The Light and Dark in Us

2. Nouveaux Amis

The sun shines in my face through a gap in my curtains, and I roll over away from the light, groaning. I slowly force my eyes open, catching sight of the clock on the wall.

I slept in.

I leap out of bed with a sudden burst of panic and energy. Throwing on the uniform folded on my desk and raking a brush through my knotty hair. I grab a pen and throw it in my empty satchel, running out of the room and into my first lesson, English.

I walk in late of course, and the teacher looks up disapprovingly as I awkwardly take an empty seat.

"You're late." She says, her eyes scanning the register.

"Um, yes. Sorry Miss, I- uh slept in..."

"What's your name? I don't recognise you."

"Odette Étoiles."

"Oh. Of course, you're new aren't you. Well I suppose I won't tell you off because I was notified how late you arrived at Rosewood last night. We're reading a poem at the moment."

I smile gratefully, then acknowledge my surroundings. To my left is a girl with long blonde curls and flushed cheeks, to my right is an empty seat.

"I'm Odette." I introduce myself to the girl, who looks up from her poem.

"Oh, hello! I'm Lottie, Lottie Pumpkin."

"Pumpkin, like the large orange thing that people carve at Halloween?"

She casts down her eyes. "Yeah, I know it's weird, a lot of people think it's weird." 

"What's wrong with weird? I like your surname, it's unique."

She smiles brightly. "Thank you. I like your name too."

"Thanks!" I leaf through the empty exercise book in my place, then glance back up with a confused bearing, "uh, what poem are we doing?"

Lottie's eyes return to her copy of the poem. "It's called Dulce et Decorum est, pro patria mori."

I nod, scanning the poem myself, grateful for her kindness and welcoming personality.

————————————-

At break after English, I have no idea where to go, but as soon as I step outside, I don't care.

The school is beautiful, I've only seen the back of it in the middle of the night and the hallways, but now I'm in a courtyard. Rough pebble-stones coat the ground, Ivy creeps up the worn down brick walls, and flowers bloom in wood framed flower beds surrounding it. Dappled sunlight through the trees give the area a warm, dewy glow, I'm enchanted.

"Odette!"

Lottie is behind me.

"Hi Lottie, what do you need?"

"You got here yesterday right?"

"Yeah, this is my first year, my cousin Anastacia has attended for a year already, and my parents thought it would be good for me to go here too."

Lottie grins, "I arrived the day before, this is also my first year!"

I smile, "Oh cool."

"Do you know anyone else? I've met one girl called Binah."

"Yes, I'll introduce you to Anastacia of course and my partizan, Henri."

Lottie frowns, "Um, sorry but...what's a partizan?"

I blink at her, "You're not used to a place like this, are you?"

She shakes her head with a shrug, "I grew up in Cornwall."