Destiny

Chapter 2

The halls of Lockwood were quieter in the afternoon.  Not saying that they weren’t busy; but they were a lot less crowded than they were earlier in the morning.  Evangelina stayed close as we exited the infirmary building and headed to the dormitory.  The air was moist and warm, with a slight breeze sweeping through the area.  The grass swayed silently and the sun shone bright over the trees on the horizon.  It was a perfect late summer afternoon; too bad I had to rest instead of enjoying it.

“So where are you from Lexi?” 

I blinked and looked at her.  It took my mind a moment to register she was speaking to me.  I had almost forgotten she was even there.  “Well, lately I don’t know where I’m from.  My dad and I have had to move so much; I guess I don’t have a specific place to call home.” 

“Well at least you don’t have to go anywhere here.”

“Yeah I suppose,” I lowered my voice.  “It’s probably the only reason why I agreed to go to a boarding school.”  I sighed and looked down at the pathway we were following. 

“I know it might seem bad from all of those TV shows and movies depicting us as ‘snobby rich kids’, but that’s really not the case.  We’re all here to get a good education and most of us don’t act like preps.  Besides; a lot of us have to go here.  It’s not like we’re just going to break the Luxian Code–“ She broke her sentence off.  “Umm never mind I said that.”  I raised an eyebrow at her as she held her hands behind her back.

“Sounds like you’re hiding something.”  I joked.

“NO!  I’m most certainly not hiding something, what makes you think I would be doing that?”  She stopped and looked at me defensively; like she was ready to counter any remark I could come up with. 

“Calm down; I was just kidding.”  I laughed to myself to ensure her that I wasn’t hinting anything.  But she must have had some type of secret.  Otherwise, why would she react so bitterly?

I continued walking and entered the tall housing building that stood in front of me.  Evangelina casually caught up with me.  It seemed as if she was pretending that whole thing had never happened.  She didn’t speak another word as I turned the corner to the girls’ half of the dormitory and began ascending the stairs.  

I looked at Evangelina who was staring blankly at the floor as she climbed each step.  I exhaled and tried a conversation with her.  “So, where are you from?”  I stopped at the top of the third floor and waited for her to make it up. 

“Me?  I’m from here of course.”  She flashed me a smile as we headed down the hall.  There were dim ceiling lights illuminating the hallway and a soft maroon colored rug was stretched across the dark floor.  The walls were similar to that of the rest of the school architecture. 

“Here?  So you’ve lived at school your whole life.”

“Well I suppose not here-here but I mean here in this town; in Riverdale.” 

We stopped at room 11C and Evangelina reached down to her ankle.  She lifted a small silver key up for me to see.  “I keep it in my sock; I know it’s weird but on the bright side I never lose it.”  She stuck it in the brass doorknob of the cherry wood door and turned it ninety degrees before looking back to me.  “Where’s your key?”  Her eyes scanned me; possibly looking for my key’s hiding spot. 

I grabbed my hair and flipped it to the side.  I felt my neck for the soft green lanyard I had bought to carry my key with.  Once I had found the edge of it, I tugged on it gently and pulled out the key from under my shirt.  It dangled as I held it up for her to see.  “Ta-da.”