*Hannah's POV*
I awoke to the sun shining in my eyes. Yanking the blanket over my head, I checked the time on my watch. 8:13 am. Good enough. I threw the blanket that covered me onto the ground. The sound of Gwen's music playing from her iPod could be heard coming from the bathroom, along with the splash of running water. That girl always got up far too early for her own good.
I gathered up a casual outfit for the day, and packed the rest of my clothes into a suitcase. I was going to be leaving soon, so I may as well have my clothes packed and ready to go. Gwen emerged from the bathroom shortly and packed her own clothes. We spend a good amount of time in comfortable silence packing, folding clothes, and sorting out what items could be pass for something owned by a boy, and what would have to go. After sitting for a few minutes with my moccasins in my lap, my friend placed her hand on my shoulder before sighing and shaking her head. I reluctantly tossed the shoes into our "give away" box, choking back tears as I did so. All of my hair pins and barrettes followed suit, tumbling in and making a clattering noise as I dropped them in, one by one. Gwen barely contributed to the collection. Curse her and her boyish clothes.
I turned to my bed, resting my hand on the fluffy pillow. "Goodbye, bed." I told the inanimate object. "Goodbye, dresser." I said to my wardrobe. "Goodbye—"
"Hannah? Are you really talking to the furniture?" Gwen raised an eyebrow at me.
"Um, maybe?" I gave her an awkward shrug as a reply. She shook her head and facepalmed.
"It's just furniture, Hannah."
"I know..." I hung my head. "So we don't have to turn in our papers today?" I questioned my friend, leaning up against the wall.
"Nope!" her voice exploded with enthusiasm. "I took care of that while you were asleep. We can move into our dorm at Dalton today!" She beamed at me, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "We might even get to meet a few other students!"
My mind immediately flashed to the nameless soccer boy. I felt my face warm up slightly, and hoped it wasn't noticeable. Damn those teenage hormones. "Yeah, that's cool," I attempted to keep a straight face.
"Well!" Gwen clapped her hands together. "Let's get going, shall we?"
*Gwen's POV*
We dragged our suitcases out to my car, grabbing a couple of bagels from the coffee lounge on campus on our way out. The barista didn't realize this was our last trip to the shop, but that didn't stop her from smiling and treating us kindly. I gave her an unusually high tip before I left.
Standing outside the school for the last time, I should have felt sad. But I didn't. All I could see was the immense amount of judgmental, shallow girls. I couldn't wait to leave. None of them had really become close to Hannah or I, so I didn't really care about them. Good riddance.
I climbed into the car, starting the engine and punching the address Hannah had given me into the GPS as my friend buckled in beside me.
"Turn left," the automated voice ordered me. I obeyed, taking in a deep breath as I left my past life behind me. The Ohio countryside rolled past us, fields of corn and wheat glowing gold under the cloudy sky. Silence filled the car, along with a sense of nervousness and anticipation. I tried not to think about the things that could go wrong. Instead I concentrated on not driving into a field of cows.
"Moo..." Hannah mumbled. She stared out the window.
"Shush," I said, anxiety making my stomach lurch.
"But there are cows..." Hannah said quietly.
"I need to focus on not killing us," I said. "So shush."
"Okay," Hannah responded. She pulled out her little brown notebook and began to write. I concentrated on the road again. It seemed never-ending, as if Hannah and I would just keep driving and driving, and we would never reach Dalton. The grey concrete before me stretched on, and I continued along it.
"Moo..." Hannah said again as we past another dairy farm. I gave her a heavy, exaggerated sigh. "Sorry," Hannah said. "I couldn't help myself."
I rolled my eyes as I continued to drive. A single blue truck passed us on the opposite lane.
"Michigan," Hannah read off the license plate.
"Hannah!" I exclaimed.
"Sorry!" Hannah said quickly. "I'm just really bored!"
"Your destination is in ten miles," the blunt voice of the GPS told us.
"Yay!" Hannah cheered.
"Finally," I sighed loudly.
For the next few minutes, we waited in almost unbearable anticipation. I admit to pressing my foot a little too hard on the gas pedal and going past the legal speed limit. As I turned around a hill, we both let out a gasp as we saw it. The building was huge and beautiful—it looked exactly how it did on the website. It was old and Victorian, and made out of bricks. We drove through the metal gates. I stared at the building in awe.
When we reached the parking lot, I pulled into a spot and parked. Hannah and I tumbled out of the car.
"Whoa," Hannah said.
"Holy crap," I responded.
After staring for a while, Hannah and I unlocked the trunk of my car, and we pulled out our suitcases. Boys littered the grounds. They were walking about, socializing, sitting, reading, and just hanging around. Everywhere I looked, I saw blue and red blazers.
"Holy...shit..." I blurted out. I wasn't used to seeing so many guys my own age. Hannah tugged on my sleeve, breaking my trance as we headed towards the office.
"You can't drool this much over the guys, Gwen!" She whispered. "You're supposed to be one of them! Act like it!"
We entered the main office to find a wrinkled, elderly woman with wispy gray hair sitting behind a desk. She looked up as we entered the room.
"Hi," I said nervously. "We're the new students, Alex Chapman and Lewis Dahn?" She clicked the mouse of her computer and typed a few things on her keyboard.
"Sophomores?" She asked. We nodded. "Alright," she pulled two keys on lanyards and two schedules out of a drawer in her desk. "You'll be in room C11. Someone should be up shortly to greet you guys and give you your uniforms. They'll explain the rules and tell you all about our extracurricular activities."
I tried to give a friendly smile and nodded my head at her.
"Thank you," Hannah squeaked. We left the office, the door swinging shut behind us. My little friend looked about ready to pass out. "I thought I was going to die," she sighed.
"Apparently the boy's clothing works," I said, gesturing to my hoodie.
"Yeah," Hannah sniffed. "It's not cute at all, though."
I laughed as I tugged my suitcase along. "Its okay, Lewis."
Hannah looked mildly confused for a second, then realized that with all the boys around, we couldn't call each other by our first names anymore. We walked to the stairs, and started walking up them.
"C11, right?" I asked Hannah. She nodded, and we began looking for our room. It was at the very end of the hall, leaving us to carry our heavy luggage all the way there. Hannah struggled with hers.
"Need a little help there?" I asked with a laugh.
"Oh, shut up." Hannah huffed. "It's not my fault I have so much crap."
"Yeah, it is." I told her. "Did you really need your entire cookbook collection?"
The handle on Hannah's suitcase snapped, and she was sent butt-first onto the floor. "Crat!" Hannah cursed in Indonesian. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Of course I had to bring my books. They're like my babies!"
"I see," I chuckled. Hannah dragged her suitcase the rest of the way to our room. I opened the door with the key the receptionist had given us.
We entered a dorm that was nearly identical to our old one, albeit less girly, but there wasn't too much of a difference. I dropped my suitcase on one of the beds while Hannah went to check out the bathroom. I took a seat on my bed, taking a moment to let everything sink in. we were really doing this. We were actually transferred to Dalton. I took in a deep breath, and then heard a sharp rap on the door.
*Hannah's POV*
"I'll get it~" I sang as I skipped across the room to get the door. In one swift motion, I turned the doorknob and opened it wide. I came face to face with someone I recognized instantly.
That Asian boy.
I stared at him for a long time, my mouth wide open. My face felt extremely warm.
"Hello," the boy said politely. He stuck out his hand. "My name is Wesley Montgomery. I heard there were going to be new students, so I just wanted to come over and give you a good Dalton welcome." The boy smiled.
"...hi," I said quietly.
"Who's at the door?" Gwen asked. I heard her soft footsteps behind me. "Oh," she said when she saw the boy. "Hello, I'm Alex."
"Wesley," The two shook hands. "Most people call me Wes."
"This is Lewis," Gwen gestured towards me. "I'm not sure why he's being so quiet all of a sudden, considering how irritating he was in the car." Gwen glared.
"Moo..." I grinned. Wes gave me a odd look and I instantly regretted making the animal noise.
"Well, if you need any help getting to classes, don't be afraid to ask me." He turned to leave. "Oh! By the way, we have a club called the Warblers. It's kind of like a show choir thing."
"Oh yeah," Gwen nodded. "Lewis showed me a performance of one of your songs. It was really awesome! You guys sound great!"
"We have auditions on Thursdays," Wes said. "You two should try out. It's a lot of fun!"
"Sure thing," Gwen told him as he walked away. "Thanks, Wes! It was nice meeting you."
"And you," Wes said, with that dashing smile of his. "I'll be by later to drop off your uniforms." I felt myself blush even more. Gwen closed the door after he had walked down the hall.
"He was nice," she commented.
"Yeah," my voice was high and squeaky.
"You thought he was hot, didn't you?" Gwen smirked.
"My first word to him was 'moo,' what do you think?" I sighed and collapsed on my new bed. It smelled clean and un-used. The sheets were soft and wrinkle-free.
"Technically, your first word to him was 'hi.' But it was a very timid 'hi.'" Gwen said factually.
"He must think I'm an idiot," I groaned.
"He also thinks you're a boy." Gwen said, sitting across from me. "So does it really matter?"
"Good point," I sat up. My stomach growled. "Dude, I'm so hungry. Let's go find the cafeteria."
Gwen fake gasped. "Is the pristine and perfect chef Hannah really going to ingest school food?"
"This is Dalton Academy. The food has to be good or the parents sue the school."
"Is that how it works?" Gwen asked as I walked to the door.
"Something like that," I waved my hand and reached for the doorknob. My stomach lurched as I quickly calculated the possibility of seeing Wes again. The chances were fairly high. The chances of me making a total idiot of myself in front of him again were also high. But I'd rather have a guy think I'm weird than sit in my room and starve.
Gwen and I walked down the hall and down the stairs. We entered the lobby. A few guys waved and said hello, and we returned the gesture. I felt on edge, and I was terrified that someone would point, and yell, "Who's that chick?"
But that didn't happen. We found the cafeteria relatively easily, and we got in line for food. The serving lady handed us each a plate of semi-edible-looking pasta in a red sauce. I examined it carefully, grimacing as we found a table.
"This is nothing compared to real food," I said as we took a seat at one of the tables. Shrugging her shoulders, Gwen sat next to me.
"Eh, it's alright," She said as she took a bite. I flinched.
"It's culinary mediocrity." I bluntly stated. A chuckle came from next to us, and I turned to see a blonde male seated in a chair beside me.
"Sorry," he grinned. "I couldn't help but overhear. Are you guys new?"
I nodded my head. I noticed Gwen's head nodding as well from the corner of my eye. The boy extended a hand towards me.
"My name is Jeff, Jeff Sterling. I'm a sophomore."
"Lewis, and I am too," I saw Gwen blush when their hands met.
"A-Alex, same." She stuttered, blushing even more. The boy continued to beam in our direction. Mein gott, I thought. He looked happy enough to cure cancer.
"Cool," Jeff continued. "Has anybody shown you around the school yet? Or given you uniforms?"
"No," I shook my head. "But Wes came around and introduced us to Dalton. He said he'd be coming by later with our uniforms."
"No way!" Jeff exclaimed. "Wes is awesome. He's actually one of my closest friends. Maybe I'll come by with him later and say 'hello.'"
"Feel free to. Are you part of the Warblers as well?" These Dalton boys sure were friendly. Amongst…other things.
"Yep! I just love to sing." The blonde laughed. He glanced at the clock and quietly stood. "Well, I have to leave for my dorm now," he quickly developed a faux British accent as he walked away. "Pip pip, cheerio!" My companion giggled. I turned to her, a knowing smile on my face.
"You liiike him," I sang. She blushed, flailing her arms in my direction.
"Shhh! Shut up! He could still hear you!" She frantically whispered. I laughed.
"If anyone is going to give you away, it would be you." I continued to laugh. "Come on, we should probably get back to our dorm. Wes and Jeff should be there soon." Gwen nodded, running her fingers through her short, pale hair.
"Yeah, okay." She took a deep breath in. "We need to be there when Wes and Jeffy—JEFF! When Wes and Jeffget there." Her blush continued to grow as we left the cafeteria, stuttering and whispering to herself the whole way back to our room.
I unlocked the door and we entered. I glanced at my watch. 7:00 pm. Woah, I thought. This day has gone by really quickly. I shrugged off my sweatshirt and tossed it into a basket that sat in the corner. Unzipping my suitcase, I began to unpack my possessions. I didn't even recognize half of the folded pieces of clothing. While I put away my things, Gwen set up her iDock system on the bookshelf that stood adjacent to the wall. She scrolled through the song list, stopping to pick a specific song that I recognized immediately.
You think I'm pretty, without any make-up on,
You think I'm funny, when I tell the punchline wrong,
I bobbed my head along to the music, smiling as the familiar tune played. I hummed along, my soprano voice able to comfortably hit the higher notes. As the song came to a close, we finished packing the majority of our things. I grabbed my laptop, starting to open it, but a knock at our door interrupted me. I jumped up to answer it, and I opened the door to find Wes and Jeff, each holding a hanger with the Dalton uniform.
"Hello, Lewis," Wes smiled at me, causing my heart to flutter.
"Hi! Um, come in," I felt my face warm as they stepped beside me.
"Woah," Jeff looked around with wide, child-like eyes. "It's so clean in here."
"Yeah," Wes mumbled. "Compared to you and Nick's room…"
I laughed, then turned to see Gwen lying on her back with her laptop resting on her stomach typing away. She was always on the internet.
"Alex," I spoke to her. I received no response. "Aleeeex!" I waved my arms. "Hey! Hey!" I walked closer to her and waved my arms more. "Hey Alex!" I poked Gwen's cheek.
"What?" The girl finally peeled her eyes away from the screen.
I motioned towards the boys. "We've got company."
Gwen's eyes widened and her face went red. "Oh!" She shut her laptop and rose from her bed. "Sorry."
Jeff smiled. "It's alright."
"We brought your uniforms," Wes told me. He handed me the smaller hanger. His fingers brushed against mine, and I instantly went red.
"Oh, um. Terima kasih." I said quickly. It took me a moment to realize I had accidently shifted into Indonesian. Wes and Jeff gave me blank stares. Gwen, who was used to my occasional switch of languages at the drop of a dime, was unfazed.
"What?" Jeff asked carefully.
"I mean, thank you." I said.
"He's Indonesian." Gwen explained. "So he'll randomly pop out with phrases or words. You get used to it."
"Really?" Jeff asked. "That's awesome."
"Yeah," Wes added. "That's very interesting." I blushed at the compliments, studying my feet. "Well," Wes continued, as Jeff handed Gwen her uniform."Are there any questions you two have? Perhaps any clubs you'd like to join?"
"Actually," Gwen began, a mischievous gleam in her eye. "Where should we go on Thursday, for the Warbler auditions?"
"Wait, you're really going to audition?" Jeff's face lit up. "That's awesome!" The tall boy leapt towards Gwen, engulfing her in a hug. I smiled as her eyes went wide.
"Um, Jeff?" Wes raised an eyebrow.
"Huh? Oh!" Jeff released my friend. They were both pink with embarrassment.
"My apologies," the Asian said to my friend. "Jeff is, as you can see, rather affectionate."
"No problem," Gwen said. She was staring at the floor, her cheeks still a vibrant shade of pink.
"It's getting kind of late," Jeff mumbled, his face as colorful as Gwen's.
"Yes, I suppose it is." Wes sighed. "I'll let you two get to bed now. Maybe I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow?"
"Yeah, maybe." My heart swelled at the idea of spending more time with him. "Bye, Wes. Bye, Jeff."
"Goodbye," Wes left.
"Night!" Jeff followed his friend out the door.
"Yeah," Gwen said, still suffering shock from her hug attack.
"You look like a tomato." I commented.
"Shut up," Gwen replied, flopping onto her bed.
"I love this school already," I said out loud. Gwen mumbled in agreement and we both fell asleep within seconds.