Featherback

Chapter Two

The dorm was divided into seven sections, two being doorways (one, presumably to a bathroom and the other the one we'd just walked through) and five sectioned off areas with matching bed frame, desk, bookcase and nightstand. Despite this, all were wildly different. The first one i saw was quite orderly with a few cork-boards and memorabilia on the walls and one big map covering the one above the bed, marked with red pins. The next was covered in band pictures and posters and was probably the messiest of them all with laundry not in, but next to the empty laundry basket, because it had a stack of books on the top of it. The section after that had an easel at the end of the bed, a plastic sheet covering the surrounding area and art supplies stored on top of the wardrobe in a wonky pile. The last decorated one was pretty basic. A few pictures of friends and places on the wall, fairy-lights, a black and white tapestry above the bed, a fluffy green rug and a white lava lamp on the desk and a wall mounted acoustic guitar.

A short girl with blue hair in the band-postered section was crouching to turn up the volume on her phone dock but hastily turned it down again with a sheepish grin as she noticed me standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"So, you must be the new girl." she said, pulling at her shirt as she stood up.

Phone-girl and the painters faces snapped to me and threw a bit of blotting paper towards another girl I hadn't even noticed. She just waved her hand absent-mindedly and carried on staring at some papers.

"Yeah, I guess" I shrugged.

"Well you're new aren't you? So you're the new girl' The blonde laughed 'Im Freddie, this is my, believe it or not twin sister, Freya,' she gestured to the girl on her phone, who smiled then caught a glance at Matt and looked straight down again.

If there was a competition to see who could be the most un-identical twins, these two would win: Freya had endlessly long, glossy black hair that she wore loose over her shoulders, perfect skin and the most intense green eyes id ever seen, whereas, Freddie had a light-blonde, choppy bob that she had up in a clip, a paintbrush behind her right ear, her nails were bitten to the quick. I wouldn't have guessed they were cousins, let alone twins.

But they were both impossible in their own ways; Freya being dark, shy and immensely beautiful, Freddie being light, friendly and, I guess you could say... hot, for lack of a better word. 

The girl with the blue hair cleared her throat and I realised I'd been staring: 'So yeah... I'm Rhian, and that's Elle over there with the headphones on. She's not trying to be rude, she just takes a lot of subjects and probably hasn't even heard you're meant to be coming let alone noticed you've arrived.'

'Yeah, some people can just be a bit oblivious sometimes' Freddie said, with a pointed glance in the direction of the door, where Matt was standing.

Matt cleared his throat 'Well I guess I'll leave you to it then, if you need anything, ask one of the girls in your dorm the way to my room- wait, I don't mean in that way, uh...anyway, i'll see you around' He twisted his hands and turned to leave, head straight down all the way out.

The second he left, it was like a weight had been lifted from the room.

'What was that all about?' I asked. There were some uneasy glances.

'Uhm...' Rhian hesitated 'We'll tell you at a later date, it's nothing, don't worry' She smiled 'Do you need help unpacking?'

My glance fell on the bare space by the bathroom, unlike the other walls; it was a grim stretch of three white walls and a bare mattress with the bedding folded at the end. And with nothing on them, the bedside table, desk, chair and wardrobe looked awful and cold and empty.

"Ah, yeah, sorry about the lack of - well, nearly everything, but that's your patch. I've got some washi-tape left over if you want to brighten it up a bit?" Freddie offered.

'I have some left-over fairy lights?' Freya added

"No, thanks but it's okay, my stuff's coming tomorrow. I can last a night without it... but actually can I borrow some of that tape when it arrives?"

"Sure, there's not much left but we can buy some next Saturday if you run out, the village has a craft store that probably stocks it.' said Freddie

'But don't be afraid to ask if you need anything, any of us would be glad to help, and I'm the student rep so if you have any problems, let me know.' Rhian added.

***

About three hours later, it looked a little bit homelier at least. I'd got my book and pyjamas out and made the bed, I'd even given it a bit of heat protection spray of all things as I'd forgotten my perfume and it smelt slightly musty. My clothes were in the cupboard, soap in the dorms showers, and everything else fit in the drawers at the bottom of my cupboard.

Dinner was okay, I'd met a few of the guys from the counterpart to our dorm and a few people who had their own rooms and the food was really good, it was sausages and mash with some broccoli and gravy, which wasn't something i'd had before and i wasn't entirely sure whether i liked it. Most of the student body had gone to the projector room after dinner to watch a movie but Freddie seemed a little put out by that idea because there was supposedly some kind of tradition or ritual they wanted to do with me on my first night, but as soon as we'd gotten back to the dorm, her head hit the pillow and she was asleep, so Rhian and Freya agreed it would have to wait until tomorrow. I was a little scared of what it was though.

By now, it was nearly 10 and most of the other girls in my new dormitory had curled up in bed to read a book or were winding down. Freya was in the bathroom, washing her face, Rhian was in the shower, Freddie was blow-drying her 'abstract interpretation of a storm'. Elle was flipping through a printed worksheet. I was sitting on my bed with a face mask on that Freya lent me, writing an email to my older brother Finn as he didn't currently have a phone.

I arrived okay and the school seems alright so far. I've got my first lesson tomorrow and the girls in my dorm are pretty nice, we seem to have a lot in common. There's Freddie, she paints, and Freya, Freddie's sister seems alright aswell though we haven't spoken much. Rhians pretty cool and seems really nice and understanding about everything somehow. You'd like her, she has dark blue hair, a septum piercing and likes pop punk/indie music. She also said she'd help me customise my area which is nice of her since you know how bad I am at painting.

Elle seems alright aswell, she hasn't really spoken much, the others said she generally likes to keep to herself and she's taking some of her exams early so she needs the extra study time. She said Hi at least and apologised for not saying much. The others told me she really likes books and Freddie said, if I'm lucky, she might forget I'm here and start singing in the shower. Apparently she's really good. And she has a tiny little turtle named after A'Tuin from one of those Terry Pratchett books.

The uniform is pretty cool compared to my old stuff, it's literally the stereotypical boarding school stuff, blazer and all. with a fairly long purple tartan-y skirt, then the shirt is one of the button down ones with the starched collars, I haven't been given my tie yet but Freddie said I should get it during form tomorrow morning. The shoes are pretty standard regulation they gave me some black leather ones but apparently they're really uncomfortable and the sizings a bit off so I'm gonna wear my sneakers instead and colour in the white parts with marker until the letter from mum comes in saying I can visit the village nearby and have a look at my options there.

Also, tell mum I'm sorry, I know I've been difficult later which just makes it worse for her and I'm sorry. Its just not easy for me either.

I sent it and looked up as Freya and Rhian emerged from the bathroom and warned me I should probably start going to sleep now. I started to open my mouth in protest when every single one of the lights went out.