Chapter 3

First Impressions

Emily

I burst into a fifth classroom and said the same thing I had with all of the other rooms. “Is this Mythology?” I gasped. The whole class looked up with slightly bored expressions, but as soon as they saw who had made the interruption, their eyebrows rose. The classroom was filled with desks that two students shared. At the head of the classroom a teacher stood in front of a blackboard filled with information, all written in what looked like ancient Greek. I noticed a desk in the corner that was probably the teacher’s. It was covered in different papers that all looked like they had to do with ancient Greek. After a moment of embarrassing silence the teacher finally answered me.

“Yes; this is, in fact, Mythology. Are you Miss Emily Rhodes?” The woman asked in a no-nonsense way.

I flinched. “Yes, ma’am. I didn’t mean to be late, but it’s my first day, and I overslept, and I never got a map, and--”

“Alright Miss Rhodes, that is enough for now. I suppose that since this is your first day, I will excuse you for being late. But the next time this happens, I will not hesitate to give you a detention. Do I make myself clear?”

I gulped. “Yes ma’am,” I stuttered, trying to ignore the snickering coming from the rest of the students.

“Good,” she said briskly. “I am Mrs. Mason, your Mythology teacher. I run a very strict classroom, and I expect the best from you.” At this she stopped to look around the classroom. “How about you sit down there, next to Mister Carlson.” I followed her hand to the desk she had pointed at. While one of the seats was empty, a student occupied the other one. I slowly walked over to the desk, avoiding eye contact with the other kids. I sat down in my new seat and put my books down, and looked over to my desk partner, who just seemed to notice me now.

“What? You put her by me! This’s a punishment! What’d I do to deserve this?” the kid I was now sharing a desk with burst out loudly.

Mrs. Mason sighed. “You are not being punished, Mr. Carlson, I just simply put Miss Rhodes there because you are my best student. But if you are not okay with this seating arrangement, we can talk about it at detention on Saturday.”

The kid looked like he was about to argue some more, but then he must have thought better of it, because he closed his mouth and just stuck to glowering.

I gulped. This day was definitely not off to a good start. I had embarrassed myself in front of my peers more than once, and my new desk partner looked like he hated me. I sighed. What could I do? I took another look at my new desk partner. I guess he was handsome, but he definitely wasn’t my type. He looked about 15, with shiny, golden-brown hair covering most of his forehead and the top of his eyes. He had long eyelashes, lightly tanned skin with freckles covering his face, and a muscular form. He looked more like the sporty type, not the smartest kid in the class. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and turned my attention to the teacher. Mrs. Mason had started pointing to the blackboard again, explaining a quiz that the students must have taken the day before. I tried to pay attention, but nothing that Mrs. Mason was saying made any sense to me.

“All right class, now put away your tests and take out your books. We will be going over chapter 2 today,” said Mrs. Mason. “Make sure to take good notes, for they will be vital for studying for the test.” I grimaced and raised my hand. “Is there a problem, Miss Rhodes?” she continued.

“Yes, actually. I don’t have a Mythology book yet, so what should I do?” I asked tentatively.

“Well, we have desk partners for a reason, Miss Rhodes. Just share with Mister Carlson for now,” Mrs. Mason commanded. As soon as she said that, Willy groaned. “Is there a problem, Mister Carlson?”

“No ma’am,” Willy sweetly said. Mrs. Mason raised her eyebrows, but turned back around and began to sit down at her desk. But just before she sat down, something on her desk caught her eye and she picked it up. It looked like just a normal piece of paper, but as soon as she read it, she looked up and started to speak to me again.

“Oh, and Miss Rhodes? I was told to give you your dorm room assignment,” Mrs. Mason stated. “Your dorm room is on the third floor in room 19C.”

I heard someone swear colorfully right behind me, while Willy stood up and said, in front of everybody, “WHAT? She’s sharing a room with me!? No, no, no, no, no! That is not okay! Why didn’t anyone ask me if that was okay? Because it’s not!”

“Mister Carlson, please sit down! Nobody asked if it was okay with you because it does not matter if it is okay with you,” Mrs. Mason said. “And as for you, Miss Kingman, watch your language! I expect better from you.” As soon as Mrs. Mason said that, I turned around to see whom she had addressed. It was a girl that looked about 15 or 16, and guessing by her reaction, I was now sharing a room with her. She had long, shiny dark brown hair with a couple streaks of a redder shade of brown. Her eyes were a jade green. She was built like an athlete, thin and lithe. You could tell she got a lot of exercise.

Mrs. Mason raised her eyebrows and started to speak again. “I have an idea, Miss Kingman. You may be Miss Rhodes’s “student buddy”. You can show her around campus, make sure she gets everything she needs for classes, etc. It will work out especially well since you two are sharing a dorm room! For future reference, Miss Rhodes, Miss Kingman’s first name is Catherine.”

Catherine looked like she was about to object to all of this, but before she said anything, she must have thought better of it, because she just ended up turning her attention back to her book.

That’s when I noticed that I had seen her earlier, talking to Willy. She had been laughing then, with a pretty smile on her face. But now she looked at me with disdain, like I was a bug that had dared walk across her path, and no matter how much she wanted to, she knew she couldn’t squash it. She looked up again, and her jade eyes met my blue ones for a second. Even though it was quick, I could feel something pass between us, like a spark. I gulped and turned back around to face the head of the class. Mrs. Mason was talking again.

“Now class, I suppose we have a few extra minutes before we must start the lesson. Since we have a new student, I’ll give each of you an opportunity to ask your table partner three questions. Begin,” Mrs. Mason declared.
As I thought about what to ask Willy, he rudely asked, “Why are you such a nerd?” My mouth opened and closed for a moment, but I ended up not saying anything because I didn’t know how to respond. “On second thought, don’t answer that,” Willy muttered. “Your turn.”
“Ummm... how come you’re the top student in here?” I blurted.
“Because I get the best grades in the class,” Willy said, rolling his eyes. “I would think it’s kind of obvious.”
“W-well, you just seem more like the kind of kid that would be outside playing sports, not inside working on school work,” I stuttered.
Willy sighed. “For your information, I do play sports. A lot. Alright, next question. Where did you live before you came here?” he asked.
“I lived in a kind of orphanage, with 11 other girls and my adoptive mom. It was in a really small town that rejected magic, so I didn’t know anything about it until I got my Candlewick acceptance letter,” I replied, this time without hesitation.
“Uh-huh.....alright, ask me a question,” Willy prompted in a bored tone.
“What’s your favorite class?” I questioned him.
Willy looked at me for a second. "Wow, you really are a nerd," he replied without answering my question. “So what’s your family specialty?” I must have looked very confused, because Willy heaved a large sigh and elaborated. “You know, were your parents good at Mythology, Dragons, Fairies?” he continued.
“I never really knew my parents. I can’t remember anything about them. I have a journal from them about fairies...and my adoptive mom was a fairy student....” I trailed off.
“Probably fairies, then. Gosh, how’d I get stuck with you?

“Okay, um, what do you like best about this school?" I asked timidly.

Willy sighed, “Not you, that’s for sure.” I heard a snicker from Catherine and her desk partner. My cheeks went red, partly from anger and partly from embarrassment. But before I could think of a witty comeback, Mrs. Mason started to talk again.

“Class, it’s time to begin the lesson. Today we will be practicing our Greek,” Mrs. Mason lectured. “Turn to chapter two in your textbooks for a reference on the Greek language.”

Willy took out his book and passed it to me. “Psh, I’ve got this. You study, I’m going to do some other homework.”

I moved the book towards me and started my notes for chapter 2. After a couple of minutes, Willy glanced over and looked from my notes to the book. “Wha-- are you freaking rewriting the whole chapter?!” he exclaimed.

I looked at my notebook. “No, I’m taking notes.”
He read the first few lines I had written. “You just paraphrased the first page. What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing...” I muttered. I went back to writing. I carefully made sure it sounded like I was writing less.
After I finished my notes, I decided to try some of it out. “Eyw, kavuw, kayah?” I said with a pronounced stutter.
Most of the class laughed and began to speak in fluent Greek. I knew they were laughing at my attempt.
My face flushed. “Γιατί σας γέλιο; Είναι μου πρώτη ημέρα!” I yelled. The class fell silent immediately. What happened? I was only defending myself... I thought.
Mrs. Mason cleared her throat. “Emily, please see me after class.” The bell rang. “Alright, then. See me now.”
I stood up and walked to the front slowly. My first day and I was already in trouble. Great.
Mrs. Mason looked behind me to make sure everybody had left the room, and then eyed me with a curious glance. “Emily, do you know what you just said?” she asked.
I swallowed. “Yes, ma’am. I asked why they were laughing at me, because it’s only my first day.”
“Yes. You did. I would normally see nothing wrong with that other than it would disrupt the class. But Emily, did you realize you said that in fluent Greek?” Mrs. Mason questioned as she leaned forward. “Emily, why didn’t you speak in Greek the first time?”
“M-Mrs. Mason, I think you misheard me... I spoke English. I’ve never heard Greek in my life, until then...” I stammered nervously.
Mrs. Mason closed her eyes and thought before she replied, “Never heard Greek in your life... until today. I see. Emily, I believe Miss Catherine is waiting outside. She will show you to breakfast. Good luck today, Miss Rhodes. I expect a lot from you.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Mason,” I responded in a confused tone.
“Quite welcome. Run along, now,” she answered me.
I hurried outside. Catherine was leaning against the wall beside the door. She looked me up and down. “So, you got into trouble already? Nice. Great first impression,” Catherine said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “I suppose I should take you to breakfast.”
She set off at a brisk pace, taking no notice that I struggled to keep up. “So, Emily, right?” she questioned as she glanced at me. I nodded, and she continued, “Yeah. So let’s get this straight: don’t bug me, okay? No pointless or stupid questions, and try not to act like a nerd. So in other words, don’t act, in any way, how you usually do. And by the way.” she sighed. “Did you bother Willy? If you did, going to him for help for just about anything is a bad idea. Not that he should ever be anyone’s first choice,” she trailed off. “Do you ever talk?”
I started to nod, then thought better of it and cleared my throat. “Yeah, I’m just a little nervous,” I managed as we walked into the cafeteria.
Catherine grunted in reply, then quickly pulled me closer to the food. While I was surveying the large cafeteria, Catherine was looking at the menu.
“Ah, pancakes and waffles! Who’s on breakfast duty?” she thought out loud while looking up at a cork-board near the start of the line. It was covered in what looked like announcements. “Oh... wizards... Emily, quick word of advice. Don’t eat the pancakes the wizard kids make.”
“Why--”
“Just don’t,” she interrupted. I took her word for it. We grabbed our trays and got into line. When we made our way up there, she muttered under her breath. A kid with black hair and an exhausted, blank expression and bags under his eyes was plating pancakes. However, even though he looked half-dead, there was something even more off about him. As he glanced at Catherine, his eyes lit up.
“Catherine! I saved a plate for you! My specialty!” he exclaimed, instantly perking up.
Catherine took the plate of pancakes without missing a beat. “Thanks, Jack! You always come through,” she replied. She watched as Jack cocked his head and looked at me. “Right. Jack, Emily. Emily, Jack. Jack, Emily got assigned to our dorm.”
“Right...” he trailed off, looking me over. “So, Catherine,” he continued, turning away from me. “I hope you like the pancakes!”
We walked away, and Catherine glanced back. Jack was serving other students, with his tired expression back. Catherine surreptitiously scraped her pancakes into the trash, rearranging the other food on her plate.
“Catherine?” I hesitantly asked.
“Yeah?” came the reply.
“Is Jack your boyfriend?”
Catherine snorted. “No. He’s actually a cousin of mine. Anyway, I don’t date.”
I sarcastically thought, Gee, I wonder why. However, all I said was, “Okay.”
Catherine made her way to an empty table, with me nervously following her. She sat down and instantly began to eat.
“Mmm. I’m so glad the wizard kids made waffles, too. They can’t make pancakes, but they sure can make some good waffles,” Catherine mumbled through a mouthful of food. I started to eat my breakfast. Willy came over, glanced at us, did a double take when he saw me sitting there, and sat on the other side of Catherine.
“So, Emily. What was up with that episode in Mythology?” he asked without actually looking at me.
“Nothing. I was speaking in English. You guys were just hearing what you wanted to hear,” I hotly replied.
“I don’t know, I hate Greek, but that’s what I heard,” countered Catherine.
“Whatever,” I replied with a tone implying finality.
Catherine asked, “Okay. What do you have next? I have to show you the classroom.”
I pulled out my schedule from Mrs. Mason. “Well, I have free time after breakfast, then Dragons, Wizards, and Pirates before lunch.”
Catherine sighed distastefully. “So I don’t get rid of you until after Wizards? Great. I’m stuck with you.”
Willy looked up from his plate, which he was holding up to put the least distance between his mouth and the food as possible. “Hey, I have her in Wizards, too, and Pirates. Don’t feel so sorry for yourself.”
Well, at least I’m not alone in my classes, I thought, unsure whether I should be happy or miserable.
Willy left long before we did, but once we had finished breakfast, Catherine walked me up to the dorm. We passed a room that Catherine informed me was the study hall, the room that I had seen earlier with the ocean inside, and a room that had a peaceful forest within it. For some reason, I felt drawn to that room. I told myself it was just the nature-loving part of me and walked on.

As we approached a corner, I saw Jack, Willy, and some big, burly kid arguing in the midst of all the students. Catherine saw the same thing, because she swore under her breath and started running over to them. Catherine was fast, but not fast enough. Before she was even halfway there, there was a huge explosion of light and colorful smoke. When the smoke cleared, Jack stood where he had before, with a maniacal grin on his face. I wondered where the big burly kid went, and then I saw the frog. It was slimy, green, and croaking like it was about to die. Willy didn’t look surprised, and Catherine’s exasperated facial expression said that this was a normal occurrence.

I turned to Catherine with what I’m sure was a look of pure terror. “What... how... what was that?!”

Catherine grimaced. “Welcome to Candlewick, Emily.” She then looked at Willy. “You shouldn’t have let that happen...”

“He called Jack a freak!” Willy argued.

Jack stood there, still grinning, until a tall, blond girl guided a teacher over. “...And he turned him into a frog, Professor! He hadn’t done anything wrong!”

The teacher clucked his tongue in a note of sympathy. “Ah, poor Bobby. Thank you, Drew. And as for you, Mister Gorman,” he said, rounding on Jack. “We are going to have a serious talk. Come.”

As the professor dragged Jack off, Willy said, “I suppose I’d better go help Jack.” He jogged after them.

Catherine led me to the staircase. “Catherine, who did Jack turn into a frog? And who was the girl?” I asked curiously.

“Well, the guy was Bobby, a pirate kid who has every right to be turned into a frog. He’s one of the best students in Pirates, but a complete jerk. But then again, most pirate kids are. As to the girl,” she continued, “That was Her Highness, the Almighty Drew Taylor. She’s such an airhead, such a complete snob! She will do anything to get more popular, including dating Bobby.”

“I take it you don’t like Drew?” I guessed.

“Nope. I don’t know what happened, but she’s never liked me much. And after I totally creamed her in this one fight, sword to arrow... well, let’s just say she was really mad that I broke her bow. Good riddance, I’d say. Now that I think about it, I don’t think she likes Willy or Jack either, probably because Willy rejected her offer to be his girlfriend, and after Jack turned her into a rat... well, they aren’t on very good terms either.”

As we approached the dorms, Catherine continued, “Anyways, about the dorm. There’s a guy half, and a girl half. Each side has a bunk bed. Just so you know, the top bunk is mine. I repeat, it’s mine.”

“Ok, I’m afraid of heights anyway,” I replied.
“And don’t touch my stuff,” she continued.
“Sure thing, Catherine.”
“Also, don’t mess around on the boy’s side of the room.”
“Why would I?”
Catherine snorted. “Stop being so agreeable.”
I opened my mouth to tell her I would stop, and then I thought better of it and stayed silent. Catherine led me into the room.
“So,” she began as she flopped onto the couch in the dorm. “How’d you end up here?”
I was surprised by the question. “Well... I have to start a while back in my life.”
“Whatever. We have an hour,” she replied.
“Okay. My adoptive mom told me--”
“Wait, adoptive mom?”
“Yeah, let me explain. My adoptive mom, Jen, told me that when she first found me, I was a little two-year-old walking around in the street in a fancy dress after a bad thunderstorm. She runs a kind of orphanage for young girls, which means she adopts us, so she ran outside to get me. I was calling for my mom and clutching a journal. In fact,” I continued, noticing that my stuff had been transferred from the guest room to the dorm. I pulled the lavender book from its stack. “It was this book. It’s a journal about fairies. I don’t know whose it was, but Jen and I figure it was my mom’s. So she kept it a secret until I got a letter from Candlewick the other day. Turns out that Jen went to Candlewick as a teenager, and was in Fairies! So we figured that from either “family” I’ve had fairy influence. My parents must have been in Fairies because of the journal, and Jen has a small amount of fairy blood, like all the other fairy students,” I finished. “I wish I knew how much fairy blood I have from my parents.”
Catherine studied me for a moment before saying, “Huh. So now I’m stuck with a fairy kid along with a mythology dude and a wizard freak. Whatever. Wake me up when first bell rings, I’m going to take a nap.”
“But that won’t be enough time to get to class!” I replied, somewhat confused.
Catherine smiled. “We’ll be fine.”
She walked toward a door in the back of the room. Since I didn’t have anything better to do, I followed her. I went through the door and found myself in some kind of a bedroom. One side of the room was obviously the boys’ side. The furniture consisted of a bunk bed, hastily made, and a desk covered in papers, projects, schoolbooks, candy wrappers, and a large coffee mug. There was also a dresser with the drawers hanging out, and clothes draped everywhere. It was a mess.
The opposite side of the room, on the other hand, was perfect. It had the same furniture, but there was no trash. The bunk bed’s sheets had obviously been carefully made, and the desk had been carefully organized. The trash bin had been emptied, and the big curtain was carefully pinned back. The dresser drawers were neatly closed, and I had a feeling that inside, all the clothes were folded. I noticed that the bottom bunk was bare. I made a mental note to ask Catherine for some sheets.
“This is our side, right?” I asked Catherine.
“Yup. I’m a neat freak. Oh yeah, you’d better be pretty organized yourself, or you’ll have to learn to be. I don’t care if the boys are messy with their half, but you’re not messing up our half unless you want me to have Jack put a curse on you, okay?” she threatened.
I silently thanked Jen for teaching me to be neat. “Don’t worry; I’m not messy.”
“Good. I’m taking a nap now, so don’t bug me until the bell rings,” she said. With an easy grace and astounding agility, she climbed the side of the bed and swung herself onto the top bunk. She pulled a curtain that I hadn’t noticed before around her bunk. It was like a smaller version of the curtain hanging across the room. I was about to ask her about it, when she suddenly said from behind the curtain, “Oh, in case you were wondering, the curtains are magic. If somebody closes it from behind, then they can’t be opened unless the person who closed them does so.” Then she fell silent.

I shook my head in amazement. The wonders the magical world has, I thought. Then I realized that things like these curtains were probably taken for granted in this world.

I walked back to the couch and sat down. I leaned over and grabbed my journal off the top of my big stack of books. I had never really read it yet. I decided I would wait until after Fairies to read it so I could understand it better. I looked around the room and saw a closet. When I opened it, I found my suitcases on the floor. I dragged them over to the dresser, and started putting my clothes away.
Eventually, Willy walked in. Jack hadn’t come yet, but I figured he was in trouble for the frog. Willy rolled his eyes when he saw me organizing my shirts, but said nothing when he realized Catherine’s curtain was shut, meaning she was sleeping. He walked to his bunk bed, clambered to the top about as gracefully as an elephant, and was asleep a minute later.
When I finally finished unpacking, I walked back over to the couch. As I sat down, the bell rang. Sighing, I got up to go wake Catherine up, but she was already down. “Get your stuff, we’re going to Dragons.”
I leaned over to pick up my stack, but Catherine stopped me with a sigh. “Come on, nerd. Just take the books you need. Which really isn’t any of them, since they’re all fiction novels, not textbooks.”
“But--”
“Just. The books. You need.”
“Okay.” I picked up the journal and stood up. Catherine grabbed my wrist and we were whisked into darkness.



I realize that our writing is slightly immature, but hey, it's our first time! We'll get better as we go. I (Keilen) am also a bit of a grammar freak sometimes, and like to go back and correct my work. I have no doubt there are lots of mistakes in our writing, but I can't fix everything. I do try, though. *wink, wink*