Her

Chapter three

"This way sweetheart," Mrs Adley says kindly when I accidentally take the wrong turn. This school is a lot larger than I thought it would be. Mrs Adley leads the way up a narrow stone staircase that leads to the second floor.

"I didn't catch your name dear, I do like knowing who all the students are," she says as she walks down another long hallway.

"It's Ellie, Mrs, Ellie Gray," I answer and jog a little to keep up. Mrs Adley doesn't look too young but man can she walk fast.

"Well Ellie, It is absolutely a pleasure to meet you, I'm sure the other girls will also be glad to get to know you pretty soon. There hasn't been a new person in this school for two years," Mrs Adley states, then pauses outside a door with the number 52. "You'll be sharing a room with Abigail, Lucie and Samantha. They're all nice girls so you'll make friends soon enough."

Mrs Adley opens the door and steps inside. I follow her in and stand slightly behind her. Three heads pop up from three beds lined against the wall. A fourth bed stands there empty. For now.

"Girls, this is Ellie, she'll be your new roommate," Mrs Adley says excitedly.

"Hey," they all say in unison.

"Hey," I smile back.

"I'll leave you too it," Mrs Adley says and exits the room.

I walk over and dump my belongings on the bed.

"So, where are you from?" One of the girls asks me.

"Uh, I'm from a small town up kind of North West, you probably haven't heard of it," I answer and plop down on the bed.

"What's it called?" A second girl asks.

"Glenroydon," I answer and watch as everyone's face looks puzzled.

"Cool, haven't heard of it," the girl shrugs and returns to a magazine she was reading.

The third girl hasn't spoken yet but I'm not sure if she's shy or just deciding not to speak.

"So, what are your names?" I ask.

The first girl that spoke speaks up, "I'm Lucie, that's Samantha," she says and points to the girl who spoke second, "and that's Abigail," she points to the girl that hadn't spoken yet.

"Nice to meet you all," I say and smile.

Lucie has long curly blonde hair and light green eyes, with perfect heart shaped lips. She's wearing the uniform with the cardigan loosely tied around her waist and a bright pink scrunchie on her wrist. She's lying down reading a book and slightly humming to herself.

Samantha is also wearing her uniform but her's seems much neater and the cardigan is carefully buttoned up. She has beautiful dark skin and perfect curls in her black hair. Her light brown eyes seem very focused on cutting out letters in her magazine, which she seemed to be sticking into a scrapbook.

Abigail pushes her straight black hair behind her ears and I can see she's wearing earphones. She is laying back on her pillow with her eyes shut listening to music. I'd say she probably didn't speak much because she couldn't hear a word. She has posters of Korean boy bands decorating the wall behind her headboard so I guess that's who she's listening to. All these girls seem to be really pretty and super nice so far.

I finish unpacking and place all my belongings into a white painted wooden trunk at the end of the bed and onto the little bedside table beside my bed. The room is also very pretty. At the bottom wall there are two windows with the same lace curtains I saw from outside. The floor is coated in a tan coloured carpet and the walls are painted a light baby pink. The duvets are a white and pink check pattern and the pillows are the same soft pink as the walls. Light blue lamps sit on top of the white painted bedside tables that match the trunks.

I see the other girls have their own little spaces decorated nicely so I tape some fairy lights onto the wall above my headboard and clip some polaroids onto them. The polaroids contain pictures of my six person family, my best friend Alice and little scenic photos that will remind me of home. I place my two books I brought with me onto my bedside table and also a few pieces of jewelry.

I sit down on my new bed and sigh, half nervous, half excited. I'm also exhausted after the journey.

"I'd recommend you put on your uniform before supper," Lucie tells me.

"Ok, uh..where?" I ask.

"Just down the hall," she answers and returns to her book, but looks up when she sees my puzzled face. "It's the door at the end of the hallway, to your left."

What is it with all the doors at the end of hallways?

"Thanks," I say and leave the room carrying my uniform.

I walk down the hallway past all the other doors with different numbers. I guess this floor is just the bedrooms. Do we all have to share the one bathroom? Surely not. As I continue walking I notice that one of the bedroom doors is half open. I peek in as I walk past it and there's another four girls in this room too. I notice one of the girls is lying on her bed with her feet up on the wall. She looks up and stares at me as I walk past, but doesn't say anything.

I enter the bathroom, lock the door and gaze into the mirror. I still look exhausted so I better get a good sleep tonight. I sit my uniform down on the small radiator and begin changing into it. As I pull my shoes on, there's a knock at the door.

"Just a second," I shout.

I tie my hair back and braid it and pull out a few strands at the front. I pick up the clothes I was wearing on the journey and unlock the door.

The girl who was lying on the bed inside the open door is outside leaning against the wall with her arms folded. She looks me up and down when I emerge from the door and then looks right into my eyes.

"New girl, huh?" She asks.

"Yeah, I'm Ellie," I say.

She nods and walks past me into the bathroom. I glance over my shoulder as she shuts the door and I hear the lock click.

I sit back down on my bed just as Mrs Adley enters the room.

"Supper girls!" She beams and leaves again.

I sit down at the edge of one of the two long vertical tables in the dining room beside Lucie. The two tables soon fill up with all the girls attending the boarding school. The dining room is a large rectangular room with four tall windows on each side where the starry night sky is clearly visible. At the front of the room is a horizontal table specifically for the staff and teachers. The walls are made from a grey brick and the floors are wooden. Three glass chandeliers hang from the ceiling and light up the tables. Empty plates and cutlery sit in front of each of the girls but plates of food are placed down the middle of the table. Brown bread and butter, toast, tea and jugs of water and milk are among the food served. I happily sip at a mug of hot chocolate and butter some brown bread.

By the end of supper, most of the food has been devoured and only small scraps remain. I can't wait to jump into bed and get a good nights rest. Slowly the girls start making their way upstairs and to their bedrooms. I walk close beside Lucie and Samantha as I don't want to go the wrong way again. As I'm about to turn into our room, I feel a pair of eyes staring at me. I slowly turn around to see who it is but just as I do a door shuts and the person disappears. I crawl into my bed and turn off my bedside lamp. I roll over and fall into a deep, undisturbed slumber.