TIKTOK HIGHSCHOOL with Charlie, Addison, Bella, Michael and more

Arrival

I open the door of the uber and step out. I stretch my arms and legs. After four hours in the car over bumpy roads, my back hurts. I look around me but there is nothing but woods. I look in front of the car and see that the dirt road we drove on ends abruptly and only a small path leads through the woods upwards and after a few meters out of my sight. 

"There is no getting through here, sorry mate but I'll need to leave you here. Are you sure you have the right address?" A bit puzzled I pull out my phone and read the address the school send me loud to the Uber driver. He takes a look at the phone in the car giving him directions and replies: "Yeah that's it. I'm sorry about that but it seems like you have to walk the last 10 kilometers on your own." I take a deep breath "No worries. Most of my stuff should already be there, I only packed the stuff I needed, for now, that shouldn't be a problem." I open the trunk and grab my black Nike Sports bag with my laptop, clothes, and other stuff. "Thank you so much for your time and have a great evening," I say to the Uber driver, give him a 50% Tip and a 5 Star rating, and make my way into the woods. I hear the car turning around on the hard road.

The weather is nice but brutally hot. At least it's not raining I think to myself as I take off my shirt. I put my arms through the handles of my bag and wear it like a backpack. Then I pick up the T-Shirt and wrap it around the handles in front of my chest so the Bag can't move around. The nature is gorgeous. I take out my phone and take some pictures while walking down the path. Then I change to video mode and start to Vlog:

"Now that I have the time and am wandering through this beautiful thing that is nature I can introduce myself. I'm Tulo, short for.. nothing really. It's just an online name I gave myself at some point and it stuck with me. I'm 1,87 meters tall, have blue eyes, brown, styled hair, and have a rather athletic body." as I say that I move the camera around to show the parts of my body I'm talking about. Goddam that must sound cringy as hell.

"I received an invite to the most famous school there is on the globe, I-High. Yeah, I know how that sounds. But it's not what you think. It stands for Internet-Highschool which makes it sound less special than it is because it is extremely exclusive. And I mean exclusive in the sense that you need to get invited. And that's why," I get a bit slower and look around playfully confused, " I'm currently walking through the woods and I'm recording myself. So yeah I guess I'm going to see you guys when I'm there."

After one and a half hours, I notice something in between the trees. Something is moving, slowly, in parallel to me through the woods. I stop and the scheme also stops. I take out my Phone and Zoom in the direction I saw the movement trying to figure out if there might be a wolf following me. But to my surprise, it is a girl. With a DSLR camera pointed at me. I wave and she stops looking through the camera, waving back. I put down my phone and the girl starts making her way towards me through the trees.

She is wearing a gray long-sleeve shirt and Jeans. Her long brown hair is loosely hanging over her shoulder and her skin is slightly tanned. 

As she is only 20 meters away I realize that I'm not wearing a shirt, put down my bag, and put it back on. She smiles at me as she steps on the path. "You don't need to put your shirt on again, just because of me." she smiles even more and reaches out with her hand. "Hi, I'm Ariel." "Hey, there I'm Tulo," I reply and shake her hand. "I guess it's not that far from here to the school then if you're wandering through the woods around here?" she puts the strap of her camera around her neck and we start walking. "No, it's like thirty minutes from here to the school." I look a bit surprised in her direction and ask "But why are you out here then? I haven't seen any animals the whole time I've been walking." "Well that's a pretty simple answer, I wanted to be the first one to have pictures of you." She holds up her camera and smiles. "I have a news Blog around the school." 

"Why didn't you ask me if I wanted to be photographed first?" Ariel turns around and walks backward as she replies "Would you have allowed me to take pictures of you?" "Well yes, maybe. But that is no.."  "You see." She starts walking normally again. "It is a rule of the school that everyone who is here is allowed to be photographed or recorded. Without permission, it is only forbidden in the dorm rooms and during lessons." "That sounds pretty harsh don't you think? What about the people who were assigned as Engineers or Editors?" She plays around with her Camera. "Oh, you mean the assignments from the school itself? That doesn't really matter. In the end, all of them are doing the same thing: Getting Popular. And on the way there it doesn't matter what kind of attention you are getting. There is no bad attention. Even if you're the biggest asshole ever. There was this one german guy here who made a bomb prank. He was kicked out of the school but to this day he still makes his money with videos that are just ethically awful." "Ahm okay? But could you do me the favor and not post the pictures of me you took earlier? You can take a new one if you want to but I don't think the shirtless pics are a good first impression on people." She bites her lips together and looks a bit nervous as she says "That is not really possible. To be the first one to report around here you need to be quick... So Zach, a friend of mine build something for me." She taps on a little box on her Camera. "All the pictures I take are instantly being uploaded to my blog." I open my eyes wide and take a deep breath. That is going to be an awful first impression. 

As we make our way to the school we don't talk a lot anymore. My mind is wandering through all the awful situations the pictures could lead to. Can I get kicked out of the school? On my first day? In my old school, I would have gotten at least a suspension if not worse if a teacher would see me without a shirt with a girl. As my mind wanders we reach a large metal Gate. It looks more like a prison than a school. A broad metal fence makes its way through the woods left and right from the gate. There is no one else here. 

We get closer and I can see that there is no lock. Where the lock would be is a little black box. "Did you already download the school app?" asks Ariel seeing my confused face. "Yes, I did" "Hold your phone against the box then. It's a sensor." As I'm being told I hold my phone against it and the door automatically starts to open. "Oh, nice" can I hear it coming out of my mouth and we step through. "There are 15 gates in total around the property. You can get out whenever you want but there is literally nothing around us but forests and fields." "Well, I guess it's perfect for a morning walk then." She smiles and the door closes behind us.

Walking through a small ally of pines we are being led directly in front of what I can only assume is the main house. It looks like an old British castle. The stone is partially green, and some of the patterns are washed out by the rain, but it looks "Awesome".  I stand in awe in front of it and all the worries are forgotten. "So here we are. This your new home," says Ariel and takes a picture of me with her camera. "I'm sorry about the pictures from before. I owe you one for that. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask." She takes a look at her clock. "I'm sorry but you need to find the principles office on your own. I'm missing my next lecture. See you in class!" She starts sprinting away and waves one last time.

She could have at least told me in which direction I need to go.

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