door" A rather large smile spread across her country girl face. Luckily I was saved from an awkward silence by a knock on the door.
"Can I come in? Neferet asked. Before either Stevie-Rae or I could answer she had already walked in.
"Now Zoey your school uniform is hanging up on the closet and I have placed you in as many of Stevie-Rae's classes as I could." Then Neferet turned to Stevie-Rae.
"I am relying on you to show Zoey around and introduce her to your friends. Please help her in any classes if she needs it and teach her the rules around this place." Then without another word Neferet turned around and walked out the door, closing with a solid click.
"Ok, first you must wear your school uniform in all classes and the classes are between 1 and 4 am in the morning because we are working with nocturnal vampyres and fledglings. Now before you walked in I was about to go meet my friends so you can come to." Stevie-Rae grabbed my arm and dragged me out of our room before I had a chance to process any of that information that was just given to me.
Stevie-Rae pulled me though the maze of corridors until we came to some double doors. I pushed one of them open while Stevie-Rae pushed open the other one. We walked into a room that I think was the cafeteria. Stevie-Rae who was still holding my arm continued pulling me towards a table in the far corner of the room. She pulled an extra chair up for me and sat down.
"Hey guys" said Stevie-Rae to her three friends.
"Hi" mumbled the four of them in unison. Zoey could tell that they were all staring at her forehead.
"Guys!" Stevie-Rae scolded them when she realised what they were doing.
"As you all know this is Zoey." I gave a weak smile while looking around the room desperately for a distraction. Then Stevie-Rae turned to me and started introducing her friends. "This is Shaunee Cole and her twin Erin Bates. Of course they're not real twins, but we call them that because they are so alike and they can always tell what each other is thinking. And this is Damien Maslin. Aka Queen Damien." Stevie-Rae turned and winked at me which told me quite a lot about Damien's personality. I looked from Shaunee to Erin and then Damien. They each gave me a welcoming smile, but I couldn't tell whether it was real because Stevie-Rae was pressuring them. Then finally the distraction that I needed walked in. Eric strolled into the cafeteria followed by a few of his friends. Shaunee caught me looking his way and said "He's taken baby, unless you can get through Aphrodite." Erin finished the end of Shaunee's sentence. Now I knew what Stevie-Rae meant.
"I must admit, you do have good taste in guys" exclaimed Stevie-Rae with a smile on her face. I smiled back.
"Who is Aphrodite? I asked Erin thoughtfully while I remembered what had happened earlier today.
"Oh no-one very important. Just a person who thinks she's the best and Neferet's next High Priestess in training." Erin explained. I had to pick myself up off the floor after she said that.
All of a sudden a bird flew in threw the door which had been left open and swooped down at Shaunee. She screamed and fell off her chair, landing on the floor with a thud. Everyone burst into laughter and Shaunee went bright red with embarrassment. I got out of my seat to help her up. She smiled gratefully and moved her chair to sit down next to me.
Most people were being nice to me and I could tell that I was going to have some awesome friends here at The House of Night. I just wish Alexia was here. She was my best friend back at Broken Arrow High School. We met in Year 8 when she moved to the school. No-one has ever been able to separate us apart from now. I am going to miss her heaps. All I know is that I am having fun so far and all my memories of Broken Arrow High School before now are all a memories of the past.