What's a girl to do?

Roommates (4)

"Hello, Principal Clark!" my mom smiled.

We sat down in front of a tall, bony, woman. Her white hair was in a ponytail, up in a neat bun. Ouch. That bun looked tight. Her red lipstick got on her teeth, contrasting her pale white skin. She was kind of funny looking to be honest.

"Greetings Katherine." she greeted my mom with a smile. She rolled her R's weird. "And hello Julianna" she said to me.

"I like Julie." I softly whispered.

She nodded and looked back at my mom.

"Here at North Willwood Academy we ensure you that Julie will be taken care of excellently. Whatever the case is it can be fixed. We have top-notch psychologists, that have been able to diagnose all of our mentally unwell students. And I assure you that Julie will be no different. Now rules are no phones here, no strings and no funny business. Oh and one more thing. You can't exit the school without permission."

I panicked. "How will I call Caleb?" I asked.

Everyone looked down, and a wave of awkwardness flooded the room.

Principal Clark spoke to me very softly at that moment. But I could tell she was confused.

"You killed him Julie."

I did?

"I did." I teared up.

Mom put her arm around me and said: "Julie here is kind of a tough case Principal. We took her to alot of psychologists and therapists and well...nobody could figure it out". She let out a nervous laugh.

Principal Clark raised her eyebrows. "I guess that means" she smiled "challenge accepted"

I stayed expressionless but in my head I rolled my imaginary eyes. Challenge accepted?

The principal stood up. "Well Julie" she said "your bags are already in your room. It would be good if you went there too. Tommorow your roommates can give you a tour."

"Right" I huffed. I looked into her eyes. She tried to make a kind expression but I could tell. She didn't really care.

"Follow me" she instructed

I turned around to look at my mom. She was tearing up. I ran to her and gave her the biggest hug I could. "Promise me you'll be okay honey" she whispered. "I promise." I smiled.

But this annoying ass principal just had to interrupt our moment with her "Hem Hem!". This time I really rolled my eyes and followed her out of her office.

We walked down a huge corridor with porcelain tiles and arched ceilings. Students where running around and I spotted a teacher shouting at a boy for punching someone. The boy looked cool. Dark, messy hair and piercing green eyes.

Hot.

We turned around and went up a narrow, spiral staircase that lead to the dorms.

Principal Clark led me to room numbered 234.

"Well here it is." She said and left me alone. I took a deep breath, walked in and sat on an empty bed with my name on top of it.

Suddenly I heard a voice.

But it wasn't Emily.

This voice was lower, still female though.

"New girl!"

I turned around to see a cool looking girl smiling at me, and walked toward her.

"I'm Vanessa" she introduced herself and held out her hand. I shaked it and smiled saying: "Julie. Nice to meet you."

Vanessa had jet black hair and her eyes were a light green which contrasted her dark eyeliner round her eyelids. She was wearing grungy clothes and big chunky boots. She reminded me of the boy I saw earlier.

"So, Julie, what brings you to this shithole?" She asked.

I hesitated.

She luckily sensed my awkwardness and smiled. "Don't worry" she reassured me "Around here being normal is weird. Here let me introduce you to the others."

Was I actually making friends?

She turned around and called to a pretty redhead with flowers in her hair: "Delilah, don't be a bitch and introduce yourself to the new girl!"

The redhead who's name is probably Delilah sat next to Vanessa and have her the finger. "Why are you here?" I asked. "I'm too beautiful for the outside world" she said theatrically. Vanessa rolled her eyes and told me: "That's code for eating disorder".

I was shocked. "Why?" I asked "You're so pretty! I would literally sell my soul to look like you!".

And it was true, she was gorgeous.

Way to have social awareness, Jules. Same for the Vanessa girl.

I chose to ignore Emily.

Delilah gave me a weak smile. "Once you start it's hard to stop. But I've gotten better. Took up a hobby. Plants."

I like Delilah. She's sweet.

Suddenly, a little girl wearing a white dress sat next to Vanessa and hugged her. "And this" Delilah said "is May."

May had big doe eyes and long brown hair. She couldn't have been older than 8.

"She stopped talking when she was 6. Vanessa said "We never heard her speak so we don't know why. No one does."

I felt a weird sympathy towards her. I smiled at her and she returned the smile. Her aura was sad. I don't know why. It just was.

"And I got a classic case of trauma." Vanessa said sing songy.

"I don't know what's up with me to be honest. I hallucinate all the time, i forget things all the time and I hallucinate all the time. " I replied.

"You already said that" Delilah pointed out.

I did?

I did. "Right." I whispered. And we burst out laughing.

I had a feeling I was gonna feel right at home.