Visions (The Daevas #2)

9 | Puzzled

Georgie and I began heading down the stairs along with the other Vanmourians. All of us filed into scattered lines -- one for the guys and one for the girls. Georgie looped her arm through mine in that happy manner of hers while we went into a maze of hallways that never seemed to end. Apparently, with me being the only new student in the bunch, it surely got me all confused, while the old students could obviously find their way even with a blindfold on.

Finally, two porters in dark blue uniforms with very intimidating silver handguns placed at their belts, opened the large wooden double-doors wide for the students to enter.

Our feet padded on the wide stone floors that echoed loudly inside the Great Hall's massive eight cornered walls made of aging yellow stones that were graying in most parts of the ancient castle. There were bright chandeliers up above our heads, which glowed in the authentic lights, and as soon as we were inside the Great Hall to wait for another giant wooden door to open that would lead to the auditorium, the Vanmourians started to split into groups. They sat on soft velvet seats, stood in one corner, walked around the hall -- all the while gossiping and catching up. I could hear them clearly as a first bell tinged in my ear. Some of the students began looking at Georgie -- moreover, me. After all, I was the new student at their fancy boarding school.

"Don't worry," G assured me in a pleasant voice, "they'll get used to you. We haven't had new students in years, so they're just trying to adjust. Some of them were very friendly to you, weren't they?"

I thought of the girls who greeted us and smiled at me kindly. "Yes, they were," I replied honestly.

But as I looked to my left, where girls clad in interesting red and black uniforms like mine, I was less sure. One light, auburn-haired girl -- who was in that circle -- glared at me like I wasn't welcome to their territory at all; while the others simply stared at me like I was a cockroach that needed to be stepped on. "Well, some anyway."

Georgie looked where I was looking, which was the circle with the auburn-haired girl. She rolled her eyes and made a funny sound at the back of her throat. "Pah! Don't pay attention to their insecure selves. Those girls you just saw are members of the cheerleading squad and the female lacrosse team. I'm part of the cheer squad, but I don't ever befriend them since I know what they're like. They're just little snobs, Ven. I'm here, so you don't have to worry. I should let you meet my friends!" She squeezed my arm lightly, beaming at me with her pearly whites, her eyes flashing an excited dark violet for a second.

She felt her eyes heat up a little, I was sure, so she looked at me with large eyes as sge pursed her lips. She didn't mean to change the hue of her violet eyes to a more darker shade, so we both laughed at that. The students did not notice it, though; that was good.

She held my hand and we scurried past the sea of students in red blazers, but then someone called her. We both turned around to look at the person who called her, and there was a brunette girl-l -- one of the snobs -- smiling at her from a few feet away, smiling.

"We have got to tell you about our new routine that Angie has been preparing for the squad for the whole summer," she began, walking toward her, her stiletto heels clicking on the cobbled floor.

Summer? That was funny. We only had winter here.

"What, now?" Georgie demanded incredulously, her lightl buttery brows snapping down. "Can't this wait, like, till later after the meeting? I've got to let my best friend" -- she grabbed my hand again, tugging me a little toward her -- "to meet my friends just around here somewhere."

"Oh, hello," the girl said to me, giving me a little do-over. She turned to G again. "But you have to! We can't start without you. Coach wants us to start talking about it now while we wait. I don't think the auditorium'll open for another twenty-five minutes."