“Everything’s…good,” she managed to say.
“Great. Well, we’ll be at the school soon. Excited to see everyone?”
“Yeah, very.”
It was a partial lie. She wanted to see them, but with Lucas’ ability to enter her mind, and the kiss they had almost shared, everything seemed to be upside down. She just needed some time to figure it all out.
The headmaster didn’t seem to notice her distress, smiled, and turned the engine over. He pulled out of the gas station and onto the main road.
She glanced at Lucas, who mouthed, Thank you, and smiled. No, she didn’t tell on him and she never would. But as they traveled in silence, she wondered how many more surprises awaited her.
6
Breaking Shaky Rules
The road to Green Clover Academy was narrow with tall trees on either side, the branches hanging over, blocking out the sky. It was creepy and beautiful at the same time. They were traveling deep in the country, and Eva didn’t know what to expect.
But she wasn’t scared. Lucas was by her side. She felt like a giddy school girl, crushing on the most handsome boy at school and he liked her too.
Maybe this place wouldn’t be so bad.
The road came to an end, changing to gravel, and Mr. Quinn decelerated. He stopped before a large black iron gate, split in two. A high wall was on either side, composed of pale gray and green bricks, stretching all around. Eva leaned over in her seat, but couldn’t see the school, only a wide stretch of grass, and then what looked like a little wooden house in the distance.
Mr. Quinn got out, went to the gate, pushed one halve open, and then came back to the car, and drove on through.
“Is that it?” she asked, pointing to the little wooden house, wondering how everyone could possibly fit in there.
“Oh, no,” the headmaster said, waving his hand. “That’s an old schoolhouse from long ago. The academy is further up the way.”
She felt relieved and took another glance at the old school that had a bell at the top, hanging sideways.
“Wasn’t Colin supposed to bulldoze it down?” Lucas asked the headmaster. “It isn’t like he’s doing anything else,” he muttered.
Eva turned to Lucas. “Who’s Colin?”
“Colin Black, the groundskeeper and general maintenance man,” the headmaster explained. “And he’ll get around to it. He stays busy at the school.”
Lucas rolled his eyes. Eva wanted to know why he was acting that way but kept silent.
They traveled down a wide dirt road that coursed through a wall of summery trees, and then finally, the academy came in view.
“And there it is,” Lucas proclaimed, holding out his hand. “Green Clover Academy.”
It didn’t look like a regular school. In fact, it was an enormous house—a mansion—made out of pale green and gray bricks, alternating in pattern like the high wall around the property. It was wide with several floors and windows all over the front. Six gray columns stood in the front, supporting a pyramid roof with the rest of the house flat on top. She could see a balcony to the right, extending from a room at the top floor. Several black-bricked chimneys were positioned around the exterior.
“Doesn’t this place have heat?” she asked, wondering if she had stepped back in colonial times.
“Of course,” Mr. Quinn said. He slowed the car down and finally stopped in front of the house. “It’s quite modern with internet access and everything. It just looks old.”
“Well, it is old,” Lucas countered. “It was built by Irish immigrants a long time ago.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it—”
“I’ll tell it,” the headmaster interrupted. Lucas acquiesced, throwing his hands up. Mr. Quinn turned around in his seat to Eva. “This house was a haven for Banshees and Leprechauns. My great-grandfather grew up here as a child, and my father, a Leprechaun—it skipped my grandfather—left our home in Chicago when I was just a young boy, and decided to turn it into a school—a place where children such as you could live and have an education.”
“Yeah, so math class is right next to where I sleep,” Lucas said sarcastically.
Mr. Quinn narrowed his eyes. “Go get her bag.”
Lucas rolled his eyes and got out the car, placing his black cap on his head. The headmaster popped the trunk, and after Lucas retrieved her bag, he slammed the trunk door down.
“He’s actually a good boy,” Mr. Quinn said, nodding. “I just have to be stern with the boys sometimes, to let them know their place, or else it’ll be chaos,” he continued in a casual tone.
Chaos? He must be exaggerating…maybe.
Lucas opened her door, smiling. He tipped his black cap to her. “Milady.”
“Thank you, good sir,” she said, stepping out.
Mr. Quinn was already out of the car, adjusting his patchy cap on his head. He turned to Lucas. “I’m expected in a meeting in about”—he glanced at his black wrist watch—“ten minutes. It’s near dinner time. Why don’t you show her around, take her to her room, and then lead her to the cafeteria?”
“So I can actually visit the girl’s wing?” he asked, smirking.
“Briefly,” the headmaster cautioned. “Here’s her key,” he continued, fishing it out of his pants pocket, and then handing it to her.
It looked like an ancient key but short and black, and the handle was shaped in the form of a green shamrock. She placed it securely in her pocket.
Mr. Quinn smiled and tipped his hat to her. “If you have any questions or concerns don’t hesitate to find me. My office is nearby. Classes start tomorrow but don’t worry about that now.”
She watched him walk past the set of gray columns to a pair of large wooden doors cut in the middle like the gate. There was a large green shamrock at the top of each halve and a pale green sign with glossy black letters above that read GREEN CLOVER ACADEMY. The headmaster opened the left door, gave Eva a final wave, and went inside.
Lucas sighed. “Finally. Let’s sit over here for a minute.” He directed her to a black iron bench next to the house, surrounded by lively green shamrocks.
In fact, all around the house were shamrocks. Nearby were other benches, some tabled. A narrow pebbled trail led to a volleyball net, tennis and basketball court in the distance. Thick woods surrounded the property, and Eva wondered if this school was even on the map, it was so isolated from the city.
When they sat down, Lucas placed her travel bag on the grass, and then pulled a pack of cigarettes and a black lighter from his pants pocket.
He lit up, took a drag, and exhaled. “This is much better than that damn Coke.”
Eva forgot about their drinks in the car but that was the least of her worries.
She scrunched her nose. “You smoke?”
She didn’t like it up close—the strong odor of it—and had to endure it all throughout middle school—or the short time she was there when girls snuck in the restrooms during breaks and lit up.
He took another drag and exhaled. “Yeah, does it bother you?”
“A little,” she answered to be polite.
Suddenly, Lucas Daly didn’t seem that attractive anymore.
“Sorry,” he apologized. Then he took one final drag, exhaled, and snuffed it out under his shoe. “I’m trying to quit, but it’s hard.” He put the pack of cigarettes and lighter back into his pocket. “But you’ll find out that the other guys do it too, even the professors.” He waved his hand in the air. “All the Leprechauns smoke.”
She remembered that she smelled tobacco on Mr. Quinn, especially when she first met him, but he was an adult. It was okay for him to smoke, even if she didn’t like it.
“Really? Why?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I think it’s who we are. We like to smoke, drink, and mess around.” He smirked. “You know…with girls.”
“Sounds like regular high school,” she remarked.
He laughed. “Yeah, I guess it does, but here, well, aside from t
he messing around with girls—which is something the headmaster can’t really stop—the smoking is relaxed. See there.” He pointed, directing her gaze to a nearby receptacle for cigarette butts but most were on the grass.
“What about the drinking?”
He smiled. “We drink, but not often. We know not to cross the line or the headmaster will completely revoke that privilege.”
“Wow! And the girls don’t drink?”
He smirked. “Sure they do, but it’s not like with us guys, the Leprechauns.” He shrugged. “It’s like we have to do it.”
Have to?
“So you’ve been with a lot of girls?” she blurted out, but didn’t really want to know the answer.
He looked embarrassed and it made her feel somewhat better. “Uh, well, not a lot, but yeah, I’ve been with some and with some.” He couldn’t contain his smile. “You know what I mean, right?”
She just nodded, but couldn’t get the image of him naked with other naked girls out of her head.
“But I’m past all that.” He sliced his hand in the air. “I want to be on the straight and narrow. I want to settle down.”
He looked at her with his blue-gray eyes still a bit stormy, but warm. Even though the odor of cigarette smoke was still on him, she renewed her attraction to him.
“You do?” she asked, smiling.
He lifted his arm up, and placed it around her shoulders, making her melt. “I’ve recently had a change of heart.”
He leaned in and Eva hoped they would finally kiss. She was ready but when she closed her eyes, someone coughed nearby. She turned to see a handsome guy in his early twenties. He was average height and toned with short dark brown hair and brown eyes, wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt.
“Already snared the new girl, huh?” he asked, keeping his fist clenched around the handle of a shovel.
Eva felt so embarrassed and quickly pulled away from Lucas.
Lucas sighed. “Don’t you have something to do, Colin?” He pointed up ahead, beyond the line of trees to the abandoned schoolhouse. “I thought you were going to bulldoze that damn thing down.”
Eva assumed that this was the groundskeeper and general maintenance man that the headmaster had mentioned—Colin Black. She wondered only briefly that he was a Leprechaun, because after a few seconds, he ignored Lucas, and lit up a cigarette.
“I’m on break,” he said. “Besides, what you got against a little rundown schoolhouse? Think it’s haunted or something?” He turned to Eva, smiling. “So you’re the new girl?”
“No shit, Sherlock,” Lucas said in an annoyed tone.
Colin pointed his cigarette at Lucas.“I wasn’t talking to you,” he said with an edge to his voice. Then he put it back between his lips, took a drag, and exhaled, never taking his curious eyes off of Eva.
She thought he was cute, but really creepy, continuing to stare at her. She hoped nothing ever broke in her bedroom.
But what if he purposely damages something just to see the girls?
She wouldn’t put it past him. He seemed edgy, holding that shovel, shooting Lucas menacing looks. She felt that at any second Colin would pick it up and slam it against Lucas’ perfect face.
Lucas abruptly stood up. “C’mon,” he snapped, and then retrieved her bag from the ground. “It’s time to see the inside. Much better than out here,” he added in a disgusting tone.
Eva was more than happy to follow him and with her back turned to Colin, she was at Lucas’ side, walking away.
“Nice to meet you, Eva,” Colin called out to her.
She could feel his smirk, but stayed calm, turned around, and said, “Nice to meet you too.”
Colin furrowed his brow at her respectful tone, and she guessed he wasn’t used to being treated that way. But she didn’t stare at him long and followed Lucas’ quick steps to the columned front part of the school.
“That guy is such a dick,” Lucas muttered, walking under the pyramid roof.
Eva didn’t know their history, but it seemed that Colin and Lucas had gotten into a word or two before, maybe even a fight, but she didn’t want to discuss the creepy groundskeeper. She was too mesmerized by her new school that was quite pleasant and clean on the outside, so Colin must have been doing a good job.
When they approached the doors, Lucas smiled. “Ready?”
She wasn’t, but she didn’t come all this way for nothing. “Ready,” she answered, nodding.
He opened the door for her, and she was greeted with silence. No one was in the foyer, and the area beyond that called the Commons Area by the sign on the wall with an arrow that pointed straight ahead. A scowling teacher didn’t even pass by.
“Everyone’s in the cafeteria,” he said, as if reading her thoughts. “It’s better this way. I can show you around without the student body staring at us.”
She nodded and agreed. The inside of the mansion was just as she would’ve imagined an old, large house with a woodsy appeal. The ceiling was high with several lit chandeliers that resembled shamrocks. The walls were covered in forest green wallpaper with several paintings of flowers, landscapes, and portraits. Forest green curtains covered the windows—some open, some drawn. Along the wall were two large black-bricked fireplaces covered by a black screen.
At the entrance to her left was a green corkboard for announcements. Several pieces of paper overlapped others, but she could read some of them in bold, black, and loud ink:
NO RUNNING IN THE HALLS!
LIGHTS OUT AFTER TEN!
NO SMOKING INDOORS!
ALCOHOL IS TO BE ADMINISTERED BY THE STAFF!
THE WEST WING IS FORBIDDEN TO ALL STUDENT LEPRECHAUNS!
“Where’s the west wing?” she asked.
He turned to the left. “There,” he answered, pointing at a grand staircase covered in a forest green carpet. “That’s where the girls stay, and over here”—he pointed to the right, at another grand staircase covered in the same carpet—“is where the guys stay.”
“But if you can teleport, what’s to stop the headmaster from finding out you’re…you know where you shouldn’t be?”
He smirked. “He doesn’t know unless a guy accidentally pops into the wrong room, and all the girls there start screaming, pushing him out.”
“I bet that’s never happened to you,” she said, smiling.
He lightly blushed. “No, I can’t say it hasn’t, but”—he shook his head—“I’m not like that anymore. Remember? Straight and narrow.” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
She couldn’t help feeling giddy, knowing she had the most sought after guy in Green Clover Academy. He licked his lips and she thought they might finally kiss, but instead he let go of her hand, and pointed straight ahead, past the Commons Area. She followed his blue-gray eyes to a set of narrow stairs with a few steps. That section of the house was divided into two long floors with several doors along the way. On the top floor, to the left, was an open archway that led down a dark and quiet hallway. On the bottom floor, to the right, was another open archway, but brightly lit with loud voices filtering out.
“Over there are the classrooms, library, cafeteria, offices, and professor and staff apartments,” he informed her.
“Oh…okay.” She felt disheartened that he didn’t take the opportunity to kiss her.
“Why don’t I show you to your room, and then we can head to the cafeteria, okay?” he asked, smiling sweetly.
She felt reassured that he truly did like her, but he wanted to be better, and not the take-what-he-wants attitude, she assumed, he used to have before. Of course, one little kiss couldn’t hurt. Eva had never been kissed before. She imagined telling Soledad that she’d finally been kissed—by a Leprechaun! No, better not. That might land her back in the psychiatric hospital. Eva knew that there were some, possibly many secrets that she’d have to take to her grave.
7
A Vanishing Act
They traveled up three floors, along narrow stairwells to Eva’s room at the
very top. She was on the fourth floor, room number seven. Her shamrock key fit in the lock, and she nervously turned the knob, not knowing what to expect in her new room.
She immediately noticed four beds, one in each corner. At the hospital, she had a room to herself, and although she was lonely at times, she was used to sleeping by herself.
“I have three roommates?”
“Yeah, but it’s not bad,” he answered. “My roommates are my friends, so it’s cool.”
She hoped that her roommates were cool too.
The light, a shamrock-designed chandelier, had been left on, illuminating a large room with pale green wallpaper and forest green carpet. A bathroom was included and the door was open, revealing a white shower curtain decorated with green shamrocks. The bed sheets were green but only hers was made up. The three other beds either had clothes or books scattered on top of them.
Her roommates’ sections were each personalized with posters of gorgeous male movie stars, pictures of loved ones, an atlas of the world, and a poster of cat on a tree limb, telling everyone to “Hang in There.” Student desks were next to the beds with a green-shaded lamp, a green laptop, and a black cordless phone. One had a lava lamp with green blobs going up and down inside. Another desk had a small wooden box, padlocked.
“Where’s the TV?” she asked, expecting there to be one in a university-styled room.
“You have to bring it yourself,” he answered, “but most here just watch TV on their laptops. I have a TV in my room, but we only use it to play video games.”
It had been a long time since she had fun, playing video games, watching TV—besides the terror-inducing cartoons at the hospital. She wondered if she could spend time with Lucas in his room and chill out, but she knew that he’d have other things on his mind.
“And here’s where you are,” he said, directing her to the cleanest corner of the room.
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