Touch the Sky

Something Else

'Toni, wake up,' I heard as a large hand shook my shoulder.

I opened my eyes to see my dad shaking me. We had finally arrived at Saint Helena Academy!

'Why did you let me fall asleep?' I asked, grinning from ear to ear at the sight of the old, stone building that stood tall in front of me outside of the car window.

'You needed it, now let's go and unpack your things,' he suggested, opening his car door and stepping out.

I met him at the trunk of the car and grabbed a backpack full of things as he grabbed my suitcase.

Now, you may be thinking that he had the harder job here, since he was carrying the suitcase, but my backpack was the heaviest it has ever been. It was filled with my writing equipment.

We walked through the grand entrance and were met by a tall-ish, fat-ish, pale-ish woman. There was no way to describe her other than with the word almost.

She was almost tall, almost fat, almost pale, but she wasn't quite any of these things.

'Hello, my name is Mrs Houston,' she told us, as she pushed her almost grey hair behind her ears. It still had a hint of brown, so it wasn't quite grey enough to be called grey. It was almost grey.

'I will lead you to your dorm room,' she informed us, turning around and heading up the wooden stairway that stood opposite to the door.

She explained to us that they did have an elevator but it wasn't to be used other than when absolutely necessary because 1) it often broke ('the school can't see the point in getting it fixed,' she said) and 2) she wanted everyone to build up their stamina.

We reached the top of the stairs and walked down a long, wooden corridor until we reached room 2e. Mrs Houston knocked three times before opening the door to reveal a redhead stood at the bed on the left of the room unpacking her things.

My dad and I walked in.

'Toni, this is Cheryl Blossom and she will be your roommate,' Mrs Houston told me as I walked over to the bed that wasn't taken and dumped my bag down. My dad put the suitcase on the white rug next to the bed.

'Nice to meet you,' I said to the other girl as I walked towards her, stretching my hand out to shake hers. She did the same.

'You too,' she told me.

'I'll leave you guys to it,' my dad suggested.

I turned around to where he was stood by my bed and wrapped him in a huge hug. I loved my dad more than anything. He was the only person I had left.

'I'll call you tonight,' I whispered into his ear, as he squeezed me even tighter than he already was.

He told me that he loved me, and I could tell that he was close to crying, so I told him that I loved him too and then I let go of him.

His small, frail frame made its way out of the door, closing it behind him. Cheryl and I were alone.

I began to unpack my suitcase, straightening the white sheets on the bed as I did so.

'What's your story?' She asked me out of the blue.

'My- my story?' I stuttered, turning around to face her.

'Your story. Why are you here?' She prompted. A bit full on if you ask me.

'Erm, well,' I mumbled, 'my dad was working a lot so we didn't really get to spend much time together, so I came here after receiving a scholarship for my writing,' I explained, trying to be confident. I tried to make a good first impression.