Power 35

Chapter III: In Every Turn

                                                                          Lianne Angelita Hacinto

The cafeteria. Going to a rich, fancy school with genius students might make you think that their cafeteria is as neat and fancy. That the students that went there were the silent, bookish types who make zero noise when eating. But, no. Sure, it was neat and looked more of a four-star restaurant rather than a cafeteria, but the students? They were not silent, bookish types. At all.

Since EI was a school for high school and college students, there were a lot of people in the room. But that was not the problem. Like every typical American high school movie, the students were scattered in groups, except in this case, they were grouped by class. All in all, 24 long tables were scattered in the cafeteria surrounding a beautifully carved statue of the founder of the school, Chloe Everleigh. Another thing, this cafeteria was definitely not silent. Even before Mariya and I entered the hall, I could already hear the sounds of talking and laughing. Not only were the students smart, they were also social butterflies as well. Yay.

"Mariya! Lianne! Over here!" We turned to see Xiomara calling us to a table already filled with chatting students. My new classmates. Mariya and I headed towards the table when suddenly something bumped against me and I fell on the floor. What the hell? It's not like I'm a freaking protagonist of an anime. This is so cliché.

"Aish..." I rubbed my forehead. "Lianne, are you alright?" Mariya asked, concerned as she helped me stand up. The room's loud sound dropped a little all around us. Nodding, I looked up and glared at the reason to my embarrassing incident. It was a tall, handsome man. He had messy dyed, bright red hair, long brown eyelashes, large dark brown eyes that shone like a thousand fireflies, light bronze skin, three silver piercings on his right ear, and facial features of a Greek god. He was really hot. Fazed, I shook my head and narrowed my eyes at him. The bastard was laughing.

"You're the transferee, right?" He asked while still laughing. I looked at him confusedly and nodded. Was he mental? "I'm Julian Kokkinos, but you can call me yours." He winked. The bastard had the nerve to wink at me! I breathed. Calm yourself Lianne, he's just one of those guys who have no real purpose in life. You are in a rich elite school, of course there were gonna be jerks like him running around- "Are you finished melting me with your stare? Haha, by the way, I'm curious. Why did a girl from nowhere suddenly transfer here? Especially in the top class of our batch. How did you do it?" Can I punch a student here?

"I mean, you're not famous, I've never seen your face on magazines, so why did you land in- ", Julian stopped when he felt a hand at his shoulder. Another guy who I didn't know was standing behind him. The dude was quite good looking, if I may say. He had dark brown, neatly-cropped hair and light green eyes. He also had Mediterranean features, being shorter than Julian by a few centimeters.

"Enough, Kokkinos. She's part of our class. Remember the last time you messed with one of us? It didn't go well for your squad, did it?" The guy said calmly. It was as if he was friends with the bastard. But the atmosphere clearly said otherwise. Laughing awkwardly, Julian removed the hand from his shoulder and turned to face the guy. "Ahahaha... Take a chill pill, Almeida. I was just giving her a warm welcome!"

Julian turned to me. "Have a nice stay at EI...? I didn't catch your name." "Larissa." No way in hell was I gonna give him my actual name. Even if he's gonna find out my real one soon. Julian laughed, "Interesting name". After giving a head nod to the Almeida guy, Julian then walked to the direction of another table where his, presumably, squad gave him back pats and laughed. The cafeteria soon shifted back to its old, noisy atmosphere.

I heard a sigh from behind me and I turned back my attention to the guy who rescued me. "That monte de merda..." He pinched the bridge of his nose. I heard Mariya stifle a laugh beside me. "Don't stress yourself too much, Pat." She said. Pat looked down and smiled at me. "Yeah... Thanks, Iya. By the way, we haven't been fully introduced. I am Patricio Almeida, I'm from Portugal. A lot of people call me Pat. Nice to meet you, Lianne." He greeted politely. I nodded. "Likewise."

"Anyways, we should get going to the table. We need to introduce Lianne to the class and let her have lunch. She still has a campus tour with Xio later." Mariya said, dragging me to the huge square table with a square hole in the middle where the rest of my thirty-five classmates are. Honestly, I'm a little nervous. Why did I end up in the top class anyway? Sure, I took the exam, but I sure know I'm not like these people... Or am I?

Mariya made me sit between her and Xiomara. Andrew sat beside his girlfriend. He was staring coldly at Patricio who sat across us, talking to some blonde girl. What's his problem? All of a sudden, Xio stood up and cheerfully said, "So, guys! This is Lianne Hacinto! Our new classmate from the Philippines! As the vice-president of both the Student Council and Class 1-A, I expect that all of you will treat her fairly and just. She's one of us now fellas. So, either leave or accept it!" There were a few "Yes, Ma'am's" and chuckles from the bunch. Huh. Not the serious kind of top class I was expecting. But this is better. At least they'll be approachable, hopefully.

"So, Lianne, how are you finding Everleigh Institutes so far?" A girl with short brown hair and a small face leaned in from her seat to ask me. "Um, It's fine I guess. I haven't seen all of it since my tour hasn't started yet. But I think the whole school's a beauty and kinda cool." I replied while digging in the pesto pasta Xio got for me. The girl's face dropped a bit. Sighing, she said, "Typical." And then leaned back. "Not everyone lived in luxury like you, Maria. So, rest easy." The girl with strawberry blonde hair tied into a ponytail said while looking at the bored brunette. I chose to keep quiet for the whole meal as the whole class started introducing themselves to me.

It was a tad surprising for me to know that my classmates come from different parts of the world. I mean, I know how diverse EI is but they really upped their game by searching the entire world for high IQ students. I mean, if I were the dean, I would get tired just by searching and testing students in 3 countries. This school and its skills and money are totally on another level.

After a good thirty minutes of eating and talking, some of my classmates and students finally left and went to God knows where and I was alone in the cafeteria with Xio. "You ready to start the tour? It's a pretty big campus so brace yourself." Xio giggled and held a tablet. I just stood up and followed after her.

We walked along wide hallways and entered a few rooms. The silence was sort of eerie but Xio made it up with her non-ending explanations and stories. The interesting stuff I probably saw on the tour were the enormous tech laboratory and the greenhouse that were hidden in the forest that was surrounding the school. Xio and I were brought there thanks to EI's transport vehicle that didn't charge us with any fee! Probably because Xio's the granddaughter of the dean of the school. But she never told me anything.

The one thing that I found weird though was that, in every turn we made, I felt like there was someone watching from behind us. But when I turned around, no one was there. I tried shaking it off. Maybe it was just the nerves or homesickness I was feeling.

It was almost 8 pm when the tour ended and I was starving like a demon released from Hell. "Hey, Lianne, did you enjoy today?" Xio questioned me as we walked back to the dorm room. She said she could make me something for dinner with what they had in the girl's dorm. I just hope there's some rice. "Of course, this school is so amazing. I was in awe every second." I replied, my stomach grumbling. "Just wish we could've stopped for a snack. The water fountains weren't enough."

Xio laughed from beside me and entered the dorm. Loud music was heard from inside one of the rooms that made Xio shake her head tiredly. "They never change." She said softly and held some amusement in her eyes as she led me to the dorm kitchen. Watching her cook made me remember my mother. No, not the mother I have now but the kind of person she was before. Bubbly, compassionate and had caring eyes. I felt nostalgic but I knew I could never have that mother back.

I went back to my dorm room after thanking Xio for the tour and for the delicious fried rice with cut up hotdogs that she made me. Mariya was fast asleep on her bed with her phone beside her when I came in the room. I bet five mangoes she was talking to Andrew before she fell asleep. Smiling, I silently crept in the bathroom to change into a t-shirt and pajamas and brush my teeth. After doing my "night routine", I laid down on my bed and closed my eyes.

It was a long time before I fell asleep but when I did, something shocked me. For the first time in the three months that I have stayed in this new country, I didn't have any nightmares. I convinced myself that maybe it was because the house I stayed him didn't feel like home or because I was watching too many gore animes before sleeping. But deep in the back of my mind, a thought lingered that made me shiver.

Maybe it was because those nightmares are turning to reality soon.