Crow Engle Academy

01

Beep! Beep! Beep!

For the fourth time, Valerie blindly moved her arm towards its goal: the snooze button on the alarm on her phone. With a thud, she felt the smooth wood of her nightstand instead. Still half asleep, Valerie opened her eyes— rather, attempted to lift her eyelids— and discovered that during her previous snooze slam, she had knocked her phone onto the carpeted floor of her bedroom. She reached out to check the time.

It was 6:36.

Valerie immediately sat up. Oh my god. Ignoring her morning dizziness, she dashed to the bathroom to make up for the precious thirty-six minutes lost to sleeping in.

Valerie relieved herself and splashed cold water onto her face to wake herself up. She brushed her teeth in record time with her favorite mint toothpaste and tried to control her mass of wavy brown hair. She didn't even bother to brush the tangles out— she knew it would take way too long. Instead, she pulled her hair into a ponytail to at least make herself look presentable.

After all, it was her first day of high school.

Not to mention the world famous Crow Engle Academy.

Rushing into her closet, she grabbed at the first comfortable thing she saw; today, it happened to be an oversized purple graphic sweatshirt that she remembered purchasing when she was twelve. At the time, she had been obsessing over cartoons. It wasn't because she liked them, it was because she had thought they were fashionable. Printed onto the front of the sweatshirt was a very dizzy Snoopy.

Valerie pulled a pair of gray sweatpants out, but decided against it because she didn't want to look like she didn't care. She ended up choosing light-wash jeans and a pair of white Nike sneakers.

"Valerie, it's already 6:48! Don't forget, you have to leave the house before 7:00!"

Heeding her mother's warning, Valerie went down the stairs two steps at a time into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Mom! Hey, Sam!" Valerie sat down next to her little brother at the kitchen island where a plate of pancakes drizzled with maple syrup was awaiting her. "Aww, Mom! You didn't have to make me breakfast!"

Her mom smiled. "It is my daughter's first day at a prestigious high school, so I just had to do something special. Oh, and here's twenty bucks for lunch, in case you want to buy something extra."

"Thank you!" Valerie got out, while stuffing pancakes in her mouth. "Where's Dad? Did he leave for work already?"

"Unfortunately, yes. He really wanted to send you off on your first day of high school, but this morning he had to go to the office really early for an emergency. He sends you all his love! Oh... you need to get going soon. Sam, what time is it?"

Sam, proudly using his brand new Apple Watch to check the time, announced that it was 6:54.

Finishing up the pancakes on her plate, Valerie went back up to her room to grab her backpack that had sat untouched the whole summer until the night before, where she had packed everything that she thought she might need. She put her lunch money in one of the pockets.

Checking her phone, she saw a text from her best friend, Addison.

heyy excited for 1st day of hs? can't believe we got into Crow Engle!!! :D

Hi Addy. Ehhh we'll see how it is... you never know

haha ok. cya there

Slipping her phone into her bag, Valerie headed downstairs once more. "Bye guys!" she called to her family as she headed out the door.

"Bye, honey! Enjoy! Be careful riding the bus!"

"Bye, Valerie!"

***

Valerie was glad to be rid of the school bus. All through elementary and middle school, her mom had made her take the stinky vehicle because the service was free. Now that she was entering high school, where a ride to school did not come with the program, she was allowed— and excited— to ride the city bus.

It wasn't so great.

If she had been able to get a seat, then it would've been okay. But Valerie found herself holding onto the metal hand bar for dear life as she stood, off balance, and nearly tipping over as the bus hurtled down the road.

Finally, the bus slowed to a stop a few minutes away from Crow Engle Academy. Valerie stumbled off, and breathed a sigh of relief as her feet landed on stable ground. I'll get used to that. I hope.

She walked a couple of blocks and soon, she was swept into a stream of students from her school. She saw freshmen like her, a few sophomores sprinkled through the crowd, juniors bunched into rowdy groups, and seniors in pairs or trios walking like they were better than everyone else. They probably are, Valerie thought to herself.

Suddenly, Valerie felt strange. As if she had walked through a transparent barrier.

The sensation faded away as fast as it had appeared.

Valerie shook it off, telling herself it was first day nerves. That was extra reasonable today, since Crow Engle was known to be rigorous. Right?

Moments later, she spotted Addison walking several paces in front of her with an unfamiliar girl. Good for her, she's already made a friend. Valerie smiled. Addy's bubbly personality was like a magnet. She remembered how back in third grade, she had been sitting in the cafeteria alone. Addy had approached her and after three words, they had become friends: "Hi! I'm Addison."

Snapping out of her nostalgic daydream, Valerie ran to catch up with her. "Hey!"

Addison didn't seem to notice.

"Addy?" Valerie said louder. "Addison!" she practically yelled. Realizing her volume, she looked around to see if anyone was shooting her dirty looks.

No one seemed to hear her.

Frowning, she waved her hand in front of Addison's face.

Nothing.

Valerie walked through the crowd, trying to catch someone's attention. They just kept walking.

As they neared the school, Valerie looked up in awe at the grand building, distracted from the strange turn of events of the day. There were floor to ceiling windows, a big courtyard, and the massive doors opened to reveal a hallway that never seemed to end. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling every few yards. Wow. This is a school? That's crazy.

Chain link fences came into view, and Valerie had to veer right to avoid walking straight into them. It wasn't long before she noticed that no one was doing the same, pulling her back into reality. Some of the students had already come into contact with the fence, yet their feet kept taking steps.

Huh? What's going on?