The Chronicles: Green Night

Welcome to Ecole Européenne de Strasbourg

"Wake up!" Anna shouted, bursting into the room with all the finesse of a megaphone.

"Could you please keep it down?" I groaned, turning away and taking cover under the blankets.

"Francis, we have to get ready for school. Aren't you excited?" Anna energized, leaping onto my bed with the grace of a kangaroo, narrowly missing my feet.

"No," I grumbled, trying one last time to squeeze in some more sleep.

"Come on," Anna insisted, nudging me like a human alarm clock. I questioned my initial excitement about this bloody school.

"No," I grumbled again, my determination to sleep resilient.

"You know, I didn't want to spoil the surprise, but I think I have to tell you something. Suho is driving us to school, and if you don't get up and get dressed in 15 minutes, he's probably going to pay you a visit in your room. And I doubt you want to start your first day of school with a brawl," Anna revealed with a smile that could rival the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.

"All right, fine. I'll get ready. Just wait for me downstairs," I capitulated as Anna jumped off my bed and closed the door behind her.

"May the spirits help me survive this day," I muttered as I pulled myself together and made my way to the bathroom.

Exactly 15 minutes later, I was sitting downstairs in the middle of my breakfast, dressed in a simple outfit of blue skinny jeans and an oversized white t-shirt. Funny when you think about it, I spent a whole day shopping and spending the coven's money like crazy just to end up wearing the most basic of outfits. Don't judge me, I'm a simple soul when it comes to clothes.

"Ready? We have to go now!" Suho's impatient voice echoed through the mansion.

"Yes, we're coming!" Lucas replied, emerging from the dining room with his backpack slung over his shoulder. After a quick breakfast, I grabbed my bag and books, which felt oddly heavy despite how thin it looked. Without my timetable, I couldn't see which books I needed for today, so I'll have to take them all, which is fantastic, especially for my back.

As I approached the front door, I saw Suho waiting, engrossed in his phone. According to Anna, Lucas usually did the driving since he was 18, but Suho had volunteered to drive us yesterday, an offer Anna and Lucas had accepted without a second thought. I suspected that Lys wanted to keep an eye on me on my first day at school, at least until I entered the building.

"Let's hurry. It wouldn't make a good first impression if Francis was late for his first lesson," Suho reminded us as he opened the door. I couldn't help but notice that his car was quite impressive; even though my knowledge of cars was minimal, I could tell when a car was expensive, and his definitely was.

Our drive to school was relatively quiet, except for Anna and Lucas discussing the aerodynamic properties of penguins - a fascinating debate indeed. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, my limited knowledge of penguins meant that I wasn't able to join in.

"Enjoy your day at school, kiddo," Suho said as we arrived, a mischievous grin on his face. His comment almost made me gag. It was really impressive how every time I was starting to like him, he could remind me of how stupid and annoying he was. Rolling my eyes, I replied, "As long as it gives me a break from your voice, I will enjoy myself."

As I got out of the car with Anna and Lucas, I felt a surge of anger and frustration. If I were not completely stupid, I would assume that these were the feelings of a member of the coven. It didn't take a genius to work out who it was.

"Welcome to hell," I muttered to myself as I entered the school. The busy corridors were teeming with chattering, hormonally charged teenagers discussing a variety of topics. As I walked with Anna and Lucas to the front desk, I was greeted with curious looks from students who had probably heard about the new arrival a month into the school year.

"Excuse me, Mrs Dupont, we have a new student. His name is Francis, and we'd like to get his course materials," Anna said to the receptionist. Mrs Dupont, with her bright red hair that seemed dazzling from a distance, asked my name and I stifled a laugh at her attempt to pronounce it with a French accent.

"Yes, I am," I replied. Curious about my class level, I asked, "What class am I in?"

Mme Dupont replied, "You are in class A11". Anna had explained earlier that the school divided subjects into four categories: Arts (A), Social Studies (S), Economics (E) and Technology (T). I had expressed a preference for Arts, and Lys had worked her magic to grant my wish, bypassing the typical requirements.

"Oh, that's my class," Lucas exclaimed in surprise. Mrs Dupont smiled and immediately gave an order.

"That's great. So, Francis, Lucas will show you around the school and take you to your class," she informed me with a friendly smile, and then Lucas started to push me along the corridors towards the classroom, leaving Anna to call after us, causing me some mild embarrassment thanks to all the looks we were getting.

"Nice to meet you, Francis. I'm Mr Johnson," our teacher introduced himself, shaking my hand as I looked around the class. I noticed that my classmates, at least on the surface, were friendly and welcoming. Despite my initial fear that they would descend on me like a horde of wild animals with questions like "Why are you changing schools so late?" or "Where are you from?", nothing of the sort happened.

"I think we can skip the introductions; everyone's heard your name, unless you want to," Mr Johnson said as I focused on his unusual purple eyes. It piqued my curiosity, making me wonder if he was supernatural, perhaps a Fae?

"No thanks, I don't have anything to say," I replied with a polite smile, looking around at my classmates.

"Okay, sit next to Lucas. You seem to know him already," the teacher gave me a knowing look.

"Now, back to where we left off," Mr Johnson continued, resuming the lesson and quickly immersing me in the history of the Baroque.

After that, time flew, and I was amazed to find myself in a real school after so many years. As Mr Johnson gave his lesson, I saw that the atmosphere in the classroom was nothing like I had feared. There were no chaos and people were friendly. I couldn't believe how well the day was going. I still had three subjects to study before lunch and I couldn't help but feel that this new chapter of my life was off to a promising start.