Amagadas Academy

Happy Halloween!

~Three weeks later~

The library was remarkable at Amagadas. 

It consisted of two stories of books, scrolls, and other information all in one open room. The white marble floors were like mirrors below, wooden antique-like desks and chairs were evenly spaced on it, and at the front of the room were large windows that were framed in gold, looking out over the withering forest below. An old small staircase behind a bookshelf led to the second story, which had the same flooring, soft floral wallpaper, and wooden bookshelves as below, but now there was wooden railing surrounding the terraces looking over the floor below.

Quinn sat at one of the desks below with Francis across from her. Note and textbooks and their homework was sprawled out over the table, mixing together to the point neither knew which was theirs. A dull headache drummed in both of their heads as they both studied linear equations and Algebra 2 formulas. 

This is just proof that Mondays are the worst day of the week.

After weeks of their teachers having every chance to give them the mind-altering homework they just had to do, they decided the day before Halloween was the perfect time. Quinn had enough homework to build an exact replica of New York in paper form. There was enough equations to send someone from the dark ages into a coma.

During a particularly difficult equation the two were using their calculators to work through, Francis took off his glasses and began rubbing his temples. With that doing nothing for him, he reached into the front pocket of his backpack and pulled out an orange bottle with a white cap twisted onto it. The pills rattled within the bottle. Opening it, Francis spilled three white pills into his hands before offering some to Quinn.

"Don't worry," he assured her. "It's just a high-grade Aspirin."

He two of the pills into her outreaching hand. Handing her his water bottle, she swallowed the pills. 

"Thanks." Quinn replied.

Once the sun set below the trees, the sky pitch black, and stars sprinkled in the sky. The moon lit the library accompanied by the gas lit lamps on the end of every book shelf and the chandelier hanging above the two. 

"Are you going to the part tomorrow?" Francis asked as they packed their material back into their bags, often mixing up one for the others.

"Do I really have a choice?" Quinn returned, slinging her backpack onto her shoulder.

"No," he answered. "Ophelia would probably kidnap you for the party."

Quinn left the library thinking of the party, it was a thought ringing in the back of her head. Nothing about the word matched her personality. Yet she didn't want to turn Ophelia or Francis down. Since she'd been there, they'd been nice to Quinn. If she did that, it would be like the ultimate betrayal.

When Quinn entered the dorm room, she found Ophelia assorting different costumes on her bed. Laying on the comforter was sets of headpieces, jewelry, and outfits that would definitely not pass the school dress code. The song 'Somebody's Watching Me' played from her phone on the nightstand. She stood over the bed, staring down at it with concentrated eyes, not even realizing that Quinn had entered the room.

"Which one are you gonna choose?" Quinn asked un-helpfully, coming to stand at Ophelia's side.

"I don't know," Ophelia answered. "You?"

"I'm going as myself obviously," she answered jokingly, cupping her own face with a smile. "I already am strange enough to fit the criteria. I mean, a scholarship student coming to this school for the first time?" the other girl scoffed at that. "How strange can it get?"