Greenwoods Prep » Places

         Elizabeth Burke

He didn’t seem phased that she didn’t know who he was. Not really anyway, a little surprised perhaps. Ellie realized then that he must have been fairly popular around the school – at least in name. This only made her feel all the more awkward about not knowing him, but at least he didn’t seem to mind.

He in turn floundered a little, trying to retract a comment that may have come off as tactless, and Ellie actually grinned. At least she wasn’t the only one tripping over words and trying to me polite.

She was relieved that he didn’t seem to be an arrogant jock. No offense to her brother but… well Drew had tried to tutor her before when she had first started to struggle with the whole fighting bit of the school and she didn’t find it helpful at all. Ethan, so far, seemed deeper than that. She liked it.

Then he mentioned getting her schedule from her when she had time and that he had to get going. Ellie nodded to the invitation to talk more later and smiled. “Sure. I have to pick an elective class still, sometime today anyways, so I’ll get my availability to you at the latest sometime tomorrow,” she promised brushing an escaped lock of her hair back behind her ear. “Say, now that we’re not strangers we’ll notice each other in the halls,” she added as a joke with a wink of her eye. “See ya around, Ethan.”

Then she turned and headed down the hall toward the doors exiting the building that would face the school. She had to find either Evie or Drew, they could help her with deciding on an elective and she could pout to them about having to try to muster up the will power to hit a good looking tutor.

         The next morning:

As always, Ari's alarm shrilled its wake-up call, sending her tumbling out of bed and stumbling to the bathroom. Bleary-eyed and still tired- she'd gone for a long run before bed last night- she managed to get ready without too much trouble, her hair almost behaving. Donning a sleeveless shirt and fitted athletic pants, she left the room in a hurry, grabbing a light sweatshirt on the way out the door.

Breakfast went by in a blur, Ari snagging a seat with some friends- the type of girls who chatted incessantly, letting her disappear into their conversation, the laughter blowing away any lingering depression from the other day. Smiling and laughing with them, Ari felt good again, like she could forget about the past once more.

"Ari, you realize that your hair's sticking up in the back, right?" one of the girls asked, and Ari blushed, putting her hand to the back of her head. Sure enough, she'd managed to miss that somehow, and she laughed it off as she pulled it back into a bun. She probably should have just done that from the start- they were bound to get sweaty today anyways, since Kingly, the third year's physical class teacher, favored warming up with long runs. Though Ari liked running, she wasn't particularly fond of laps, especially not long ones at grueling paces. But it would be worth it- this was the year that they got to start weapons training, in Martial Arts. Finally. Not only guns, which weren't effective for killing demons, though the worked to wound, weaken, and distract them; but also swords and spears and knives, flashy bladed weaponry. They'd only get to use wood, of course, but the real things were edged with blessed silver, metal burning like acid on the demon's flesh.

"At least I don't have toothpaste on my mouth still," Ari shot back, the other girl blushing even redder than Ari and lifting her hand to her mouth. Karin was kind of a jerk, but she was flustered easily. Not the type of girl Ari would usually hang out with, but some of the others liked her, and it wasn't like there was a large number of students to choose from.

Breakfast finally over, Ari headed to her History class, strolling leisurely. Arriving plenty early, she choose a seat in the middle, notebook at the ready. With ten minutes till class started, she was one of the first ones there, and she tapped her pencil on her desk idly, staring out the window as she waited for the rest of her classmates and the teacher to arrive.

         Ah stupid computer

         Feeling eyes on her, Ari’s gaze rose and met that of a boy she recognized, but didn’t personally know. He was smirking a bit, and she flushed slightly, aware that she was far from acting decorously at the moment. Raising her chin defiantly, she gestured to a group of boys sitting farther down in the hall, at a back table. “At least I’m not like them,” she said, as one of them gestured rudely with a banana and another laughed, flecks of chocolate covered donut visible in his mouth even from that distance. Shuddering, she took another, slightly smaller, bite.

As she ate, Drew took a seat across from the unknown kid, greeting her with a smile and prompting another slight flush, though it wasn’t enough to be noticeable. “Hey, Drew,” she replied to his greeting, and nodded to Quinn as they were introduced. Even if he has seen her eating like a starved idiot, she might as well be polite.

“You’re going to be starving by lunch,” Drew informed Quinn, and Ari smiled, her merriment remaining as he added, “Ari’s got the right idea. Got to get in those carbs and protein.”

“Especially when you’re helping the first years,” Ari added, finishing off the last of her monster breakfast. “Speaking of, I should probably get going. Going to be a long day hauling luggage.” The school policy on moving in was a much hated one, and much debated during the first few days of school. She stood and grabbed her plate, smiling over her shoulder and saying, “Bye, Drew! I’ll see you guys around!” She dropped her dirty dishes in the dish window, pocketing the apple for later, and hurried out of the cafeteria, dodging a group of giggling girls on the way. She hit the main foyer, with its grand staircase and dragon-motif banners, in record time. A fellow orientation volunteer waved her over.

“They just went into the lecture hall,” she explained, and Ari rolled her eyes. So they’d have to sit around and wait for at least half an hour for Headmaster William’s lame, ‘welcome to the Guardians’ speech and for the first students to get their schedules, room assignments, and keys. Even then, they wouldn’t all come out at once, but in a trickle. And as new students arrived, the mayhem would reach ridiculous levels. “You’d think that they’d figure out a better system by now,” Ari joked, taking a seat on the stairs with the others.