by Peitho
He winked at me and I wondered if he was really just a driver or did he have a second job as a therapist? In the short time that we had been in the car, he’d made me feel comfortable.
“I feel better now.” I said as he drove us through the wet streets, the sound of wet tires a background noise that I was familiar with.
“You do?” He asked as he stopped at a traffic light and waited for it to turn green.
I nodded, “Uh-hah.”
“Good, because you have nothing to worry about. I’ll take you on a short drive through the city if you like. Would that help? We have time.” He looked over at me with a gentle, kind smile.
Again, I nodded and no longer did I feel as if I was on a different planet, but a place that had more excitement than where I’d come from. I wondered if the school would make me feel that way.
I decided for now, I wouldn’t worry about that and just concentrate on the future. Which had to be bright. One more year, Teresa had reminded me.
It’d be over in a flash.
Chapter Ten
As we got to the gate, I’d nearly fallen asleep in the car. The drive had turned out to be over two hours or way longer. The city was so big and the drive to the academy added more time to it.
“Are we driving to Hotel Transylvania?”
“That’s not in Boston!”
Yeah, I knew it wasn’t, but it was a joke. His face was stern and seemed concerned, as he stopped to glance at me as the gates opened. I said it as a joke, but he wasn’t the type of person to joke with, figures!
Once we started to get closer to the gate and I saw the sign, Hawk Academy, my stomach roared like a lion. I was hungry or it could have been the nerves, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as we arrived at the gate and I had a feeling that life wasn’t going to be easy here. It looked creepy, some place that I should avoid rather than welcome with open arms.
“Don’t worry, this place looks scarier than it is. It’s big and old but that doesn’t make it creepy”, Albert said with a smile.
His words became my reality as we approached the school, and his car slowly moved through the long driveway that felt as if it was going on forever. My eyes focused on the drive hoping that it would come to a dramatic end. But it didn’t and the further we drove, the more it just seemed to go on as if we were in the middle of nowhere. Nothing was in sight and I wondered if we were driving to the academy or a prison? One that no one would discover. The kind that if someone did escape, then dogs would chase after us until they found us, and we would be eaten.
Damn!
I’d watched one too many horror movies. We were going to an academy, not a prison and certainly not the home of Dracula.
“We’re nearly there.” He said as if he was trying to bridge the silence. Everything that happened over the last couple of weeks, flashed through my mind. Not Mom dying. Not that part. It was as if I’d blocked it out of my mind. Did I feel guilty about it?
Hell no!
I had the loving memories, found ones of us together. The crappy part, the guilty part of me wanting to go to a party and only thinking about that and not leaving my mom alone in the house. I’d erased that from my mind for now, well as long as I could do it. I would be fine. It was as if I was awoken out of my misery as my phone beeped, not once, but twice.
I looked down at my bag and then grabbed it to rummage through it looking for my phone. My prized possession, the one that I would always keep near, had been so far from me. Usually whenever I went to a new place then I would take a selfie on the way to the airport, after checking in, even sitting on the plane and definitely in the airport on arrival and after picking up my bags and on the way to the place and be posting on Instagram as if my life depended on it. As if not posting would mean that someone would miss that small fraction of my life.
Mom had a good job in the bank, which was why she could afford for us to live in a house and to have good medical insurance. We often took trips together, we even visited France once. That was a trip of a lifetime. Mom’s motto was that a traveled mind was an educated one.
Crazy!
It was a craving though, this need to always post, to always be connected. A craving that I rode like so many teenagers and didn’t know how to get off the wagon. But I didn’t feel like it when I left and certainly not after I arrived. My phone stopped buzzing so did my search to find it.
The rain had stopped, the windshield wipers cleared the glass, and I caught my first sight of Hawk Academy. The big building in front of me, that we were approaching didn’t look creepy, at all. Not like the big gate or even the long drive through the driveway on the way to nowhere. No, this place looked like a fucking palace. So damn beautiful and my jaw automatically dropped as if I was catching flies.
“Impressive, right?”
I nodded, unable to catch my breath, I was so speechless. I had only felt that way twice in my life. The first was when my Gran told me that she was sick and the second was when it was confirmed that Mom had died. I realized that both of them had happened recently and neither of them were in good circumstances.
This.
This was different.
Seeing the beauty of the columns, the red bricks that seemed to last forever, both upwards and downwards. The column which looked like an old church and windows that had what appeared to be bars, but maybe they weren’t. Maybe they were part of the historical features of the building.
I sighed as the car came to a dramatic stop and I knew what it meant, but Alfred’s voice confirmed what I already knew.
“Welcome to Hawk Academy,” he smiled as he turned off the engine and opened the door. He left the key in the ignition and there was a part of me that was tempted to take the keys and drive the car. If only I had my damn license and actually knew how to drive, then it would be an option.
That’s when sudden panic took over and I gulped.
I shook my head as he opened the door, “I can’t. I’m too scared! It’s too damn quiet.”
I couldn’t get out of the car. There was supposed to be a thousand students here. Yet, silence. The only noise was coming from the wind moving in the trees and Alfred talking. Nothing else. I started imagining the kids inside being locked up and not being able to come out. This was supposed to be a school, why was it so damn quiet?
“Maybe everyone’s in class. That’s why it’s so quiet. Besides I told Mr. Hawk that we would be here at this time. He informed me that there would be someone to greet you. Don’t be scared, I reassure you that there’s nothing to be scared about.”
He stretched out his hand and I didn’t know this man, but I believed him. I didn’t know why, but I really did.
I took a deep breath which quickly disappeared the moment others appeared in that grey uniform that the students wore. So, I did a little research before I came and saw what I would be wearing on a daily basis. The uniform, another thing that I wasn’t used to doing. All my life, it’d been get up and figure out what to wear, so that I could fit in with my girls. Now, it was all about not standing out in the crowd. I still didn’t know if I’d liked the idea or not, either way I knew that I had a fresh set waiting for me to fit into the school.
Academy.
Prison.
New Life.
It just felt like too much for one day, until I saw a smiling face. Someone that could have been another Ava or Teresa, no way would they replace them, but they could be my friend rather than something else.
“Hey, you must be Vicki?”
I stepped out of the car and no longer did I feel nervous about doing it, but more at peace. She had gentle dark eyes with matching hair neatly tucked into a bun.
I nodded, “Yeah.”
Feeling silly that I was scared and thinking that this was a crazy place. In my investigation of the school before I’d come here, I’d seen pictures of the school, and the classes, other students. It didn’t look exactly the same online. Then again nothing looks like it does online, including McDonald
’s burgers.
I walked closer towards her and it was if her smile didn’t disappear as she spoke. I didn’t know whether to be glad or freaked out about it.
I really needed to stop feeling like this.
“Well, my name’s Sarah and I’m your guide and roommate.”
I nodded, not sure how to react to her announcement as she stretched out her hand and that was when I noticed that Alfred didn’t seem so happy about it. Which meant that if he wasn’t happy then I shouldn’t be either.
Fuck!
What was wrong with her? I was about to figure out a way to ask him when he asked, “Are you the only guide?”
She ignored him and took my arm.
“Come on Vicki. Let me give you the grand tour before lunch stars and you get to see all the riff-raff in school.”
Riff-raff? What the heck?
This is when I realized that she had an accent, a strong one which meant that she wasn’t American. And we didn’t say things like riff-raff. If we did then I was sure that I would be one of the girls to make the list. I was being guided around by someone that I didn’t even know, courtesy of my mom’s will. The kids in this school were the same as any other school. The nerds, the populars, the unpopulars, the fat kids, the geeks, and the sports kids.This academy would be no different to the high school I attended back home. Besides one more year and I would be out of here. I bit my lip as I knew that she was one of them. Alfred was reluctant to leave me with her, but I knew that I could handle myself. I had to start sometime and that sometime was now.
Chapter Eleven
I walked through the doors and into the academy with no thoughts in my head but anxiety-riddled ones. To make it worse, it was clear that Sarah wasn’t going to be my friend the second we entered the doors.
As soon we were far away from Alfred and without a soul in sight she turned to me with a malicious smile that made me want to smack her instantly.
“So? Is it true? Are you an orphan?” Her hands were crossed against her perky tits. The kind that most guys would love, and I knew that she had a perfect body sitting underneath her pleated grey, white and blue skirt, her white shirt and her grey velvet blazer. A body that I craved to have, but did nothing to achieve it.
It was weird hearing her say it. I wanted to tell her that she was wrong, but between a dad that was supposedly dead and a mom that was officially dead, an orphan seemed like an upgrade from how I would describe my life at the moment.
“Yes,” I whispered for the first time thinking that she was right. I was an orphan. I hadn’t thought about it until now.
She giggled, and took my arm again, “Don’t worry. I’m easy and it’s kind of cool having another orphan in our grade. We had one, but she couldn’t cope. You’re not a weak orphan, are you?”
I shook my head, not because I was strong, but because I didn’t want to be called weak. I’d lost my mom, nearly been sexually abused by my stepfather and came here to the other side of the country, which felt like the other side of the world, to an academy I’d never heard of. I wouldn’t consider myself strong, but definitely not weak, either.
“Good. We like survivors in the academy,” she slurred as she quickly pinned me against the wall. She did it so fast that I nearly lost my step and held on to my breath. She may be small in frame, but she was so strong. Then she backed away from me again. She was playing some kind of mind game, that I felt as if I couldn’t keep up.
“Survivors of what?” I stopped in my step, wondering if walking with her was a good idea.
“Don’t be afraid, I just want to know where you’ll fit in.”
Ah, so she was the leader. I sensed it by the way that Alfred wanted to find someone else, anyone else, to take me around the academy. It sent a shiver down my spine, knowing that I shouldn’t befriend her, but only fear her.
“Right, let’s start the tour.”
She slid her arm into mine and I whispered, “I’m a survivor.”
She laughed, “Of course you are. Now, where should we start?”
She didn’t believe me; I was too slow in replying and I knew that I would regret it. As she slowed down her stride and dragged me to the right, I knew that I would regret it sooner rather than later.
She cleared her throat, “There’s something that you need to understand about Hawk Academy. There are rules. Rules that you must follow and one’s that define the rules. The rules that we must all follow.”
She stepped away from me and went to stand in front of me, a scowl on her face. I felt my eyebrow go up and a moment of fear as she lunged at me and pushed me up against the wall.
“So once again, I need to know. Are you a survivor, Vicki?”
Without hesitation this time, I answered her. “Yes.”
She must have been convinced, because she backed away from me so fast that I forgot that one minute she was intimidating me and the next she was my friend again.
I was scared.
So, fucking scared as I took a deep breath and tried to figure out if this was real or if I was fucking dreaming.
I blinked and in front of us was someone that she obviously wanted to hide her little intimidation party from. I had a feeling that he had authority here. Maybe the man himself, Mr. Hawk. I shook my head at the idea of it.
I knew that his ancestors had founded and built the academy with their bare hands, but what the present day, Mr. Hawk looked like, I had no idea. I remembered when Ava and I were looking at as much information as possible about the academy, I noticed that nearly all the Hawks had blue eyes and dark hair. Ava said that it felt as if they were taking the same photo of the same person and just putting different names underneath each photo.
That’s when it dawned on me that he must be the present-day Hawk, because he had the same blue eyes and dark hair like the rest of them.
“Ms. Vicki Harris, I presume?”
Did everyone here have a strong British accent?
I nodded, feeling nervous as we stood in the hallway and not only were both Sarah and Mr. Hawk’s eyes on me, but so were all the students that passed by. I felt as if I was some sort of alien coming from another planet and sticking out, not because I looked different physically, but because they all had a uniform on and I didn’t. So, they knew that I wasn’t one of them. I soon would be, but at this moment in time I wasn’t one of them. I was the new girl that in the space of the last twelve hours had left her home town, was picked up by a driver for the first time in her life, arrived at her new school and was pushed against a wall by a girl that looked as if she was part angel and part devil. Angel on the outside and pure evil inside.
I nodded, seeing if it was the safe thing to do, but when he frowned, I had the impression that it was the wrong thing to do.
“One thing that you must learn at Hawk Academy, is that once spoken to, one must reply.”
I really didn’t get what he was saying to me. I translated it to mean, someone speaks to you, you speak back.
The question was, how did I reply?
´Yes, it is I Vicki Harris or ´Sure, dude my name’s Vicki Harris. Don’t say it so loud!´
I wanted to run out of this place right now, I’d had enough, and I’d barely even made it in the front door. A headache seized across my brain with the kind of pain that I didn’t even know could penetrate through my skull made it feel as if my head was about to explode. My final words would be, the ones that I blurted out now, “Sorry. Yes. I’m Vicki Harris.”
I avoided his eyes, eyes that were now fixed on mine and he didn’t try to hide it. The power in that gaze made me feel small and as if I was choking on his obvious desire to dominate me.
“Well, now that we have that covered, maybe we should move to my office?” His eyes sparkled with a hint of delight at my unease.
“But, sir. I haven’t shown her around yet,” Sarah interrupted eagerly.
He dismissed her with the wave of a hand and directed me to follow him. A man that had such authority without words, now that
was impressive!
I smiled as I passed Sarah, hoping that the smile would be returned, but it was met with a frown. Now, I was really scared. Not a little bit. But a fucking lot. I knew no matter what, that frown said a million words and none of them were good.
Chapter Twelve
He motioned me to follow him into his office. He hadn’t bothered to introduce himself, but it was clear as we walked down the long hallway that it was Mr. Hawk’s office we were headed to. Seeing the same portraits photos that I’d seen on the website made me curious and I slowed until we got to the last picture on the wall. The man in the photo was the man I now followed. I glanced at him and examined him more closely than I had before. He wore a dark grey suit and was quite a few inches taller than me. My gaze finally made it back up to his captivating eyes and an intriguing thought occurred to me. I wondered if I was developing a crush on him. I’d never been into the teacher/student thing, but I felt an urge to flirt with the handsome man that stood in front of me. But I would be kidding myself, apart from a few recent kisses I’d had no experience with flirting or passion. I wasn’t the kind of girl that knew how to flirt with someone my own age, let alone a lot older.
I started to get nervous about the idea of sitting in his office or maybe it was the idea of the confrontation that would await me once I was out of his office. I’d have to meet the other students, with Sarah there to…guide me. Whatever that meant when it was obvious she didn’t like me.
I had been in the academy for less than an hour and so far, I’d found the academy bully and been put in the principal’s office. My first minutes here had been memorable and preferably forgettable. It couldn’t get any worse, could it?
“Sit.” He said pointing at the chair which faced his desk.
A lone chair and I wondered if he’d prepared his office for my arrival. Normally, in a principal’s office there were two chairs. One for each parent. His only had one.
I was thinking too much, something that often got me in trouble and resulted in a migraine. One that was already pulsing around in my brain, so I didn’t hesitate to sit down in the chair that he’d pointed out to me.