Lorelie vs the Life of Summer Rose

Chapter 17

The car ride to the school is dreadful. I didn't think I would be anxious about it until we were already sluicing down the road, and then it hit me all at once— I'm doing an entrance exam for a school that is most likely one of the most prestigious in the world. A school with billionaires. Royals. Rich people. I don't doubt that there are some famous people going there as well, and even if they're only famous in this world that doesn't change anything for me because, well, they're still famous. This is strange. How has my life come to this? No idea.

I knew we were drawing close by the progressive neatness of the trees. The untouched edges of the road suddenly exacted into a precise trim, and the trees started lining up with measured spaces in between, all the same height and width and body. And then the tires rolled on to a broad, terracotta pathway, and I saw it: the school.

If I didn't know any better, I would've assumed I was applying to go to Hogwarts. The castle is similar enough, but significantly bigger and sandwiched between two larger, gothic buildings and then, according to the campus map up front— like this is a museum open to the public and not a school— a small network of them stretching towards the far back of the clearing, all of them decorated with canopies of ivy blanketing the walls and mazes of flower gardens and Cherry trees dotting the spaces between.

I force myself to close my mouth.

"Come on," Summer says, opening my door. She's seemingly unphased by all of this, probably used to it after a whole year of seeing it everyday and only coming home on weekends. Still. It's hard to think there will ever come a time when anybody can get used to this. It's so beautiful— too beautiful. And it was only a twenty minute drive from the humble house of the Inoues, which isn't even a hundredth of the size of this school. "You'll miss it."

"Uh... Yeah." I brush my hands down my skirt. "Yeah. Sorry."
"The headmaster is probably inside waiting for you." Summer winces. "She's a scary woman. We don't want to disappoint."

"Are we late?"

"We will be." Summer holds out her hand and wiggles her fingers. "Come on."

Hesitantly, I take her hand and let her pull me out of my seat. The heat of her palm is gentle, soothing. It grounds me in this place where I feel like I have no footing. I gulp.

Summer squeezes my hand once, intending to let go just after that. But I grab on to her. I lace our fingers together and watch her expression for rejection, but there's only surprise, her lips parting. I give our joined hands a testing tug.

"Sorry to be weird," I say. "But I'm a little nervous."

"That's... Fine."

"You sure? You look like you're about to puke."

"I'm not," she says firmly, but her face says otherwise. I move to wiggle my fingers out of hers, but her grip constricts, cementing in place beside her. She sets her gaze firmly on mine. "I said I'm not."

I smile. "Okay."

Mr Inoue leans into the boot, patting around. "Dammit."

I turn around. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, it's fine." He waves me off. "I just accidentally dropped something into a corner."

"Oh, let me help—"

"Don't worry about it, I can get it." He takes his head out of the boot and nods at Summer. "Take her inside, will you? Just in case she's already in there. And if not, maybe show her around."

"On it," Summer says, then lifts her shoulder my way, strangely shy. "Shall we?"

"Sure," I say. "Better not let go. I might get lost."
"You wouldn't be the first," she promises. "You'd be surprised how many regular students get lost. It got so bad that we ended up having to put up signs on the hallways— like, street signs. The school says it's artistic but it's actually just a running joke."