Kalimity's auditorium resembled the inner exterior of an opera house, except smaller. The walls were all made of smooth concrete, and the seats were all colored either royal blue or jet black. A small ring of a balcony protruded on the wall and went around the whole place, filled with two rows of seats. On the ceiling, three giant silver arches were situated, with rows of gleaming lights in white rectangular casings between them. And finally, the stage was a finely cleaned semi-circle made of maple wood.
The last of Somber Ridge's students were flooding in. The Five occupied the end of the third row bench on the right side of the auditorium, when they were approached by a distinctive individual.
"Mind if I sit here?" asked a girl with tousled, ginger red tresses, and eyes covered by pitch black sunglasses. She had asked all of them for allowance, but only looked at Sun when she did, and Sun flashed her a cheery grin. She smiled back, briefly, then slid into the empty space next to him. "Thanks, Sundae..."
Cassandra Wiccan was not a party girl. She did attend them, and danced and socialized whenever asked to, but she usually only showed up for the narcotics that tended to make appearances at the parties. Many at school knew, many of them judged, and many had generally made it a habit to not trust her words if she was intoxicated. Cassandra herself didn't ever seem to particularly care, so she often settled for being alone.
"Rough night, girlie?" Aivie asked her.
Cassandra shook her head one full beat at a time. "A little bumpy, but for the most part, not rough at all. You guys?" Her voice was quite soft.
"Same old, same old," Mace answered instead.
"Attention students, attention!"
Principal Moreover was a plump old man whose age he wouldn't tell anyone, but his graying hair and wrinkling face were already pronounced indicators that revealed things with each passing year. He bellowed a hearty laugh, and it resonated throughout the hall as he stood at a maple wood podium.
"Welcome, welcome back," the grizzled man went on. "For all the new-coming, fresh kids, you can call me Principal M. Aren't you all excited for another year? I know the seniors are very excited!" He let loose another howl of laughter. "Alright now, enough of my rambling. Onto the main event! Everyone, please give a weasel welcome to your student body President, Kite Ceroz!"
At once, the entire hall was abuzz with thunderous cheering, roaring, and strange weasel-like cries. Aivie and Sun were two of the loudest there, so loud that the rest of the Five along with Cassandra, had to plug their ears.The triumphant noises didn't last too long; a lanky, slim teen boy strode onto the stage and took post at the podium.
Kite Ceroz had a peanut-colored head of hair, neatly slicked back. He wore a light beige sports jacket over a white t-shirt, and navy chinos — a usual style for him.
Kite Ceroz appeared to everyone as quite a modest and polite visionary. He wasn't a cheater, he wasn't a liar, and he always said hello to everyone. There was once a rumor that he had shook hands with the President during his family trip to D.C. last year, but Kite quickly debunked this as he had only been on a tour of the White House.
To the entire student body, Kite was a role model of sorts in all truth, especially to Aivie and Sun, who had already promised their support a year ago for when he one day ran to be the actual President of the United States.
His arms slowly raised, summoning gradual silence among the entire hall. With a trillion dollar smile he said, "I know that Principal M. has said it endlessly up to now, but really, it couldn't be said enough. Welcome grade nine freshman. Welcome grade ten sophomores. Welcome grade eleven juniors. And of course, welcome grade twelve seniors. Welcome here, to Kalimity Collegiate High School. We're known for many things: our diversified skills in athletics, our expertly taught teachers, our astounding grades. But no one talks about how we came to achieve all this. No one dares to mention how we deal with the stress we obviously encounter. So here's the secret that most of you probably already know: it's this. Today. The days to come of this year."
"Every first day of school is a new chance, a new beginning, to improve on something that hadn't gone so right previously. It's an opportunity for change, no matter how small, or good, or even bad. And if we allow ourselves to accept the change, we'll be able to discover that potential we likely weren't aware of initially. And we do have it — potential — a lot of it. Because we are more than what we are. And someday, if you accept the change, you'll actually be able to see it. Just think about how harmless weasels look. Many wouldn't suspect what it's truly capable of."
What came next, Kite didn't have to indicate at all, the student body just knew it was time.
"Cute but killer! Small but bloodthirsty! We are Weasels!"
The entire assembly hall was a glorious, unified front, even a few freshmen were reciting the chant. The rest of the Five didn't have to cover their ears, because they had joined in the cheering along with Aivie and Sun.
The mascot, Wilton the Weasel, wore his usual black jersey with blue outlining over his chestnut-brown fur, and frolicked onto the stage before contorting his body and switching to a mild form of acrobatics. This managed to amp the crowd up even more. Many were no longer sitting down, and some had broken out into their own version of a 'weasel war dance'. Principal Moreover had become as loud as the students too. There wasn't a soul in the room that wanted this celebration to end, but their education wouldn't wait any longer.
Principal Moreover sent Kite a look that said, 'I don't want to, but we must.' And with that, Kite lifted his arms once again to silence the crowd. Though it took a bit longer than the last time, as it always did for him with an energized crowd, everyone had eventually noticed his outstretched gesture, and the pandemonium had gradually calmed. Kite then signaled for Principal Moreover to take the stand once more.
After a robust jog back to the center of the stage, Moreover slapped on an earnest expression and said, "alright, alright. Let's save all that enthusiasm for game days, and get to class!"
Outside of the crowded assembly hall, the Five saw Kite networking the 'Canadian Dream' as he called it, to a group of freshmen. Kita had seen them as well, and waved them over just as he was finished speaking to freshman pack.
"Hey guys! Aivie, awesome hair. Sun, you're glowing. Rion, I see the hair is growing out nice. Mace — did you get taller? Seems like you did. And Colette, you look...stunning."
Aivie tossed her hair back with her hand in an attempt to look like a high-class hair model. Sun could actually feel a temperate flush rising to his cheeks, and discreetly tried to hide them. Rion and Mace shared a silent fist bump to demonstrate their awe of each other's notable appearances. Colette stared back at Kite with an unreadable, though not crestfallen, expression.
"I gotta make this quick. Ms. Dulin waits for no one, and her class is all the way in the depths of the third floor," Kite went on. "Party at my place, this Saturday night. Everybody at school is invited. No alcohol and drugs, but that doesn't mean you won't have a good time. See ya there?"
"Of course," Aivie happily answered.
Usually, when they were collectively asked something and the answer was obviously unanimous, it was bestowed onto Aivie the role of responding for the group as a whole. Whenever Aivie was unable to do it or her position wasn't closest to the speaker asking, the role was bequeathed to Sun. If ever either of them weren't able to do it, Colette, Rion and Mace had adopted a disposition that they weren't inclined to care as much, so they usually didn't answer at all.
"Awesome! See you there then." Kite maneuvered past them to go and quickly help a pair of stray freshmen.
"A party this Saturday?" Colette questioned.
"At his place?" Rion wondered.
"Awesomazeballs, isn't he?" Aivie encouraged.
"No alcohol..." Mace echoed, "what kind of pre-presidential campaign is he doing?"
Amused, Sun shook his head. "Cut it out people, we'll be late for class." He started off in the direction of their first period English class, which they all shared.
They all followed after him, but Colette hesitated a moment. Not because of class, but because she was secretly glancing at Kite while he navigated the freshmen down the opposite side of the hall. Her unreadable expression had curved into something of...interest.
YOU ARE READING
The High 5
Teen Fiction|Now FULLY PUBLISHED on Amazon Kindle books!| Also Book 1 of the Otherworldy series (EIther Moonhaven or this can be read first, as long as both are read to continue the series)! Since Aivie Mercer was 6 years old, she began having overwhelming feel...
