Dante's Weakness

Chapter 3

VELVET

As I stepped off the car, the chauffeur heaves my luggage unto the weathered cobblestone platform, the stoic silhouette of Alabaster Academy loomed against the cloudy sky. My new boarding school, it looked like an archetype of the academia aesthetic I'd only imagined in the dog-eared pages of gothic novels.

I walked in slowly, my boots clanking against the concrete floor, one step at a time and pulling my heavy box along with me, and a school bag strapped to my back as I took in the sight of the school. The smell of mossy earthiness that seemed to rise from the very heart of the school grounds seemed to fill the air, trapping me within with a threat of never letting go, and yet a small part of me allowed it, allowing the gloominess and darkness to draw me in.

Alabaster seemed old, I mean centuries old but still standing strong, an ancestral estate turned into an academic haven, with towers and turrets piercing the horizon like jagged teeth. I walked through the imposing iron gates, handing my admission letter, to an agile looking man dressed in uniform, he gave me a curt look at first that later softened.

"Velvet De Luca" he said out loud sizing me up "You're not from around here, are you?" he had an accent that I couldn't place, maybe Russian, with the way his r's rolled off his tongue, his sparkling eyes that held no warmth just a lifetime of painful memories.

"Is anyone? It seems like we're in the middle of nowhere" I said and he managed a chuckle

"Good point" then he handed me back my letter, gesturing at a large stony building that stood alone in the middle. "You can leave your bags here, it'll be brought up to your dormitory"

I took the letter from him and walked briskly to the administrative building, clothed in ivy, a living tapestry perpetually creeping across the aged stone, and the grand windows –

Students pass by in clusters, I scrutinize their uniform noticing how odd I looked in my straight jean and a hoodie, my hair tucked loosely behind my ears as I tried not to make eye contact with anyone, but their eyes seemed to never leave, and it seemed like I could hear their whispers "Who's the new girl?"

I walk through oaken double doors, a stone-carved description read 'Administration' just above. I push through the entrance and I am immediately enveloped by the hushed atmosphere. Polished wooden floors echo with history countless footsteps, with the lofty ceilings bearing a silence that is as commanding as any spoken word.

"The headmistress's office is that way" I heard a voice and I turned to find a girl about the same height as me, or maybe a foot taller with bright red cherry hair falling about her face and holding some books in her hands as she looked at me through her long bangs. Dimpled cheeks and a pierced nose, but she managed a slight smile igniting a beauty that seemed hidden behind all that hair.

"oh thanks" I said quickly, scared that I might have been staring too hard. I turned to leave immediately, facing the direction she pointed at me. I found the office, a mahogany door marked 'Headmistress', a sense of formality tightened around me like a vice. I raise a hand, knuckled barely grazing the wood, before pushing the door open.

"Come in" a voice sounded from within and I walked in to the large office. Bookshelves surrounding most of its space spanning from floor to ceiling filled with leather-bound volumes exuding an aroma of old parchment. I walked closer to her large oak desk and she scrutinized me through her glasses, my anxiety collected at my palms in a pool of sweat.

"Miss Velvet" she called "Welcome to Alabaster, we usually don't take juniors but I received a special request from your uncle, especially concerning your safety"

"Well welcome once again, we take the safety of our students very seriously, and as our code of conduct. You must wear your school uniform during school hours in the correct order, attend all your classes, weekly assessments would be conducted. No loitering, no slacking off, academics are very important here. You're allowed one extra-curricular activity, two at most, it'll help your chances in getting into an ivy. Curfew is at ten pm and no students should be found out of bed – Here..." she handed me a small booklet

"Read it, digest it, every single one of our rules. The map at the back will be your guide through the school, it can get very confusing sometimes especially for new students" she said and I nodded, leafing through the book absentmindedly.

"I'm sure you'd be able to find your way to the dormitory, the housemistress will show you to your room, your bags, school uniforms and books would already be waiting for you"

I turned to leave, booklet within my shaky hands as I proceeded to find my way around this large school alone. I hoped to find the dimpled cheek girl still in the reception area but she was gone, the quietness of the reception echoing back at me. I walked out of the reception, unsure of what to do and where to go but I needed somewhere to calm my racing nerves, to reminisce on how much I missed my father. I wasn't ready to go to any dormitory or find my uniforms, waiting for me on my bed. I wanted to go home, wherever that was, I wanted to be out of here.

I looked through the maps in my student handbook and I saw that the college buildings had a rooftop, from where I stood outside the administrative building, I could see it. I closed the book and walked towards the buildings, quickly finding the stony staircase that led to the roof, I followed it, not counting my steps or my breath until I finally reached and it surprised me that I wasn't as out of breath as I'd have thought.

The cold wind hit me immediately and I wrapped my hands around myself as I approached the vast emptiness, I was ready to embrace it when I noticed someone in the corner painting against a canvas. He backed me, he was so engrossed it in that he failed to notice my presence. He wore a plain white shirt, his school blazer on the floor beside him. His left hands held a color palette while the other held a brush. His black hair was tousled from behind but I couldn't see his face. I studied the painting, it was the sunset from the sea, it wasn't dusk yet so I assumed he was painting from memory but for some reason it was off, the colors were off and it didn't seem real. I would know because I loved painting, I painted all the time, I took extra classes in painting at my former school and I held the key to the art studio.

"Your brush strokes are off, you should make them lighter especially for the areas around the sun" I had no idea when the words slipped out of my mouth, but when it came to painting, I was a tad bit too opinionated.

Then he turned to face, I could see the surprise etched on his face but I was more surprised to see him, I never expected the terrible painter to be that – handsome. I paused, mid sentence as his looked me over through the bangs falling over his eyes. His eyes squinted at me, and I could see some annoyance forming around them. He stood up now fully – he was tall.

"What did you say?" he asked, his deep husky voice filling my ears

"I mean I have never seen the sea or any water body that color before" I said walking forward towards him, staring at the awkwardness that was that painting.

"Who are you?" he asked me, perplexed now but for some reason I pretended not to notice.

"Who are you?" I retorted back and he scoffed, I noticed his shirt was half way buttoned, revealing a smooth skin underneath.

"I'm called Dante" he said, like in a whisper. His eyes drilling into mine, they were dark and didn't seem to hold any emotion in them. Dante? What sort of name was that? I was about to say something else in the lines of questioning his name when he cut me short.

"I don't care to know your name, you're obviously new, oblivious and dumb at that"

"What!?" I said in shock but his eyes didn't leave mine, proving to me that he didn't stutter.

"Well then new girl, since you're Leonardo Da Vinci, complete the painting then" he held out the palette and brush too me, his eyes were daring, cold and icy, but I stared back, unwilling to take it from him.

"No?" I said back "I can't complete such terrible painting"

Dante scoffed again, this time walking closer to me, so close that I could smell his cologne but my eyes never left his, I wasn't naturally a bold person but for some reason it felt like I had a point to prove.

"Take it" he said, hushed but threatening. His lips barely moving but the weight of his words registering.

"Or else what?"

"Or I could make your life a living hell in this school"

I scoffed this time, managing a chuckle because it was hilarious. Then I looked him dead in the eye, with a step forward towards him.

"I don't think anyone could make my life more hell than it is already, but I'll like to see you try"