Dead & Forgotten

Ch. 3

We all did as we were told, to enter the auditorium. There were so many unfamiliar faces, I was starting to feel a little scared. I wanted to sit down next to Donna, but some other girl—-perhaps an upperclassman—-stole my seat, so I decided to sit at the last seat in the same row instead. That's where I caught the attention of a really good-looking boy, who gave me such a charming smile and staring endlessly at me as if he were examining my soul. Although I tried to ignore him while Headmistress Rogers was speaking, it was impossible to resist the fact that this guy was paying very close attention to me.

Headmistress Rogers started talking, "I have called you all here for a very special yet brief meeting. We have many new faces here in Marshall Academy, so I must ask that every one of you former students, including the upperclassmen, set an example among these first timers. Those of you who are seventh graders or new transfer students, please step up to the front of the room."

I was feeling a little scared now. What would the upperclassmen think of me? But I knew then that I was not the only one, so I had nothing to be scared about. Although it did feel pretty awkward with everyone staring at us underclassmen. I saw the guy winking at me, and surprisingly, that made me feel a little better now. Headmistress Rogers continued with her speech, "These are our new faces of this school, which you can tell by their school uniforms they are wearing. These students deserve to be treated with a lot of respect, and it is your duty as upperclassmen to show these young ones around their environment and give them the experiences and knowledge that they crave. Any signs of disrespect toward these students, and you are to report to my office immediately. Is that well understood?"

"Yes, Headmistress Rogers," everyone answered in unison.

"Thank you," said Headmistress Rogers. "That is all I wish to announce. You may all leave the auditorium right now and go to your classes. New students, please check out your schedules I have given each of you." She looked at me as well when she said that. She said to me, "Cassandra, you must follow this schedule for all your classes. If you are not pleased with it, then please come see me whenever you desire."

"Yes, Headmistress Rogers," I said.

You might be wondering how the rest of the day went. I must say, from that moment on, the rest of the day went pretty well—-who would've thought that feeling invisible was a good thing? That evening, I decided to go to the lounge to—-let's say, isolate—-myself for a little while. Boarding school could be quite lonely sometimes, if you never noticed. Well, if that's the case, I assume that college would be the same thing. And why did I just mention college? I don't know why.

"Feeling okay there, hot stuff?" said a voice, which kind of startled me. I turned around and saw it was the same guy who sat next to me in the auditorium during the meeting. He seemed friendly enough, and he was the hot stuff—-with his curly dark brown hair, tan skin, and green eyes. He was tall and had a buff figure. He was smiling at me.

"Oh, yeah, I guess," I said, feeling slightly awkward around him. I think he sensed it.

"Don't worry, I don't bite," he said. "It's not like I'm full of poison or something." He laughed as if he were telling a joke, and I couldn't help it but to laugh with him.

"Thank God," I muttered.

"What was that?" he said.

"Huh? Oh, nothing," I said. "Just talking to myself, that's all."

He sat down next to me on the couch. "So, are you the new girl in school?" he asked.

"I clearly am one of the underclassmen," I replied.

"So in other words, you're just one of the new faces in the crowd, huh?" he said.

"The one face nobody else ever recognizes, except for my roommate."

"Well, I recognize you now," he said. "I'm Marvin Garrett, and I'm a junior."

"Cassandra Fuller, and I'm a freshman," I said, introducing myself. "My first day began just today."

We both shook hands. "Nice to meet you, Cassandra," he said.

"Nice to meet you too."

"Started out here as a seventh grader," he said. "Trust me, you're gonna love this place."

He was actually beginning to cheer me up now. "Why, just because you said so?" I joked, and I laughed.

He laughed too. "No—-well, technically yeah because I said so, but what I mean is, you really should give Marshall Academy a chance. You may not like it at first, but eventually this place will start to grow on you. You're gonna regret not giving this place a chance at all, so I advise you, Miss Cassandra Fuller, just make the most of it." I liked how he said my name. For some reason, I thought that the way he said my name was sexy.

He and I talked for a while, and I found him to be quite fascinating. He found me fascinating as well, especially when he asked me, "So, where is your family from?"

As much as I didn't want to answer that, it would be quite rude of me to beat around the bush. "Oh, well you know, we're just a typical, run-of-the-mill American family," I lied.

"Stop it, you're not the Brady Bunch," he said.

I sighed and said, "All right, if you insist. I come from a wealthy family, and we're all from Greece. Does that answer your question?"

I'm pretty sure it did because he seemed pleasantly surprised. "No way, you're that....you're the....Lord Almighty, you're that girl!"

I was actually starting to wonder when he was able to speak English again with all that stuttering. "Yep, that's me all right," I said with pretend flattery.

"How do you deal with that, you know, that kind of lifestyle? Having all the money in the world that you could possibly ever have, and being recognized everywhere by many people?" He wanted to know, sincerely. And I would sincerely tell him the truth.

"Well, the truth of the matter is...." I started to say, thinking about how to put this in a way that was subtle; in a way not too obvious that I hated being the rich, famous girl who was now depressed and occasionally suicidal. But I couldn't stop the words from coming out of my mouth. "It's terrible. It's a hellhole, always feeling like I'm never alone or I'm always alone at home. Mom and Dad work all the time, which leaves them little to no quality time to spend with me, and it seems like they've both been devoured by their own pride."

"Well, that's showbiz for you," Marvin said with a shrug. "I'm really sorry about that, Cassandra. That must be horrible for you."

"It is," I admitted. "But I'm sort of used to it now. You know, living with my aunts, uncle and baby cousin. It's not too bad."

"Well, you're here now," he said. "And as we say here at Marshall Academy, everyone is family."

That made me feel even better. So far, I've made two friends—-Donna and Marvin. As long as they stuck by me, nothing would be too impossible to deal with. And by nothing, I meant....something. More like someone, really. And that someone was none other than Jeanna Morton. After meeting her, I felt like my nightmare would never end and my whole life continued to go downhill from that moment on....