Halfling

Chapter 5 Part 2

'This is Will' Amy introduced me to the girl with the short hair and hazel eyes. 'And this is Dimana.' The girl that sat next to me smiled at me. 'So you're a quattuor persona?' asked Dimana. 'How did you know that?' I asked. I didn't remember telling them that. 'I told them. I was listening to your conversation with professor Cararoo' said Amy. I stared at her. 'I was bored and I only heard that because afterwards I couldn't hear anything which means the professor Cararoo blocked the sound' said Amy. So she didn't know about my mother. I felt relieved 'Anyway, Dimana and Will are one of the coolest girls in the building' said Amy. 'All the other girls are annoying' 'That's because they're jealous of you and you're not really polite to them' said Will. 'Some of them can be nice' 'What element do you control?' I asked Dimana and Will curiously. 'Earth' She replied. 'And I control water' said Will. 'Air' said Amy. 'We've got to go. Its 8:00 and we've got to get Anna registered.' Added Amy. She stood up and began walking fast out of the hall. 'Bye' I said to Will and Dimana and ran up to Amy. 'Why are you in such a hurry?' I asked Amy. 'Because I don't want to be late for class' she replied. The corridor was different here. Where the bedrooms were, the corridor was shiny and white. The walls were made of stone here and the floor of polished wood. At the end of the corridor was wide glass door. Amy pushed it open and walked in.

The room wasn't very big. A few armchairs were lined up against the wall. Across us was long white counter. Behind the counter sat a woman who had a lot of make up on. A lot is an understatement. Here lips were big and an ugly colour of red. She had long fake eyelashes and her eyelids were dark blue. Her hair was blonde but it was not her true hair colour. She wore a lot of sparkly necklaces and when she saw Amy she stared at her with dislike. 'You should stop putting so much make up on' remarked Amy. 'It's really ugly.' The woman was pressing her lips together as if she was restraining herself from shouting. Amy walked up to the counter not noticing the murderous glare of the woman. I followed her nervously and smelled a horribly strong smell which I realised was meant be perfume. 'What do you want?' asked the woman in a high pitched voice. 'I need to register her in' said Amy pointing to me. The woman stared at me. 'She grabbed some papers from a draw and shoved them to me. Her nails were long and an ugly pink colour. She wore a lot of rings and bracelets. 'New person must sign these' Amy took a pen from her pocket and handed it to me. I took the papers and started to read the questions:

First name:

Second name:

Date of birth:

Element:

And so on. 'Let the lies I begin' I thought as I started filling everything in. I wasn't about tell these people everything about me. I didn't know them so I lied. I even wrote a fake date of birth. The only thing that I wrote which was true was the element question. I wrote quattuor persona there. The woman behind the counter snatched the papers as soon as I had finished writing. She shoved through a slot in a machine and it began to hum. She grabbed what looked like a long bit of black plastic which slightly curved. The woman did all this with a huge scowl on her face. It looked permanent. 'Put your forearm here' She pointed at the long bit of plastic that she had put on the counter. I put my forearm on it and after a moment I felt a slight prick at the middle of my forearm. I wanted to pull my arm away but seeing my expression the woman put her hand on my arm and pushed it down. Her long pink nails dug into my skin and after about a minute she let go and I pulled my arm back. I looked at my forearm and saw that a tattoo had been put there. It wasn't very big. I saw my fake name (Anna Greenfield) my fake birth date and some other things that I had written on the pages. How did that bit of plastic do that? 'Let me see' demanded the woman. Not waiting for an answer she grabbed my arm and pulled it to her. I winced as her nails dug into my skin. I was sure that her nails were going to leave bruises. 'This seems to in order' she said. She was about to let me go when she said: 'Hang on. You're quattuor persona!' She looked at me accusingly. The secretary let go of my and continued to stare at me. 'Get out of my office!' she said in a voice that must have meant to sound menacing but sounded stupid in her high pitched voice. 'Come on' said Amy pushing me to the door. 'Let's get out of here. I think I'm going to throw up if I stay any longer in here. The perfume smells awful' Amy didn't bother to keep her voice down. The last I saw of the secretary was her face turning redder and redder with anger.

'We're late for class' grumbled Amy. She looked at her schedule and her face brightened. 'I don't mind now. It's history and that's boring. We should get you some new clothes. Those ones are way too small for you' said Amy. I followed her thinking of what had happened with the secretary after she had found out that I was a quattuor persona. I had just remembered what Professor Cararoo had said: I must warn you that quite a few people will not like you. Was everybody going to act like the secretary? I found that out when I stepped into the next class with Amy after she had given me some of her old clothes.