Stonybrook

Chapter 3: Stonybrook

Tonight is the night. The night I get to find out what this mysterious "Stonybrook" is. My friend, Damia, told me she was part of Stonybrook, but apart from that I know nothing. There is a package on my doorstep. It's from Damia. I quickly bring the package into my house and unwrap it. Inside the package is a beautiful brown satchel. The bag has fringe all around the edges. It's also completely covered in multicolored embroidery. I open the bag. Inside the bag is a maroon-ish, purple-ish crop top and matching converse. There's also a pair of jeans in the bottom of the bag. This must be one of the perks of Stonybrook. They give you clothes with actual color to wear to the meetings. All of this is very hush hush of course. According to Damia, it's an all female society. Damia also said that none of us go by our real names. We all have nicknames so that we can't rat each other out, because we don't know each other's real names. Damia goes by Nutz. I've already decided on a pseudonym. I'll be called Pterodactyl. I change into the crop top, jeans, and sneakers. I turn towards the full length mirror and stare at my reflection once more. I like the way I look now. Much more full of life and color. I'm almost, pretty. I pull my tan trench coat on overtop of it all and sling the bag over my shoulder. I'm ready to go. I hear a knock at the door. It must be Damia - I mean Nutz - knocking. I practically sprint to the door. Sure enough, it's her. I open the door and step out.
"Good Evening Nutz" I say.
"Good Evening" she replies. We walk in a companionable silence. We approach the woods.
"What are we doing here?" I ask.
"Going to Stonybrook of course" replies Nutz.
"Stonybrook is in the woods?"
"Of course silly, now come on." Nutz steps into the woods and I follow her. After a while of breaking a path, a trail appears. "Ah, hear we go" she says. I follow silently, looking around in awe. We soon reach a clearing. In the clearing are rows and rows of wooden benches. "This used to be a camp" says Nutz
"Wow" is all I can say.
"I'm surprised, no one else is here yet" says Nutz. We take a seat and wait. It's not long before more people start to show up. I don't recognize any of them, but Nutz greets them all.
A girl with hair the same shade as mine sits down next to me. She wears sunglasses, which obscure part of her face. They seem kind of silly in the dark, but she still wears them. The meeting starts to gather, it appears as if everyone is here.
"Come on Giggles! You know that you have to sit with us. The council is run by third years." Says one of the many girls here. The girl next to me, presumably Giggles, stands up and walks away with her. "Everyone please be quiet" says the same girl. "Today we welcome a new member" she points at me and motions for me to stand up. "What is your name?" I look to Nutz for support. She nods at me encouragingly.
"My name is Pterodactyl" is say.
"Welcome Pterodactyl" she says. "I am Tigger, this is Giggles, that's Lulu, and Gummy Bear, and Kitten." Says Tigger, pointing to each girl in turn. She motions for me to sit down, so I do. "We are the council of Stonybrook. We have been a part of Stonybrook for the longest."
I nod. Then the girl called Kitten begins to talk.
"Stonybrook was formed long ago. We were meant to combat the strict normalcy inflicted upon us by the World Council. However one of our members went rogue. You know her as Queen Julianna"
I gasp. Queen Julianna was a member of Stonybrook? I suppose it makes sense. That'd be where she got the bright clothes. If she was part of Stonybrook, why didn't she change anything?
"We know her as Merlin" continues Kitten. "None of us are sure why she did what she did. All we know is that she didn't try to disband us. She didn't do anything to us. We moved locations anyway, just in case."
That's odd. That's really odd.
"Our mission now is to dethrone Julianna and set up a new and better World Council." Says Tigger.
"What do we do at meetings?" I ask.
"Well, normally we spend some time planning, then we use the rest of the time to hang out and do stuff. Stonybrook's all about letting you be yourself" says Lulu. I nod in understanding.
"Okay, I think the business portion is done, let's have some fun!" Says Giggles.
I spend the whole night socializing with Giggles and Nutz. I learned a lot. Giggles did eventually take off the sunglasses. Apparently they're her signature look. Nutz and Giggles and I laughed and joked and just had a great time. I was very sad when it was time to leave.
"The next meeting is next week, same time, same place" says a girl I don't recognize. Nutz and I head home. It's so impossibly late. Tomorrow's gonna be a rough day. Once I'm home I change into my pajamas and slip into bed. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I'm asleep.