Seneca Rebel

chapter 3

The crickets and frogs sounded like they were amplified onto loud speakers that faced my room. It helped soothe my nerves, as I lay awake in bed all that night. I couldn't get a second of shuteye, anticipating the next day's itinerary. This was all happening BoomJet fast.
One of the rules of coming on this pre-orientation trip was that I was not allowed to call anyone from back home, including my mom. I missed her and Killer so much. We had not been apart like this ever before. Julie just wasn't going to believe any of this, but I had to wait until I went back home for a visit before I could tell them all about it.
Despite only one good hour of sleep, I was considerably wired first thing in the morning. I could hear stirring in the house, but compared to the noise of the rat race I was used to, it all sounded peaceful. Hair dryers, showers, forks clinking on plates... usual sounds in an unusual place. Still, I didn't see a soul as I peeked my head out the bedroom door. I made my way to the bathroom Ellen had shown me the night before.
An hour later I was downstairs with twelve other teenage girls. They were all dressed in blue uniforms and were totally in the groove of getting up and out the door. Jennifer was there with another girl. My gaze lingered on her for a moment. I still couldn't believe I was living in the dorm where Jennifer Wallingsford stayed. She looked just as put together as she had the night before. She turned her head in my direction and as our eyes met, I quickly looked away.
"Dorothy."
Holy crap, she remembered my name.
"How was your first night?"
"Great. Slept like a baby." I don't know why I lied. I wanted her to think I was comfortable here. I mean, I was, but people generally equate lack of sleep to anxiety and all the things that come with that. Just like my dad though, I didn't need much sleep. My mind was naturally caffeinated and it just carried my body along for the ride. Especially here in absurdly gorgeous Great Falls.
Ellen had instructed me to take the flighter bus with the rest of the girls, where I would be met by a student representative whom I would shadow for the day. I found myself moving through the front doors of the mansion with the pack of girls in blue. I was in my Nirvana tank. It was a bit chillier than tank top weather but I just had to rock it. No doubt I stood out. I hadn't had time to wash it before I'd come on this trip, but it was sort of like my security blanket. It still smelled like coffee, too, which was both a comfort and a major tease because I needed one bad.
"Wasn't Kurt Cobain that singer who shot himself in the head?" Jennifer's friend inquired with a scowl hidden beneath a sour smirk.
I looked down at my shirt, "He was."
Jennifer's sour friend gave me a look as if it was me, not Kurt, who'd shot myself in the head– right in front of them.
"McKayla, this is Dorothy Campbell. She just got here from LA."
I didn't want to know McKayla, but if she was a friend of Jennifer Wallingsford, I wasn't going to oppose.
"LA. So, like, why don't you have a tan?"
Jennifer smiled at me as if to say, "Ignore her," without saying anything at all. So I did. It wasn't even two seconds before McKayla's attention was elsewhere, admiring another girl's motion graphic nail art. It was a deep blue lizard that flipped its red tongue out and flashed into a rose.
I got on the flighter bus with the rest of the girls and took the first empty seat I saw. The door shut and I heard the pressurizer filling. I turned to look out the window. Just as I began to admire the absurdly fresh scenery that nobody else seemed to notice, the windows glazed over in a mirrored blue hue and I was staring back at myself. I turned my focus to the flighter pilot at the front. He was wearing specialized goggles which I assumed let him see through the windshield, which now was mirrored too.
The flight was oddly disorienting. We must have made a dozen or more turns, a few U's and some circles. What was the big secret? When we landed twenty minutes later, the blue mirrors dissolved, and once again, green took center stage through the windows.
The setting was similar to that at the girls' ambassador house, only this time against a river's edge. I figured it must be the Potomac. As I stepped off the flighter bus, mesmerizing, unapologetic white water rapids grabbed my attention. Turbulent waters slammed up against the earth, spreading stones in jagged, abstract patterns. As the morning dew disappeared, the smell of thick, grassy air filled my nose and its green taste settled down through the back of my throat. My previously chapped lips suddenly felt moist and revived. This was simultaneously unreal and as real as real gets.
Once again, I followed the pack. Having prided myself in non-conformity since as far back as I could remember, I took each stride by envisioning myself as the black sheep among all the girls in blue. No clue where we were headed. There were no buildings or signs of life other than a few birds and a squirrel or two. I swear to god I looked up and saw an eagle, and unless my eyes were cheating me, it was bald. Another legend I'd only seen in pictures. Was this a pit stop? I'd thought we were going to a school.
The blue herd of girls stopped in a patch of fairytale grass that was encircled in a shiny, metallic gold ring that lay flush to the field. It was probably about twenty yards in diameter. I looked around, perplexed and intrigued. Jennifer Wallingsford stood with McKayla and a few others, mingling in just the way mingling happened back at my school. She caught me looking at her and waved me over.
"This doesn't look like a school," I said.
"Don't worry, soon it will all make sense."
"If you say so." Jennifer was cool, but I wasn't going to buy into everything she said unless it made sense to me.
"Believe me, I know exactly how you feel. Even though I grew up in this area, nothing could have prepared me for this."
I heard a low hum and within seconds we were under a dome of gold aerogel that emerged from the ground and cupped us against the earth. A hydraulic system began to lower the circle of grass that we stood on. I braced myself, unsure of what was happening. Everyone else just relaxed and carried on with their conversations. This was completely normal to all of them, but it was so not-normal to me. In thirty seconds, we were grounded.
The dome disappeared and I found myself standing inside a structure filled with bustling human life. The architecture around me was phenomenal, a modern rendering of the best elements of American colonial style– just as I'd seen so far in the land above. Lots of teenagers and a few adults in form-fitting ultramarine blue uniforms filled these below-ground halls. I just stood there, taking it in. This place didn't seem like any kind of school, especially not a reform school. There was a galactic grandeur in the air that no school could generate.
"Dorothy Campbell." I turned to see a kid my age, smiling and extending his hand. I scanned him without moving my eyes– thin, shaggy head of dark brown hair, big brown puppy dog eyes, half-tucked shirt, braces, friendship bracelets. Friendship bracelets. I breathed a sigh of relief in finding a shred of something– someone I could relate to. I smiled back.
"Welcome to Seneca. I'm Timmy Reba, your personal student escort for pre-orientation."
And so, there it was– they called it Seneca.
"They told me I'm your shadow for the day."
"Please. Friends call me Reba. It's my last name. Mi padre es Puertorriqueno."
Reba rolled his R's with gusto. Electricity surged out of this kid's pores as if kinetic energy was harvested and redistributed through his braces. Considering where I was, maybe it was.
"I'm sure you're a little disoriented."
A little? How was this normal to all these people?
"Don't worry, you'll be up to speed in no time. Campbella. Is it okay if I call you that? It really works for you."
"Sure."
Reba waved his hand for me to follow him. "First things first, let's get you your blues."