Ramston Academy

Chapter 4: Sunflowers

When everybody was off the bus, we followed the stone path up to the building. A man stood by the big, glass door and opened it for us. The lobby was dark blue, sleek and clean. A young woman came up to us and said, "Welcome! We're so happy to have you with us. I hope you find your rooms to be up to your living standards. They are upstairs and to the left. When you've settled in, come back here and wait for the others." She handed us each a key with our room number on it.
Xander offered to carry one of my bags upstairs.
"Thank you, but I got it."
We climbed the stone steps and made our way to our rooms. I found mine and put the key in the lock. When I opened the door, I was amazed by what I saw.

One wall was all windows, letting light stream into the dimly-lit room. A king sized bed stood at the end of the room, framed by rectangular glass that held a few hundred fish behind it, swimming through the water. I turned the corner and found myself in a huge living room area with a gigantic flat screen tv, kitchenette and ping-pong table. Compared to my room at home, this was like living in a palace. I walked up a spiral staircase that led to a second floor and ended up in a gym equipped with elliptical machines, gymnastics equipment, a shooting range, and a set of doors that led out onto a balcony. I opened them and almost stepped into a pool that looked out of the country-side, made entirely of glass.

I went back downstairs and started unpacking, marveling at my insane new living space every once in a while. Half and hour later, I turned off the lights and bounded back down the stone steps to the lobby. Michael was already there, who I hadn't talked to since we left the academy. He looked up from the ground and smiled at me, showing off his dark brown eyes.

"I don't think I introduced myself properly," he said shyly, shaking my hand, "I'm Michael, from Boston, Massachusetts. Sorry about this morning, I was a little...overwhelmed."

"Its okay," I said sympathetically, "I think we all were." He nodded in agreement, looking around hesitantly.

"Do you want to go outside? I think we got here a little early..." he said, chuckling.

"Sure," I replied and followed him behind the building into a small alcove. We turned the corner and walked into a field of sunflowers, taller than both of us.

"Woah!" he exclaimed, before darting through them. I ran after him, slipping between the stalks, laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of everything. He stopped and I caught up with him, looking up at the yellow sky of petals in awe.

"This is so cool." he breathed, glancing over at me with a smile on his face. I grinned and started jumping up and down, trying to see over the enormous flowers. He did, the same, but was unsuccessful, being only a few inches taller than me. While in the air, he reached up and pulled a handful of petals from the plant, rubbing them between his fingers. I watched as he pulled a full flower, stem and all, from the stalk. With a thoughtful look on his face, he broke of another and then another until he had a full handful. An hour later we had made a dozen flower crowns and had bright yellow fingers. He ran his fingers through his hair and I laughed when I saw the new highlights that it left. He smiled mischievously before reaching towards me and carefully wiping his hands on my head. I ducked out of the way and he laughed, falling backwards into the flowers. The pollen was knocked off of the tops of them and onto him, covering his whole body in yellow dust. He wiped his eyes and grinned as I put on one of the flower crowns and ran off into the field. He chased after me and practically tackled me to the ground, coating me in the dust. I rolled over onto my back and looked up at him. He stared down at me before rolling off onto the ground and laughed, out of breath. He stood up first and offered me a hand, pulling me up. I let go and placed my crown on his head. He smiled and wiped the yellow dust away from my eyes with his thumb. When he pulled away, he glanced down at his watch.

"It's been two hours!" he exclaimed, "We're late, come on!"

I grinned as I watched him run back towards the building. When I didn't follow immediately, he poked his head back into the small clearing and looked at me questioningly. I took the crown off of his head and put it back on mine. He grabbed my hand, smiling, and pulled me into the field again. I held on tight as we ran through the stalks, jumping over roots and pulling more petals from the flowers. When we reached our original stopping place he picked up another flower crown and threw it on his head, giving me a sassy look. I laughed and let go of his hand, running ahead of him and beating him back to the entrance. He emerged a few seconds later, and we made our way over to the front of the building. We entered, breathing hard, covered in yellow, and grinning widely. I slipped the petals I had grabbed into the pocket of my jeans and looked up at the rest of the group who stood with their mouths agape.

"So...," Michael said hesitantly, "Aren't the bedrooms incredible?"