𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘦
_______________
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯, appearing as if the eyeballs were staring deep into her soul. It was a mural painted on the high ceiling tiles of the entry lobby—the left eye was surrounded within a bed of feathers and the right eye peers out of white roses.
Joule stood on the 'SG' logo glossed on the floor in her Nike Court Visions. Her half-zip windbreaker was camouflage print and black straight leg cargo pants. The initials neckpiece hung around her neck and small hoops in her earlobes. Joule came out her baseball caps she was frequently wearing since her arrival in Gove City to cover her real hair was removed after having a wash and trim salon day with Sheryl and Chloe at a beauty salon in East Gove City.
Her mother was what she described herself as was a 'kitchen beautician' and held hair care days in that very kitchen that assisted with Joule achieving the armpit-length. The natural locks of hers were sandy brown styled in a on-top-of-the-head ponytail with spiral curls splaying out like a fountain; her edges swooped to perfection.
The mural had her full attention, blocking out the students walking in around her. The high school's head security guard, Kane, was instructing everyone to walk through the metal detector like original normal morning routine when he stared at a student in unfamiliarity standing in the middle of the entry floor. On the walk over to her, he noticed the usual student trying to dodge the metal detector.
"Monty, don't try it." The security guard stops him in the midst.
The sophomore student, Monty, sucked his teeth. "Come on, KG, I ain't got nothin."
"Then it won't be a issue witchu walkin' through the metal detector, now will it?" Kane tilted his head in a rhetorical manner, "Quit playin."
The students sucks his teeth, but stepped back in line to walk through the metal detector with other students.
Kane approached the unfamiliar teenage girl. "Scuse me?"
The male voice makes Joule snap out of her head and the buzz of voices filled her eardrums like bees in its nest. She eyed the five-foot-eleven man in Starr Gove's clothing gear. "You new?" he questioned the teenager.
"Uhh—"
"She is with me, KG. ." Chloe's presence appears beside Joule wearing long sleeve crop top, extreme wide-leg cargo pants, and chunky sneakers. "She my sister Joule. It's her first day. Joule here from the south city."
The security guard looks at Joule, watching her hold the strap of her messenger bag with a fuzzy panda clipped on it. "Aight then, OKC. But you gotta keep it moving through the metal detector. Let's hit it."
Grabbing Joule's hand, Chloe instructed her to lay her canvas messenger bag on the table for it to be looked through by the other guard with them walking through. Their bags were returned and Chloe says, "It might be a new school, but same kids. Come on, office is this way."
Joule follows Chloe to the admin office, taking a look around the school and the students heading in the direction of the cafeteria.
"Hey, Miss Anne," Chloe greets the front desk attendant. "Gotta southern city here for y'all."
Joule frowned after the second time being referred as 'southern city'. "Is that an insult I should be aware of?"
The receptionist laughs lightly with Chloe. "No, sweetie. That's just what us in Gove City calls the natives from OKC. It's far from an insult."
