Gifted

Chapter Five Cecelia

After we receive our maps and schedules, we are herded out of the large room by the same lady that woke us up. She introduces herself as Mrs. Kimmel, the head supervisor.
" Hello, all, and welcome. I am Mrs. Kimmel, the Head Supervisor. Now if you all could please shut your traps for a minute, I can tell you what you're going to be doing today!"
At this, everyone falls silent, and some of the people even come to attention, like in the military way. Mrs. Kimmel continues with:
" Now, as you all know, each and every one of you have the ability to turn into an animal of some sort. You can tell what type of animal you are by the dream you had last night. If in your dream you transformed into a frog, then you can transform into a frog. Also, you are wearing the school uniform. You must wear this at all times except while you're sleeping or unless you are told to wear something different by a staff member. A clean uniform will be delivered to your room every morning."
At this, I lean over to Emily and say:
" Do you think that I can transform into an eagle then?"
" Then that must mean I can transform into a wolf!"
We both squeal in delight, when all of a sudden we hear a partially muted,  extremely annoying voice say:
" Um, excuse me ma'am, my name is Sherman, and I would like to say that the laws of science prevent even the slightest possibility that what you say is possible is scientifically possible. Also, in my textbook here it says that people have tried to shape-shift but it is not possible. In conclusion, my advice to you is to not give young kids hopes that are surely not possible."
" Ugh,"
I whisper to Emily.
" Not him AGAIN!"
Emily is about to answer when Mrs. Kimmel begins talking. Her face is red now, so I bet she never is talked back to. She looks Sherman strait in the eyes and says:
" If you have issues with what I am telling you, which is in No way false, may you PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO ADMINISTRATION!"
" Then that is what I'll do."
Replies Sherman. He huffs, and walks away, adjusting his neon purple spectacles. Mrs. Kimmel waits till her face turns back to a normal color and then continues:
" Now, today is an exceptional day. As you can see on your daily schedule, you have classes the first thing on Monday, after breakfast, of course, but these have been cancelled because of your assembly. Now each class is 40 minutes long, and after the first 2, you have a 30 minute break. But since today you have only an afternoon introduction, each of you will be split up into groups according to your uniform color and be shown to your room."
At this, she makes a slight motion with her left hand and 8 people appear. 1/4 wear orange uniforms, 1/4 wear white uniforms, like me, 1/4 wear blue uniforms and 1/4 wear green, like....
Wait. Oh no. Emily has a green uniform. And I have a white one. And Mrs. Kimmel just said we would be split up according to our uniforms! I can't room with her! I am jostled out of my thoughts when Mrs. Kimmel pulls out a megaphone and yells:
"All males dresses in orange , with Casey!"
Casey stepped forward, and all the guys dressed in orange walk over to him. He instantly turns to the left and walks off, leaving the boys to follow him. Then, blue is called, and all the blue guys follow  a guy named Leo. The green go with a boy named Ronan, and the white, my color, with a nice looking guy named Alec. Then, the orange girls are called . Then the blue. Then the green. Emily. She looks over at me, suddenly looking nervous.
" It's ok,"
I tell her. She gives me a scared smile and walks over to her group, the leader being a woman called Elizabeth. She turns back to wave at me, and I wave back. Then Mrs Kimmel calls white. A girl that's probably only a few years older then me steps out of the shadows. She has brown hair and blue eyes, and looks really really happy. Mrs. Kimmel introduces her as Abigail. I suddenly feel a little nervous, and wish that I had a friend to comfort me. But I ignore that nervousness and walk over to Abigail. After the rest of the group walks over, Abigail says:
"Hi everyone, and welcome. My name is Abigail, and I am one of the head supervisors of the air tower."
The air tower? Oh right, so does that mean I can control air?
" And if you're wondering, yes, since you are in the air tower, you can control air. "
Everyone either gasps, squeals, or jumps up and down. I do all three. That's when I notice a group of three girls. Two have brown eyes and luscious black locks, and the third, the tallest and prettiest, has sea green eyes and brown curls that frame her face. I know instantly that I should either be friends with them, or avoid them at all costs. Cause there the mean girls, the popular girls, or whatever you wanna call them. But I am thankfully momentarily stopped from thinking about them when Abigail starts talking again. She continues with:
" So, now I'm gonna show you to your rooms."
She turns rights, and we all follow her. I keep track of where we go while I listen to her say:
" You will all have your individual rooms. Girls are kept in a different dorm area then guys, but all the dorms connect to the common room, where you can do your homework, play games, and hang out with your friends. "
I glance around, because I was looking up at Abigail when she said this, and realize that the floor is white marble, the ceiling has gotten higher, and to the left and right there are doors. Like a lot, of doors. And at the end of the hallway there's one super big door. It looks super fancy and heavy.  The door we are in front of is pastel pink.
" This is it"
She says.
" Go ahead and take a look."
I glance around at the other girls, and start walking towards the door. I am the first to arrive, so I open the door. Inside, the sweet smell of lavender fills my nostrils and I notice a fluffy white fur carpet in the ground. There are pastel pink doors that line a hallway that leads to a set of big white doors. The doors must lead to the common room, or whatever it's called. I glance around and see that the head popular girl is right behind me, so I walk in quickly. She walks in after me, and her two side kicks  after her. They look around and all immediately head to their rooms. I walk down the hallway, looking for my room. It is the last one on the right, number 8. I open my pink door and walk in. The room is huge, with a  canopied king sized bed, a huge dresser, a joint bathroom, and a changing room. I also notice two other doors that must lead to a balcony. I walk over to the bed first, and notice that there are pictures woven into the curtains. They de pict people battling each other, stopping finding peace, and then walking through... A portal? I don't know what it is.  I move away from the bed after studying the curtains for a few more minutes, and walk over to the dresser. I open the top drawer and find White silk pajamas, and white rabbit fur slippers. Genuine rabbit fur! I close that drawer and open the one below. I find undergarments, and I quickly close that drawer. The next drawer holds all things hair, including dye, brushes, clips, and ties, along with toiletries and the fanciest brand of makeup, every single product. Yay! The next drawer holds a uniform. It's clearly a sports uniform, because there are white spandex and a white tank, and a pair of Nike flyknit sneakers, also white. Looking at those sneakers reminds me of my best friend- or maybe x-best friend Emma. She is the only thing I miss about my previous home, and life. A tear runs down my cheek, and I cry, because I don't know what she thinks happened to me. I cry for a good ten minutes, until my throat is sore and dry and I need a drink of water. I wipe my eyes and walk out of my room, to look for the water fountain. I find one near the door that exits into the main hallway. I gulp down the cold, lemony water. All of a sudden, a musical voice says:
" You're pretty."
I spit the water out of my mouth into the water fountain, wipe my mouth and reply:
" Excuse me?"
"You're pretty."
The stranger repeats. I turn around and see the head popular girl standing behind me. Somehow she seems even prettier then before. I reply shakily:
"Thanks?"
" Oh, sorry that was rude"
She says.
" My name is Hazel."
" I'm Cecelia, nice too meet you", I say less shakily. She seems relatively nice, just kind of awkward.
" As I was saying before, you're really pretty."
I am shocked, because no one has actually given me a compliment before. Except for Emma, but we were friends, so it's different.
" Oh, thank you!"
I reply.
" We should hang out some time. I'm in room 4, how about you?"
I am happy that for once the popular people like me, and I reply:
" Room 8. "
" You're so lucky! You're right next to the common room!"
" Yeah, it's pretty cool, I guess."
I don't know what's cool about being next to the common room.
" You should come over later, at 10:30! Kk, see you then! Bye!"
She says and walks off.
" Um, bye?"
I say. I walk back to my dorm, thinking about the odd events of the last few minutes. It's odd, how she thinks that are friends just because I'm pretty. When I arrive,  look at a clock I find on the dresser. Ten twenty already!" I quickly grab all the makeup and rush to the bathroom. I apply blush and mascara and eyeshadow, and then rush back out, grab a brush and comb my hair into a sloppy bun. As I am leaving the bathroom, I notice a pink leather journal on the counter. My journal! It's here! I grab it and put it on the bed. I'll write in it later. Then I run out, over to room 4.I knock on the door and hear Hazel's voice say:
" Come in!"
I open the door and see my room, but not my room. I guess all the rooms are the same. I notice that Hazel and her two friends are sitting on the bed, painting their nails with shimmering white polish. Hazel looks up, a says:
" Hey  Cecelia! Glad you could make it! Come in!"
" Um thanks,"
I say, closing the door and walking over to the bed.
" This is Rachel and this is Julia. "
" Hi!"
Say Rachel and Julia in unison. Julia motions for me to sit down next to her, so I do. She hands me some white polish and I start painting my nails. There is an awkward silence and then Hazel says:
" I have some advice for you. Like hair and makeup wise. You shouldn't put your hair up, it doesn't look good. Having curly hair means that you should keep it down, and you have no idea how to do your makeup. It's really crudely done. "
I look up at her and say:
" Um, ok"
I know I should be offended by this, but living with an abusive step-mother for the majority of your life makes it easier to take constructive criticism.
" I can help you if you want,"
Says Julia.
" Uh, sure!"
I reply.
" Great! Let's get started with a makeover!"
I am whisked into the bathroom, where they take my hair down and Hazel starts combing it. Julia tells me how I should do my hair,and after my hair is done, they all do my makeup. Rachel does my eye makeup, and tells me how to do everything. If I'm going for girly, do this, if I going for flirty do that, etc... I ended up writing it all down on a spare piece of paper I find. The same thing happens for face and lip makeup. Then they tell me what they did in case I want to do it again, what tools they used, etc.. Then Julia puts me in front of the mirror and I gasp. My hair frames my face in golden locks. My eyeshadow and subtle eyeliner make my green eyes pop.  My cheeks are rosy, and you can see no trace that I have any freckles at all. My lips are the perfect shade of pink. I look like a different person. I look so pretty! They are freaking miracle workers! I squeal out of happiness.
" Do you like it?"
Hazel asks.
" Are you kidding me? I love it!"
I reply.
" You guys wanna go into the common room?"
I continue.
" Yaaaassss!"
Says Rachel. We all giggle and walk into the common room