Rave Academy

Chapter VII

Dakota Sanchez (2017)

   The sound of a pencil dropping onto something awakens me from my sleep. I open my eyes, seeing complete darkness. I sat up in my bed, pushing the book I was reading off my lap. I looked up at the door, seeing a figure of a human blocking the windows lights. I turned towards the person quickly, freaking out as I saw Amira sitting on the window seal.
   "What in the world!?" I whispered yelled, standing up.
   "Can you get my pencil?" Amira asked, pointing at the plain wooden pencil that sat on the drawer.
   Amira was huddled up to the corner of the window, taking up half the space. She had a white candle lighten up in front of her. Her eyes were focused on a light honey brown spiral notebook that had foreign letters in black font. I picked the pen up off the dresser, tossing it to Amira.
   "What in the world are you doing?" I asked, genuinely curious.
   "I'm just relaxing," Amira responded, "And writing some stuff on paper."
   "So you just decided to sit on the window seal?" I asked, "Instead of your desk?"
   Amira stared out the window, her eyes were moving around.
   "Why don't you have a look?" Amira asked, "There's extra space up here."
   I took in a deep breath, "I don't know. We have school tomorrow."
   "Just trust me," Amira responded, "I'll help you up."
   I reluctantly walked over to her, taking her hand as she helped me climb up to the window. When I was sitting down, I stared out the window. Outside the window as a flower field. White lilies, white dandelions, bright pink tulips, light pink roses and pastel purple lavenders stuck out from the grass. Fireflies flew around the air, their lights flickered on and off. I see why Amira was up here, this scene was beautiful. I placed my back against the window's frame and placed my head against the cold glass. The sky was dark blue. The moon shone in the sky, a ring of light circled it. Clouds were covering up a part of it, yet I could still see its outline.
   "You can read right now," Amira said, still focused on what she's doing in her journal, "You could also write or draw."
   "What are you doing?" I asked Amira, trying to peek inside her journal.
   Amira turned the book towards me, pushing it in my direction. I saw a picture of a violin made up of many lines of pencils. The details and color were many shades of gray, she colored the picture with only a pencil. The violin has the letters 'A.M.' written on the top of the violin's handle.
   "Is it supposed to be your violin?" I asked Amira, as she pulled the notebook away from my view.
   "Yeah," She responded, "I had this friend who broke it when I let them borrow it."
   Was it Rowan or Victor? Even though that question was on my mind, I didn't ask her that. I didn't want to ask so many questions. But if it was one of them, it'd probably be Victor. It seems like he has anger issues.
   "Dakota," Amira said, "Why were you sent to this school?"
   Why was I sent to this school? Because I got expelled from my recent school for doing something stupid. My mom didn't want me to make the same mistake so she thought sending me to a boarding school would change it.
   I didn't want Amira to ask why I was expelled so I just told her I got suspended for fighting and was sent here by my mom. She didn't say anything about what I said. She just sat there quietly, not making any comments.
   After I finished talking, we both just sat there. Amira tapped her pen against the paper in her notebook. I just watched as fireflies moved around the air, disappearing in the dark than lighting back up.
   "Well," Amira sighed, finally breaking the silence, "I came here because my mom wanted me to go to an expensive school."
   I nodded my head as Amira closed her journal, placing the pencil inside the rings of it. She threw the journal onto her bed, climbing down onto the floor.
   "We should start getting dressed," Amira sighed, "Class will start soon."
   "What time is it?" I asked, grabbing Amira's hand as she helped me down.
   "5 in the morning," She responded, "Class starts at 6:30."
   I walked towards my bed, pulling out my suitcase. I should unpack before this becomes a habit. I pulled out my hair supplies, a pink detangling brush, a black comb, and a baby pink soft bristle brush. I took out a folded towel, placing the hair supplies on it. I left my uniform on my desk so I easily grabbed a pair and placed it over the hair supplies.
   "When you unpack," Amira says, "If you do, place your things in the bottom two drawers. The top two are mine."
   I nodded my head, wrapped my arm around my belongings and walked out of the room. Surprisingly, we weren't the first girls up. I saw girls walking by themselves or in groups.
   "Dakota!" I heard a familiar voice squeal.
   I turned my head towards the person, seeing Dove walking up to me with Raven next to her. Arianna walked up to us seconds later, rolling her eyes at Dove's squealing.
   "How was your night?" Dove asked, turning towards my dorm's door, "Did you sleep well?"
   "Yeah," I responded, "I was about to take a shower."
   Arianna rolled her eyes, slightly pushing Dove out the way. "Let's go," Arianna said in an annoyed tone, "We will walk with you. Plus, I have to wash my face."
   Arianna, Dove and Raven were already dressed. They all had on their uniforms and hair done. Dove took my hands into hers, dragging me down the hall.
   "I can help you with your hair," Dove smiled as I tried to match her walking pace.
   She pushed open the restroom door, walking in then finalizing letting go of my hand. "Shower, change, and brush your hair out," Dove squealed, "Then I can style your hair."
   I was back in the restroom that 'belonged' to them. Did I want to be here? No. Did I have the guts to tell that to a squealing Dove? No. I took in a deep breath, walking into one of the five stalls at the far end of the restroom. Inside the shower stall was the exact same from the other restroom.
   I placed my belongings onto the shelf of the stall, turning the handle as I stepped out of the way from the running water.

§•°•~•°•§
 

  I wiped my hand against my uniform sleeve. When I stepped out of the shower, I saw Arianna fixing her hair while Dove and Raven talked about a teacher. What teacher? I don't know.
   I ran my towel through my wet hair, before brushing it out with the detangling brush. After I brushed it out, Swan had taken out a bunch of hair supplies; Hair curlers; a Curling iron; a straightening iron; Combs; Detangling brushes; Soft bristle brushes; a hair dryer; and gel containers.
   "Arianna," Dove smiled, "Do you want to help me do her hair?
   Arianna rolled her eyes, fixing one strand of hair that was out of place. "Sure," She said either in an annoyed tone or a sarcastic tone.
   Dove walked behind a wall that was placed after all the stalls. When she came back, she had a stool in her hands.
   "Sit on the stool while I set up my hair supplies," Dove said, placing the stool in front of the sinks.
   I awkwardly sat on the stool, watching Dove plug up the irons. Soon, Arianna walked up to me, brushing her fingers through the dark brown curls of my hair. Her eyes went to the mirror, looking at my hair through it.
   "Dove, give me a detangling brush and the rat tail comb," Arianna commanded.
   "Which detangling brush?" Dove asked, "I have-"
   "Just give me a detangling brush!" Arianna yelled, interrupting Dove.
   Dove handed Arianna a detangling brush. "This brush is good with her hair. It keeps it-" Dove managed to say before getting interrupted again.
   "Dove!" Arianna hissed, "No one cares!"
   I'm surprised that Dove kept the smile she had on her face.
   Arianna ran the detangling brush through my hair a couple of times before running the end of the rat tail comb in the middle of my head. After she split my hair in half, she brushed both sides of my hair separately.

§•°•~•°•§
 

  After Dove and Arianna finished styling my hair, they finished it off by spraying it with hair spray. I looked into the mirror, noticing the change in my hair. It was shining, the curls were bigger, and it wasn't frizzy.
   "That will give you a good first impression to others," Arianna smiled, "You already look like you can be a part of our friend group."
   A part of their friend group? That's the thing, I don't want to be part of their friend group.
   "We should get going to class," Raven said, letting me hear her voice for the first time.
   I nodded my head, standing up and walking next to Dove. I don't think any of them have the same class as me for the first period, so that'd mean I'd be walking by myself.
   I waved to all of the girls goodbye before leaving the restroom. I'd probably come back later to retrieve my belongings. Right now I can't stand them talking about how I was going to be part of some friend group of theirs.
   I walked out of the girls dormitories, walking down the flight of stairs. I don't know why I'm feeling this way, but now that I'm alone I feel creeped out. But I don't feel this way upstairs.
   "Dakota," I hear a girl whisper.
   I turned towards her, seeing her leaning on one of the stairs railings. She wasn't there before. Maybe I just didn't notice her as she simply passed by.
   "You can see me?" The girl asked, "... of course you can see me."
   She seemed a bit off. Her eyes had slow reflexes, her hair was soaking wet, and her clothes. She wore a white dress, a type of dinner party dress. She wasn't wearing a uniform.
   "Who are you?" I asked, realizing she called me by my name.
   "I'm someone who you need to help," She responded, sounding like two people talking at once, "Help me. In return I will help you."
   This is not normal! That girl is not right in the head. I turned away from her, running til I could no longer hear her voice echo into my head. After I knew I got away from her, I walked to my chemistry class.