Chapter 7
It was two thirty in the afternoon when a big blue truck appears in our entrance, it is the snail mail delivery truck from Ventus. Our district doesn't have the technology like the other districts so yes, we still use snail mail for our letters. The Venturians are kind enough to bring the letters to us every time they have spare time.
An old man, probably in his sixties starts to lift a sack of envelopes from the back of his truck when his assistant, walks in and carry it for him. His assistant, Edward Colton walks lightly; I know his name because of the name tag attached to his dark blue uniform. I can't hear his footsteps thumping on the ground, it's like he's walking in the air. He stretches his arms to Capia – our head guard, for a formal hand shake and then gives the white cloth sack to Capia for distribution since they are not allowed inside our district. "What happened to her?" Edward Colton asks Capia with a sudden distractive glance at me. I might have been watching them too long that I haven't noticed that I am standing right beside Capia like I am his bodyguard.
"That's none of your concerns." He answers immediately, embarrassed.
I give them a smirk and removes my jacket or should I say James's jacket and shows off the rest of my uncountable scars. "Yeah Capia, what happened to me?" I ask him with such ferocity.
Capia looks at me strongly and gives me the look that I should make myself scarce. But I am as stubborn as my father so I stare at the man who was the head of my public whipping and give him a shrug suggesting that I am not going anywhere and he can't make me until I get my letter from Whitehorn Academy.
"Last name?" Edward Colton asks me instead, ignoring the feud between me and Capia.
"Valtimore." I whisper shyly because of the way I acted in front of him.
Seconds after going through hundreds of envelopes, he finally have my letter at his hands. He looks at my letter like his reading it with its seal on. "I'll be seeing you a lot then, Ms Valtimore." He says in a monotonous tone.
I extend my arm and receive the letter with such gratefulness. I never knew that receiving letter would be as complicated as this. "Thanks." I say and runs off to our house.
George pulls the chair next to mine and nags me to open the envelope. We are the only two in the house; James is still at work and father is in some place I don't bother to think of. It is better if I open it now than doing so later when all of them are present and pressuring me. I vertically tear the envelope with my bare fingers and pull four sheets of ivory white paper. All papers were folded into three and on top of each sheet is a large logo of Whitehorn Academy, which is a checker black and white armour shield with the initials W and H and is surrounded by six different symbols, each representing a district – two crossed swords for Argon, concave patterned laurel leaves for Erda, huge shell for Unda, a pair of wings for Ventus, two hands-palm upright for Sapius and a crescent moon for Kentron.
The logo signifies fairness and equality, that the school values the abilities and importance of each district but treats the students fair and square by decreeing a 'no power usage' while at the school periphery.
The letter says...
Ms Ma. Keesha Valtimore:
Greetings! We are pleased to inform you that you got accepted at Whitehorn Academy.
You recently passed the entrance examination taken on the fourth Thursday of May of current year at Whitehorn Academy's examination building in Kentron.
Please be informed also that the school is a private dormitory school and is subject to tuition and lodging fees that the other district schools don't normally offer and may rise beyond our will due to the our recent economy fluctuations. (Rates of tuition and lodging fees are on the last page)
We are greatly sorry for this, but we ensure you that the quality of education our school was known for will remain and we will help you in all the best that we can by providing scholarships and other extracurricular activities.
Information regarding scholarship application is also included in the latter part together with the listings of all extracurricular activities that may lessen your burden.
Please send us a confirmation letter that you are willing to pay for the said fees and we will automatically put you on our list of newly enrolled students. We will only accept confirmation letters for one month time upon issuing this letter.
Again, on behalf of Whitehorn Academy and its staffs, Congratulations!
Sgd. Marvellous Great
*Opening of classes will be on the first Monday of June, seven o'clock in the morning.
