Everything.
Jake is pretending to be my older cousin who just graduated from college. Jake looks about twenty-two, but he’s actually thirty-two. He has a wife and a four year old little girl. The girl is super adorable and hyper. I met her, and all she wanted to do was play dress up, tea party and dolls with me.
Uncle Matty is older. Probably about forty five, though I haven’t asked. All I know is that he has a daughter who is my age, and a son who is a little younger. His wife passed away about fifteen years ago, and he has stayed single since then. His mom lives with him and watches his kids while he’s away for work.
I feel guilty that they have to give up their lives to babysit me. It’s not fair to them.
“How long do you think it’ll be before I can go home?” I ask.
“It could be a while,” Uncle Matty says. “Get comfortable.”
I highly doubt I will ever be comfortable at boarding school, but maybe he’s right. I don’t exactly have a choice.
This is my life now.
I might as well make the most of it.
2pm.
Orientation.
How a person decorates their personal space says a lot about them.
For instance, if somebody looked at my side of the dorm room, they might think I’m a little bit OCD. Everything is black and white. I have a black and white chevron patterned comforter. I have a white chair sitting at my black desk. I have a huge, furry, black rug that covers a lot of the floor. My black bookshelf has all my books arranged in alphabetical order. The clothes and shoes in my closet are arranged by color and style.
My roommate is a different story.
Her side of the room is not messy by any standard, though it is the first day. I hope she’s clean. But her side is green and black, which happens to be the school colors. She has a cork board that has a ton of pictures on it, and at the top, there is a huge East Raven Academy sticker. I don’t want to be nosey, but I do look at a few of the pictures. She’s in a soccer uniform in a lot of pictures, and in one, she even has a green raven painted on her face. I can already tell this girl has got some major team spirit.
Go team.
But seriously, I have never been to a sporting event at school. Ever. I played soccer back home, but it was a team separate from the school. I am pretty sure that this girl is going to hate me, based on that fact alone.
Who knows... maybe I will go to a sports game while I’m here. There really isn’t anything else to do, considering I am stuck on campus.
The door opens, startling me for a second. I glance over and see a girl with dirty blonde hair walk in. Her hair is all piled on top of her head in a messy bun, and she has a pair of designer shades pushed up. She smiles big when she sees me, revealing bright white teeth.
Good to know dental hygiene is important at this school.
“Hey,” she says, walking over to me. “I’m Teagan Hudson.”
“I’m Phoenix.” Crap. What’s my last name? Ah, right. “Underwood.”
“You’re so cute,” she says, then pauses. “Sorry if that sounded creepy. I’m not a creep, I promise.”
Me?
Cute?
On what planet?
“Thanks,” I say, feeling a little awkward.
She smiles brightly again.
I really hope she doesn’t smile all the time.
Okay, that makes me sound really cynical. But I’m not. Mostly. I just find people who are overly happy all the time to be annoying. I know from experience that happiness is an illusion. It doesn’t exist. At least, not for long periods of time. So, happy people just seem... fake.
“I can tell we’re going to be good friends,” Teagan says.
I hope so. Really, I do.
I force a smile, trying to be friendly. She and I are probably going to be spending a lot of time together in this tiny room, and I’d rather not spend the entire year with somebody who can’t stand me.
“We should probably go to orientation,” she says.
“Isn’t orientation just for freshman?” I ask.
“Yeah, but they changed it a couple of years back. I guess the staff felt like we needed reminders at the beginning of each year,” Teagan explains. “You’ll understand why, once we go to orientation. Not everybody likes to follow the rules here.”
“Right...” I say, my voice trailing off.
I wonder what happened to make them do that.
What kind of prep school did my parents send me to?
I follow Teagan out the door of our dorm and down the hall. I can’t help but notice just how different we are. She’s blonde. I’m brunette. She has brown eyes. I have blue. She’s tall, like, supermodel kind of tall. And I’m 5’7”—average. She’s wearing a flower-printed maxi dress that falls around her ankles. It’s super bright and makes her stand out. I’m wearing a black t-shirt dress that goes to my knees, and a denim jacket. I blend in.
“So, where are you from?” Tegan asks, as we walk out the front.