Jennifer Ackley loved Pines Academy. The classes weren't hard, she was able to focus on improving her artwork, and it was filled with great students who didn't seem to bother her so long as she didn't bother them. It was, in many ways, absolutely great. Much better than her old school, anyway.
Jennifer had been attending Pines Academy since the last half of the previous school year. She had had a terrific time, but it was likely that not everyone enjoyed her being there as much as she did. Unfortunately there were a few who didn't appreciate her adding a bit of decoration to the hallways.
And now she was back. It was the first day. She was ready for the school year with clean brushes plus brand new paints, pastels, and pencils that had been added to her collection, her canvases were ready to be changed to windows into her imagination. Oh, and actually learning. She was ready for that, too.
Jennifers roommate this year was Addison Harkon, whoever that was. She might have seen her around a few times last year, the name did sound familiar, but Jennifer was certain that the face would be new.
Hopefully she and this Addison would get along, unlike the roommate she had last year. That had been a nightmare.
Before checking out her new dorm, which was on the second floor and was room 208(Jennifer had it memorized by heart. There was no way she was planning on getting lost) she decided she'd familiarize herself with the building. Sure, her memory of where to go wasn't completely gone from last year, but like stated already, Jennifer wasn't planning on getting lost.


Carter, on the other hand, had a completely different story. Although he liked Pines Academy, which apparently was the best school for teaching kids who had advanced natural talents(Carter didn't have any talents at all), it was like a prison. A terrible, dreadful, nightmarish holding cell that contained him and who knows how many other students. It also, to much great sadness, was without a good store in sight where Carter could spend money. Not the mention the classes were hard, people didn't accept his payment for them to be friends with him as easily as he had expected, and he was one of the youngest ones at the school. He felt like some sort of child. It was tough.
Pines Academy was also was a fairly big building and Carter managed to get himself lost quite often.
On that topic, where was he, anyway? Well, if he knew, he wouldn't be lost. Carter looked around, immediately wishing he had accepted that map the lady at the front office had offered to him. If he had a map, all he would have to do is figure out how to understand the thing.
Frowning, Carter continued walking until he came to a stairwell. One flight going up, one flight going down. He took the stairs going down and found himself on the main floor, near the dining hall. How could he tell? He smelled the food. What time was it? Suddenly the boy felt an overwhelming sense of hunger despite him eating not that long ago. Carter checked his watch, five minutes after ten. Thank God that the first day was class free. He headed into the dining hall and was happy to see there was food out, probably for those who had missed breakfast or wanted an early lunch. He grabbed a blueberry muffin and continued with his way, his suitcase trailing behind him.
As he walked, Carter was sure that he was forgetting something. It was certainly there, swirling around in that brain of his, but he couldn't place his finger on it...
And then it came to him, the orientation that started at noon! That was it! But it was only ten o'clock, he had plenty of time. Pushing the orientation to the back of his mind, Carter continued wandering around the school.

Hope's suitcase rattled and turned in random directions as she lugged it up towards the entrance. Her suitcase was bother big and insanely heavy.
"UGH!" She groaned.
"What's wrong Ariel?" A mocking tone came from behind her.
"Don't call me that, or I will slap you upside the head,"
Evan snorted and walked ahead of her. Hope sighed. The best part about this school was dancing, her friends and so on. THe worst was Evan and Abe. Those were the worst things in her life. She sighed and opened the doors to the school. Now she just had to lug her suitcase up to her new room and hope that her roommate was Erin. It probably wouldn't happen, but still, she could pray. She pulled her suitcase along. She regretted saving money by just buying one giant suitcase. It was a bad call.

Evan snorted as he sped ahead of Hope. Evan loved to piss her off, mainly because she usually only threatened him. It was fun knowing what made her annoyed. HE called her Ariel because once their school put on a play, and she was Ariel. She fell off the stage and they had to cancel the show. It was priceless. Ever since then he would only call her Ariel. Why not. He wondered who his roommate would be this years, as long as it wasn't that geeky little nerd. Evan didn't really know who he wanted to be his roommate. No one didn't really not annoy him. He reached a large bulletin board which listed the roommates.
He looked up and down it before finding his name.
"Felix? That kid?" He muttered. Great. Out of all the guys, they picked Felix. It was bad enough that Hope went to the school, but to have her friend as a roommate? He curiously looked at the female roommates. He snorted.
"Well, you'll have fun with your roommate, no doubt!" He laughed and walked away.
HOpe grimaced and looked at the list.
"Seriously?" She muttered.
She sighed and lugged her suitcase to her room.
"This is torture," She muttered.

---

Felix stood half-naked atop his bed with his hands in the air and his shirt balled up at his feet. A cacophony, a sheer explosion of his things had overtaken his side of the room, spilling off the bed, under it, onto the bedside table and even drifting towards the wardrobe. A pile of hats laid in the corner, wreathed by a cluster of scarves. Three pairs of colorful shoes were somewhere in the mix, but the barefoot Felix couldn't have convinced himself he knew where they were.

He was staring up at the ceiling, standing on his toes and picking something off the rough surface with his fingernails, which were torn and ragged but freshly cleaned. Tall as he was, he wasn't making much progress, picking away at the sticky-tac little by little but remaining completely unable to get it off with his clipped nails. It was yellow, disgusting, the color of an old man's nicotine-stained teeth— not exactly a color he wanted hanging on his wall. Whoever had stayed here last year had pasted a veritable scrapbook of photographs to the wall, but, unfortunately, he hadn't had the conscience to get rid of them when he left.

The room was hot, laced with the kind of late-summer heat that Felix always worried would drown him. It was the kind of weather in which girls looked like teacakes when they wore heavy makeup, the kind of weather that had him washing his face too often to make sure he wasn't breaking out. Felix didn't like the heat, and the air conditioning system set to cool off the whole building seemed to be doing a half-assed job. He'd propped open the window to cool the room down a bit, to get the air moving, but even with the breeze the heat was sweltering. It wasn't New Mexico dry sweltering, either, which made it all the worse.

Sighing, he gave up on trying to remove the sticky-tac and stepped down off the bed. It was too hot to care. Downstairs in the commons area, it had been nice and cool, but he'd stripped off his shirt the second he'd walked it. It was really damn hot. Felix picked up piles of things and shoved them around, cramming folded shirts into the wardrobe and piling the nicer ones inside so he could hang them up later. Shoes, too many of them, went on top. It was a tight fit; the wardrobes were neither the largest nor the most aesthetically pleasing things, but Felix had attended the school for years and had enough experience to handle the situation. When he was finished tidying up— or, rather, when he had had enough of the heat— he snatched up a green tank, threw on a scarf and a hat, and stepped out of the room. He had booked it inside to put his things down, so he still had yet to check who his roommate was.

That was probably important. He really didn't want to spend another year with some creep hitting on him all the time.

---

Still a mess from the plane, Arden dabbed desperately at her face in the bathroom mirror. She wasn't used to wearing makeup, as it had been banned for the sisters while under their father's roof. While she's played with mascara back when she was fourteen, she'd never properly learned how to use it, and she still stabbed herself in the eye on occasion with the little black wand.

This, unfortunately, was one of those occasions. She'd reflexively closed her eye, hard, when the wand had hit it, and now the black, tar-like substance clung around her eye, giving her an odd case of raccoon-face. She'd tried dabbing at it with paper towels, and she'd gotten some of it off, but what was still left ran down her face like inky tears. She kept scrubbing, hoping her face didn't become raw with the effort.

When she finally got the mascara off, Arden raised the little black tube to try again. It had been cheap, something she'd bought on impulse heading to the drugstore just before heading to the airport, but it wasn't uncomfortable, and she liked the way the black complimented her pale skin. She didn't understand why it wasn't allowed; it was hardly provocative. Nothing like dark lipstick or plunging necklines. As she redid the rest of her eye makeup, she had to wonder, wistfully, what else she'd been missing out on.

Arden had seen how her sister had changed after leaving home for the first time. Once a quiet, demure girl, she'd grown louder and bolder over the years. Arden admired the ways she'd changed. She herself had always longed to experience something in life. To get a little louder, do the things she'd never been able to do before. Back home, she'd hardly had friends outside the forums she frequented aside from the Sunday School acquaintances she'd never quite been able to get rid of. She really did hope that would change. It was an honest, earnest hope she held in her heart as she slipped out of the girls' bathroom, picked up her bags, and continued lugging them. She passed through hallways she assumed were offices and printer rooms, following the hallway's path until she came through a pair of doors. Arden, rather clumsily, pushed her way through them, coming out into a larger, open space. So she'd made it to the student dormitories. That was a start. Not far away, she heard two students having something halfway between a conversation and an argument about roommates.

Not even bothering to check the rooming list just around the corner, Arden sat down in one of the commons armchairs, dug out her laptop, put up her hair, and got started with the most important setups of all: her internet connection.

Alex sat in the back of her step-father's car next to Derek. Derek was staring out the window. Alex wondered what was on his mind right now. What kind of things did he think about? Alex fixes the headphones in her ear as her iPhone played a different song. Her small pale hand went through her messenger bag for the fourteenth time. Alex only knew that because Derek would always announce it every time she did so.

"Fourteen." Derek said without having to look at her. 'Right on time.' Alex thought to herself as her hand went over her fathers old camera, her camera, and her video camera. As well as flash for her camera in case she needed it. Alex couldn't contain her excitement so she took out her video camera and taped her family in the car. Derek made an effort to cover his face and her mother made weird faces causing Alex, and her step-father, to laugh. Alex put the video camera away and her mother motioned for her to take her earphones out. Alex proceeded to do so as her mother turned around to speak to both Alex and Derek.

"Now Derek, I need you to help Alex around the school. She doesn't know it as well as you do an it'd be of great help." Her mother said with a kind smile.

"Whatever." Derek responded still lookin out the window.

"He doesn't have to. I'm sure I can find someone nice enough to help out." Alex said and looked at Derek. He refused to look at her for a bit. When he final did, the look on his face was like he didn't want her there at all. This hurt Alex a bit but she didn't let it bother her. After all, they were family.

The car came to a stop in front of the entrance of the school. Derek and Alex got out of the car and grabbed her bags. Their parents didn't come and neither of them cared. They went to see what rooms they'd be in and who would be their roommates. Alex read the name of her roommate out loud. "Erin Springs. Who's that?"

"She's the music prodigy." Derek grunted before leaving to his room. Alex rolled her eyes and went to her room as well. She placed her bags on her bed and left. She had her camera in her hands as she went to where she came in and took pictures of the different students. Alex would run up to someone and snap the picture. Sometimes she's skip and giggle while doing. She didn't care if people thought it was weird. It's just how Alex was. Alex saw a girl with beautiful blue eyes and fumbled for her camera and quickly took a picture before she left.

Erin couldn't possibly be more exited about the start of the new year at the academy. So much so, in fact, that her mothers car had been filled with her exited ramblings the entire way over. Her mother would sometimes comment, but other than that Erin was the only one that talked. Eventually, though, the car had to put up the school and when it did, Erin's ramblings finally stopped. She jumped out of the car as soon as it was fully parked and popped the trunk, grabbing out her one large suitcase and her slightly smaller one, as well as her toiletry bag of makeup. Once she had the large bag balanced carefully on the suitcases, she kissed her mother on the cheek and was off. The year before, she had gotten lost far too many times, but this year she had a pretty good idea of where she was headed and where to get there.

As she neared the dorms and the roommate list tacked up on the wall, she stopped walking slowly and her step increased speed until she was right in front of the board. Her pale finger held her place as she read over the list until she spied her own name, as well as her roommates. "Alexandra Ross," she said out loud, thinking over who that might be. When she came up blank, she sighed. "Well, it isn't Hope, but I'm sure we will get along swimmingly," she said to herself, a smile forming on her face. Quickly, she found her room number on the list and walked into her room, finding that her roommate had already picked the bed she wanted. "Oh. Wonder why she didn't stick around?" Erin mumbled before she placed her two bags onto the bed, unzipping them with care.

In the first bag, she had pants in almost every color of the rainbow, as well as many variants of them. Apparently, colored pants had suddenly become 'cool' sometime when Erin wasn't looking, but Erin wasn't complaining. She placed them carefully into the dressers, along with all manner of simple-design shirts and other skirts and other clothing. She grabbed up the dresses she ad brought along with her and placed them into the closet, the bright colored fabric making her feel instantly at home.

Erin smiled as she hung up her cork board and began to pin all manner of pictures onto it, most of them involving her and Hope acting like idiots. Some of them were from concerts and the like, of course, but that wasn't very exiting, so she was very lax when hanging them up. Once she was done, she grabbed up her transparent tote bag full of term books, pens/pencils, folders and her very special music binder. She added three extra packs of erasers and two bottles of whiteout just to be safe before checking to make sure her key to the music room was tucked safely inside. However lenient the music department was with her talents, they had been sure to tell her when they gave her the key last year that she only got one.

Hope lugged her suitcase up to her new rom. HEr face was grim. Evan laughed.
"Aw, what's wrong Ariel-" He started. Hope's eyes flared up. Evan laughed and made a wild grab for her suitcase. HE wrenched it away from her and grabbed her special ballet shoes, the last memory of her mother. Hope clenched her teeth.
"YOU SON OF A-!" Evan took off running.
She yelled out and took off after him. They ran towards the front before Hope leaped into the air, grabbed onto his back and knocked him forward. She grabbed her shoes. Hope then realized that a group of people were watching. She stood up.
"And that my friends, is why you don't A, piss me off, B, call me Ariel, or C, steal my ballet shoes," With that, she smiled and walked off. SHe loved leaving people shocked, for whatever reason it was fun to see the expression on their faces. SHe entered her room and lugged her suitcase in and started to unpack.

Evan stood up.
"It was worth it!" He called out as she stomped off. He brushed himself off and smiled at some of the girls.He walked back up to where he left his suitcases and carried them into his new room. Felix wasn't there yet. He started to unload his clothes into the dresser. After he was done with that, he decided to claim his bed. He hung his posters up on the wall and placed his soccer ball on his nightstand. Evan hated the soccer ball with all his heart, but he had to pretend he like soccer. After all, he had to impress somebody somehow! Besides, there were new girls who hadn't really heard of him before, and that was good news.

Once Hope was done unpacking, she tied her hair back and exited her room. She walked to Erin's room, hoping that she was there.
"Erin? You there?" She asked, leaning on the door. She was happy that Erin went to the same school, otherwise she would hate it at the academy and think of it as a prison with Evan and Abercrombie, or basically her worst nightmare. Erin was probably the best part of the school. After all, basically anyone would love to go to the school with their best friend.

Derek picked a bed and started to unpack his things. His roommate hasn't arrived yet which was good for Derek. He didn't want any distractions while he was organizing his things. Derek unpacked his few clothes he brought with him. One outit for each day of the week to wear with his brown jacket. Derek puts his clothes in a draw of the dresser then proceeded to the other items he brought with him. It wasn't much but it was fine for Derek. He placed his things exactly where he had to have them and set his alarm to go off at 6:56 am everyday.

Derek took out his notebook, pencil, and calculator and began workin on a problem he wrote last year. He did this every year. Derek would write various math equations at the end of the year so he had something to work on the next. It was away for him to challenge his own thinking and become better. The one he had been working on was completed in a matter of minutes. It was much easier than the others he had written. Derek set his notebook and pencil neatly on his nightstand and his calculator under his pillow. He did this for good luck. A weird habit Derek had developed.

He walked down stairs to see if he could find a classroom that was opened. Derek wanted a board to write on. As he reached the end of the steps he saw more students walking in. Derek lowered his head and played his hands in his jacket pocket. He looked up for a brief moment and caught Alex taking pictures of the students. She even managed to get a pictures of him. Derek scowled at her but her attention had been diverted to someone else. Derek watched as she nervously fumbled with her camera, something she rarely ever did. Then she snapped a pictures of someone and smiled as she looked at the result. Derek didn't feel like seeing who it was and turned to storm off down a random hallway. He didn't care if he got lost as long as he was away from that blue streaked freak of a step sister.

"Erin? You there?" Erin smiled brightly as she heard a voice behind her, one that she was very familiar with. "Hope!" She just about screamed as she turned around and rushed over to her, grabbing her up in a tight embrace. They had seen each other right before they left for school, but it was still exiting to see her again. After a few seconds, she let go of her friend and looked at her carefully. "So, who'd you get as a roommate this year? I didn't check your name- I simply had to get unpacked. Oh!" Erin exclaimed before rushing over to her bed, where she had placed her tote bag. She reached into it and very carefully pulled out her favorite audio recorder. It had been a present from her mom last year, along with her playable keyboard teddy.

"So, a few weeks ago I was working on a new piece for fun and then I got bored with it. I scrapped it, but then I played it over a few times in my head and adjusted a few parts, and all of a sudden my interest came back, so I recorded it. It's slower than what I normally do for fun, and softer too. I was thinking it would make good ballet music, if you wanted to use it for practice or something. I can burn it to a CD if you want," she said brightly as she pressed the play button, the music replaying back to her. It reminded her of her music room back home- the canary yellow paint and her grand piano in the center. It used to be a guest bedroom, but she had no room to practice at home, so her mom had renovated it and bought the piano, thinking Erin would become popular again if she had her own place to play. It 'hadn't' worked of course, and Erin only practiced for real when her mother was out, but still.

Erin swayed from side to side as the music played, even attempting to do a pirouette, and failing miserably, falling over for a second and having to catch herself on the wall next to the door. "I'll leave that to you," she smiled lightly as the music finished with a decrescendo.

"So, what do you think? There is a part in the middle that is a little off, but that's only because I didn't have time to finish it up before the trip over. I'm sure it wouldn't take long. I'm pretty sure all I have to do is change up a few things and add a natural to the A in the middle, but I won't be positive till I can get into the music room. Because we won't have class today, I'm sure I can find the time," she said as she replayed a part of the music, listening to it carefully and almost forgetting Hope was there. When she remembered that she was, she paused the music and looked up at her. "Anyway, enough about that. Today is 'get to know everyone' day, so I need to stop worrying about music, for now," she smiled and placed her hands into the pockets of her aquamarine pants, looking at Hope expectantly. "So, what do you want to do first? Finding the nearest coffee shop is on my agenda- I need my frappuccinos, and I don't remember where exactly I got them last year"

Hope raised an eyebrow, but waited for Erin to pause.
She listened to the music.
"SOunds great! Next time you don't have to try to do ballet," She teased. She slowly did a bit of a dance to the music.
"I can almost see the moves," She commented.
"IT sounds great," She added.
"So, what do you want to do first? Finding the nearest coffee shop is on my agenda- I need my frappuccinos, and I don't remember where exactly I got them last year"
Hope nodded.
"Don't worry, I remember where we got them. YOu should have seen me and Evan, I chased him down for taking my ballet shoes and tackled him in front of a group of people, it was fun. Loads and loads of fun," Hope gave an evil grin. She loved to tell tales of beating up Evan, mainly because he deserved it.
"Ah, good times. By the way, I have the worst roommate ever," Hope paused increase the drama.
"IT's Abercrombie," She groaned.
"I pity myself," She added.

Evan sighed and flopped down on his bed. He didn't really have anything to do, besides sit around all day and maybe flirt with the girls a bit. At night he would sneak out as usual, probably go clubbing, get a drink, stuff like that. HE was a bit concerned, being that Felix would probably be an early riser. If that happened, he would probably see Evan come back from clubbing, and that would be bad news. Sometimes he really wished he didn't go to the academy, but going to public school was even worse. Here he had more freewill, even if it didn't seem like it.

"No need to pity yourself, Hope."

Abercrombie Melbourne, nicknamed Abe by everyone who thought that her real name was just too lengthy and ridiculous to say, entered the room, where Hope and Erin were socializing. She had overheard the two talking, and at the mention of her own name, Abe couldn't resist but barge into the conversation.

"I promise you, I'm gonna be really nice this year," stated Abe as she sauntered around the room, taking in the view of it. The rooms of Pines Academy didn't impress the rich girl much, actually thinking that it's sensible to compare it to a pig's cage. Abe stopped observing the room and stepped towards the two girls, the most fake smile ever resting on her face.

"Let's start off with me apologizing. Hope, I'm so sorry for calling you stupid last year. I didn't realize that your parents just don't have the ability to produce a normal child who's not obsessed with dance. And Erin, my friend, I have to be honest, I have never ever insulted you, ever. All those times I called you fat and annoying, I was simply just describing you, not insulting."

Abe gave a friendly wave to the girls and took out a tube of lipstick out of her designer purse. She began to apply the lipstick onto her lips and waved once again to Hope and Erin before brushing past the both of them and making her way out of the room, not wanting to be in the same presence as them.

After a short moment of walking wherever she wanted to as she obsessed with the tube of lipstick in her hands, Abe noticed someone who surprisingly didn't annoy her. Carter Bennett.

"Oh, Carter! Hey!" Abe giggled and jumped towards Carter, throwing her arms around him. The two haven't talked much in the previous year, though they have been together long enough to know that they were on good terms with each other.

It took Alex a couple minutes, but she finally found the stairs to her room. It took her a couple more minutes to actually find her room,especially since she forgot the number at first, but she did find it. She was heading back to her room to upload, go through, and edit some of the pictures she just took. Alex's black camera was hanging around her neck. It was smaller than her professional one that was for photo shoots only. This one though took great quality pictures and easier to carry around with her.

Alex noticed the door to her room was opened. She walked in and say two girls. They were talking about a ballet and then something about coffee, which Alex needed. Alex raised her eyebrow at them then proceeded to form a smirk on her lips. Her signature look. She walked over to her bed and placed her camera on her stand. Alex took her bags off her bed then dug through her messenger bag while she sat down.

"If you're going to do a ballet..." She pulled out her video camera. Like the camera she had been using it was smaller and lighter than the proffessional ones she used for films and music videos. Alex looked at her camera in her hands then back at them. "You're going to need a director." The same signature look she gave them earlier appeared again. Alex was always taking on a bunch of projects. She needed something to keep her busy.

"So which one of you lovely ladies is my roommate?" Alex says as she stands up, places her video camera next to her camera, and throws her clothes into draws in her dresser. Alex wasn't very organized with her things, unless of course it had to do with her talent.

---

Felix had taken something of a lengthy walk around the dormitories, letting memories of years past flood back to him. He knew the place well after so many years, but each new year, each new room, gave him something of a sense of disorientation. After gathering his bearings for a while, he slipped into the stairwell, footsteps light after a refreshing walk through the air-conditioned parts of the building. His room this year was close to the old fire escape; he'd heard it was a coveted location for those notorious for sneaking out. Perhaps, on a Friday night, he'd give it a shot. Though he didn't usually stay up too late for fear of getting shadows under his eyes in the morning, he could spare to sleep in on a Saturday. Cut off some of his practice.

He'd promised himself he'd take it easy this summer, cut down his practice hours, but it'd never really happened. He'd told himself he'd get out more, maybe meet someone nice after he and Jasmine had broken up in February. He'd ended up spending more time in the studio than ever before. But what could he say? His technique had kinks that needed ironing-out, and he'd thought he wasn't flexible enough during the Spring Soloist Festival. One thing led to another, and he was spending most of his free time dancing. Not that he minded. But even Felix was beginning to think he could take a break. How many pairs of shoes had he gone through in the last three months? Speaking of which, he needed to go buy a new pair today.

That's terrible thinking, Felix mused to himself as he slipped the key into the lock. It was already open. He pulled out and walked, a smile on his face in all his bright green glory. He wasn't sure what to say, so he grinned at the guy on the bed, took off his hat, and greeted him. "Evan, is it? I'm Felix. Nice to meet you." He didn't extend a hand, instead kicking off his shoes and lining up in a neat pair in front of his own bed. "Sorry. I'm a bit iffy on names right now. It's kind of been a long summer. What's your muse?" He sat down and dug around in the drawer, searching for his wallet. "I dance, by the way."

---

Arden felt twice as comfortable in this new place now that she had her internet connection up and running. She'd scrawled the passwords down on a loose piece of scrap paper, and almost not finding it had practically given her a heart attack. When she'd finally found it, sandwiched between two massive tupperware containers in her larger suitcase, she could feel the relief washing through her body. Now that that was over and done with, she could get to learning names and introducing herself. She wasn't exactly looking forward to it, but from what she'd read, it was a necessity. Surely, her sister hadn't changed her life by sitting around in her room all day with her computer? Well, Ffion could hardly copy and paste from one document to another, so it was unlikely.

Step full of relish, Arden stood up. She wasn't exactly sure where she was going just yet, but she stood up anyway. The people in the lobby had left ages ago. She stowed her laptop in her purse-turned-laptop bag— admittedly, a hideous thing her mother had tried to sew for her that she couldn't leave behind for fear of making the woman cry even more than she already had— and set off for the stairs.

Well, she didn't know where the stairs were. That was probably going to be an issue. She'd been offered a map earlier, but she was too busy convincing her mother she'd arrived safely and had, much to her current dismay, completely ignored the poor woman who offered it to her. She really did need to go back to try to apologize by the end of the day. And maybe snag a map. Still searching for the stairway, Arden set off down the most inviting hall. She really wasn't any good at navigating, having only ever left her hometown twice in her life. As she walked, she fumbled through her things before producing yet another tupperware. This one was filled to the brim with various cookies and brownies. If she couldn't draw and she couldn't sing and she couldn't dance for shit, the one thing Arden could do was cook. Her mother had made sure of it even though she herself burnt water. With Ffion gone and cooking classed a 'woman's job,' Arden had taken over the kitchen.

Vaguely, she wondered how her parents were doing. The thought, however, was lost when Arden's eyes locked onto a person. A man. Someone she could introduce herself to. Excited for her first introduction, Arden called out to him and rushed up to proffer the box of sweets. Loudly, too-excited but all earnestness, she declared, "I'm Arden. Hi. Do you want some cookies?" It wasn't exactly the smoothest of introductions, but it worked. Sort of. She didn't know— she hadn't gotten many chances to talk to people. Suddenly doubting her introduction, she added, "Nice to meet you."

OOC: That's Derek she happened upon, by the way. Time for her to be socially awkward :p and don't get her started talking about computers.

Derek nearly jumped as she spoke. "I'm Arden. Hi. Do you want some cookies?" She said this very loud. Derek could tell she was excited. He didn't get why though. "Derek." He said in response quietly as he looked around the room. He could never hold eye contact with people. He began to twist the silver ring on his left ring finger. It was a gift from his father but it didn't mean much, just something to fidget with.

"Nice to meet you." Derek was snapped back into reality. He looked at her confused. "It's not nice. I don't know you." With that he walked away from her not bothering to take one of her cookies. He wasn't allowed to have sweets anyways. It was a rule Derek's parents had.

Derek continued looking for an open classroom. He checked doors to see if they were locked. He found one that was unlocked and it had a chalk board. Derek loved that. Something about them was just appealing. Like how he would get chalk all over him and sometimes in his hair when he finished a problem. Derek pulled out his phone and copied the math equation he had written. He took a moment to think about it before he started to try and solve it.

"Sounds great! Next time you don't have to try to do ballet," Hope said with a teasing lit to her voice, and Erin smiled lightly. "Oh, I'll be sure to never do ballet again," she giggled as she put away the recorder again, smiling as Hope mentioned seeing the moves in her head. "I'd never be able to dance like you. My coordination in that subject is lacking at best," Erin said truthfully as she watched Hope do a few dance moves. Then, of course, Hope mentioned her roommate being the less-than-honest Abe, and pitying herself.

Of course, the bitch herself made herself known just then, walking in and commenting on Erin's weight and Hope's 'Stupidity'. Erin growled, quite literally, and looked at her right in the eyes. "At least I'm not pixy-bitch thin because my blood was turned to acid by the devil incarnate and then thrown out of the hell-hole you ass!" she yelled, but Abe was already gone to speak with one of the people who actually liked her, as if their should be any.

"The world must have some really bad agenda with you" she fumed, turning to Hope, just as Alexandra walked in and mentioned them doing a ballet. "Oh, well, I just composed some music that I thought she could use for practice. It's no where near what it needs to be for a true ballet," Erin rambled, pausing when the girl mentioned something about needing a director. "You look like you would be perfect for the job, what with the cameras and such" she pointed at the video camera in her hands.


"So which one of you lovely ladies is my roommate?" The girl said while she stood up. Realization dawned across her face and she jumped up and down for a second before calming herself. "You must be Alexandra! Is it okay if I call you Alex? Alexandra is an really long name and because we will be spending a lot of time together, I would rather call you something shorter. I'm Erin. I write and play music on the piano. You must be a director, then?" she said as she walked over to where the cameras placed on the dresser. "And that's Hope. She'll more than likely be spending a lot of time in here. I know if I had a best friend the room over and I had to bunk with the Queen Bitch, then I would spend lots of time away from the room. Is that okay?" she asked, right before she realized she was rambling.

Erin walked back to her bed and plopped back down before studying Alexandra carefully. "Are you new here? I can't seem to place you..." she mumbled before looking at her hair and chuckling. "Your hair matches my pants!" she smiled and looked down at the fabric. "But I do love the color. Of course, I would have to, or else I wouldn't be wearing it. I've always wanted to dye my hair, personally, but my mother wouldn't let me. Your hair is pretty"

Alex just kind of stares at her for a moment with her mouth open. "Damn, you talk a lot." She sits on her bed and examines the two. She looks at Hope for a little longer before turning attention back on Erin. "Yes, you can call me Alex. I don't like the name Alexandra anyways." Alex hangs up two posters on her wall. One is a photo shoot her father did for a band and the other is a photo shoot Alex did. She got a bunch of high schoolers to be her models for this one. It was to show the different cliques in high school.

"Yes I'm a director. I also do photography." She looks at hope again. "You'd make a great model. Though I would definitely love to get some video of you dancing." Alex does a sort of half smile at her as she steps down from her bed. "Thanks, I like my hair too. Blue is my favorite color." Alex flips her hair and laughs a little bit.

Alex looks at the door way then back at Erin. "So that hot blonde with the lip stick is the queen bitch?" Alex laughs and claps her hands. "I've seen worse than her before." Also slides both of her bags under her bed and jumps onto her bed. She's sitting down with her back leaning against the wall and legs hanging off the sides. "I'd also be very okay with your friend staying over here." Alex winks at hope. She meant it in a joking way. Alex was in a good mood an figured they could use a good laugh thanks to that girl they both seem to hate.

OOC: Sorry about the double post

"Pines Academy for the Naturally Gifted, eh?" Addi took a step back, resting her body weight firmly against the suit case by her right side. The right side of her mouth curls into a sneer as she spits on the ground, shaking her head in disgust.

This place looks more like Hell than a school…

"Hunny," A voice calls out from behind her as her eager mother sat in her new coupe Mercedes; her mother steps out of the car, heels clacking against the concrete as she runs forward, her perfectly polished fingernails curling over something in her hand, "I wrote you a little something for you… Read it later."

She places the note in Addison's hand and taps her closed fist, white teeth flashing a gritted smile.
Addi's blue eyes flicker over the note, the front in perfect Mom-Scripture states:

To: Addison
Love: Mom

Addi stuffs the note in her pocket and forces a smile at best to her mom and pushes away from the situation. Her mother, after the divorce made her cringe…Both her parents did anyway. Sending her to this school was just so her mom could go on a forever-vacation, and her dad didn't have to deal with her and could start a new family with his bimbo of a wife.

Addison's two suitcases rattle and clank behind her as she makes her way towards the main office. As she steps inside, the lady behind the desk huddles over the counter to see her face and then quickly turns back to the computer, pointing to the chairs. The young brunette took that as her cue to sit and wait for further directions. The sounds of clacking filled the air as the lady behind the desk typed at her computer, her fake nails filling the empty spaces in the room.

It drove Addi insane.

With a fierce dart of her eyes, she stared at the woman behind the desk. Unpleasant, unblinking. The lady hunched into her glasses, as if trying to see Addison through the spectacles that sat between them, until she becomes too uncomfortable to maintain eye contact and then motions Addison up to the desk.

"Name?" The lady asks flatly.

"Addison… Addison Harkon."

"Harkon Addison, rooming with Jennifer Ackley, room 208," As the lady was in mid sentence, she gets up and walks over into a different room and then comes back, slapping a key down on top of some paperwork, "These papers are maps of the campus, and different activity clubs you can join if you so choose, and here is the key to your room."

"Thank you," Addi searched for a name tag, "Betsy…"

She awkwardly grabs her things and stumbles out of the building.

Fumbling with the map in hand, she tries to map out where she was, "Now where the hell do I go?" She mutters under her breath, pulling a hand through her hair in distress.

New campus, new people, Addi wasn't really ready for all of this "new" happening in her life. She liked keeping things routine, simple…

She grasps the sleeve of her leather jacket and closes her eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath, looking at the map one more time.

"Ok…So, there's Building A…. So I'm going….That way.." She puts down the map and begins to make her way to the dorms.

Carter wasn't against hugs, but the ones that made him drop any sort of food were just complete tragedies.
"Oh, Carter! Hey!" The legendary Abercrombie Melbourne said as she threw her arms around him. The sudden surprise had caused Carter to let go of the muffin in his hand and he watched helplessly as it hit the floor.
"I was going to eat that..." He mumbled, still eyeing the ruined muffin. "But it's good to see you too." Carter was unsure of what else he could say to the girl who was hated by many and loved by less. Surprisingly enough, he had never felt any resentment towards her and thankfully Abercrombie hadn't felt the need to target him in her bullying, the two weren't enemies nor friends. Carter saw their relationship was a I don't annoy you, you don't make me the laughing stock of the school. kind of thing. It worked out pretty well, actually.
"So hows the new year going for you? Got a fun roommate?" Carter asked, a knowing grin stretched across his face. He had glanced at the rooming list when he first arrived at the school a few hours ago, and if he remembered correctly, Abe had been buddied up with the one and only Hope Candall. "The person who set it all up must really get a kick out of watching the world burn, huh?" Carter laughed, already picturing how things would play out.

Meanwhile, Jennifer was strolling through the hallways and wandering around like she had nothing better to do. She didn't, actually. Classes didn't start until tomorrow and the orientation wouldn't be on until awhile. In short, Jennifer was bored out of her mind.
That is, until she saw another girl strolling through the hallways.
Once she noticed that the girl ahead was carrying a map of the school, Jennifer decided she'd be neighborly. She ran up to the girl and started walking beside her, "Jenn's my name, art is my game!" Jennifer said, her best Hey! I'm trying to be your friend here but don't want to come off as creepy! smile on her face and was hoping that she wasn't leaving a terrible first impression on the girl who was clearly new. That would suck. She'd forever be known to the new girl as the one that ran up to her and started smiling like a madman.
"I can show you around the school if you'd like." Jennifer offered, "Those maps aren't exactly the most helpful way to find your way around."

Hope snorted.
"You get used to it," Hope grinned. She sat back down on Erin's bed.

"Besides, there's not a lot of really nice people here, this is about as good as it gets. There's Jennifer, she's probably the closest you'll get to nice in this school, but no a lot of people really talk to her. I'm not sure what most of the new kids are like, but they're, well, new. IT's kind of hard to find friends with people who don't know their way around the school. Felix is the other ballet dancer, he's alright. Umm. Hm, let me see, there's Carter, he's okay, but he hangs around bitch, I mean Abercrombie. Enough said about her. There's Addi, no one really talks to her, Evan, he's a player who sneaks out at night and I'm pretty sure he takes drugs. Bad idea to hang around him. THen there's Derek, and he doesn't talk to anyone, and when he does, he's either being teased, or he leaves the conversation in three seconds. I don't know if I'm forgetting anyone," Hope shrugged. She got back up and stretched out.
"I'm going to go to the dance room to practice a little, maybe like 30 minutes or something!" She added. She then walked back into her room and took off her shirt and pants to reveal a leotard beneath it. She grabbed one of Erin's songs on a CD and skipped off.

Evan shrugged.
"Yeah, Hope's friend, right?" He said, straightening out a poster.

Erin Springs




"Damn, you talk a lot." Alex said, causing Erin to shrug apologetically. "Sorry. I don't get out nearly enough." Once Erin had the okay to call her roommate Alex instead of Alexandra and Alex and commented about wanting to video Hope sometime, Erin nodded. "She's really good at what she does. Well, I guess we all are. We wouldn't have been scouted if we weren't" she was careful to not say 'we wouldn't be here if we weren't' because that statement would be very untrue. Money could do anything.

"I'd also be very okay with your friend staying over here." Alex said as she did, but her voice had a joking tone to it. "Well, if you ever need me to leave the room, just say so. I'm sure Hope wouldn't object," Erin said teasingly as she looked over to Hope and giggled as she said the last sentence. Hope snorted, causing Erin to laugh even more.


"So that hot blonde with the lip stick is the queen bitch? I've seen worse than her" Alex said and Erin shrugged yet again. "Then maybe you can be friends with her or something, I don't know. Your choice. She just doesn't like me, or Hope. Don't really know why though, but she's hell bent on making us feel like the lesser" Erin said as she stood up again, looking down and placing her brush back away in it's proper place. Hope launched into a lecture about who was who around the school, and Erin would nod at parts, and jump in at others, with "He's really colorful" at Felix and "Wouldn't they test him for drugs, what with him being a sports star?" at Evan. When Hope followed it up with the announcement she would be leaving to practice, Erin smiled and waved to her as she left.

"She's always practicing. Wants to be the best at what she does, I guess. We grew up together" she said to Alex brightly before she reached for her tote and threw it over her shoulder. "Well, I need to be off too. I'm going to go see about fixing up the middle of my new music composition and I need something sweet to drink before I even think of that." Before Alex even had time to respond, Erin was off, walking out of the room and into the hallway.

She only walked a few steps before realizing Hope was the one that knew where to even get to the coffee shop. Was it in the lobby or upper floors, or outside? She had absolutely no idea. She did remember it being close, so she chose to walk around idly, just following the path in front of her, only ever turning when she had to. After all, she had walked to the place almost every day before class last year, so her feet should know the path, right? It wasn't long before a scratching filled her ears, and she did a full rotation in an attempt to find it, then finally realizing one of the classroom's lights was on. Already figuring she knew who it was, she rolled her eyes and peered into the room, realizing it was exactly who she figured- Derek.

"Class doesn't start until tomorrow. Just a friendly reminder. Also, could you point me in the direction of the nearest coffee shop? I figured my feet would just take me, even though it's been a whole year. I mean, I did go there a lot. Sadly, it appears that is not to ever be, and my feet are only made for pressing piano peddles. I remember seeing you around there a few times, so I figured you might know?" she said lightly, looking at him while she stepped into the room and leaned against the wall. Slowly, her head turned to the board he was so intently scratching on. "What are you working on there? Must be math, what with your talents, but from what I can see, it would take me an entire night and three erasers to figure out how to even start on it" she said as she looked over what appeared to be mostly scribbles with some things she understood in between. "Though, I guess I should leave that to the professionals. So, making a full rotation back to the reason I stopped in when I saw the door open, creme frappachinos and my desperate need to locate a place to buy them. Help a damsel in distress?" she said as she did the appropriate movements, twirling her finger around at 'rotation' and clutching her heart at 'desperate'.

Derek ignored her until he finished his problem. At this pint he'd gotten used to how much she talked. It made sense she was always in the music room, kinda like how he was always in a math classroom. Derek set his chalk down and took a step bag. He looked the equation over and when he was satisfied with the answer, he clapped his hands to get the chalk off. Derek turned to Erin and there was still some chalk in his hair and at the end of the sleeves of his jacket.

[b]"Could you point me in the direction of the nearest coffee shop?" Derek nodded at her. He'd been there many times and knew his way well. She kept on talking after that. Derek smiled a bit at the damsel part.

"I can take you there." He said while looking around the room. His left hand was tapping on his thigh and he decided what to say next. Derek looked at her for a brief moment then looked away. He proceeded to walk out the door and past Erin. He accidentally hit her with his shoulder and managed to mutter sorry but it came out as a stutter. Once they were in the hallway Derek nodded in the direction they'd be walking.


"Follow me." He grunted as he started walking. His sneakers made a clicking sound as he walked. Derek had his head down an his hands in his pockets again. He didn't bother to adjust his glasses. It's not like it'd matter if they broke. In his head, Derek was going over the steps of the problem he just did. He didn't realize though that he was saying it out loud. It was quiet but still loud enough for Erin to be able to over hear him.

Derek stopped for a moment and looked behind him. He wanted to make sure she was still there. As soon as he confirmed that she still was, Derek continued walking. His shoes clicking again with each step he took. They turned down another hallway and at the end was the coffee shop. When he walked in he stopped dead in his tracks. Standing in line was the last person he wanted to see. Alex.

Alex turned around and saw Derek and Erin. 'Why does she have to be here?' Derek thought as glared at Alex. Her hazel eyes met his then drifted to Erin. A mean looking smirk formed on her face then quickly changed to a cheerful grin. "I see you met my step brother, Derek." Derek clenched his teeth as she said this. They weren't family and he wil never consider them to be.

"The person who set it all up must really get a kick out of watching the world burn, huh?"

Abe smirked at Carter's sentence. She thought he was rather funny, despite questioning herself if he was trying to be humorous or simply just being himself. Looking down at the crumbled muffin on the ground, Abe reached into her purse and dug through her wallet, taking out a few dollars and handing them to Carter. If it were anybody else's muffin that she caused to fall from their hands, Abe would absolutely not care and probably tease them about it, just to show them that she was richer and much more superior.

"Buy yourself something nice. Maybe another muffin," Abe turned on her smartphone and called a friend of hers that didn't attend Pines. She marched off after waving goodbye to Carter and began to wander aimlessly through the school as her phone conversation carried on and on.

"Oh yeah, totally. I was like, excuse me, you look like an elephant, please go back to your table..."

As Abe continued to blabber to her friend on the phone, she noticed that her battery was about to hit zero, causing her mobile device to shut itself down. Sighing and retrieving her phone charge from her purse, she continued to walk and talk, turning around and heading back to her room. "I'm headed back to my room. I seriously hope my roommate isn't there. She's such a loser."

Ding!

Her smartphone played the dreaded shutting off tune. It had died. Abe grunted with frustration, angry at her phone. Yes, she was spoiled so rotten that she would get irritated at inanimate objects for not doing what she wished them to do. Storming to the nearest room with an open door, Abe pushed through the door, eyeing the two guys with eyes filled with fire. One of the boys had just got done asking the other if he were Hope's friend. Abe rolled her eyes.

"Evan. I need to use your phone. Now." walking up to him, Abe shoved her phone into her purse and reached her arm out, signaling for Evan to give up his phone to her. Not noticing the other guy (Felix, was it?) all that well, Abe sat down on the foot of Evan's bed, her arm still stretched.

Evan sorted through his clothes, not having anything else to do. He was bored.
"Evan. I need to use your phone. Now." Evan looked up to see Abe standing in the doorway.
"Yes Ma'am," He handed her his phone. It was a few years old, but it was still a phone. He sat back down on his bed and waited for her to be done with his phone.

Hope walked through the hallway to the dance room. She figured that she would check to see if Felix was in his room. She noticed that Evan and Abe were in there.
"So much for pitying myself, I pity you Felix. Sharing a room with Evan is terrible, and now Abe's in here! I feel so bad for you!" Hope smirked. She grinned at Felix.
"Either way, nice to see you again Felix," She added.
"Don't be so rude Ariel!"
"Shut up, or I will put scorpions in your bed!" Hope growled as she walked off. She reached the music room and put the CD in the stereo. She hit the start button and started to dance.

She started to spin on her toes, then she leaped into the air, spun around and landed on the very tips of her toes, still spinning. Hope then leaped again and gave a small pose before landed on her feet. She stretched her arms out and got on her very tip-toes. She then spun around again. Hope continued to practice ballet before she looked at the time. It had been about thirty minutes. She sat down and pulled a skirt over her leotard. She then walked to where the coffee shop was to see if Erin had found it yet. She peeked inside and searched for them.

Erin Springs


Derek seemed to be taking his time on the question, but Erin waited none the less. She would get no where without help and she hadn't seen anyone else on the way to ask. Though it didn't take him long to complete the problem on the board and turn to her. He had chalk in his hair, causing Erin to giggle. He nodded to her when she asked if he could show her the way to the music room, and she clapped her hands excitedly.

"I can take you there." Derek said as he walked about the room, tapping on his thigh. He looked at her for a second, but looked away just after that. She smiled when he met her eyes, if only to seem friendly. When he walked past her, bumping into her and stuttered out an apology, she waved it off. "Don't sweat it, it's not like you purposefully did that, and I deal with people who would do much worse on purpose."

"Follow me." Derek said as he began to walk, Erin following close after him. He began to ramble about the problem- or a problem - and she tilted her head to the side and tried to follow, but found it completely useless. A few moments later, Derek turned to make sure she was still there, or at least Erin figured because once he saw her he turned back around. "Why wouldn't I still be here? I mean, I asked you a question, and you went the extra mile to take me to the place I asked about. It'd be awful rude to not be following after you. At least, that's the way I see it" she said as she skipped up next to him.

It didn't take long and they reached the coffee shop. Alex was in there, and Erin looked at her for a second. "Well, if I knew you were headed here, I would have just gone with you. Wouldn't have gotten lost, at least. Though, Derek helped me find the place, so I suppose it all worked out in the end" she said, but just then Alex turned and smiled at them mischievously, but then it turned into a Cheshire-cat grin.

"I see you met my step brother, Derek." Alex said, and Erin took note of the way Derek seemed to clench up at the words. She creased her brow for a second before looking back at Alex. "You two are siblings? I never would have thought. I mean, sure, step-siblings, but you two are so different. Well, live and learn I guess. It's a pretty small world." she shrugged and skipped to her place in line, thrumming her fingers over the display case of various pastries and humming a tune that had been stuck in her head. It wasn't good enough for her to want to lock herself up and write until she crashed out, but it was a good base. "Derek, since I would have been horribly lost without you showing me the way over, the least I can do is buy you a coffee." she said, trying to be friendly. He didn't seem like he had any friends and while Erin had always figured he would be very clinical, and while he didn't talk nearly enough for her to have a really good idea, a truly clinical person wouldn't have gone through the trouble of taking her to the shop.

Just then, Hope popped her head in, and Erin smiled brightly. "Well, we all just sort of moved from my room to here, I guess. Well, adding in Derek, of course. You'd have to add him in because obviously he wasn't there when we were talking earlier" she laughed lightly as she said the words. "Unless, of course, you have some weird invisibility powers and for some reason enjoy stalking me, or maybe Hope... I trust it wouldn't be your sister though that you were stalking, that would be weird."

Alex snorted at the way he clenched his fist. He didn't understand why she hated him but she was in no mood to question it. All she wanted was something to drink before she started editin her footage. Alex knew she had orientation but it didn't matter to her. She could just ask Erin about it later.

"You two are siblings? I never would have thought. I mean, sure, step-siblings, but you two are so different. Well, live and learn I guess. It's a pretty small world." Alex shook her head an laughed as she stood in line. Derek was about to speak but Alwx cut him off before he had the chance.

"I wouldn't say we're that different." This was followed by a glare from Derek and she just smirked at him. It wasn't like she was wrong. The two of them are passionate about something. That's what they had in common. Alex listened to the tune Erin was humming. Alex smiled as she seemed to be returning to her usual cheerful mood.

"Is that the piece you write earlier for that ballerina girl?"

"Hope." Derek stated in a monotone voice. Alex said thank you to Derek for correcting her and then turned her attention back to Erin. Erin said she would pay for Derek's coffe and Alex cleared we throat.

"It's on me guys." Alex had spent all summer babysit, doing photo shoots, music videos, and applying to film festivals as well as directing a summe play. She managed to make a lot of money as a result from it. "It's not trouble at all." Just then hope walked in.
Alex smiled at her. Alex was about to make a funny comment when Erin spoke.

"Well, we all just sort of moved from my room to here, I guess. Well, adding in Derek, of course. You'd have to add him in because obviously he wasn't there when we were talking earlier" she laughed lightly as she said the words. "Unless, of course, you have some weird invisibility powers and for some reason enjoy stalking me, or maybe Hope... I trust it wouldn't be your sister though that you were stalking, that would be weird."

"She's not my sister." Derek said angrily. Alex took out a couple crisp bills to pay for everyone's drinks. She put it in Erin's hand.

"It's not like I'd want to be anyway you asshole!" Alex stormed off back to her room.