Rave Academy

Chapter X

Dakota Sanchez (2017)

   Green Chalkboards of grammar tips in white font were on the eggshell white walls of the classroom. There were 10 oakwood tables in 2 rows, the tables had many small scratches in random areas. There were 2 chairs at each table.
   The classroom was silent, awkwardly silent. My new second-period class is Language Arts. The teacher had allowed me to sit at any empty seat... and Dove and Amira were in this classroom, on opposite sides of the room. Who was I going to sit next to!? I took a deep breath, I did say I didn't want to hang out with Arianna and her little mean crew, so the best option was to sit next to Amira. I felt guilty as I walked towards Amira. I'm sure Dove would understand, right?
   The teacher was a middle-aged woman. She had white strands of hair running through her black hair. Her eyes were a bright sapphire blue. She had 3 stress lines across her forehead. According to the name tag on her desk, she was Ms Wren.
   "Today," Ms Wren smiles, "We will focus on the standards for the essay you will be writing next Monday."
   I sat in my new seat, as Amira slid an empty notebook in front of me. The cover was a million drawings of different Sanrio characters. The colors pink, yellow, white, and blue stood out the most.
   "I'm surprised you chose to sit by me," Amira whispered, focusing on what she was writing in her notebook.
   "Yeah," I responded, "I want to hang out with people I believe are a good influence."
   Amira didn't respond, she just nodded her head and continued working. I flipped to the first page of my notebook, seeing Hello Kitty's head in the corner, above the page number. The paper was a light brown color, black lines covered the pages. Was this a regular notebook? No. Did I love it? Of course. I couldn't help but smile at the little adorable drawing.
   "Thank you," I whispered, taking a black ballpoint pen and my clear pencil pouch with black butterfly prints.
   Amira smiled lightly, looking up at the board.

§•°•~•°•§
 

 After class, I closed the journal. "Dakota!" Dove smiled brightly, "How was your first class here?"
   She isn't mad that I chose not to sit with her? She's just going to act like nothing happened? "It was okay," I responded, "Just the same as my old school. Notes and boring work."
   "Of course, it's going to be boring, schoolwork is always boring," Dove responded, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
   Always boring? Always is a bit dramatic. I walk out of the classroom, walking down the dimly lit hallways. I took in a deep breath, passing by many other students.
   Out of all the figures that passed by, one stood out the most - a girl who wasn't wearing the uniform, the girl from the staircase. Seconds after I looked at her, our eyes locked and she smiled, the dry skin of her lips cracked. I instantly got goosebumps.
   Her eyes were abnormal, both her iris and pupils were white so I couldn't locate them. Her hair was wet like she just come from swimming, the water soaked the shoulder of her gown. Her face was pale, and she had mascara stained on her cheeks.
   "Hey, you okay?" A familiar voice pulled me from my thoughts, I turned to see Rowan standing in front of me. "You lost?"
   "No, I just saw someone-," I turned my head to where the girl would be, but she was gone.
   "Who?" Rowan asked, looking in the direction I was looking in.
   "Never mind," I sighed, thinking it was probably my imagination.
   "We should start heading to class," Rowan suggested, "See you during lunch?"
   "Sure," I smiled before we departed ways.
   The next class I had was History. I walked past the chocolate brown wooden doors, Looking for the door that said History II with the name 'Miss Leon'. Every door had the class subject on top and the teacher's name on the bottom, they wouldn't provide the room number.
   When I made my way into Miss Leon's classroom, I was greeted by an old-looking classroom. Next to the entrance was a brown 1800s globe sitting on the floor. A circular-looking plate wrapped around the middle of the earth's model.
   An old lady walked into the classroom, I'm sure she was Miss Leon. Miss Leone had silver hair wrapped into a neat bun, she had round glasses pushed up her nose. She wore an Ivory white dress that went down to her ankles and brown wedges.
   "Hey everyone," Miss Leon yelled, "Gather to your seats so we can walk back through time... today we will discuss what happened in World War II."
   Everyone sat down and I walked up to the teacher, "Where do you want me to sit?" I asked.
   "Sit anywhere you would like," Miss Leone responded, "I don't do assigned seats."
   In this class, I didn't know anyone. So I just sat at a random desk in the back of the classroom, between a girl and a boy.
   The girl had coffee-brown hair that darkened to black at its ends. She had thin almond-shaped eyes, long eyelashes were at the top. She had mud-brown irises. She tapped the eraser of her pencil against her cheek light, bored.
   The boy had blonde hair that went down to his forehead. He had freckles placed in random areas of his face. His cyan-blue eyes calmly followed his pencil as he scribbled in his notebook, seeming focused.

§•°•~•°•§
 

 When it was time for lunch, I met with Rowan, who soon met with Amira, Victor, and the blonde boy from history class. His name was Aven. After we had got our lunch, we all sat in the library.
   The library smelled like paper, old paper. Aven and Rowan had a conversation about books while Victor and Amira had a whole debate on what was the best school subject from Math, Science, Language Arts, and History.
   "What crazy maniac says 'Math is better cuz it's just numbers'!? First, Math is just the worst! Math will never be the best subject!" Victor yells, " It's not only numbers! Now it's Variables! I never want to hear someone say math is a good subject!"
   "You're the one who says Language arts is the best class!" Amira shot back, "The only reason that you say that is the best is because Miss Wren makes it interesting!"
   "No one would agree with me if I said science was the best class, would they?" I chimed in, before taking a bite out of my cheese and bologna sandwich.
   "No!" Both Amira and Victor yelled, in sync and standing up from their seats.
   At least they finally agreed on something, right? I laughed lightly before leaning back in my seat. I took in another bite of my sandwich as both Amira and Victor sat down.
   "Let's take a tally," I said, swallowing another bit of my sandwich, "Raise your hand if history is the best subject."
   No one raised their hand. "Raise your hand if language arts is the best class," Amira said in a disgusted voice.
   Both Aven and Victor had raised their hands. "And raise your hand if Math is your favorite class."
   Knowing I'd be alone when raising my hand for Science, I reluctantly raised my hand. Both Amira and Rowan also hand their hands in the air. I laughed as Victor took in a dramatic deep breath, running his hand through his hair.
   "Aven," I'm sorry to tell you," Victor sighed, "But I believe we're the only sane people in this group."
   I began laughing, followed by Aven then Rowan. Amira wasn't laughing, she just playfully punched Victor in the shoulder.
   "You guys are the insane ones, not us," Amira said, rolling her eyes.
   "Think what you want," Victor said, rubbing his shoulder, "But just know that at the end of the day, the madness runs in the blood of you and your little 'girlies'. Ya'll as well be the daughters of the mad hatter."
   "Speaking of the mad hatter," Amirsa sighed, "Did you guys choose the script you would reenact during theater?"
   "No," Victor exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air dramatically, "I hate that class!"
   "Who hates theater!?" I asked, sitting up in my seat.
   "Me!" Victor yelled, "We could live without that class."
   After Victor had complained about theater, we all sat there in silence. Rowan had begun reading a random book, Aven picked at the broccoli that was on his lunch tray, Amira drank her milk from her milk carton, Victor sat there silently and I just continued to eat my sandwich.
   "We have to thank the lord that Amira got Dakota out of that friend group before it was too late," Victor sighed, "Arianna is one helpless case."
   Me and Amira exchanged glances, and everyone in the room got quiet. I think Victor could tell that wasn't a subject that should be spoken about. I indeed want to get out for being 'eligible' to be in Arianna, Dove, and Raven's friend group, but it's a little more complicated than that. Dove was nice, so it felt weird ending the potential 'friendship'.