by Sophia Sharp
It didn’t budge.
I frowned and tried again, pulling with more force. Nothing happened.
Maybe it was locked? I looked around for a keyhole, conscious of the fact that I had only been given the single key, presumably to my room. But maybe it unlocked the front door to the building as well? That, at least, would make some sense—if there had been a keyhole anywhere! I looked up and down the entire face of the door, and the frame as well, and, not finding anything, repeated the examination. Again, I didn’t spot a keyhole. An uncomfortable feeling blossomed in the pit of my stomach. Maybe the dorms weren’t open yet? I hoped that wasn’t the case. But, if the other students weren’t due to arrive until tomorrow…
Suddenly, the door burst open, nearly smacking me square in the face. Only the fact that I had already started turning away saved me from a return trip to the clinic. In the doorway stood a boy about my age, looking at me in surprise. I stared back, equally unnerved. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be here yet.
“Having trouble with the door?” His quick smile erased the look of surprise on his face.
“Uh… yeah,” I managed, trying to regain my composure. The boy in front of me wasn’t particularly good looking. A clump of dark hair perched atop his head. His nose was too small for his slanted face. But, there was something very disarming about his smile. It made me feel welcome; at ease, even. I smiled back at him, and at the same time ran a hand self-consciously through my tousled hair. “I was trying to figure it out before you burst out of there.”
“I know,” he said, “I saw you through the camera.”
“Camera? What are you talking about?”
He pointed up to a darkened corner, and I realized there was a small security camera aimed right at the door. But how did he have access to it?
“The security guard asked me to keep watch while he went off to lunch,” the boy explained as if reading my mind. “He said he was expecting someone, but I didn’t think it’d be a girl as pretty as you.” His eyes went wide, and color crept into his cheeks. He broke eye contact with me and stared at the floor. “I mean… err… sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Don’t worry,” I laughed, “that’s the nicest thing anyone’s said to me since I got here.”
“Really?” he sneaked a glance up, and then looked back down. He was still blushing wildly.
“Really,” I said, and laughed. “Thank you, in fact. I haven’t heard anyone say something like that for… well, let’s just say it’s been a long time.” I stuck my hand out. “My name’s Tracy.”
He looked up again, and, seeing that I was being sincere, quickly smiled and took my hand. “I’m Chris,” he said. “I take it you’re new here?”
“How’d you know?” I asked coyly.
“Well, the luggage was a dead giveaway. Anyone who’s been here before has learned to store most of their things in the basements over the summer. And, of course, the whole fiasco with the door didn’t help.”
“Very observant,” I deadpanned. He laughed, and instantly the color in his cheeks was gone.
“That’s okay,” he said. “I was new here once, too.”
“I’d bet.”
“Anyway, the reason you couldn’t open the door was because you didn’t use your student card.”
I frowned “Student card?”
“You mean you don’t have one yet?”
“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Hmm. Well, no worries. We can fix that later. Everyone here has a student card. It’s the only way to get around. There’s a small chip in the back of it that interfaces with all the buildings on campus. It’s some type of new technology they put in a few years ago. Anyway, at the front of every building is a wireless scanner that picks up on the chip in your card, and unlocks the door for you.”
“Automatically?” I asked.
“Yeah. Exactly,” he said cheerfully. “ It’s pretty cool, actually. You just walk up to a set of doors and they open for you, each time. That way, you never have to fumble around for a set of keys or anything like that. Really helpful when we get into storm season over here.”
“Storm season? What’s that?” I asked, puzzled.
Chris’s eyes widened again. But this time, he made no effort to look away. In fact, he looked to be completely surprised. “You mean you don’t know?”
“Know what?” I asked again. “About ‘storm season?’ No, I have no idea. I’ve never even heard of it.”
He whistled through his teeth. “Wow! You’re a long way from home, aren’t you?”
“It’s not my fault,” I defended stubbornly. “It’s not like anyone’s given me a tour of the place yet.”
“A tour! That’s a great idea. I’d totally be happy to show you around.” He gave me that disarming smile.
“Well, I’ve got to get unpacked first…” I began, but he quickly broke in.
“Of course! Here, I’ll help you get your things.” Running around behind me, he grabbed both of my bags in his hands. “What floor are you on?”
“My key says 34…”
“Third floor. Got it. Follow me.”
Chris went inside the building, and I trailed after him. As soon as I crossed the doorway, I stared wide-eyed at the lobby. It was ridiculously extravagant. Everything I could see was polished marble. The floor tiles made a crisscross pattern of dark and light colors across the room. In the middle, a few lounge-like sofas had been arranged, each one of them a rich black leather. Looking around, I realized I had been right earlier: the actual rooms of the dorm all rimmed the outer wall of the rectangular building. Which meant that in the middle of the building was a completely open space. From where I stood, you could look up and see the balusters running along the hallways of each floor, and the doors leading into the individual rooms as well, something like a hotel. High above me, in the roof of the building, were three spectacular skylights. They were all made of clear glass, and gave a perfect view into the sky above.
“Are you coming?” Chris called from across the atrium. Already, he had started lugging my bags up a flight of stairs. Quickening my pace, I ran up to him and tried to take one of the bags, but he pulled it away.
“I got them,” he told me.
I rolled my eyes. He was clearly struggling carrying both of them up the stairs at once. Yet, obviously, he didn’t want me to notice. “It’ll be faster if I help,” I said.
“No way,” he grunted. Each step he took up, the suitcases banged loudly against each other. “I got it.”
“No, you don’t,” I interjected, and before he could protest again, pulled one of the bags out of his hand. Just for good measure, I took a couple steps up, carrying the heavy bag behind me, to show him I was just fine handling one of them. Glancing back, I saw that he had started moving faster. I increased my own pace, and raced to the top. I heard him moving right behind me, trying to match my speed. But, I had the advantage of a head start. I got to the top, and flashed a triumphant smile as he came up beside me.
“Told you,” I said with a wink. “There’s no point protesting when I’m clearly in the right.”
“We’ll see about that…” Chris said, trailing off before he could finish the empty threat. He smiled at me again, though. “You’re tougher than you look.”
“You should have seen what I went through to get here,” I said, thinking back to the disaster with Vlad’s small boat.
To my surprise, Chris barked a laugh. “I take it you’ve met Vlad, then.”
“How did you know?”
“That’s the only way you could have gotten to the island this early,” he explained. “It’s quite a journey with him, isn’t it?”
“You don’t even know half of it,” I replied in a tone that said I did not want to talk about it. “Anyway, I take it we’re only on the first floor, now?” The first door I could see down the hall was marked with a large 10 right above the peephole. Chris nodded. “That means we’ve got two more flights of stairs t
o go?” He nodded again. “Let’s go do it then. I’m getting anxious to see my room and have a chance to unpack.” Then, noticing the hopeful way Chris was eyeing the bag I was carrying, quickly added, “Not that I’m complaining about the stairs, of course.”
“Of course,” Chris replied, and tilted his head to the left. “It’s this way. Believe it or not, your room is on the same floor as mine.”
“Really?” For some reason, I had been under the impression that the floors were arranged by gender.
“Yup. What are the odds, huh?”
“No kidding. Is it nice?”
“What?”
“The room.”
“Oh… well, you’ll see,” he said mysteriously. And before I could decode the meaning of that, he jumped forward. “This time, I’m not letting you beat me to the top.”
“Hey!” I protested, but he was already racing down the hall. I ran after him, laughing at the pure craziness of it all. He took the first flight of stairs two at a time. When I tried to do the same, I nearly fell flat on my face. Unwavering, I pressed on, but I could already see Chris turning the corner that led to the last flight of stairs. And so, by the time I got all the way to the third floor, red-faced and huffing, Chris was the one staring triumphantly at me in front of a small door marked 34.
“Home sweet home,” he announced, cheerfully smiling at me, tapping the door behind him. “This is where you’re going to be spending the year.”
“I’m excited,” I said genuinely, pushing a stray bit of hair out of my face.
“Well, come on then,” he urged. “Get your key! I want to see your first impression of the room.”
I eyed him curiously. Did he mean that the rooms were bad, or that they were good? He stared blankly at me, his expression inscrutable.
I knew I wasn’t going to get anything out of him. Not that it really mattered, since I was literally a foot away from the door. If the way the lobby and interior of this building were set up was any guide, my room should be very nice. But then again, sometimes lavish outside appearances were there only to cover up lackluster interiors. Taking a deep breath in, I turned the key in the lock.
The door slowly opened. Before me lay the single most amazing room I had ever seen.
“Oh… my god!” I exclaimed, running inside. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The room was absolutely huge—preposterously monstrous. And it was fully furnished. In the middle of the room was a brand new, circular rug, still in its plastic packaging. Beyond it, by the far window, was a dark oak desk with a lavish office chair. Off to one side was an enormous queen-sized bed. I noted with delight that the mattress was also brand new. Beside the bed, installed right into the wall, was a full-length mirror and a nightstand. I turned around. On the other side of the room, standing along the wall, was a sturdy shelf and a beautiful antique cabinet. There was another door right by the shelf. When I opened it, I found a private bathroom, complete with a sink, toilet, and extra-large tub. I couldn’t believe my eyes. At any other school, there would be at least six kids stuffed into a space this size. But here, it was all for me.
“Does everyone have rooms like this?” I asked Chris. He had diligently brought both suitcases inside while I had been admiring my new living quarters.
“Freshman year they’re really crappy,” he replied. “Sophomore year they’re a little better. This year, they become really nice. And when you’re a senior, they’re even better.”
“I can’t even imagine how you could do better than this…” I said wonderingly.
“Private kitchens,” Chris explained, “within a room about twice this size. Separated into a living room – TV included – and a bedroom.”
“Wow,” I breathed. “Still, this is amazing. I guess I lucked out coming here junior year, huh?”
“You wouldn’t believe the horror stories about freshman housing,” Chris said. “Well, I’m going to let you get settled. I’ll be nearby– Room 39. Just bang on my door when you’re ready to go out, and I’ll show you the lay of the land. And we can get you your student card, as well, so you don’t walk around like a babe in the woods anymore.”
“Hey!” I protested, but he was already halfway out the room.
“Oh yeah,” he added just before closing the door, “don’t forget to ask me about storm season.”
Chapter Four – A Bit of History
Getting settled into the room was easy enough. After the first rush of excitement faded, I set out to check my room out quickly before heading out. After all, I still had an entire campus to explore.
Still, I was amazed at the luxury of it all. My room was fully furnished, and about as big as an entire floor of my three-storey house back home. There were no roommates to share it with, nor a need to fight for a common shower. Everything I needed was already in the room, more or less.
The first thing I did was collapse on my bed, and discovered that it was soft as a cloud. I had to fight the urge to fall asleep right there. Pushing myself up, I went over to peel away the plastic cover of the rug, and tossed the packaging to one side. I went through the drawers of the wardrobe, making mental notes of where I wanted to unpack my things later that night. I rolled both pieces of luggage into the closet, opening one quickly only to pull out my laptop, and set it up and its charger on the desk. Then, satisfied that everything was in good enough shape for now, I inspected myself in front of the mirror.
My hair was a bit frizzy from the race up the stairs, and I didn’t have any makeup on, but overall the girl staring back at me didn’t look too bad. Definitely good enough to go out without the need for any more preparation.
I started to the door, but then realized that in my excitement, I hadn’t even looked out the windows to check out the view. I went across the room quickly, and smiled when I saw what was outside. Sure enough, just as I’d hoped, my room overlooked the courtyard. Farther down, I could see all the buildings of the main campus, along with the open area of the town square. I also noticed a tall tower in the distance, away from that main cluster of buildings. In fact, its peak edged out over a thick row of evergreens. From what I could see, there wasn’t a direct path to it. I wondered absently what it was.
A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts. Before I could open it, I heard Chris’s voice through the wall.
“Tracy!” he called out. “Tracy, you ready?”
I opened the door. “I thought you said you’d give me enough time,” I said.
He laughed. “That was the plan at first, but I just checked with the security guard, and he said that the administrative office is closing in half an hour.”
“And… what does that have to do with me?”
“You need your student card. Remember?” He looked at me as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “You won’t be able to get in or out anywhere without it. And the only place to get it is there.”
“Oh! Well, where is it?”
“Not far from here. It’s in the main yard.”
“The main yard?”
“Yeah. That’s what the group of all those different buildings is called.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Now you do. Anyway, we’ve got to hurry if you want to get your card today.”
“But it’s not that far…?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he added, “but they have to take your picture and do a bunch of other stuff. Unless we get there quickly, they won’t even do it today.”
“Yeah, that’s fine. Let me get my shoes and I’ll be right out.”
A few minutes later, I was walking down the path away from the dorms with Chris. The day had started to warm up, and a light breeze had brought the salty air from the sea right to us. I walked slightly behind him, admiring the pristine serenity of the island. Chris kept trying to hurry me forward to make sure we got there in time.
“So, what’s the school really like?” I asked suddenly.
Chris looked back and frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,
this place is absolutely beautiful. Our dorm is amazing. The rooms are extravagant. Everything looks so well maintained. But… there’s got to be a reason for all that. Right? I mean, not everything can be that perfect here, can it?”
“Actually, what you see is pretty much what you get. A few years back – ten or so, I think – an alum gave a crazy large donation to the school, and told them to spend it on renovating the place. What you see is what they ended up doing with the money.”
“Lucky for us,” I replied.
Chris smiled slyly at me. “You’ll see that there’s more to it than initial appearances, though. Not everything is going to be as rosy as it might seem this first week.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, everything might seem fresh and exciting to you. But after a few months here, things start to become pretty monotonous. You might say a lot of the kids get pretty tired of the island, fast.”
“How can you ever get tired of something so pretty?” I asked.
Chris laughed. “Hard to believe, right? But stay in one place long enough, and things start to become mundane. Ordinary.”
“Is that how you feel about this place?”
“I did, before we met,” he laughed.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s always good to meet somebody new,” he smiled. Inexplicably, I found myself smiling back. My original assessment of Chris still stood. He wasn’t very attractive, but that smile was absolutely disarming. I was happy to have met someone like him this early in my stay. He seemed like he could be a good friend.
“So, what’s the social life like?” I asked after a few moments of silence. To my surprise, his smile quickly faded. He frowned at me.
“I wouldn’t really know,” he said slowly. “To be honest, I’m not the most popular kid here.”
“Really?” I said, surprised. He seemed friendly enough, and I thought he had a good grounding of where things were and what was going on.
