WHAT SPECIES ARE YOU?

Ceeret came to and found herself lying in a large puddle of water. Her pants were soaked. There was mud on her previously pristine white shirt. One thing was sure, her mother was going to freak once she saw the stains. Her head was pounding and she groaned as she sat up. Looking around her, she noticed that only a few cars littered the school compound. That was definitely not a good sign. She was supposed to be home by half-past five. Judging from the sun, it was almost six or past six. Her mother was definitely going to kill her.

As she stood she tried to recollect her memory. How on earth had she ended up ruining a pristine white shirt? That had never happened before. Her mother was a demon when it came to cleanliness. Then like a crashing wave, it all came back to her. The promised chocolate with her friend. The journey to her locker. One of Lexine's stalkers. The sickeningly sweet smell. Then it was all blank. Approximately three hours had passed since then.

She was missing some hours of her life. She wiped a smudge of mud from her face using her car window as a mirror. She was already late anyway. What could a few more minutes hurt? She did not even dare look at her phone knowing her mother was looking for her. She got into her car and began her drive to the one place she hoped she would get answers.

She reached the apartments Lexine lived in with her mother. She hoped with everything in her Lexine had gotten tired of waiting for her and had left the school for home. She knew she was wrong, but either way, she could not help but wish.

***

"Christana, what is the meaning of this?" Artin asked and the redheaded female turned her head to him. This removed the attention from Lexine for which she was grateful. She looked between the two of them. He looked livid while she looked furious. A staring match ensued between the two of them. Lexine moved back a step, afraid to be caught in the crossfire.

The girl called Christana broke off from the girls who were holding her then gave Artin a big smile. He did not look amused. Lexine could very well see that her smile was forced. "This," Christana paused to look at the brunette and hissed at him before continuing, "was just a little spat. Nothing to be worried about Artin." She gave him a smile, this time not forced.

The brunette male took a step forward. It seemed that the ones holding him back had slackened. Christana moved back, opposite from where he was standing, making him growl and flash his canines at the redhead female. She hissed again her eyes glowing orange once again, "Do not even think of coming close to me mutt." she said before glancing at the door that was on the other side of the room, "I am going to call the others to meet our new housemate, Artin." she asked.

"That is quite unnecessary Christa, they will meet her during dinner. As of the moment, I would like to give our new housemate a tour of the house." Lexine was in no mood to speak so she studied the people in the room with her.

"Of course, understood. However, you and Taevlin have been summoned. A student just left a few minutes before you came in." Artin ran a hand through his red hair looking bewildered. He looked to Taevlin who had an eyebrow raised. They were just from the principal's office, what more could he want from them?

"Alright alright. We will be back in a few minutes. Can I entrust our housemate in your," he paused for a moment and cringed as if what he was about to say was going to hurt him, "capable hands." Christa smiled toothily. "On second thought," he turned to the two females who were holding Christa back. The two looked scarily alike but were gorgeous. Both had striking dark blue hair and similar features. One had shorter hair than the other. They were both slightly taller than Lexine. "Make sure she does not burn anything Adley." The one with shorter hair and red eyes nodded. The other girl had pale gray eyes and a mischievous smile graced her lips. They both looked ethereal. That moment was broken when Christana and the gray-eyed female smiled at each other evilly. They reminded Lexine of smurfs.

'Should I be scared?' Lexine thought to herself.

Artin then turned to the Brunette male, "Cardial, will you explain why Christa felt compelled to fry you?"

The male, whom Lexine learned was called Cardial, just growled and broke off from Sevin and the black-haired girl. He was a few inches taller than Sevin and was in a similar style of clothing as most students but his clothes were a striking golden brown color. He walked out the front door and slammed it behind him. The female sat on one of the seats and placed her head on the palm of her hand watching the scene with little interest. She was very beautiful. Her black hair hung in waves down her back, and her eyes were a striking violet.

She dressed in what Lexine had come to realize was the school uniform but in a pale blue color. The sleeves were short and the sash had been left open leaving the lapels wide. This showed a pale brown undershirt. There was an earring dangling on her left ear. It was brown and glinted in the afternoon light. Lexine could not help but stare at the object.

Artin looked back at Lexine, "If you need anything ask Adley, under no circumstance are you to trust anything Christa or Aurinda says." Lexine nodded. With that, he left the house with Taevlin in tow.

"Okay. I am Adley Shela Zavilina. I am so happy to meet you. Welcome to Eirene Academy." the short-haired smurf smiled at Lexine and did a short bow at the waist. Lexine chuckled nervously, this had just spiraled down to awkward. Adley cleared her throat and straightened herself up. "If the two of you are going to be part of this tour then introduce yourselves." She smiled and glanced pointedly at the two other females.

"Right." The long-haired smurf smiled at Lexine making her wonder what was wrong with these people and smiling every five seconds, "I am called Aurinda Kirk Zavilina."

"And I am Christana Vaslam Verancy." the red-head cut in. "What are we waiting for? Let us show her her room first."

"Let her introduce herself first, Lady Verancy, have you no manners?"

With this, the three females turned to look at Lexine. She could not help but chuckle nervously. If there was one thing she detested, it was attention.

"Okay," she cleared her throat, "My name is Lexine."

"Just Lexine?" Aurinda cocked her head to the left making her long blue hair swivel to the side.

"Lexine Woods." She said answered the question. She had a lot of questions to ask but at the moment she wanted to be alone. Her thoughts needed to be cleared as she separated what she believed to be the reality and what she was being told was reality.

The three girls looked at her expectantly as if waiting for her to add anything else. "Are we going to go?" Lexine broke the silence.

Adley was the first to snap out of it leading them through a door that was on the opposite side of the room.

"Our house is structured quite simply," Adley began, "There are five floors excluding the ground floor. The first floor is a study slash library and the remaining four are the rooms. The boys' rooms are the second and third. The remaining are girls' rooms."

"The ground floor is a kitchen, dining area, and lounge," Aurinda added, her long blue hair bobbing up and down as she jumped up step after step. She reminded Lexine of a kid high on sugar.

"Yes, thank you." They reached the landing to the fourth floor and Christa who was in front of them stopped.

"The thing you must know here, Woods, is that only females can pass this landing. That is how all houses are structured." Christa said.

Lexine wondered why that was so. Was this why the principal was comfortable leaving her in the same housing complex as the male species? Still, wouldn't it be easier for them to build different houses for different genders. Still, she did not voice out her questions at the moment.

She was also curious as to how they prevented a person from the male gender to enter. Was there like a dog guarding the place that hated anyone from the male species?

Lexine laughed at the absurdity of her own statement.

Then again, she just walked through a hole that was drawn on her best friend's car. Anything was possible.

Christana opened the door and led them inside. A hallway greeted them on the other side. There was another set of stairs going up another floor to their right. However, Lexine was led to the left where there were three doors facing each other. One was directly facing them and the remaining two were facing each other. She was led through the one on the right.

After they walked in, Lexine was left speechless. The room was big. A king-sized bed sat at one end of the room with light blue drapes and dark blue bedding. Next to it, on the right was the wardrobe that had been sent to her home. At the foot of the bed was the trunk. On the opposite side of the room was a set-aside reading area and a place to sit next to an open window.

"Who am I sharing the room with?" Lexine asked still taking in the room.

"We do not do this sharing of rooms. This is yours. Everything you need is in this room." Adley scoffed at the first part.

"Walking Wardrobe." Christana pointed at the large object. Due to the name, Lexine saw in her mind the wardrobe walking using its stubbed feet. Was that how it worked? She shook her head at the preposterous thought.

"Music trunk." Aurinda placed her palm on the trunk that was at the foot of the bed.

"And most importantly you have privacy."

Aurinda and Christana settled themselves on Lexine's bed. Her eye twitched, they were supposed to be leaving her, not making themselves comfortable.

"I am curious though, what species are you." Adley walked around Lexine and sniffed her. Lexine stepped away from the girl.

"She does not smell like a Drakkon," Christana said as she sniffed the air herself. She stood and brought her face close to Lexine's and sniffed again "Nor does she smell like a mutt or a sylph. In fact, she smells a bit like Maynar and Viramna."

"But then again, she does not." Aurinda also joined them, invading her personal space. Lexine was getting very ticked off by these females. Her left eye twitched. To calm herself she ran a finger along her necklace.

"What's that?"