Part 19
*
Huh. I supposed if you had lived my life, gone through everything I'd gone through and then, amazingly, got a chance to start afresh, you'd jump at it. Like me. But it started with a 27 hour drive, an hour lecture and another hour arranging where your dorm was... you'd say exactly what I did.
"This is fucking ridiculous".
I suppose you'd think I was being spoilt, impatient, selfish and hey, maybe I was. But there's a point in someone's life when you just snap. Maybe I'd reached mine now. Or maybe, I'd reached mine years ago and now was going possibly insane.
*
Jenny and I stared at our now-dorm. It was much, much better than our old one. The walls and floor were rich mahogany wood, the curtains were silk black and the ceiling light was... crystal? Two bunk beds sat opposite each other at both walls and two wardrobes fitted neatly at the end of them. The bunk beds on the right side had purple and white themed bed sheets and the bunk beds on the left side had purple and black themed sheets.
The window was open, slightly ajar and the smell was strong, like incense; lavender. Jenny's eyes glittered when she saw the immaculate lilac rug between the bunk beds. Two tables sat next to each other with a slight space under the open window. One table was accompanied by a writing pad, a black old computer and several pens. The other table had a small television on it, and both tables had purple chairs tucked in.
I watched Jenny wander further into the room and look around it like it was actual heaven. "This is fucking amazing!" she laughed, "Why didn't we get this at our old joint?".
I smiled but suddenly, I heard sharp penetrating heels march forwards. A chill went down my spine and I spun around to see a pretty dark haired –Asian?—girl stride towards the room, wearing a skin-tight strappy black dress that stopped above her knees. Her sharp heels struck the floor every time she moved forwards. As she walked, her long dark hair flowed behind her, followed by a girl, dressed in light pink.
She entered the dorm and paused, looking me up and down. Her presence was intoxicating and so was her stare. "And who are you?" she talked with a gentile, poised voice.
"Carmen" I smiled. I turned back to Jenny, "That's Jenn—".
"Hi, I'm Jennifer" Jenny stepped forwards, interrupting me and wait—did she just speak in a rich English accent?
"That's cute" the girl smirked, "Why are you here?". The girl in pink behind her just stood there, arms folded.
"This is our dorm" I explained, "We're from St. Rosemary—".
"Wait" the girl interrupted me, "The country freaks?".
I forced a laugh, "Yep, that's us... The country freaks" I turned to Jenny and tried to smile.
"Well, it makes sense" the girl strode past me to the left set of bunk beds, "Katie and Zoe are gone, shame really... Anyway, I'm Lana and that's Caitlin".
Lana carried on, "Caitlin takes the top bunk over there and I always take the top on this one".
Caitlin seemed to frown, "But Lana, I'm always with y—".
"Great, then we're sorted" Lana smirked.
Jenny and I went to get our luggage that we'd left outside. "What the hell was that?" I asked her quietly.
"What?" she asked innocently.
"The accent?" I replied in a funny English accent.
"This is a new place" Jenny explained, "I'm reinventing myself! Jennifer Anne is going to be a sophisticated educated young Senior".
I rolled my eyes.
I guess you're wondering... Where's Shane, Becky, Alice and Joanie, right? I'm not sure but because of the students that had already attended here before us, everything got muddled up and we got paired with whoever we got paired with.
But, maybe it's a good thing. Some time away from Shane may be easier, and don't even get me started on Joanie. We walked back into the dorm and put our luggage by our beds. I know I shouldn't but there was something about Lana that made me want to know more.
I know, I know. I hear what you're saying. How many more ways can I set myself up for pain?
*
Walking down a dark corridor, I entered a room and looked around. It had an old musky chemical smell and I could just make out that the outline in the dark was a room full of computers.
"Hi!" a voice jumped out at me, causing me to make a rather shocked noise.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" a girl stepped forwards. She was small, petite even, and quite lean with dark hair and wearing big red glasses. She wore a strappy purple playsuit and worn out black converses.
"You didn't" I smiled back, "Em, I was sent down here to see Violet Watermen...?".
"That's me" the girl stepped forwards, "Lemme me guess, you need a new password or something".
I shrugged sheepishly, "I lost my timetable, I need another one".
"Sure" Violet smiled and immediately sat down at a computer. She logged on faster than I've ever seen anybody type before. After clicking onto several things, she asked me my whole name, which took some time her writing out. Then I heard the printer buzzing.
"The printer takes some time to warm up" Violet shrugged apologetically, "But it won't take that long".
"That's okay" I sat down next to her and tapped my fingers on the counter, "I'm not trying to be noisy here..." I started, "But eh, do you know the deal with Lana and... that Caitlin person?".
Violet looked like she wanted to laugh but she just smirked instead, "Good god, that girl has no boundaries".
"What?" I frowned.
"Lana's the Queen of the school, anything you wanna do, it goes by her first and if she doesn't approve..." Violet shook her head slowly.
"Queen of the School?" I scoffed, "Aren't you giving her a little bit more credit than she really deserves?".
Violet shook her head again, "Lana's dad owns the school; she really is like the Queen around here".
I frowned. "Who's Katie and Zoe?" I proceeded, remembering Lana had mentioned them earlier on.
"They were part of the Pom-Zoms" Violet replied, "But then..." she trailed off.
"Pom-Zoms?" I frowned even harder.
"Oh, it's what everybody who either hates Lana and her group or was simply not allowed in calls them" Violet replied, "Pom-poms like Cheerleaders and zombies cause they're so evil, get it?" she laughed.
"Funny" I forced a smile, "What did Katie and Zoe do to get kicked out?".
"Why?" Violet asked sharply, "You're not planning on joining them, right? I mean, you don't come off as that kind of girl".
"I'm not!" I burst out, "I'm just... curious... Everyone has a story".
"Well, Zoe and Lana had had this weird kind of love-hate relationship, friends with benefits if you like, but Katie had always... You could just tell she doted on Zoe and when Lana and Zoe went public, it ruined Katie" Violet replied.
"What happened?" yes I was engrossed in this story. I wasn't interrogating Violet because I was noisy; I did it because I wanted to know more about Lana.
"Katie went crazy" Violet stood and went to get the copy of my timetable from the printer, "One night; she swallowed a bunch of pills and ended up in hospital, has been in a coma ever since... And Zoe well... Zoe blamed herself and Lana and she dropped out of here and hasn't been back since, some people say she even went abroad".
"And Katie's still in a coma?" I asked.
Violet nodded, "That's the last I heard... See, Katie's epileptic and the pills she took brought on a seizure but she fell that night and whacked her head off of the floor, real hard. Apparently, there was blood everywhere and ever since then, Katie's been on life support, they think she might have brain damage".
"That's horrible" I winced, taking the timetable from Violet's hands. "Thanks" I added, gesturing to the paper in my hands.
"No problem, Carmen" Violet shrugged, "If you have any problems, just come straight back to me".
"Thanks" I nodded. I stood and walked towards the door but Violet called my name and I spun around, still a little bit stunned from hearing that story. "Yeah?" I asked.
Violet stepped forwards, "Carmen, you look like a nice person and well... Lana... She's just not a nice person, I'm only saying this because I don't want anyone else to get hurt but don't... Don't get involved with her, she'll mess you up".
I smiled sadly and shook my head, "I'm not... That wasn't why I was asking..." I trailed off before looking down, "There's only one girl who could ever mess me up truly" I smiled at her once more and turned, walking out, back down the way I'd came.
Author's Note: I'm getting quite excited about how this will take a new turn and freshen things up, I always love adding new characters and playing around with them. Hope you like this chapter, please review and give me your thoughts,
xxx