Flightless Bird

Chapter 2

For the next hour, Lexi showed me around the whole house, and a few other buildings that housed extra classrooms or specialised rooms like the labs. The last stop on the tour was my new room.

"Here we are," she said cheerily, pushing open a heavy oak door in one of the many corridors on the second floor, "this is your room."

I walked into the grand room, which had two beds on one side, and another door and a big wardrobe on the other. In the middle there was a desk under one of the two windows; the other had a small window seat. Next to the door there was a small vanity and mirror desk upon which sat bottles of perfume, hairbrushes and make-up.

"It's lovely," I gasped, walking further into the room and feeling my shoes sink into a thick purple carpet which matched the heavy curtains.

"I know! We have one of the nicest rooms in the whole house," Lexi exclaimed, walking past me into the room.

"We?" I asked. She turned to me, smiling.

"Oh yes! We're going to be sharing a room," Lexi told me eagerly. I smiled, because it was hard not to when she was so happy. She was one of those people that you just felt instantly comfortable around.

"At least I know I have a nice roomate," I said, walking over to the bed nearest the window which had the seat, since all my bags sat at the end of that one. Above the beds a large clock ticked over, the small hand moving onto 12 and causing the clock to chime.

"Oh! Dinner already. Sorry I ran over a bit Kerri! But I'm sure you have time to change if you like," Lexi exclaimed. I shook my head,

"I'm good, I'm sure this is fine just for my first night."

Lexi smiled, and then led me out into the corridor. Already, a stream of girls were heading back toward the large staircase and down to the giant dining hall.

"This dinner is for everyone, since it's a Sunday. Every other night we have them in years or upper and lower, because all the class schedules vary," Lexi explained as we joined the stream and began moving downstairs. I was relieved; dinner with this many people every day would surely get tiring. Soon we reached the dining hall, and Lexi grabbed my arm so that we would stay together in the flow of people. From the opposite side of the hall, I saw all the boys filing in, since Lexi told me all the boys lodged in the other side of the house. We all took our seats at house tables for the full school dinners, so me and Lexi ended up sitting near some year 10 girls, year 8 boys and assorted others. I was in the same house as Lexi; Austen. The others were Bronte, Verne, Shelley, Stoker and Dickens. We were seated near the end of the table, and I was next to a vacant seat. Dinner began promptly at 7, and we had a traditional roast. Well, at least the food was good. Lexi and I were in the middle of a conversation (I had been asking her about some of the house's history) when I heard a loud bang. Almost everyone turned to the main door to see it smash against the wall, and a lone figure stood in the tall doorway. They strode into the hall, walking straight down the aisle to where the headmistess sat, and started a very animated conversation with her which I'm pretty sure everyone in the room could hear.

"Why are you so late!" she demanded, standing up in her place.

I could instantly tell it was a he when he started shouting back at her,

"I'm not! I don't even see why I need to attend these ridiculous dinners anyway."

"Because you are a student here, and dinners are mandatory for all students!" she cried.

"Yes, but unlike any other student, I'm 22 years old, and I do not need babying!" he replied, his voice shaking the room.

"You do when you're acting like a baby," the headmistress shot back coldly, sitting back down and resuming her meal. Everyone followed suit, and realising the conversation was over, the man walked swiftly out of the dining hall. On his way to the door he passed where Lexi and I sat, and I swear he did a double take when he caught my eye.

"Who on earth was that?" I whispered, turning to Lexi. She slowly turned to me, a small smile curling her lip as she replied,

"Headmistress Marsh's son."