The Orientation

Thank you, Miss Lily," Charlene said awkwardly after receiving her room keys.

"I understand that you didn't come here willingly. If it were up to you, you wouldn't be here. Your mother encouraged you to come so that you could meet people like yourself and interact," Miss Lily said, staring at Charlene intently. Charlene simply nodded.

"One more thing, Charlene. Try to socialize, it helps. You may leave now," she said, dismissing her.

****

Charlene exhaled with a "hmp" as soon as she left Miss Lily's office.

"What's your room number?"

Hazel asked anxiously, startling Charlene.

"You waited?" Charlene asked, surprised.

"Of course, dear. What's your room number?"

Hazel asked again.

"185," Charlene replied, looking at her keys.

"Yay, we're roomies!" Hazel squealed, engulfing Charlene in a sudden hug.

"Get off me. Freak!"

Charlene half-yelled.

"C'mon, I'm just too excited. I'll show you to our room,"

Hazel giggled, dragging Charlene along with her.

****

"You've been unusually quiet. What's wrong?"

Louis, Blake's friend and roommate, asked after observing him for a while.

"Must something be wrong for me to choose to stay this way?"

Blake replied coldly.

"Urggg, can you be less grumpy? At least to me, your friend,"

Louis pouted at Blake, who simply ignored him.

"I should stop being friends with you,"

Louis said again, trying to get Blake to say something.

"As if,"

Blake scoffed.

*****

"We welcome all of you, especially the newcomers, to Dreame College's Annual Orientation,"

Miss Lily, the school mistress, said with a warm smile, earning loud claps and cheers from the audience.

"To the newcomers, you are special, never forget that. A brief history of Dreame College. I'm sure you were surprised to find yourself here instead of Almerita, am I right?" she asked, and the hall became noisy.

"Silence. A long time ago, our founding fathers, who found favor in the eyes of Mother Nature, couldn't live with humans because they faced discrimination.

Our queen, Empress Zoe, stumbled upon a portal that only the Amazons could access. They came to live in it, and it was named Almerita.

Many years later, before the secession and clash with the Nickels, young Amazons struggled to control their powers. Dreame College was built to address this issue. That is how Dreame College came about," Miss Lily said, purposefully leaving out parts of the story. The claps in the hall increased.

*****

"Hottie,"

Louis grinned.

"Please don't say that in public, it's weird,"

Blake mumbled with a hard-to-read expression.

"Grumpy, let's get going. You know how much Miss Lily hates tardiness,"

Louis said, dragging Blake along.

"Let me go,"

Blake mumbled, holding Louis' hand instead, and together, they supersped.

****

"It's the moment you all have been waiting for. It's time to introduce the masters,"

Miss Lily said with a wide smile, and loud cheers and applause filled the hall as the masters walked to the podium dressed in long regalias.

Just when the cheers were about to die down, there was a sudden uproar and screams due to Blake and Louis' presence.

"Why the screams all of a sudden?"

Charlene whispered to Hazel.

"The Amazon cutest are here," she whispered back.

"Cutest?"

Charlene asked quizzically.

"Blake Killerney, the cutest Amazon alive, and Louis, his only friend and roommate," Hazel explained.

"Oh. So where are they?"

Charlene asked, looking around.

"Be patient, you'll meet them eventually,"

Hazel smirked.

By now, the screams had died down, and the auditorium was very quiet. It was time for the introduction of the college masters.

"I'm Master Kang, the headmaster of Dreame College," the oldest master said.

"I'm Master Arnold," the second master said, his face showing no emotion.

"I'm Master Ryan," the youngest master said with a light smile.

"Every great college and institution is governed by rules and regulations, and so is Dreame College.

The good thing is that we have just one rule, which is the L³ rule: 'let love lead,' and we've kept this from the beginning,"

Master Kang said, addressing the newcomers.

"Welcome to Dreame College, newcomers. Lectures will commence on Monday," Master Arnold said.

"Have fun, guys,"

Master Ryan winked.

And together, they stepped out of the auditorium, heading to their chamber.

"Finally, it's party time," Diamond grinned.

"Hey, you've been quiet since you got here," Diamond said, trying to start a conversation with Melanie, who simply ignored her.

"Don't you speak?"

she asked again, and when Melanie didn't say anything, Diamond scoffed.

"Weirdo,"

Diamond scoffed, walking away.

****

"Please accept my gift. I figured you'd love chocolates, so I got you the best there is," Layla said, handing Blake a box of chocolates.

Blake briefly stared at her before diverting his gaze to the box in her hand.

"You love it, right? I know you wouldn't say no," she smiled sheepishly, linking her arm with his. Almost everybody's attention was now on them.

"Stop being too obvious. It's annoying, and just so you know, I hate chocolates," he scoffed, yanking his arm away.

"Awnnn, poor girl," Charlene muttered pitifully, though she couldn't see Blake.

"Serves her right," Hazel chuckled.

"That's not fair, Hazel, and you know it," Charlene pouted.

"Like I care. Layla is pompous and annoying simply because she possesses very rare powers," Hazel spat.

"Is that jealousy I smell?" Charlene asked, slightly raising her eyebrows.

"I'm not jealous. Very soon, you'll find out. Look around, is anyone else feeling bad? No, that's because she isn't worth it," Hazel replied with an eye roll.

"Whatever, but I still think it isn't right. I mean, who treats a lady with such disrespect?" Charlene pouted.

"Forget about them. Let's party," Hazel said, shouting the last part dramatically.

"Party freak," Charlene muttered, looking around. Suddenly, she found a pair of ocean blue eyes staring intently at her.

"It can't be, those blue eyes,"

she mumbled and ran out.

To Be Continued...#