Alayna S. Harmon's Story

The drive to her new school was a long one and luckily Alayna had brought a number of books with her to keep company. Especially when the cab smelled like what could only be described as stale farts and old coffee. The only music the driver could bare to play was some smooth freakin' jazz. Literally the phrase the man had used, when she asked what was playing. If she hadn't of brought the books, it would have turned into the longest and probably most miserable ride of her life. Besides, she had never been one to make small talk and much preferred the fantasy world that the printed word offered her.

Maybe that was why her parents had decided to send her away. After all, what good was a daughter who could idly chat about global warming? Or vocally protest and tie herself to a tree to bring attention to the biggest threat this planet faces. It wasn't that Alayna didn't care about these things, she just didn't like the constant string of news stations interviewing her and her family, and she didn't like all the travelling in a van either. She couldn't deny that when her parents said she'd be attending school, that she was more than a little excited...but she had hoped that they were finally settling down and not just kicking her to the curb.

Her thoughts were distracting her from her book, which she soon realized that though she had been flipping its pages she hadn't really been reading anything.

"Man, this place is really out here in the middle of nowhere, ain't it?" The driver said (who had apparently been talking the entire time and the only thing Alayna could actually remember was that his name was Johnny), double checking his GPS system to make sure they hadn't gone in the wrong direction. That would be unfortunate.

"I imagine the seclusion makes it easier to focus on schooling?" Alayna's words came out as more of a question, making it clear she was talking out her ass.

"I'm sure it does. Still gives me the creeps." Driving Johnny's words weren't comforting in the slightest and she wondered if he ever thought before he spoke. Gee, thanks. She mentally groaned.

It was about another hour and a half before they reached any sign that she wasn't just driving endlessly and forever, lost in some maze where her only partner was the man with Cheetos in his beard. Private Property was the sign that gave her hope. If they were on private property that meant that they had found, if not the school...then at least it was somewhere they could ask for directions and she could get out of the damn cab for a second. She could only take Johnny's now-not-so-residual fart smell and greased stained wife beater tank for so much longer. Despite the books, this had turned into the worst cab drive in history.

After another two minutes, the wrought iron gate of the school came into view. It was intimidating, especially with it being miles into the forest (which, honestly, was probably why her parents had chosen it in the first place). Alayna swallowed hard as the driver pulled up to what they assumed was the administration office.

"Well, I guess this is it for us Johnny. It's been a blast though." Though she tried to hide the sarcasm in her voice, it was a little hard.

"Hey, you got here didn't, ya?" He said gruffly, clearly taking offense to her tone. Regardless, she forked over the cash her parents had left her with. The ride was far more expensive than she could have guessed, though it should really have surprised her. Her parents had gone out of their way to find the most green cab service they could find...with apparently the greasiest, most disgusting drivers.

Johnny the Cab Driver removed her suitcase from his trunk and she thanked her lucky stars that that was the last she would probably ever see of him. The cool air and fresh smells of the pine trees was refreshing and welcome. She took a few more moments, to enjoy it before she walked inside - careful not to catch the hem of her tiered skirt in the wheel of her luggage. If nothing else, her parents had definitely instilled an appreciation for the nature around her, and their fabulous sense of hippy style.

She walked into the office, which looked and felt uncomfortably like the doctor's office she had visited when she was a kid; before her parents decided to stick to strictly holistic methods. At least she had been vaccinated before that. She approached the desk and awkwardly waved at the woman who was there. "I'm Alayna Harmon, I just enrolled here." Alayna said with a smile, her voice quiet and noticeably anxious.

The woman smiled with ease back at her, though something about it felt off. Perhaps she was tired of answering the same questions all day. "Not a problem, Alayna. Just take these forms here and go fill them out by the others who've just arrived. Welcome to Dimme."

Alayna nodded taking the papers and a pen. It didn't take her long to read through all the documents and a lot of the questions were medically related, which was a little strange but she supposed that when you were so far away from everything that it was understandable to want to know a little medical history.

She looked over the edge of her clipboard at the other two girls who had arrived before her. She wondered if they had ever been to any other boarding schools...or another school at all. Alayna had been strictly home schooled before now. "This really is a lot of paperwork. I'm not even sure I know all the answers to these questions." She stated with a nervous laugh, to both the girls before setting the pen down and introducing herself to them. "I'm Alayna."

Alex had gotten distracted a second messing with the wrapping on the dust smelling flower pen, her mind drifting back home, when the sound of the door giving a small creak as it opened snapped her back to the present situation. Quickly she went back to her work, hand shaking slightly with the surprise of someone walking in, even though the office lady had probably noticed her lack of focus already. Trying to be subtle, she shifted a bit and glanced up at the girl who had just stepped in, catching the back of her blonde hair and watching her try to drag the three large, brightly spotted bags along.

Satisfied for the moment and remembering that she wanted to get moved in herself, she crossed her ankles at the Converse, sat up a little straighter to hide the little bit of flub poking out of her skinny jeans, then continued to stretch her legs out and slouch back, pushing her thick, wavy brown hair out of her face. She'd be lying to say she didn't end up eavesdropping on the brief conversation with the office lady and the other though, trying fruitlessly to catch a name.

A minute later though, the girl sat down nearby, and Alexis furiously continued to scribble in all the information she knew, which was quite a bit actually, for a girl of barely fifteen. The forms really shouldn't have taken her long, if she could keep focused and stop finding herself engrossed in eavesdropping on the video call nearby. She really needed to learn to be less nosy.

... Though she was a little jealous the girl's parents seem to care so much more than her own had. All she'd gotten was a warning that she was going and a curt goodbye on her way out the door. Then again, she supposed she knew enough to take all the advice the voices on the other side of the phone were giving anyway, no need for her parents to repeat it. By the time the call ended though, Alex was initialing her way through the last form, getting ready to sign her life away or whatever this thing was saying. Actually, she was pretty sure she was doing just that, considering she wasn't even suppose to be able to leave the school for the next four years. She'd even read she couldn't make calls outside of school property without permission.

"I'm Pandora, by the way." Realizing she was being spoken to, Alex looked up from her paper where she'd started to zone out yet again. Man, if she got this spacey in classes she was going to end up in trouble before school even started.

"Alex," she replied curtly with a nod of acknowledgement. "I don't think its that bad. I'm use to filling out forms like this though. Some of them you just have to sign and date really. And, well, read them, I guess." Honestly though, who actually read through this kind of thing? It was like checking that little box online about the terms of service or whatever.

Another girl walked in, and things went quiet again, as Alex watched her get checked in. Alayna... it was a nice name. She looked like a blast from the flower power days, though. It wasn't a bad look, but nothing the more punk-loving girl could wear herself, much preferring her band t-shirts to frilly skirts. Well, the girl took a seat and Alex quickly returned to signing and dating the last line. Then looked over and realized she'd set down two other packet of paper, with a sigh she picked them up and got to work on the next one.

"This really is a lot of paperwork. I'm not even sure I know all the answers to these questions." The new girl spoke up, breaking her thoughts. "I'm Alayna."

"Alex," she reintroduced. "I've filled out stuff like this before, if you need help with what something is asking for. Your parents probably know a lot of this stuff if you ask them for it."

"I've filled out stuff like this before, if you need help with what something is asking for. Your parents probably know a lot of this stuff if you ask them for it." Alex told her. Normal parents would probably know. Mine would be angry about the excessive use of paper. She thought with a sigh.

"My parents aren't exactly fans of traditional schooling or traditional anything." She said with an uneasy laugh. Alayna didn't even have a way to contact her parents if she wanted to. Before they had told her that they were sending her to Boarding School, they had been busy planning a trip Brazil for "work." Honestly, she didn't have a clue what they were doing, but the last time she had gone with them out of country they had gotten arrested. It wouldn't surprise her if they were already spending the night in a holding cell somewhere. If nothing else, at least they weren't constantly getting into trouble for drugs.

Alayna continued to fill out the paperwork, and after a few more minutes she had finally finished it to the best of her ability. She was just about to turn it in at the receptionist desk when three boys made their entrances, each one a little more surprising than the last and not at all as low key as the girls had been. One didn't appear to speak English, another didn't speak at all...and one was already screaming profanities. If she were honest, the screaming one was the one that didn't surprise her. Her entire life she had been around people yelling and screaming, people who were angry in general. The quiet ones were unsettling, despite her being a rather quiet individual herself.

"DICKS! Both of you! Giant over inflated dicks!" The boy yelled.

She had noticed the officers had treated him rather roughly and it concerned her. The violence had seemed more than a little unnecessary. He couldn't have been much older than she was.

"Are you okay?" Alayna asked him, holding the clipboard closely to her chest and her face holding an expression of genuine worry. It was her opinion, that children and teens should be treated with care and respect. Not thrown and tossed around like a bag of garbage. Another lesson from her parents, even if they had a skewed view of what safe for someone her age was. Taking her to large scale demonstrations and protests all over the world, in strange places, probably wasn't the best idea...especially when she didn't enjoy them to begin with. She couldn't complain too much though. She had seen more of the world than most adults.

"That was...intense, to say the least." She tacked on. The fact that he had come in in handcuffs didn't particularly bother her, though she was curious. She hadn't met many real criminals and figured that whatever he had done, couldn't be that bad if they were just going to throw him in some boarding school. It wasn't like this was a place for dangerous career criminals.

"Are you okay?" The boy, still a bit riled up from the manhandling he had endured, felt himself jumping slightly as he about faced to the speaker. "What!" He almost let out another curse word, but when he saw that the one speaking to him was not another adult about to chastise him but instead a girl near his own age he caught the cuss before it could leave his lips. "Sorry." He let out a breath to relax himself and dialed down the frown on his face. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"That was... intense, to say the least."

"It's nothing I'm not used to. Growing up around jarheads like that makes people throwing their weight around like they own the place a familiar sight." He shot another dirty look at the closing doors, half tempted to go out and shout one last insult at the departing grunts. But instead he returned his attention to the girl and held out a hand. "My name's David by the way."

"What!" The abrupt yell made Alayna pull back slightly and her heart jumped. Perhaps he really did need those handcuffs? It wasn't until his face softened and he began to apologize that she relaxed again. For having such vocal parents, the brunette didn't handle confrontation too well herself. In fact, there was very little that made her more uncomfortable than a raised and yelling voice.

"My name's David by the way." He introduced and held out his hand. She smiled and shook it.

"I'm Alayna. It's nice to meet you." She said, her voice sincere. If the boy's family sucked, which it sounded like it did, then she would make it a point to be a friend. It seemed like he needed one and if she was going to start at a strange new school, with no experience other than home schooling, then she could use all the friends she could get. There was nothing worse than being in a group of people with no one to talk to and she refused to be that girl. Not like she had been with all of her parents weird friends. Those awkward gatherings were the reason she had become to attached to the fantasy world in her books.

She gave the boy one last smile before turning back to the receptionist and turning in her paperwork. "I'm sorry some of it's sparse..." She wasn't sure what else to say. My parents used a collection of herbs and oils to soothe everything from fever to nausea growing up, so I'm not sure if I have any allergies to medications? The sarcasm was dripping throughout her thought, but she knew it was best to keep that information to herself.

"That's fine, honey." Said the receptionist, though something about the older woman's face as she flipped through her paperwork said she was annoyed. Sorry you didn't ask my parents this before they enrolled me? Alayna thought, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Once the woman was done leafing through the papers, she reached for a key and handed it off to Alayna, who was more excited for this than she had been anything else the whole day. "Room 117, just two doors down from Miss Croft."

"Thank you, Miss!" Alayna thanked her, despite the awful vibe she was getting off the receptionist she was more than grateful she now had a place to put her things.

She moved to meet with Alex, figuring that she could just follow her to their rooms, but before she reached her she stopped by Pandora - whom she hadn't been able to properly introduce herself too because of all the commotion.

"By the way, it's nice to meet you. Sorry I didn't get to say with all that chaos." She began with an apologetic smirk. "Hopefully you get a room close by, too! That way we'll all see some familiar faces when classes start."

Alayna knew full well that she was being awfully nice to everyone, maybe too nice, but she was determined to make her first experience in a real school a positive one.