See me playing

Airconditioning whole California

Winnie

8 months later

Someone once told me that it is hard to leave highschool and go to another state because of the University. I don't agree at all. Then again, I just want to get this year over with and go back to New York.
Besides, Academia is in California.

Yes, I hate heat.
Yes, I didn't want to be here in the first place.
But how bad could it be? The population of the state is almoust 40 million. So, if 40 million people love California, I will love it to.

With that tought I got out of the airport ready to find the car they said would be waiting for me.
And changed my oppinion the same second.
Too much sun.
Too hot.
Am I in hell?
Tell me this is my worst nightmare.
Where are my sunglasses?

I did not expect temperatures this high. It felt suffocating, especially because I came right out of an airconditioned airport.
On that note, why has nobody thought of airconditioning whole California? Okey, that is just stupid. I have to get a grip, it's not the end of the world, just some heat.

I searched trought my handbag trying to find my sunglasses and after I put them on, took my suitcase that contained last things I needed that weren't send to St. Clair beforehand and started searching for that car.

~~~

The campus of Academia is just outside of San Francisco. I've heard that St. Clair Highschool Internate is not that far away from Academia.

The whole car ride I spent wondering what will this next year be like.
Will it be easy to adjust?
Will I find anyone I want to spend time with or will all of them be polished barbie dolls and first class assholes, as Janice likes to calm them?
Will there be anyone who did not attend St. Clair High? Or will I be the black sheep, the only person that does not fit in just because my mother saved me from going to San Francisco when I was starting highschool?

I was so deep in my own toughts, I did not notice the car stopped right in front of the main building of the campus.

So this is it.

The St. Clair Academy of Arts and Science.

That name is quite a mouthfull.

Before I had seen the place I tought people used the nickname for it because the full name was long and boring.
Now, after I witnessed the grandeur of everything surrounding me, I understand why it carries nickname 'Academia'.

Academia.

Sounds regal. Certainly looks like it.

~~~

Afer I had gotten my dorm room keys and schedule for the first semester, I went straight to my room with the intention of getting settled.

Rooms were spacious and elegant. They didn't look like normal dorm rooms would. Oh, no, they looked like some fancy rooms of a five-star hotel. I know I should have been pleased, impressed even. Academia certainly lived up to it's standards. I could finally see what all the fuss was about.

But I was not that tipe.

Never have I ever been raised as a shallow person blinded by material things.

Yes, I liked pretty things.
Yes, I was surrounded by wealth.
But it was never something that brought me so much joy I had to flash it everywhere. I was not shallow like that. Nothing would change if my family lost all of it's wealth. And I have my mother to thank for that.

Valeria Dane was a struggling law student who worked two jobs so she could pay her tuition fees. One of those jobs was waitressing in a fancy restaurant in New York.