Union Jack

~Lordly~

~Three~

Lordly //characteristic of a lord; arrogant

The hollow door of S214 was cool below my knuckles. Though I had a key, I chose to knock because the headmistress told me that my roommate had already arrived. A few moments later the door opened to reveal a tall girl with short white blonde hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a baby pink cardigan and blue jeans. "OhMyGosh!" she cried in a distinctive British accent, "You're her! You're the American!"

"In the flesh and blood," I replied with a chuckle.

"Come in, Come in." She ushered me and my suitcases through the door.

The room was spacious. It had dark hardwood flooring, cream colored walls, and gold curtains. There was a small window seat about halfway to the floor covered in plush dark blue fabric. Two double beds lined the walls on the left side of the room and a Louis Vuitton trunk laid at the foot of the bed closest to the door. On the right side of the room there were two desks separated by a wooden, pearl handled door that led to what I guessed was the bathroom. The girl in the cardigan had not stopped talking since I'd walked in. She poured what I rightfully assumed to be tea into two porcelain cups. "Cream and sugar?" She asked going ahead to pour the two items in question and handing me the cup before receiving an answer. "Mum said you were coming," she continued rather quickly, "but I didn't know she'd make us roommates! I couldn't believe we had someone from America coming to McCullough, we've never had -"

"Wait," I cut her short, "Your mom?" I asked eyeing her skeptically.

"Oh how rude of me," She said shaking her head. "I'm Clara Banks the headmistress' daughter." She stuck out her hand for me to shake and as I took it, it all started to fall together. The curve of her nose, her olive skin which looked so out of place with her bleach blonde hair, and her brown eyes were almost an exact copy of the woman I had just met minutes before.

"Nice to meet you Clara, I'm – "

"Charlotte Gray." She finished for me. "I know who you are. As a matter of fact practically the whole school knows who you are. Your parents are the very successful Jane and Anderson Gray. I read that you play football, are you going to take the number ten role on the Southerns this year?" She asked, eyes glistening with expectation. "I'm not sure yet." I replied sipping my tea and glancing out the window onto the grounds – an image distorted by the old wavy glass and a fine mist.

My mother and father's fame, though small, had not escaped the public eye. Every once in a while, especially when my father had discovered something big or my mother's picture made front cover, the paparazzi would follow us around until they found something decisively more interesting. Editorials had been written about me and my accomplishments at school, in sports, and how I had a knack for history just like dad, but I never believed people actually read them. Clara's bell-like voice broke me out of my reverie.

"Well I'm sure your decision will be made easier once you have some dinner in you, come along we mustn't be late."

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The dining hall was crowded full of teenagers dressed in the McCullough Manor Preparatory School Uniform. Clara had said that we had to wear it during school hours and at every meal, other than that we were free to wear whatever we wanted (within reason of course). I had found the green and grey pinstriped plaid pleated skirt, white collared shirt, coal black sweater, and blazer bearing the school's crest in the closet beside my bed. I had paired the outfit with black, short, patent-leather Mary Jane heels that I had bought at a little specialty shoe store in Buckhead with my mother a few years prior. I tugged at the knot in my tie to try and loosen the noose Clara had secured around my neck as I did not know the first thing about tying one.