Megan sat rocking back and forth on the grass, crying into her lap. She hadn’t intended for it to happen – no, she never intended to harm anyone. But it had happened anyway.
She stopped rocking and sat up, the warm sun drying the tears on her face. She opened her tightly clenched fist, staring at the purple stone within, perfectly smooth. That wasn’t what had drawn her to it, though.
The stone held a hidden energy within that made it glow. Sometimes the glow was very weak; at other times it was blinding. For now, the stone was glowing peacefully.
Megan closed her fingers around the stone again. Tears dripped onto withered grass.
~o~O~o~
It was Megan’s first day at her new school. She had been bullied at her last school so much that her parents had decided to transfer her to a boarding school, even though Megan had begged for them to let her stay. Her parents insisted it was for the best, though.
All of Megan’s valuable possessions were packed tightly into the pale blue rucksack she carried on her back. Her heart was in her throat. Would they like her? Or would they keep on bullying her about her… condition?
Megan was a sufferer of heterochromia, and a very severe one at that. Her right eye was a beautiful green, but the other looked almost red. Although it was actually brown, the people at her old school would say she had a red eye, like a demon. Eventually Megan’s parents found out, and promptly whisked her off to the school she was at now.
Unfortunately, her parents had been unable to spend some time off to accompany Megan on her first day, and so she had taken the train all by herself, at the tender age of eleven.
“Woah,” Megan breathed, as she passed through the gates to her new school. Even though she had been to Avillais before, the unique layout of the school still stunned her.
The school had been adapted from an ancient castle, hundreds of years ago. After some restoration work, the huge stone walls of the school towered more impressively than ever.
The school was divided into four towers, two for girls and two for boys: Eagle, Falcon, Hawk and Buzzard. Inside the hollow stone walls, the classrooms were situated, roughly divided into different subjects. The walls enclosed a large area of grass, where students could relax and meetings were held. The playing fields were situated outside of the school.
Megan walked straight across the grass, to the furthest tower. She had been allocated to the Falcon Tower. She hardly had to look at the creased map in her hand to know where she had to go. Before she knew it, Megan was staring at the wooden door that led to the dormitories.
Taking a deep breath, Megan turned the polished brass doorknob, and pulled.
She was greeted by a room filled with students, sitting on the dark brown wooden planks that made up the floor. At the sound of the door opening, they immediately turned to stare at the latecomer. Megan stood in the doorway awkwardly. A stern-looking woman looked at her, annoyed. “You’re late,” she spat.
“Sorry,” Megan sat down next to a tall girl, who smiled at her reassuringly. Megan smiled back.
“As I was saying,” the woman said with a glare directed at Megan, “You will find everything you need to know on the message board over there.” The woman waved her hand behind her. “Any questions?”
The students remained silent. “Good. I’ll leave you to get to know each other,” the woman said, walking up the somewhat unstable stairs that led higher up the tower. Instantly everyone started talking.
“Hi, I’m Olivia,” the tall girl next to her said with a smile. “What’s your name?”
“I-I’m Megan,” Megan managed to say.
Olivia kept on smiling. “Awesome. Well, we’d better check what rooms we’re in!”
Megan nodded, and followed Olivia to the message board. They pushed through the girls clustering around the board, trying to read the delicately handwritten list.
“I’m with Mary, Angelica and Scarlett… not with you, then…” Olivia murmured. “Floor two? That’s not too bad…”
“There’s only one other person in my room, and she’s called Georgia,” Megan said. “And I’m on… floor six!?”
Olivia grimaced. “We’d better start walking.”
The two girls walked up the stairs. Olivia waved goodbye to Megan, and she trudged up the rest of the stairs wearily. She threw open the door to her room gratefully, placing her stuff on the nearest bed.
“That’s my bed,” came a voice. Megan noticed a girl sitting on a chair, tucked under the desk next to the bed. Georgia.
“Sorry,” Megan said, and moved her suitcase. She sat down the right bed and stretched. Georgia eyed her suspiciously.
“What’s that on your suitcase?”
“What?”
“That sticker. What is it?”
Megan remembered the pack of creeper face stickers she had stuck on everything she could find. “It’s a creeper. From Minecraft.”
Georgia snorted. “Minecraft? Really?”
Megan glared at Georgia. She jumped. “Your eyes…”
“I have heterochromia. Don’t let it bother you.”
“I know.”
Megan looked up, and saw Georgia’s eyes for the first time. One blue, one green. “Mine’s not as obvious as yours, but I used to get bullied too.”
Georgia walked over to Megan and held out a hand. “Call me Geo.”
Megan smiled. “I’ll stick with Megan.” And the two of them shook hands.
