-3rd POV-
Utopia thought Eliza was very fun to talk to. They spent the majority of lunch walking along paved paths around the school, Eliza pointing out buildings here and there. It was a pretty standard boarding school set up—the main building with all academic classrooms, a huge dorm building, library, cafeteria, gym and pool combination, and auditorium/stage/music class building. When she mentioned how the library had two floors, Utopia perked up and asked if they could go there. Eliza, who was happy to delay going to 5th period, obliged.
Utopia set her eyes on the large establishment and gaped openly.
"These steps!" she exclaimed. "They're gorgeous!"
Indeed they were; every single marble slab that led to the main entrance of the school library was smooth and sprinkled with light snow. Utopia thought she was walking up the steps to a museum! The winter sun hit the while marble so perfectly that everything was glowing in the hazy atmosphere. Elizaveta watched in both amusement and wonder as the other girl bounded up the stairs, her hair flying free in the wind and eyes sparkling in joy.
She looks free, Eliza thought to herself. Why wasn't she like this before? Is this her true personality?
"Hey, Eliza," Utopia called from the top. "You coming or what?"
The Hungarian suddenly realized that she was still standing at the base of the steps. Still thinking of how Utopia changed, she climbed the steps quickly, liking this new Utopia more and more.
Utopia, who was more attentive than she looked at the moment, noticed how Eliza's expression was so much more comfortable than before, when she looked a little awkward walking around together.
Eliza did the honors and opened the wooden door, breezes of air condition spilling out from the library, making both girls' hair flutter like wispy ghosts.
The library looked even bigger on the inside than on the outside. Shelves were literally everywhere—standing tall in neat rows, hugging the walls tall and wide, and bulging with hundreds of thousands of books like a hoard of treasures just waiting to be opened.
"I love it," the dazzled Utopia breathed.
"Hey, Utopia," whispered Eliza. She grinned mischievously. "I see Ludwig and Felice! Let's sneak up on them."
"Okay," Utopia said excitedly back, just barely remembering the faces attached to their names.
Sure enough, sitting at one of the desks along the back walls was a frustrated German and a teary-eyed Italian. The two girls hid behind their backs, listening to their conversation.
"I'm so sorry, Ludwig! I just don't understand this!"
Ludwig sighed heavily. Why was teaching an Italian math so damn hard? Mein Gott…
"Look, this equation corresponds to this equation; therefore you can use Theorem 6 to prove that the two shapes are congruent. You should've learned this years ago, Feliciano."
"Ve," sobbed Feliciano. "But I was too busy trying to catch up in Science that year…"
"That's no excuse," the German scolded. "There's no—"
"EEP!" shrieked Feliciano, when two hands suddenly hindered his sight. He immediately flailed his arms around. "EVERYTHING IS SO DARK! PLEAE DON'T HURT ME! I'LL DO ANYTHING! LUDWIG! LUDWIG! HEEELLLP!"
Ludwig himself was blinded by a hand that covered his eyes and held to the chair by a strong arm around his waist.
"Guess who?" chirped a cheery voice.
He frowned. The voice was female and sounded familiar, but he couldn't think of its owner.
"I give up," he said, and then realizing that the Italian next to him was quiet. Feliciano's perpetrator must have revealed them self already.
"Aww," whined the voice in his ear, breath tickling his neck. "But that's cheating, Ludwig."
Another girl laughed, "Let go of him. He'll be shocked to see who it is."
The hands that covered his eyes and held his waist let go, her hands finding refuge on the edge of his chair. Ludwig looked up into a pretty face, blinked, and finally realized who it was.
"Utopia?" he said in surprise.
The girl smiled. "Yeah?"
Ludwig thought, 'I can barely recognize her'. Utopia used to look so calm and serene—intelligent and diplomatic. She used to be somewhat emotionless, but it was always a positive emotionless. She never got over excited nor did she ever get angry.
But the Utopia standing above him gave off a whole new aura. He couldn't really tell in the infirmary room, but now it was clear that Utopia had changed. If it wasn't the spark in her eye that gave it away, it was the smile. Sunshine bright and happy—an emotion the old Utopia never really showed.
Watching Ludwig gaze at Utopia, Elizaveta snickered to herself and Italy 've'-d obliviously.
Ludwig realized that he was staring, and quickly turned to the smirking Hungarian.
"What are you two doing here?" he asked, a little harsher than he'd intended.
Still smirking, Eliza answered, "I'm showing Utopia around the school, and she wanted to come to the library. Is there a problem?"
"No," he replied. "But you are disrupting my tutor session."
Eliza stuck her tongue out in jest while Utopia laughed a little.
"Sorry for bothering you, Ludwig," she said, deciding that the German and Italian were both very likable people. "Did you two have lunch already?"
Felice perked up. "Si! We ate in our secret corner on the second floor, so the mean librarian lady couldn't catch us!"
Ludwig sighed, nearly face-palming.
"You're not supposed to say it out loud," he growled.
All of a sudden, the bell ran throughout the school, signaling the end of lunch.
"I haven't finished my math homework yet!" cried Felice.
"You'll have class time to do it," informed Eliza, having been to math already.
"Really? Ve, thank you! Ciao, Eliza! Ciao, Utopia!" he called out, rushing to his next class. Ludwig, too, rushed after him. He offered just a nod in good bye.
Eliza turned to her companion.
"Would you like to see your dorm room now?"
Utopia's heart skipped a beat. What would her room look like? Would she be able to recognize something in it? Will her memories come back when she walked into the room she'd been living alone in for years?
"Let's go!"
When they were outside, a question popped up in Utopia's head.
"Hey, Eliza? What was I like before I lost my memories?"
Eliza paused in her descent down the marble stairs, a look of contemplation on her face. How could she explain the odd personality of former Utopia in simple terms? Ah yes, there was but one way to describe her.
"You used to be perfect."
"How so?" Utopia was curious. How had she changed? Was it for better, or for worse?
Eliza shrugged. "Everyone either loved you or admired you because you were just so perfect. You always got the best grades, you were the best athlete, had the best attitude, were friendly to everyone, and you definitely looked the most beautiful." She threw an apologetic smile. "You're still the prettiest now, by the way."
Somewhat flattered but uninterested, Utopia insisted on more details. Eliza complied.
"You're a member of nearly all the clubs at this academy and take the first chair in concert band programs and chorus. I'm pretty sure you had most of the guys drooling in their sleep, but you were always so…indifferent to everything. Like you enjoyed being here, but weren't concerned in interacting with any one of us. I thought that as your only flaw; that you were everyone's friend, yet never got too deep. Like you were trying to keep your distance."
"That's…kind of depressing," Utopia admitted truthfully.
"It was," complained Eliza. "Your reputation was so intimidating, I never hung out with you. Hey, can I tell you something?"
"Sure."
"I like you better now than before. You're easier to talk to. More open."
Utopia grinned. "Is that supposed to be a compliment to me right now, or your way of telling me I used to be a stuck up, stuffy popular girl?"
She winked. "I'll let you guess which one it is. Oh, we're here."
xXx
Inside the dorm building were four levels, the bottom two for boys and the top two for girls. Instead of walking up three stories worth of stairs, Eliza and Utopia took one of the two elevators in the end of the main lounge/hall up to the fourth floor, where Utopia's dorm room resided at the end of the farthest hallway.
As they passed doors embellished with name signs and decorations, Eliza was nearly as excited as Utopia was to see her room. No one had ever gone into the perfect girl's room before.
The two finally stopped at a plain white door.
"Hey, wait," said Utopia, looking to the side. "What does that door lead to?"
-1st POV- (muahaha, random pov change!)
I pointed to a heavy looking door on the dead end of the hall, adjacent to my room.
"That leads to the rooftop. But no one really goes there, since it's so far away from the entrance."
"Cool," I said, turning back to the locked door. "Can I open it?"
Eliza pulled out a silver key from her pocket. "You have the honors."
The key made a muted clicking sound. I gripped the handle, and opened the door in a flash, like suddenly ripping the wrapper off a birthday present. Both of us leaned into the room…
…and pulled back, confused. I was extremely disappointed.
The room was empty. Blank, empty walls; one simple bed with plain sheets and a single unused pillow; one big window covered by a curtain; a small desk; and a stand next to the bed with a standard lamp plugged into the wall. On one side was a closet, and on the other was a door leading to the private bathroom that Eliza informed me every dorm room had.
It was so…fucking PLAIN.
My skin itched at the sight of this colorless…abomination! I couldn't STAND these blank walls! I assumed that I magically inherited a trait unfamiliar to the previous-me:
Freaking creativity.
"Wow, your room is probably the biggest room in the building. But…I'm sort of…" hesitated Eliza.
"Disappointed?" I offered. "A bit dead inside? Enraged at this lack of soul?"
She laughed a little. "Yeah, kinda."
"Well, I am too," I huffed. "I'm allowed to decorate this room as much as I want, right?"
"Sure. My room has tons of posters and pictures on the walls, and I switched out all of the default furniture for a different bed, dressers, a big desk—lots of stuff. You have free reign over your own room, don't worry."
My eyes hardened determinedly. "Where can I buy paints and paintbrushes?"
Her eyes widened. "You're going to paint?"
"I'll go insane if I sleep in this boring ass place."
I could tell she was hiding a smile. "If you're going to go that far, I'm pretty sure Miss Ukraine will let you have a few cans and brushes. Poor Miss Ukraine, one day the art club disbanded and dumped everything on her. She's such a pushover."
"Perfect. I'll go ask her tomorrow, then."
"Do you need help with painting?"
"Nah, I'd rather do it myself." Smiling sheepishly, I said, "But could you stick with me if I have to tour the school again?"
"Absolutely. I'd love to."
"Thanks, I really appreciate it."
Eliza flashed me a smile, and then walked over to the bed at the other corner of the (rather BIG) room. She pulled out something I hadn't noticed. A black and white school bag.
"This is your bag. I'm guessing the rest of your textbooks are in the desk." She pulled out random things, like composition books, a cute pencil case and a wallet. "But this is what's important."
Out from the bag came a sleek, black laptop.
"Everyone is assigned a laptop by the school. Try log on to your user."
Sitting on the small desk chair, I opened the laptop and it flashed to a 'Welcome' screen. A default icon and the username, 'Utopia,' were waiting for me to type in my password.
My fingers came up with nothing.
"I don't remember my password," I finally said.
"Are you sure?" After my nod of confirmation, Eliza cursed. "I guess you gotta request for a new laptop, then."
"I wish I could see what was on my computer," I sighed.
"You can still keep the laptop, 'cause I'm pretty sure you paid the extra money to keep it as your own laptop. Because of that, you can just ask for a new one and they'd give you another. Unless you don't want to keep this old one."
I shook my head vigorously. "No, I want to keep this. Maybe I'll remember my password!"
She shrugged. "Okay, that works." Suddenly glancing at her watch, Eliza paled. "SHIT! It's almost 6th period! I'm so sorry, Utopia, but I have to go do my presentation for class!
Shutting the laptop and shaking my head, I said, "No, it's totally fine. Get out of here and kill that presentation, Eliza!"
At the door, she turned back for a second.
"You can just chill for the rest of the day. I'll come pick you up at around six or seven for dinner, 'kay?"
"Thanks! I'll see you then!" One last, reassuring smile, she rushed out the door.
Flopping down onto the bed, I breathed in the scent of the cool sheets. They smelled like flowers. I inspected the bathroom (one shower, big sink), checked the desk compartments (text books, extra packs of paper, pencils, etc), and the side pockets of my bag. Nothing out of the ordinary. Or special. But I did find one interesting item.
An iTouch. No pass code was set up, so I unlocked it straightaway. Finding a list of songs, I gaped. Did I buy the whole iTunes store, or what? I looked at the 'About' information to discover that there was a monstrous quantity of tracks.
8,908 songs. WHAT?
Another shocking thing was that the iPod also said there was limitless space, where normal ones said things like 8GB or 36GB.
Deciding that waiting inside was boring, I took my room key and exited the dorm, opening the door to the roof top. Immediately, I was chilled to the bone with violent gusts of winter wind and estatic snow. A few minutes later, I was back and properly equipped with heavy jeans, boots, a scarf, warm sweater, and a thick winter jacket that I found in my closet. One gloved hand scrolled through a playlist I randomly put together. Music filled my mind as I walked out onto the roof.
My boots made funny crunching sounds whenever I stepped on heaps of snow. I saw a tall platform on the roof that might as well have been a floor all by itself. Climbing a ladder to the raised platform, I stood tall and free in the storm of wind and snow. I could see the whole school from here.
It was something truly magical.
xXx
Slowly, the storm thinned out to a gentle sprinkle of snow. Time disappeared in this winter fantasy. Music blocked me from the world. The sky turned darker and darker until I could actually see a moon. Somewhere along the line, I fell asleep on the platform above the roof, curled up nice and warm like a cocoon.
"Utopia," sang a voice. "You'll catch a cold if you stay up here, da?" Lucky for him, the music had already reached its end and it was quiet enough for me to hear his voice.
I sleepily opened my eyes to see Ivan leaning over me, sweet smile on his face and his scarf a little damp from snowfall.
Despite his own warning, he took a seat next to me, hanging his legs off the edge of the platform.
"It's nice up here, yes?"
Cheerily smiling, I said, "Yup. Did you need something?"
"Da," he replied. "The Elizaveta girl is storming the building looking for you. She is waving her frying pan around like an angry woman."
Was I up here that long? "Shoot, I'm sor—"
"It's getting very annoying because I wanted to take a nice nap before going to get dinner, but I could not sleep with an angry woman stomping up and down the halls, screaming your name."
There was an unmistakable undertone of malice in his words, matched perfectly with the dark smile on his face. Still, I was unafraid, here on this roof, nearly 5 stories above the ground.
"I'll go then—"
"We should!" he chimed. Leaping off the edge, he landed on the roof tiles loudly. I looked over the side to see him giving me a warm smile, violet eyes twinkling and arms out as if to catch me.
"Jump, Utopia!" he called.
"You're crazy!" I laughed. "I'll take the ladder, thank you very much."
However, as I was climbing down the ladder, a hand reached up and yanked me away from the rigs. Ivan caught me in his big, strong arms bridal-style, the smile still on his face.
"I caught you anyway," he chuckled.
I blushed a bit, but covered it up by saying, "Okay," and made a move to jump down, but his arms tightened.
"You will be sure to keep Elizaveta from screaming your name in the halls next time, da?" he asked threateningly. The air was suddenly colder.
"Yes sir," I replied, just as cheerful, and added a salute.
"Good girl." He put me down. "Eat with me."
Hand on the door that led inside, I said, "Sure." And we went inside for dinner.