II. WE ARE ROOMMATES!

The buses carrying students proceed past the school building and school gym. Lynn is so ecstatic. She just can't wait to finally be able to live on her own alone, without tight security sent by her father whenever she goes outside their home. She used to be surrounded by three intimidating men in dark eyeglasses all her life, even when she went to school. They'd follow her everywhere and kept her father updated with her every move. Imagine living a life like that!

But now she never seen any of them anymore, after Lynn and her father made an agreement. And heaven knows if her daughter will keep her promise to him.

The school bus she's in drops them in the ladies dormitory. Lynn heard the boys' dorm was not far away. She carries her bags with her as she descends the bus, along with other female students. She can't believe she made it there all by herself!

She marvels at the sight of the whole school ground. Not as grand as her previous schools but this one feels special to her - freedom. She only notices one weird structure, surrounding the whole area is the thick and high brick wall with electrical wires. Like they were in a prison ground.

They are welcomed by a middle-aged woman, Miss Nora, the head caretaker of the dorm and she summons the transferees in the common room. She gives directions where to find their designated room and also the special rooms. Lynn flinches when the dorm rules are enumerated and that there is a curfew but she is confident she will abide.

After the short meeting, Lynn starts finding her room.

••••

Alexa opens the room and stare at it for a few seconds before entering. Just a common two bedroom room with fancy silk curtains, she thought. She chooses the bed on the left side and begins unpacking her bags.

Just then, a loud-mouthed girl appears by the door and screams. "NOOO!!!"

A girl in a ponytail and gold bracelets enters the room slowly, mouth wide open. "Oh no, this small room is going to be my room for two years stay? Gosh, and I'm also going to share it?" Her eyes wander across the room, studying everything in disbelief.

'What a brat.' Alexa gets annoyed. "Weren't you informed when you passed your exam and got admitted here?"

The girl notices her roommate and the questions shock her. She hurriedly sits on the edge of the other bed facing Alexa and she smiles good-naturedly. "Hi! My name is Lynn! How about you?"

"Alexa." Alexa continues unpacking her bags and never want to meet eyes with her. She can't believe she is going to have a roommate like this.

"Oh, good! Nice to meet you, Alexa!" The other girl didn't respond. Of course, Lynn would not mention to anybody that her enrollment was all arranged and paid by her father for her to enter the school. Her father knows - and she too, knows that she would definitely fail the exam.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I'm just, well... A little too...excited?" She laughs. "You know this is my first time to study in a boarding school. And I'm slightly disappointed."

Alexa gives her a sharp look. 'Who is this girl?' Alexa didn't like the words that came out from this girl's mouth. Clearly, she is a transferee, too.

"You know, Miss Lynn, for your information, we only have" she checks her watch, "twenty minutes to unpack our bags and arrange our clothes in the cabinet. And also to get dressed in our school uniform, fifteen minutes to finish our breakfast in the dining area and by 10 o'clock sharp we shall be inside the school gym for another meeting or orientation. Remember?"

"Oh yeah, that's right! Thanks for reminding me!" Lynn answers and immediately get to her things.

'Brat.' Alexa rolls her eyes and sighs deeply.

••••

Meanwhile, Katie is about to open the door of her room, when she hears a familiar voice behind.

"Katie Johnson? Is that you?"

Katie turn around and find a pretty girl staring blankly at her.

"Hey! You're Risa, right? I never thought I would see you here!" Katie exclaims.

"Yeah, I'm about to say that, too. What happened?"

She always wear the same blank expression, Katie tell herself. "Actually, we.. oh, I think we're running out of time! Risa, let's talk sometime again. I mean, where's your room anyway?"

"Here. I guess we're roommates." Finally, Risa smiles.

Katie's face lights up. "That's great!"

The two girls goes inside and begin unpacking their bags upon choosing their beds.

"My family moved to another house, really far from our previous school." Katie tells Risa. "Because of my father's job so that's why. And my twin siblings are going to be in their junior high school years. There was this school located a few walks away from our new house, so…." She forces a smile.

"I see…" Risa says.

"What about you, Risa?"

Risa find it odd that Katie was talking to her unlike other people who knew about her whereabouts in their previous school. She seems as kind and sweet as the students described her then. Risa finds it hard to answer the blonde girl's question.

"Katie you knew that I got involved with something, right?"

Katie look away from her, slightly feeling awkward. She just remembered the news and the gossips from their previous school.

"A-actually…yeah." But before Risa says something, Katie just continues. "But honestly I don't think you're a bad person, Risa. No. If you really did something I know it's for a good reason. A-am I right? Everyone makes mistakes, yeah. Nobody's perfect." Katie hopes she is that convincing. She doesn't want Risa to feel uncomfortable with her now that she is delighted to find a possible friend to help her get through these changes.

"Good!" Risa says. "Let's continue this conversation later but right now, let's be friends. Okay?" She offers her hand to Katie.

Katie's face brightens once again. This is a good start. She grips Risa's hand back and the two girls smile at each other for the newfound connection.

Katie is waiting for Risa to answer her question, the reason why she transferred. But even though she won't mention, Katie had a slight idea why. Actually Risa didn't have to. If that was Katie in her case, she would do the same.