Feed the Flames

..::~^Ronan^~::..

“A prep school? No, dad, you shouldn’t have,” I mumbled to myself as I stood outside the black iron gate, looking at the large school. The metal wound in intricate and beautiful ways, but somehow, the whole thing still seemed creepy. The whole place looked creepy. The school was large, and built like an old castle that you would see in Ireland. It was light grey, and the medieval windows that littered the walls indicated there were at least six floors in the building. Towers rose from the school, which probably led up to their prep torture chambers. Who was I kidding, this whole situation was torture. “You really shouldn’t have,” Suddenly, I felt like I was in an episode of Ghost Hunters: International - Special edition: Dracula’s castle.

I chuckled to myself. No, it wasn’t the great castle of Vladimir the Impaler. No, I wasn’t in Romania. However, I was very far from home and deep in the forest, standing in front of Bal Voyeux du Leon Academy. Some would say that I was unenthusiastic about the idea. Some would be absolutely right. I looked back at the way the taxi had gone; I was alone. That left me with two options; go into the school or kill myself. I looked around, finding no sharp objects to impale myself with, which left me with one option. After taking a deep breath and adjusting my glasses, I picked up my two bags and walked to the large and intimidating wooden doors, and entered Bal Leon.

I was horror struck the moment I noticed that all of the students were wearing a uniform, and I had to stop myself from gagging on my tongue. The girls wore a greyscale plaid skirt and white knee high stockings, and guys wore grey slacks. Over a white cotton blouse was a forest green sweater, or sweater vest, with the schools crest over the left breast. Everybody wore shiny penny loafers and grey ties. In this, I realized my dad had lied to me. He said that going to this school was not going to be that bad. He said nothing about penny loafers. I was already planning my getaway.

I looked down at my scuffed up Doc Martens, which I hadn’t even bothered to tie, causing my long auburn hair to fall in front of my face. My clothes were baggy, which hid my petite frame. I was out of place and on the receiving end of a broad spectrum of looks, most of them not being so nice. I looked up and down the halls, hopelessly lost and wondering where the front office might be. I needed my dorm room, class schedule, and whatever else they might cram my way.

“Lost?” somebody asked from behind me. This caused me to jump and earn a few more stares. I turned to face the boy who was noticeably shorter than I was, which said something, because I was pretty short myself.

“Unfortunately,” I answered, a blush creeping on to my face. Short or not, he was pretty cute.

“Well,” he smirked, started to walk a bit, and then turned back to me, “I can take you where you need to go, or we can go to a place you’d probably have more fun,” a friendly smile replaced his smirk, and I nodded.

“Sadly, I have to find my way to the front office,” I frowned, and he looked a bit disappointed. It wasn’t long before his smile reappeared.

“It’s okay, we’ll save the other place for later,” his hazel eyes glimmered as he talked, “come on,” he said, starting to walk in the direction I could only hope took me to the main office, but at the same time, hoped he was leading me somewhere else. I stayed on his heels until we arrived at a door, which he gestured me to walk into. I opened it, finding the reception desk, and beyond that, the dean’s. I looked back to thank the boy, and hopefully catch his name, but he had disappeared into the chaos of hell – I mean the hall. I frowned before turning back into the office, and walked up to the receptionist who was sitting at her desk, typing away.

“Hello,” I said, causing the lady to look up at me, a sincere smile growing onto her face.

“Hello, dear. Can I help you?” she asked, readjusting her glasses. Her hair had grayed some, and she had it all back in a tight bun.

“Yes, I’m new,” I told her, and she nodded as she stood up to go to a nearby filing cabinet.

“Name?” she asked, and I cleared my throat before answering.

“Ronan Dahl,” I told her, and her fingers flipped through the manila folders, before a small ‘ah-hah!’ escaped her lips, and she pulled out a file, bringing it over to her desk as she sat down again.

“Ronan Chelsea Dahl,” she said in a questioning tone, looking up at me, and I nodded, “Alright, this is your folder. It has your class schedule, a map to help you around the school, guidelines, which you’ll need to read to know the rules and regulations, where your locker will be, and your dorm. I’ll show you around now if you’d like,” she smiled up at me, and I nodded, knowing I’d need to know where everything was.

“May I leave my luggage here?” I asked, desperately not wanting to carry all of my stuff as we walked around the huge school.

“Of course, dear. We’ll come back and get them before I show you to your dorm,” she said, getting up, “Now if you’ll excuse me for a second, I need to get another administrator to watch my desk,” she smiled before disappearing through a door. I stood there awkwardly as I waited for the woman to show me around. She emerged from the door again, with an older woman after a minute, “This is Ronan,” she introduced me to the woman, “Ronan, this is Mrs. Harold. Oh, I don’t think I’ve told you my name yet. I’m Mrs. Taylor,” she smiled warmly, and I threw a quick ‘hello’ towards the older woman, “alright, I think your locker’s closer, so let’s go there first,” she picked up the manila folder, handing it to me. I followed her down the now empty hallway, turning into another hallway with rows of sparkling white lockers on both sides.

“My locker is 153-A,” I told her, and she nodded as she scanned the lockers with her eyes, until she seemed to find what she was looking for, walking towards one.

“Here we are. Let’s see if your combination works now so we don’t have problems with that later on,” she suggested, and I searched through the folder until I came across my locker information. I looked at the three separate numbers, then back at the lock. I opened the locker to reveal the empty space, “great. We have lockers here because the dorm rooms are across the campus, and all of the classrooms are in this building,” she said as I closed my locker, nodding at her to indicate that I understood. I put the information about my locker back into the folder, and pulled out my class schedule, handing it to her.

“Ah yes,” she started, and led me through the hallways. She led me to Literature, then to A.P. Physics, World History, Geometry, Dance, and then to Art, “Alright, each class in 90 minutes, except for your dance class, that’s two and a half hours. Though I don’t see how you could dance for that long,” she said, causing me to giggle.

“I’ve been doing it all of my life,” I told her, and she nodded.

“Lunch is after fourth period. In your case, after Geometry. Good lord, I hated math,” she chuckled, and started heading to the exit doors. My classes had been scattered on various floors, and I was already exhausted, “Class starts half past seven every day, except for weekends, of course, you don’t have school. Curfew is 9:30 on school nights, 10:30 on weekends. You are given five uniforms, one for each day of the week. On Saturday, they will be washed for you,” she informed me. After stopping by the front office to get my bags, she led me through the large courtyard which had pathways snaking through large patches of grass, trees, and shrubbery, “Drug tests are required to be taken every month, and a 3.0 grade average is the minimum standard. You will be given a warning if it falls under, and will have two and a half months to bring it up. After that, you’ll get a ten day notice that you’re being kicked out of the Academy. The cafeteria’s right over there,” she pointed in the direction of one of the four separate buildings, “that building is the boy’s dormitory. Girls are not allowed in past curfew, and vice versa. Here we are, the girls’ dormitory. Would you mind telling me which room you have?” she looked at me, and I searched through my folder until I found another sheet of paper.

“209,” I told her, and she smiled before going to the right, and heading into a small archway to a spiral staircase.

“Second floor,” she noted before walking up the step, me following behind. We emerged from the next archway we ran into, and walked down the hall, finding my room to be the fifth door on the left, “Alright, this little black pad here, you see it?” she asked, looking at me, and I nodded, “this is what unlocks your door. It’s activated by fingerprints. Yours have already been put in the system. The only other people that can open this is your roommate, and the room keeper. Though if a higher up administrator says they need to search your room, you’re obligated to let them in without question,” she told me, and I nodded, “so go ahead, right thumb, dear,” she said, and I pressed the pad of my right thumb to the black surface next to the door. I heard a click from the door, and I went to open it, leading myself into a rather large room.

There was a huge living area holding a couch, a flat screen TV, among other decorative items. In the back was a small kitchen, minus a stove. There were two doors on either side of the area, and another one beyond the living area, near the kitchen. She pointed to the door on the right, “that’s your roommate’s room, this one is yours,” she said, turning to the room on the left, opening the cherry oak door, which went along with the slightly gold walls, and matched the hardwood floors. I walked into my room, seeing a bed that was only slightly wider than a twin size, empty of the sheets that I had been required to bring, the boxes I had sent prior sitting next to it. A sizable window just about the size of the head frame of the bed peeked out to the green of the forest, giving me a calm feeling.

A desk sat on the side of one of the walls, holding my school books and supplies, waiting for the large lamp I had brought, and for the mass amount of paperwork I would be doing on it. A dresser sat on the other wall, near my bookshelf, which I had been happy to have, “here we have your typical walk-in closet,” she said, going towards a door that was opposite the window, the walk-in closet had been built into the room, sure to not take up any room from the neighboring dorm, “You’re allotted to decorate this room however you’d like. Lunch is in an hour, which you should attend, I don’t know if you’d be hungry or not. I’ll leave you to unpacking and settling in,” she gave me a last smile.

“Thanks,” I told her, really thankful for showing me around.

“It’s no problem, dear,” she smiled at me, before disappearing through the door. I took a final look around, noticing my uniforms folded and stacked neatly on top of my dresser, my black penny loafers shining right next to them. Gag. I began to unpack my belongings, starting with my clothes. I hung them up in the closet, putting anything else in the dresser. I placed the few pairs of shoes I did have on the bottom of the closet, along with any now empty luggage. I plugged my large lamp into the wall, setting it down on the desk so I’d have proper light there when I’d need it, and placed my alarm clock on one of my nightstands, next to a picture of my family that I had brought.

My family consisted of my dad, mom, little brother, and dog. Well, it had. I took out my small amount of books, placing them on a random shelf of the bookcase. I dumped my backpack upside down, watching its contents fall out on the bed. I sorted everything; placing them in places they would end up going, and replacing them with my class supplies. I then put the bag next to my door. I fixed my bed sheets on to my bed, happy to have gone with a burgundy color, finding it went well with the décor that was already here, matching the similar color of the drapes. I looked at my clock, finding it was near lunch time. I shrugged before I heard my stomach growling at me. I sighed as I got up, fixing my oversized sweater, and brushing off my jeans.

I left the dorm room, walking back over towards the staircase, running down it like a wild maniac. After leaving the dorm house, I noticed the courtyard was filled with students, causing me to freeze, nearly. I swallowed hard, looking over at the building holding the cafeteria. I’d go and get my food, and then come back and eat it in my room. Maybe I’d run into the boy that had helped me earlier, if I was lucky. I slowly started heading towards the building, which bustled to life with the many people, who looked the same in their uniforms.

I could feel the horror of having to wear a matching uniform. I earned more looks from the students of Bal Voyeux du Leon, each look varied. Unwelcomed, curious, really unwelcomed, etc. I made my way into the building, and to the food line, happy it wasn’t too long. Fortunately, the food looked somewhat edible. As I kept up with the line, I grabbed a white dining plate and decided to settle for a salad. I looked around the huge crowd, hoping to find the boy that had helped me when I first got here. He wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

“Move it, will you,” a boy snapped from behind me, and I quickly moved out of the way, deciding to go eat in my dorm. I swiftly walked, wanting to be free of all of the stares that were directed at me. I was happy when I was back in the comfort of what was now my new home. I sat back, a sigh of relief escaping my lips. This was going to be a tough year, that’s for sure.

©Shannon.

Notes