Emily could hear two loud voices coming from the lobby. She exited the steps and walked into the lobby. There was Rachiel and that girl from not only a moment ago.

  “When were you gonna tell me Ray?!”

  “It was a st-minute decision. My father set it up.” Rachiel said with a sigh.

  “But why?!” the girl said, with an odd look crossing her face.

  Emily wasn’t sure exactly what it meant, maybe hurt?

  “I’m not sure why.” Rachiel said with a soft smile.

  “But don’t worry, it will be fine, Elle.” she added as she reached up and brushed a stray hair from the frowning girl’s face.

  Emily felt a bit out of pce. It felt as if she was about to interrupt a very intimate scene. But, it would be even more awkward to just stand there staring. She moved further into the lobby and cleared her voice, as to alert the two she was there.

  Rachiel removed her hand from the girl named Elle’s face. She turned around, a slight blush dusting her cheeks.

  “Ah, Emily! Perfect timing!” the girl said with a wide smile.

  ‘Seems like the worst timing….’ Emily thought before giving a small smile back.

  “Let me introduce you to my best friend, Michelle Robinstone.” Rachiel said, taking a step to the side.

  “Uh hi.” Emily said, stepping a bit closer. “Nice you meet you Michelle, I’m Emily Queen-Cox.” Emily said a bit of a pause to the st bit of her st name.

  Michelle just stared daggers at the poor girl.

  Rachiel shuffled to stand next to her best friend. She gave her a elbow and nudge with her head.

  Michelle let out a sigh and roll of her brown eyes.

  “Whatever.” she huffed before going back upstairs.

  The two girls watched as she left.

  “I’m sorry about Elle.” Rachiel said with a sad smile, “she’s not good with new people.”

  “I can tell…” Emily mumbled, earning a soft giggle.

  “It might take a while for her to warm up to you, but I promise that she is nice.” Rachiel said with a fond smile.

  Emily pursed her lips. She felt the reaction by Michelle was a bit on the dramatic side, but not really having a close friend, maybe it was a normal reaction? That was one of the reasons she was sent to this school. Both her mother and step father had gone to this school. They were really childhood sweet hearts to rekindled their fmes after both lost their significate other. Emily could understand that her mother deserved to be happy, especially after her father died. But Emily felt she was bein sacrificed for her mother’s happiness.

  Either way, this was her new life and she would have to hope for the best.

  “Anyway!” Rachiel said, cpping her hands together. “Let’s go! I got a lot of things to show you!”

  Rachiel’s face beamed as she took Emily’s hand. Emily couldn’t help but blush at the warm hand holding her own.

  Before she could speak, she found her self being pulled out of the dorm.

  ~Scene Change~

  The two girls ended up checking out some of the cssrooms. They were empty, as school technically didn’t start for another two days. Emily had arrived a bit early before the new school year began. Her mother thought it would be best to get situated before starting csses. She didn’t like the idea at first, but after seeing how massive the school was, she was grateful for being sent early.

  Rachiel thought it was a great idea to show Emily where all of her cssrooms were located. It would make it easier and less stressful on the first day of school. Emily appreciated the help, as well as the little information about each teacher. It seemed that Rachiel knew a lot about the school. It made sense as her father was the vice principle of the school.

  After showing Emily the cssrooms, which were all basically the same. There were only a few cssrooms that had computers in them. That was pretty impressive since her old school only had one css room with only a limited number of computers. They were expensive after all, as they only became mainstream a few years back.

  After exploring the cssrooms, they went to the gym. It had many functions apparently. It wasn’t just the gym but also the theater and the cafeteria. Right now, it was being used for the men’s basketball tryouts.

  The two made their way over to the bleachers.

  “Are you interested in any sports, Emily?” Rachiel asked, sitting down on the fourth row of this fifteen row bleacher.

  “Not really. Though, do you guys have any archery or karate clubs?” Emily asked, a bit of hope in her eyes.

  A fsh of interest crossed Rachiel’s eyes, which didn’t go unnoticed by Emily. Before she could comment, a shout caught their attention.

  Emily looked just in time as a basketball came right at them. Her left hand shot out and deflected the ball from hitting Rachiel in her face. Emily knocked the ball towards the door of the gym, hitting the bottom bench before rolling on the gym floor.

  “Wow!” came a couple of shouts from a few of the guys on the court.

  “That was amazing!” said one of the guys, walking over to the bench.

  He was not too tall, although he seemed to be around the same age as Emily, 13 or 14. He was 5’3” with short brown hair. He was a bit on the chubby size, but it could still be considered baby fat. He wore the standard red gym shorts and white t-shirt as the other boys. He had brown eyes and seemed to look a bit familiar. Emily couldn’t put where. Although, despite the baby fat, he was handsome. Once he grew, it was obvious he would be a handsome man.

  “Mr. Alder, we’re not done with the tryouts!” shouted an older man.

  He was at least 6’1”. He looked to be possibly in his early thirties. He was fairly handsome, in a roughed way, with his narrow blue eyes and dirty blond hair pulled back in a short pony tail. He wore the same clothing as the rest of the boys. The only thing that separated him was the whistle he wore around his neck.

  The boy named Alder stopped and turned around, scratching the back of his head.

  “Sorry Mr. Greystone!”

  He gnced back at Emily and gave her a wink.

  Emily couldn’t help the small blush that crossed her cheeks. What was with this school and it’s handsome/beautiful student body? Even the teachers seemed like models! She felt ugly compared to all the pretty people.

  “That’s Mrs. Alder’s middle son, Jason.” Rachiel said, bringing Emily out of her thoughts.

  “He has two older brothers and one younger brother. One just graduated st year. He has another brother, Michale, is just a year above us and his younger brother, Johnathan is two years younger.”

  Emily nodded, making an ‘o’ with her mouth. She wasn’t sure why she was given lore on a guy who she just ‘barely’ met, but it was helpful.

  “He’ll be in our csses too. Do you know how the css system works?” Rachiel asked.

  Emily furrowed her eyebrows. She remembered something in the flyer. However, she didn’t really care at the time, so she wasn’t paying too much attention.

  “Not really…” Emily admitted a bit shyly.

  Rachiel nodded but gave the girl a warm smile.

  “Well, each grade is separated into three. You probably noticed there aren’t a lot of students.”

  Emily had to think about that for a moment. How many people did she see? Not as many as she would think from a school this huge.

  “Now that you mention it…” Emily said scratching her head.

  “It’s because it’s a boarding school, for the most part. There are students who live at home and travel here, but it’s primarily a boarding school. There will be more people showing up for just school.”

  Emily blinked at the girl. She didn’t realize there were people close enough to be bused to this remote pce. As if reading her mind, Rachiel ughed.

  “The closest town in about 20 minutes away. But this school is one of the better ones in the area. According to my father at least.” Rachiel said with a smile.

  “Anyway, there are three csses for each grade. Each css has about thirty people to it. Depending on where you fall grades wise, you might get mixed up with other csses depending on the subject. But the first and st css is the same kids. That’s why I said we have mostly the same csses. It’ll be only two that we won’t be together. But I’m sure you’ll make some friends in those csses.” she said with a warm smile.

  “I hope so…” Emily said, before thinking more about what Rachiel said.

  “You said it goes by grades? Do you mean their scores?” Emily asked.

  Rachiel nodded.

  “Yeah. It goes by whatever score you got on the entrance exams.” Rachiel said.

  Emily remembered the sheet she got. Her mom had said it was an entrance exam. She just never mentioned to where. Emily figured it was so she wouldn’t mess up the test on purpose. The girl was now happy her mom didn’t tell her. She would have tried to fail on purpose. That would mean she would have been in csses that would have felt too easy for her.

  Emily had been an average high C, low B student in all but two csses. History and Science she would usually get high As. It helped that she loved both those subjects, so it made it easier. She figured those would be the two csses she wouldn’t be sharing with Rachiel.

  “By doing that, they can make sure people can get the proper learning experience.”

  Emily hummed and nodded. It made sense. If one person is struggling then they would need extra help anyway.

  “What’s good about the system is you don’t know where you fall grade wise.” Rachiel said.

  Emily blinked before tilting her head.

  “What do you mean?”

  “They don’t tell you which level you fall under. You could be in the higher learning css but not know. Though, most kids figure it out after the first week."

  “Why do they keep it a secret?” Emily asked, with a tilt of her head.

  “It’s to prevent bullying. Or so they say. It kind of helps, but of course, bullying still happens. Luckily, the teachers here tend to look out for the signs and nip it in the butt before it gets bad. There are still those who will do it anyway and even those who get away with it, but it’s not as often as you’d think.” Rachiel said.

  There was a bit of a commotion on the gym floor. Emily looked over. There was a shorter looking guy getting picked on two older boys. It seemed Mr. Greystone was already on it. After a moment, the two boys were sent to do ps around the gym.

  “It seems like it works.” Emily said.

  She had been bullied severely in her st school. It would be nice to not have to worry about it here.

  “Like I said, there are some that slip through the cracks, but those of us who’ve been here for most of our lives, tend to look out for each other. Including those who are new, no matter what grade they start in.” Rachiel said, putting her hand on Emily’s upper thigh.

  She gave it a gentle squeeze.

  Emily couldn’t help but feel her face flush.

  “Ahhh, that sounds real nice…” Emily said fidgeting a bit and looking away.

  She could feel those emerald green eyes staring intensely at her face. Emily felt she couldn’t look at them.

  “So-ahem- so what kind of clubs are there?” Emily asked, clearing her throat a bit.

  Emily had been interrupted earlier when she had asked, so she hoped repeating the question would distract her from the warm feeling of that hand on her thigh. She tried to avoid direct eye contact with the pretty girl and ended up looking around the gym.

  It was fairly big. The stage, which was across from where the two girl’s were sitting, was also pretty big. There were some people on the stage. It didn’t look like they were actually doing anything but pying around. She noticed someone come out of a door to the left of where the entrance of the stage was located.

  “Well, normal clubs, I guess. You said you weren’t into sports so I guess you’d be more interested in the culture clubs or tech clubs?” Rachiel asked, finally removing her hand.

  Emily felt her self rex a bit and able to face the beautiful girl.

  “I guess. Though was is a tech club?” she asked.

  “You know, anything with technology. Computer css, animation, television production, science club is considered part of it, and there is even robotics. Although a couple of those are board line culture clubs.” Rachiel said with a shrug.

  “Robotics?” Emily asked, tilting her head.

  “Yeah. It’s sorta like shop css but with mechanical instead of wood. That only started maybe six years ago, so it’s fairly new. Not too many people join but it kind of makes sense, considering the name of the school.” Rachiel said with a nod.

  “Oh yeah, what does PTA stand for?” Emily asked.

  She was sure her mom told her but she didn’t really care at the time, so she probably forgot.

  “Private Tech Academy.” Rachiel said with a smile. “It first stared with science clubs, doing experiments. Then when computers became more avaible, they decided to add that. Whenever there is a new tech, the school tries to make a club for it. Although, with how competitive they are with sports, you would think they would be more of a sports school.”

  “That’s kinda cool. I like science, but I’m not much into experiments and stuff. Computers sounds like fun or even animation.” Emily said.

  “Well, you don’t have to pick one club. A lot of the clubs try not to overp, unless they are working on a project together. Like animation club works with the Television production club or even drama club and art club.” Rachiel said.

  “That’s pretty cool.” Emily said with a glint in her eyes.

  She found herself wanting to look more into the drama and animation club. She wondered if the drama club did voice acting for the animation. That would have been cool.

  “There’s other clubs too. There’re a lot of options.” Rachiel continued. “There is dance, instrumental, choir, archery, kendo, martial arts, and sign nguage.” Rachiel said.

  “Sign nguage?” Emily asked with blinking eyes.

  “Yes, there are a few hearing impaired students that go here, so it was made as a club a couple of years ago.” Rachiel said, saying it as well as signing it.

  “I’ve been a member since it started.” she said, signing that too.

  “That’s pretty cool! I wouldn’t mind learning that.” Emily said, having found Rachiel’s hand movements looking kind of elegant.

  “Is there a limit of how many I can join? I mean, there are so many that I’m interested in.”

  “As many as you can handle. Most people stick with three. It kind of helps when a lot of the clubs work together. So you tend to learn a little bit of everything, if you pick the right clubs.”

  Emily nodded in agreement.

  “Which clubs are you in?” Emily asked.

  She thought it would be nice to be in a few of the same clubs as the pretty girl.

  “Sign nguage, as I said. I also do soccer when it’s in season and softball when that’s in season. I’m also in the animation club and choir. I like to keep active and creative.” Rachiel said, her emerald eyes having a spark to them.

  Emily couldn’t put what that spark meant. It felt like a secret that Emily wasn’t aloud to know about. She shook her head. That made no sense.

  “That’s pretty cool!” Emily said with a smile.

  “Actually, st year, our soccer team went the finals. We came in third, so we’re hoping we can do it again this year and win.” Rachiel said, looking up towards the ceiling.

  Emily followed her gaze. Her eyes widened. There were pendants along the side of the wall, close to the ceiling. Each one said which year of which team went to the nationals. It looked like at least one of their sports teams would make it to the nationals every years, since 1943.

  ‘Wow…. this was a tech school back then?’ Emily thought.

  “You probably noticed the trophy case located in the entrance hall.” Rachiel said, pointing towards the doors of the gym.

  Emily couldn’t help but remember. She had fallen over like a clutz out there.

  “Yeah…”

  “Next time, check it out. It has all the trophys from all the way back to when the school was founded. It’s pretty cool. Not just sports but academics and other awards. I’m not much of a history fan, but even I think it’s pretty cool.” Rachiel said.

  “I think I will. I love history.” Emily said with a smile.

  A whistle was blown.

  “Ok, that’s it for day one tryouts! I’ll post who made it for round one on the board outside by 5pm today. Make sure to check there first before coming back tomorrow. You all were pretty good this year, but we only have a certain number of pyers we can have on a team. Good luck to all of you!” Mr. Greystone said before blowing the whistle again.

  He headed to a door on the other side of the stage. It had a pte that read “Coach” on the door. He went in and closed the door behind him.

  A couple of the guys were wiping away sweat as they exited the gym. A few others stayed behind, heading towards the stage to hang out with the few people there. Another group went to sit on the bleachers with bottles of water.

  “That’s our cue to leave.” Rachiel said, standing up and smoothing down her skirt.

  “Uh ok.” Emily said, also standing up and smoothing down her skirt.

  “Hey! You’re the new girl, aren’t cha?” came a guy’s voice.

  Emily turned to see a fairly tall guy looking up at her from the bottom of the bleachers.

  He looked to be around 5’10” and older. He was probably a junior or senior. He was a bit nky and had a narrow face. His brown eyes were dark and narrow like his face. His bck hair was slicked back into a short hair style. He seemed to be one of the few average looking people in the school so far.

  ‘Guess there are ‘normies’ here.’ she thought to herself.

  “We were just leaving Eric.” Rachiel said, grabbing Emily’s hand.

  Emily felt herself being pulled towards the steps of the bleachers and towards the gym’s exit.

  “Aww don’t be like that Ray.” Eric said.

  “It’s Rachiel to you, Eric.” Rachiel said with a sigh.

  “Let’s get something to eat.” Rachiel added, turning to Emily.

  “Huh? But I thought this was the cafeteria too?” Emily asked, looking around.

  It didn’t seem ready to eat.

  “Yes, but there are vending machines with snacks and drinks.” Rachiel said with a wink.

  “Ah…that’s pretty cool.” Emily said with a small smile.

  “Yo! Don’t ignore me!” Eric growled, continuing to follow the two girls.

  “I usually go for a Snickers, but I’m feeling chippy today.” Rachiel said, letting Emily’s hand go so they could walk down the steps of the bleachers.

  “Cool off man!” said another guy, patting Eric’s back.

  He was just as tall as the Eric. He had blond hair that was buzzed. He was slightly muscur and had an oval face. His green eyes had a sparkle of amusement.

  “Let’s get out of here anyway.” the guy said, slinging his arm around Eric’s shoulders and leaning on him.

  Eric seemed to let out a sigh.

  “Finnne….and you’re heavy get off, Rob.” Eric said, but not making an attempt to move Rob.

  Rob just ughed and leaned more.

  Emily caught the interaction just as she and Rachiel were leaving the gym.

  ‘Everyone seems to be close and touchy here…’ she thought as she followed Rachiel.

  They went down a shorter hallway that had three different vending machines.

  “There’s also some in each dorm lobby.” Rachiel said, taking out fifty cents.

  Emily looked at the first vending machine. It had all sorts of candy, both chocote and gummy. There was even a couple of healthier options; like raisins.

  The second vending machine had different salty snacks and even a couple of healthier options; like salted nuts.

  The third and st vending machine had all different kinds of drinks; water, sports drinks, and even some sodas.

  Emily looked on in awe as Rachiel bought a small bag of Cheetos.

  “Here, buy something. My treat.” Rachiel said, taking Emily’s hand and putting in four quarters.

  “Huh? What? Wait! You don’t have to!” Emily said, trying to return the money.

  Rachiel turned to the drink vending machine and bought a no name brand co. She turned back to Emily, cracking open the can and taking a sip.

  “It’s fine. You can pay for the next time.” Rachiel said with a smile.

  “I’m sure you didn’t know we had vending machines, so you probably didn’t bring money with you.” Rachiel added before opening up her bag of Cheetos.

  Emily looked at the girl before looking down at the four quarters in her hand. She closed it before looking back at the girl. She gave a nod and a smile.

  “Thanks Rachiel.” Emily said.

  “Ray. My friend’s call me Ray.” Rachiel with a warm smile.

  Emily felt so much joy at that word. Friend. She never thought she would find one. Especially not on the first day of being at this school. Certainly not with her roommate!

  She nodded.

  “Thanks, Ray.” Emily said with a wide smile before looking over her options.

  Was she in the mood for a sweet or salty? She looked at both machines before she found the perfect match. Chocote covered pretzels. Oddly enough, they were in the salty option. After getting her salty-sweet treat, she looked at the drink machine. There was a lot of choices. She decided on a knock off brand co. She found it weird that they carried name brand candy and snacks but knock off soda brands. Probably couldn’t afford the price.

  Once the two got their treats, Rachiel suggested going to sit in the garden. The two left and sat by the fountain that Emily saw when she first got to the school. She couldn’t believe it had only been a couple of hours since she arrived. She gained a friend and met some interesting people. She hoped the rest of her stay here would be just as fun and friendly.

  The two talked about hobbies and got to know more about each other. Soon, it was almost dinner time.

  “I wonder what we’ll have for dinner.” Emily wondered aloud as they headed back towards the gym.

  “Hmm, it’s Saturday, so that means it’s pizza and fries.” Rachiel said.

  “Wow, really? Does each day have different food choices?” Emily asked, as the two entered the school lobby.

  “Yeah. They post the schedule on the bulletin board.” Rachiel said, pointing to where a huge group of guys were standing.

  “Wonder what that’s about…” Emily whispered.

  “Must be the results from the first day of tryouts.”

  “This is bullshit!” came a growl from the crowd of boys.

  As the two girl’s got closer they noticed which of the boys had shouted. It was Eric from earlier. He seemed a bit pissed off.

  “How could they pick that chubby little brat over me!” Eric growled.

  “That’s kind of rude.” said Rob, “At least you’re not alone. I didn’t make it either.”

  “That’s even more bullshit….” Eric grumbled, looking even more upset.

  Rob chuckled at his best friend and wrapped an arm around him.

  “Come on. Let’s eat our cares away! At least this means we don’t have to go on diets, like we did st season. Besides, we can always get on the team next year!” Rob said pulling his friend into the gym.

  “Yeah, I guess yer right.” Eric sighed before letting his friend pull him into the gym.

  “They seem pretty close….” Emily mumbled.

  “They were both abandoned here when they were kids.” Rachiel said, a sad look.

  Emily’s eyes widened before looking at Rachiel.

  “They were both dropped off on the same day, according to my father. Ever since then, they’ve looked out for each other. They really don’t let anyone get close. Rob is nice, but Eric tends to be a dick. Seems to use his situation as a crutch, sometimes. Thinks everyone owes him the world. He tends to forget there are plenty of other kids, just like him. At least Rob is able to keep him less annoying.” Rachiel said with a small smile.

  Emily felt like cold water was dumped on her. She was having so much fun. She forgot that there were others worse off than her. Sure, she had been feeling bad for herself earlier but she was finding it wasn’t too bad. Not that she wouldn’t mind visiting her mother for at least a holiday or something. She was sure the hurt would crawl back to her ter that night. But it was situations like Rob and Eric that made her feel lucky to at least grow up, mostly, with her parents.

  “Don’t feel too bad for him. He tends to flirt with anyone in a skirt.” Rachiel said with a ugh, “So be careful.”

  Emily nodded before following Ray into the gym turned cafeteria.

  It was like a mad house. You could see the full scope of the school. It was certainly a pre-k to 12 grade school. There were long tables set up through out the gym. They were sectioned off by grades it seemed.

  Pre-k to fourth was together. Fifth through eight was together. Nineth and tenth were together. Finally, eleventh and twelfth sat together.

  Emily watched as the tables began to fill up. Not all the table’s were filled but it was still a decent amount.

  “It will get more crowded starting Monday.” Rachiel said.

  “Right. You did say there were kids that still live at home.” Emily said with a nod.

  “Yup. Let’s get our food and find a pce to sit.” Rachiel said, walking over to a long line of tables.

  The tables had boxes of pizza from what looked to be a local pizza joint. There was also some fries and wings. It was a nice spread and looked like there was enough for people to get two slices of pizza. Once the two got their food, they went to find a pce to sit, in the fifth through eight graders sat.

  As soon as they sat down, Michelle slide into the seat next to Rachiel.

  “Hey Elle.” Rachiel said with a warm smile.

  The smile seemed to be much brighter than when she looked at Emily. This made something feel tight in her gut. She wasn’t sure why she felt the tightness but she was going to try to ignore it.

  Michelle grunted before eating her pizza and wings.

  Rachiel frowned. It was obvious that her best friend was going to give her the silent treatment.

  “Come on Elle. Don’t be like that…” Rachiel said, moving her seat a bit closer to the bigger girl.

  Michelle didn’t move away but continued to eat. Rachiel frowned before letting out a sigh. She went to eating her own food.

  The three sat in silence for a moment. Emily, who couldn’t take it anymore, decided to speak up.

  “So, how long have you two known each other?”

  The two girls looked at Emily. Emily shrunk back at the intense look from both girls. Each having a different meaning, which Emily couldn’t pce. She wasn’t good with reading people’s emotions, which tended to get her in trouble or bullied.

  “Since Kindergarten.” Rachiel said with a smile.

  She popped a fry into her mouth.

  “Long enough to know each other very well.” Michelle said with a huff before taking a bite of her pizza.

  "Or so I thought..." she mumbled taking another bite of her pizza.

  Emily heard it and felt even more awkward.

  The trio went back to silence. Emily finished her dinner first and got up. This caught both girl’s attention.

  “I’m going to go back to the room.” she said, giving Rachiel a smile.

  Rachiel looked ready to protest.

  “Ok, ter.” Michelle said, waving a dismissive hand.

  Rachiel gred over at her best friend before turning back to watch Emily walk away.

  ~Scene Change~

  Emily made sure to take out some money from an ATM in the lobby. It was pretty convinent. Each student was given a debit card with their student ID. It was so parents could deposit money for their kids. The school supplied the cards and had their own bank.

  Emily wondered how those kids who were abandoned got their money. She figured she’d find out in time. She wouldn’t ask, as she felt that would be a bit rude.

  Either way, she took out enough to buy some snacks to bring up to the room. She even bought a few Snickers and Cheetos for Rachiel. She remembered the girl had mentioned the candy bar and had bought the chips earlier. Emily even bought a couple of waters and sodas.

  Once in the room, she put the goodies on the shared desk by the window. She let out a sigh before going on her bed. She ended up looking up at the ceiling.

  It really wasn’t bad. Didn’t mean she still wasn’t sad or lost the sense of betrayal. But, meeting Rachiel and learning more about the school, made the transition a bit easier.

  Emily yawned, feeling a bit tired. She did have a long day. She decided to change into her pjs. They were a soft light blue top and bottoms. She crawled into her bed and pulled her bnket over her. She grabbed Joe, her stuffed wolf, and cuddled him to her chest.

  “Night…” she whispered before feeling her eyes get heavy.

  It wasn’t long until Emily fell asleep.

  Her first day to her new life had begun. She wasn’t sure what would happen, but she hoped it would be fun.