House of Anubis: Sibuna Descending

6. A New Term

The table was mostly full. Everyone apart from Dexter, Cassie and Erin were initially present during breakfast.

"Trudy, where are the other three?" Ian asked Trudy.

"There's always someone absent every now and again," Trudy explained. "Don't worry; nobody likes to miss breakfast." Ian guessed that because Trudy said this, it must be a regular thing in this house. The three people absent are the three who came to Anubis house at the end of last term.

Everyone was in their school uniforms at the table, forming a small sea of red. PJ made an under-comment about having to sleep in a "fold-up bed" as he put it, to which Trudy apologised and assured him there would be a proper bed waiting for him when he returned from school. Dexter, Erin and Cassie did make it to breakfast, and had to force down their breakfast to finish around the same time everyone else did. The table was a lot quieter compared to last night; Mr Goodman was in his office, though he wished all of them good luck from the window in his office that overlooked the entrance hall as they exited through the door. Ian was one of the last to leave. He took his coat from the coat room beside the stairs and stuffed it into his backpack.

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"Follow those rules," Mr Sweet — the headteacher — spoke at the front of the hall, "and your time at this school will be wonderful. I'd rather not take up any more of your time, so good luck on your first day. And remember: Carpe Diem! Seize the day!"

As the students flooded out of the sports hall after the assembly, Ian adjusted his shirt collar. His fingers began clawing for the familiar string around his neck...it wasn't there. He stood aside, by the door, as his fellow schoolmates passed by him to get to their first lessons. The more Ian's fingers wriggled in his pockets, the more panicky he became. But then he realised: he must have left it in his jeans. That's where the necklace was, last.

"Can I help you, young man?" Mr Sweet asked Ian, placing a hand on Ian's shoulder.

"Oh, um, I'm fine," Ian responded, beginning to walk in the direction to his French class. "Thanks, sir."

The sun shone through the windows at the back of the classroom Ian walked into. It still felt like summer. As well as him, there were still students arriving and taking random seats. This was perfect for Ian; no seating plan! He could sit wherever he wanted. Despite this, he kept his hopes in check. Teachers usually allowed students to sit anywhere on the first day before getting a feel for how the students work and sorting out a seating plan.

The tables were more spaced out, two tables joined together to form a larger one. This was much better than the two long tables that would be joined against each other's lengths to allow four people to sit as one collective, like in his previous school. At the front of the room, to Ian's left, stood a lady with sleek, black, shoulder length hair and a contagious smile. Ian returned a smile and sat beside Raymond around the middle of the room, hoping Raymond wouldn't start on Bigfoot.

"Hello, everyone," the woman began as the last few students sat down. "My name's Miss Valentine, and I'll be teaching you English and French this year."

PJ's quiet snigger from the back could be heard across the whole classroom. He rubbed his hands in delight, and when everyone looked at him, he said, "Oh, Miss Valentine, I know it's a bit early...but could you be my valentine?" The whole class fell silent, and then a few people tried to hold in their laughter. The teacher herself seemed to be holding hers back, but she said, "I'm flattered. But really, I'd like to get to know all my students, not just you. Good to see another American student, though. Love the diversity."

"Ouch," Adil said, patting PJ on the back. "Good try, man."

"Oh, dude," PJ muttered to Adil. "This is just the beginning."

Miss Valentine, as she had done with other classes in previous terms, created a game with a basis of the students getting to know each other. The students, after stating their names, formed a circle of chairs at the centre of the classroom with the tables pushed to the sides. A multicoloured basketball was to be thrown around, with the thrower naming someone that the receiver had to pass to.

"Right," Miss Valentine said. "Anyone in the same house should be able to remember each other. Let's start with..." Miss Valentine turned on her heels at the centre of the circle, thinking of which student to pass the ball to. She lightly tossed the ball to Amaya.

"Adil," Amaya said, throwing the ball to a boy from a different house.

"PJ," the boy said next, tossing the ball to Adil.

"Ian," Adil said, passing the ball to PJ.

"Miss Valentine," PJ said, giving the teacher a small wink. Ian caught the ball and hesitated, not knowing whether to actually pass the ball to Miss Valentine or not. She, however, nodded in approval, and Ian wondered who she should pass the ball to.

"Erin," Ian said.

The day was quite short due to it being the first day. The only lessons were French, Maths, and English with Miss Valentine again. There was barely any educational content in the lessons; they were mostly on school rules, expectations, introductions and icebreakers.

Ian was walking back to the house with Adil. The grounds were amazing, like Ian had seen in the photos. Green everywhere apart from the road.

"Lessons were alright," Adil said. "I'm more excited about the football team, though."

"Ah, right," Ian said. "Yeah, football. You trying out, then? The headteacher said the trials are on Wednesday."

"Of course. And with your foot, you better, too."

"I'm definitely not missing out," Ian stated.

"Guys! Guys!" came a voice from behind the pair. They both looked back and spotted Raymond running over to them across the field.

"What's up?" Ian asked.

"Guys," Raymond repeated, panting as he came to a halt in the middle of them. "Look what I found." Raymond held up a few long, brown hairs to the sunlight.

"Checking if the hairs are authentic?" Adil laughed.

"You never know," Raymond answered honestly. "I'll see if there's some way I can test them out."

"Ray," Ian sighed. "I know we literally just met, like, a day ago, but you've got to lay off this thing. I've never seen such an obsession."

"Never," Raymond breathed, slightly aggressively. "This is my life's work." And with that, he sprinted ahead of them to the house. Both Adil and Ian looked at each other and shrugged — Raymond didn't seem to be slacking in the slightest.

Some metres behind them, Cassie and Erin were walking arm-linked. Cassie's smile was too bright for Erin to ignore.

"Cassie," Erin said, "why are you staring at them like that?" After studying Cassie's gaze at the pair ahead, she came to a conclusion: "You like Ian!"

"Sshhh," Cassie hissed. "And no. Not Ian. Adil."

"Sorry," Erin quickly said. "But you don't even know him yet."

"Erin," Cassie sighed, tutting. "You've been my friend long enough to know that looks are enough to make this girl pounce."

"Looks aren't everything."

"I know that," Cassie laughed. "That's why we've got this whole term to get to know the hotties. This term's gonna be fun."