Rave Academy

Chapter I

Dakota Sanchez (2017)

   Muffled voices play from the car's radio. I hit the heel of my foot against the floor of the car. I was bored of sitting in a taxi for hours. I didn't know who the driver was yet my mom sent me across the country to attend some prestigious academy in California. I'm pretty sure it was my mom's way of saying 'I love you, but you're a bad kid'. We passed a green sign saying 'Welcome to Sierra California' in big white font.
   The school was in a rural area of the state, so I didn't see people for hours. I stared out the window, watching as the trees with brown leaves passed by. The windows of the car were slightly rolled down so wind traveled in the car, brushing against my face.
   "Oh my God!" The woman driving the car sighed, smacking her hand against the side of the radio.
   The voices playing from the radio turned to static. We were in an area with no service. The woman was foreign, so most of her words didn't have grammar.
   "We arrive in 10 minutes," The driver said, raising a finger in the air.
   I nodded slightly, picking up a book my mom handed me before I went on the airplane. It was titled 'The blown out fire'. She asked me to read it. I agreed yet I never planned on actually reading it. I stared at the shiny hard covered book. The image of a burnt-out match was on the cover. The pages were made to look like it was made a long time ago, so it was a coffee stain brown color.
   I looked up as I heard the wind speed slowing down. We were at the school, the one and only Rave Academy.
   My eyes were trying to focus on the building, the sun was behind it to make it seem like it was glowing. My new peers were focused on themselves. A ginger girl played a violin under a              Western redbud tree; A blonde girl was writing in her journal while sitting on a water fountain; A freckled boy wrote down things in a journal while staring at a plant; A blue-eyed girl ate bright red strawberries by herself on a bench; and three girls were talking on a picnic blanket.
Everyone wore the same things. Girls wore a brown blazer that matched their plaid patterned skirts, a white button-up, and a black tie. Boys wore the same blazer and button-up, but a coffee brown tie and black pants.
   "One creepy school," The cab driver sighed, unlocking the doors.
   I opened the door, grabbed my suitcase, and stepped out of the car. As I was getting close to the academy, I jotted notes about it in my head. -Dead leaves on trees swayed with the wind. The water fountain was stone gray, and a statue of a raven sat at the top, its wings were spread like it could fly off the fountain anytime soon. The school had four circular watch towers where the corners of the building were supposed to be. The building's walls were made of black bricks that were of different shapes and sizes.- It was cool yet creepy at the same time.
   "You must be Dakota," A woman said in a strong English accent, "Dakota Sanchez, correct?"
   I turned towards the woman. She pushed her black glasses up the bridge of her nose, viewing my clothing as if she were some fashion expert judging it.
   "Yes," I finally responded, "Nice to meet you."
   The woman smiled and gave me an envelope with my name on it in black cursive font. It was an eggshell white envelope, a stamp of an R was on the top right corner of the Page in gold.
   "What is this?" I mumbled, rubbing my thumb over the stamp.
   "That's your new schedule, dorm, dorm key, and previous grades for the school you transferred from," The woman sighed, "You may be smart, but you make dumb choices."
   I didn't respond, focusing my eyes on my feet and running across the sidewalk. Everyone was wearing nice-looking dressing shoes and I was wearing my old, worn-out, sneakers.
   "We will have... Arianna Lee showed you around the school," The woman said, snapping her fingers, "I am Ms Dacrie... your new principal. We provided you with a uniform and new shoes. I expect to see you wearing them when you get to the lunch facility this afternoon."
   "Yes ma'am," I responded.
   "Arianna!" Ms Dacrie yelled, "Come here please."
   Arianna walked up to us quickly. She was one of the girls who was sitting on the picnic blanket. Arianna had almond-colored skin, her eyes looked black in the light. Her hair was let down, curly, and reached her elbows. She had a leather white satchel over her shoulder.
   "This is Dakota Sanchez," Ms Darcie stated, "You will show her around the school."
   "Okay," Arianna smiled, turning towards me, "I'm Arianna, Nice to meet you."
   Arianna had a French accent. She put her hands in front of me, she wanted a handshake. I stared at her sky-blue painted hands. Placing the envelope on top of my suitcase, I reluctantly shook her hands.
   "Very well," Ms Darcie said, clapping her hands, "I shall get going."
   As soon as Ms Darcie left, Arianna jerked her hands out of mine like I had some type of virus. I wasn't the type to mess around with these types of girls so I ignored her and picked up my envelope.
   "Well... that was one... interesting scene," Arianna sighed, wiping her hands along her skirt,    "Listen, I'll show you around the school, but there are a few things you have to do for me to tolerate you."
   That was one way to study true colors. I placed my hand on the back of my head, awkwardly.    "Okay?" I responded, "Can you just show me around the school?"
   Arianna nods, walking towards the entrance of the school. I walked after her, dragging my suitcase behind me. She pushed open the dark black wooden doors, allowing us to see the inside of the school.
    The first thing I could see were two white marble curved stairs, leading to the second floor.    Between them was a statue of a woman, a raven on her shoulder. A chandelier hung above the woman; its candles were lit. Dark brown wooden double door colors with a brown sign saying Elective halls in gold font above it.
   "We will go to the elective halls, I need to do something but the ring," Arianna said, "And so the principal doesn't get a heart attack, come along."
   I didn't respond, I just followed after Arianna as she walked. We walked up the curved stairs.     Upstairs had doors and closed signs. One sign said 'ladies dormitories' and the other sign said 'the men's dormitories'. Arianna pressed the palm of her hands against the girl dormitory's door, pushing it forward. Behind the door were rows of other doors, with silver numbers on them.
   "What is your dorm number?" Arianna asked, turning her head towards me.
   "I don't know," I responded, tearing open the envelope. I pulled out a Ziploc bag with a metal key inside of it. There was white opaque tape on the Ziploc, the number '124' was written in black sharpie.
   "124," I said, looking up at Arianna.
   "Okay, I'll show you it after we leave the lavatory," Arianna smiled, pointing at a door that was different from the rest.
   "Alright," I said, taking a deep breath.
   "Very well," Arianna smiled, skipping her way to the door, "This lavatory is only for me, Dove, and Raven ... I guess you are allowed to join us in having a lavatory to yourself."
   I rolled my eyes as Arianna opened the door and walked into the restroom, and I saw at least ten stalls. How do the other students allow this to happen!?
   "Bienvenue!" Arianna smiled, saying welcome in French.
   The washroom was surprisingly clean. The ceiling lights brightened the place. The walls to the stalls were black tiles. The floor was black and dark gray octagon tiles. There were 5 black marble sinks under a horizontal mirror. The mirror had a golden frame around it. A soap bar sat on a black wooden plate, next to two black bottles with a pump attached to them. There was no label around the bottles, but I was sure it was shampoo and conditioner. The restroom smells like cocoa butter and coconut oil.
   Arianna walked up to a mirror, pulling out a bottle of peach pink lip gloss. She applied the lipgloss on her lips. I turned towards the sound of the door opening.
   "Arianna... who is this?" A girl asked, tilting her head a bit.
   She had golden blonde hair, and caramel brown hair at the roots. Her eyes were sapphire green. Her skin was a pale ivory color.
   "This is a new student, Dakota," Arianna responded, dipping her lip gloss brush into the container, before applying another layer.
   "Oh, Trés Bien," The girl responded, "I am Dove, I have a twin sister named Raven ."
   The girl said 'Very well' in French. The girl spoke French yet had an American accent.
   "Nice to meet you... too," I responded.
   "Dove, can you walk Dakota to her dorm?" Arianna asked, "Then meet me back here? I have to do something real quick."
   Dove nodded her head slightly, opening the restroom door. We walked out of the room, and I brought my things with me.
   "What was your dorm number?" Dove asked, walking down the halls.
   "124," I responded quickly, pointing at the door three doors down from where we were.
   The number 124 was on the door in silver. We walked down the hallway, the floor was a dark walnut color that matched the color of the ceilings. The walls were a dark burgundy red. The sound of our footsteps sounded very loud as we walked through the halls in silence. As we approached the door with my dorm number on it, I pulled out the metal key I received earlier.    Dove stepped back as I unlocked the door. Taking the key out, I opened the door to reveal what was on the other side.
   We were greeted by a picture of a broken vase, with dead flowers inside of it; the frame was golden; A black wooden dresser was separating two beds.
   There was only one medium-sized window above the dresser. Two desks were at opposite corners of the bed, pushed up against the wall.
   One half of the room was nicely decorated while the other half of the Tea room was bland. I'm pretty sure the bland area was mine. A stack of uniforms was folded at the edge of the bed, a pair of clean loafers on top of them.
   I placed my suitcase next to my bed, taking time to look at my roommates' designs. Fairy lights hung from the ceilings and walls. Fake vines looked like they were coming from under the bed and wrapped around the metal bed frame.
   "You can unpack later, change right now," Dove said, "Open the door when you have your uniform on."
   I nodded my head as Dove left the room. I picked up the folded clothes from my bed. It was clothes that would last two weeks. I placed them on the desk across from my bed, only taking one set of clothes.