Eternity
Page 9
Chapter 8
My room was on the third floor, and I found it easily enough. The doors all had numbers on them, made of brass and screwed to the center where they were easy to see. I stopped outside my room and set my bag by the door. I hesitated briefly, and then I opened it.
The room had pale purple wallpaper decorated with flowers, and a shiny wood floor that was partially covered by a purple and gold patterned rug. There were four beds, and each was paired with a bedside table and a trunk at the foot of the bed, and all were made of dark wood. There was also one desk in a corner of the room, and a door on the left that led to the bathroom. I was the first to arrive, and I didn't want to choose a bed that others might want, so I picked one in the middle to the right, figuring it would be considered the least desirable.
I brought my suitcase in from the hallway and started putting things in my trunk. It felt weird to be settling in to a new place. As I packed away my limited supply of clothing and books, I waited anxiously to meet the girls I would be sharing my room with, and hoped that they would like me.
My roommates came in one at a time over the next hour, and we all introduced ourselves to each other. I couldn't help but like all of them right away.
Rhea, an African beauty who could turn any object to gold with her touch, came in first. She introduced herself shyly, but she had a natural warmth that came through once she grew more comfortable.
Melissa, from Venezuela, could create and control fire. She practically bounced into the room and immediately threw her things on a bed and started talking.
Heather, from Vancouver, came in last. She could hear things that were happening hundreds of miles away, which I thought was a neat ability. She was quiet, but it was hard for anyone to get a word in once Melissa started. I barely said a word myself.
I was surprised that they liked me as much as I liked them, since I was so used to being treated poorly by other girls. They weren't quick to judge me, and they actually listened to what I had to say. We got along well.
We stayed up late into the night telling each other stories about our pasts. They were all interested when I told them about living in an orphanage, and I was fascinated by Rhea's tales of growing up in Uganda. Heather probably talked the least out of all of us, but when she did speak she usually had something interesting to say. I couldn't help but take a particular liking to her, and hoped we would become friends. Her aura was mostly pink, which told me she was a very compassionate person. Melissa was a spitfire of red, and Rhea a calm green. Of course, they all had a gold ring around the inside as well.
I accidently slept in the next morning and missed breakfast. There was an alarm clock in the room, but we had agreed to wait to set it until classes started. The other girls were already up and gone when I woke up, so I got ready by myself.
I grabbed an apple from the small kitchen off the common room and went out to find Jack. I looked almost everywhere, but I didn't find him. I was making my way to the courtyard when I met up with Melissa.
"Hey Juliet!" she greeted me. "Heather and I were just about to go for a swim. Want to come with us?"
"Sure, sounds like fun," I answered, and we set off toward our room together. I hadn't actually owned a bathing suit since I was little, but luckily there had been one in my uniform package.
The three of us were the only ones in the pool at the time, so we mostly just played around. Heather started a splash war that left us tired and giggling by the time we got out of the water, which was around lunch time. We all ate together, and I still didn't see Jack, which worried me a little. I saw Michael with Patrick and Leon, and they all waved to me at the same time, which caused them to crack up. Leon blew me a kiss, which made me blush and look away.
"Wow, you know him?" Heather asked, with her eye on Michael. She sighed. "He's completely gorgeous."
Melissa nodded in agreement. "He is fine. You have to introduce us. Not now though, 'cause I'm a mess."
She looked pretty even though she didn't have any makeup on after our swim. I told her as much, but she wasn't listening.
"I can introduce you to him tonight at the ball," I said, and they both agreed that that was a better option, since they would be looking their best. They weren't too concerned about the fact that he was two years older than us when I mentioned it, and I didn't tell them that he had asked me to go to the ball with him.
"When are we going to start getting ready?" Heather asked. "It will take at least an hour just to do my hair."
"You're right; we should start getting ready soon. It could take all afternoon. We have to be ready by five o'clock, when supper starts," said Melissa.
I didn't even know what I was supposed to do to get ready. I didn't own any makeup, and I usually left my long wavy hair in a ponytail to keep it out of my way. I said as much to the girls, and they brightened immediately. I could see their excitement, but I had no idea where it was coming from.
"Don't worry, we'll help you," Heather told me.
"Yeah, it'll be fun, kind of like giving you a makeover. It's not that you need one or anything, but seriously, you could look so awesome," Melissa said, looking me over. "I can see it already."
"I don't want to be a bother, though," I said, frowning. "You girls probably have enough to worry about without having to help me get ready."
"Don't worry about it," Heather said. "We don't mind."
"Yeah. Like I said, it'll be fun," Melissa added, and she wouldn't let me argue any further, despite my best efforts.
Melissa insisted on getting ready as soon as possible, so we went back to our room after we finished eating lunch. We all took showers, and then Melissa brought out a manicure kit and we did our nails. Once they were dry, we started on hair. Rhea came in then, saying she had been playing basketball with a few people she had met. She quickly hopped in the shower, and she started doing her nails as soon as she got out. She only had a few millimetres of hair, so there wasn't really anything she could do with it anyway.
Heather loaded Melissa's dark hair with curlers, and then straightened her own honey blond hair. I didn't know what to do with mine, so let just let it stay down.
"Nuh uh, you can't leave your hair like that," Melissa complained. "We're giving you an up-do."
"Um, no that's okay. I don't mind it like this."
Melissa almost glared at me. "Don't spoil my fun, okay? I'm doing your hair. Live with it."
I laughed. "Okay, okay, if you insist."
She brushed my hair out first, while I tried not to wince at all of the tugging and pulling on my scalp. She then pulled it up in a twist and loaded it with hairspray. "Voila!" she said when she was done, and she went to go get her makeup.
While she was digging through her suitcase I looked at the time and realized it was already after five. "We're going to miss supper!" I exclaimed, and went to get my dress.
"Relax, would ya? Dinner isn't that big of a deal. We can eat here really quickly. We'll be ready by the time the ball starts, and we'll be able to make an entrance," Melissa explained.
"That was your plan all along, wasn't it?" Heather teased.
"Maybe," Melissa said. She grinned.
We ended up eating snacks while we were getting ready, and we didn't finish until almost exactly seven. I had had no idea that it took so much effort to get ready for a formal event. I felt exhausted and the event hadn't even started yet, but I was kind of amazed by my own transformation. I had always been beautiful, but I was always careful to hide it as much as possible, and tonight I was doing the opposite. I hardly recognized myself when I looked in the mirror once my transformation was complete.
Melissa, who was still intent upon making an entrance, did not let us hurry to the ballroom. I could see that we weren't the only ones who were a bit late, since there were others in the hallway making their way in the same direction in their formal evening wear.
Rhea was wearing a colou
rful dress that went well with her dark skin. Melissa was wearing a gold dress that was strapless and poufy, and Heather was wearing a simple light blue dress. I felt a little strange wearing black against so much color, but the girls kept saying how nice it looked.
We could hear the music before we reached the stairs. It was classical and well played, so clearly this was to be a proper ball, which I was happy about. I found the idea of an old fashioned ball rather romantic, though I didn't really know how to dance. I hoped that didn't matter as I took a deep breath before we walked through the door.