The Golden Lycans [Completed 1/2]

Welcome to Exton

My dad's Tesla turns smoothly off the motorway and our surroundings soon become more and more rural as we drive past field after field. Trees and hedges become a pleasant green blur outside my window on the faster roads; they were so narrow in comparison to the roads I was used to.

Another turn reveals an expanse of rolling green hills and acres of trees under the sunny September sky. This was definitely the most green I'd seen in years and I was very excited by it.

...

Before I go any further, I should probably introduce myself.

My name is Eliana Reva, but I much prefer to be called Ella because that sounds less like a character from a Lord of the Rings book. As Ella I tend to fit in more and as a classic textbook definition of an introvert that's all I've ever really wanted when I've been at school.

For years I have attended boarding school in London where I currently reside with my parents. My parents work in the city but often have to travel all around the world in various cities for an international law firm as human rights lawyers.

When I was much younger, we used to live in a small village in the county of Hampshire by the South Coast of England, before my parents relocated us to London for their jobs. London had been an incredible place to live and I was very fond of it. I was never bored in London as there was always an abundance of things to do, but as I got older, it felt more and more like something was missing. I felt a little off balance, like...I wasn't where I was supposed to be. During the last year I had grown very tired of the hustle and bustle of the city, the noise, the endless pavements and the daily chaos of the London underground.

I wanted to be somewhere more rural.

Scratch that, I needed to be somewhere more rural; I felt like I was being called back to where I was born.

I began to feel suffocated in the city and I made the decision to return to my home county in the countryside. I just kept dreaming of green fields, lush grass, huge willow trees and all sorts of wildlife and colourful exotic flowers. It was time to say goodbye to London...during term time, at least.

My parents were more than happy for me to do my sixth form years at another boarding school since they were out of the country so often. They just wanted me to be happy.

I had looked at numerous boarding schools, but a school called Exton College kept snagging my attention. I kept coming back to it's website; featuring an assortment of various beautiful people on it's front page just like the other schools did. But the people on the front page of theirs looked so alive, so happy and I wanted to be one of those happy people.

Their marketing sure got me good.

It had an excellent reputation for science among others and that was incredibly attractive to me as my goal was to apply to study medicine and become a doctor. I valued life and I wanted to make a difference to others with mine. I worked hard and had great grades, even though this was very counterproductive in my vague attempts at a social life. I had maybe one actual friend at my old school and we hadn't even kept in touch during the summer.

All in all, I was quite happy to start fresh somewhere else. A clean slate; not that clean was anything I needed. I had led a fairly boring life at my last school.

But...

...this isn't a boring story, not by a long shot. If anything the next two weeks, the next six months even...well...there was no way I could've predicted anything that lay ahead for me as I innocently sat in the car on our way to my new school.

...

"Two minutes away sweetheart," Dad says quietly, checking the sat nav on the dashboard.

I take a deep breath in and sit up a little more in my seat, a nervous anticipation was definitely setting in as my dad turns the car through an imposing set of wrought iron gates that leads down a long road lined with lush poplar trees.

Even the driveway here looked posh. I vaguely remembered the photos of the school from their website and brochure but it looked more impressive in person. The school looked pretty well maintained, to say the least.

We pass a large navy coloured sign which reads 'Welcome to Exton College'; its ivy and wolf's head emblem shining in gold.

'Headmaster: Orion Landry' it says in a smaller font underneath. I remember the brief about the school that the headmaster had written for the school's website and I recall the photo of him. He had given me serious Dumbledore vibes, but I couldn't decide if it was the foot long white beard he had or his kind green eyes full of wisdom that leapt out from the photo. I had never before seen eyes that green. He definitely looked too old to be running a school, but I couldn't argue that he looked exactly like what I'd expect from the Headmaster of a very distinguished school.

Presently, dad pulls the car into an unmarked parking spot in a large gravelled car park.

"Well...this is it," he says, letting out a long whistle as he cranes his neck to look through the windscreen, up at the vast building in front of us.

"This looks very different to my last school, that's for sure," I comment quietly. My last school could only have been described as a grey, concrete box, the only source of life being a solitary yew tree in the main courtyard.

I get out of the car, more than keen to stretch my legs after the long journey. I hold my hand up to shield my eyes as I take in the imposing sight before me.

A grand, red and beige bricked building stood before us. It has four main turrets around the front section and the tall windows make it look very distinguished. There was a large set of thick oak doors which sit proudly in the middle of the main building, flanked by pure white marble pillars. Ivy has snaked its way up the walls all around the building and around the large arched windows in particular which added to the grand mystique of the place. Back in London my schools were in a variety of different buildings, but nothing living snaked its way up the walls...or anywhere nearby for that matter.

Dad opens the trunk of the car and pulls out my suitcases while I fumble around in my satchel for the bundle of paperwork I had been sent a few weeks ago.

An SUV and another Tesla arrive in the car park to drop other students off just as we ascend the steps and enter the school through the large oak doors, finding ourselves in a grand atrium.

I gasp.

It is huge and the decor is rather decadent. It reminds me of the typical entrances they have in the posh hotels back in London.

I immediately can't help but notice the grand staircase at the back. A beautiful and thick, rich, navy coloured carpet snakes all the way up the stairs to the first floor. The flooring of the atrium is a highly polished light hard wood that leads to baroque style walls. The biggest feature was a huge, gilded painting of a bizarrely pure golden wolf which adorned the wall at the back of the staircase. The painting was at least ten by twelve feet wide. The wolf had familiar piercing green eyes and was stood proudly on a hill top overlooking a forest and a vast meadow. It was beautiful, and I wondered where wolves fit into the history of the school considering they were also part of the school's logo. Above the bottom of the staircase was a beautiful and rather sizable chandelier with hundreds of glittering lights. The ceiling itself was ornate too.

I immediately feel rather overwhelmed by the beauty and grandeur of this place and I inhale sharply as I take it all in.

This looked nothing like how I imagined a school to look, it was very impressive...but I wasn't. Was I going to fit in here?

My reverie was broken by a woman calling out from the side of the atrium.

"Hello there! Good afternoon! You must be new to the college?" a woman calls to us from behind a large reception desk to our left. I turned to face the woman, who has dark hair framing her plump and homely face. I stepped forward apprehensively toward the desk.

"Hi. Yes...I...I'm new," I smile nervously. She smiles back at me warmly which relaxes me a little. She gestures for me to come over.

"Well, head on over here honey and lets go through the paperwork. Then we will get your room key and welcome pack sorted," she says, putting her glasses on from around her neck.

"I'll do it," Dad offers happily, taking the paperwork from me and heading over to the receptionist himself while I walk further into the atrium. To the right of the stair case was a large set of comfortable looking navy blue sofas arranged around a circular oak coffee table.

Along the wall behind the sofa arrangement is a wide notice board split into 'secondary' and 'sixth form' sections, along with a few vending machines located a little further away near one of several corridors off the atrium.

This was definitely not a small school.

Exton College was a sixth form, therefore students could attend the secondary school as normal from the age of eleven up until they reached sixteen. They could then continue their college level studies up until the age of eighteen. Or, there could be people like me, joining for the final two years of sixth form after leaving a normal secondary school.

I walk over and take a closer look at what was on the sixth form notice board. There was a basic list of events listed for the coming academic year.

Winter Formal - November 19th

...

Sixth form ski trip to Chamonix - February 18th

...

Spring Formal - April 4th

I make a mental note to sign up for the ski trip. It was one of the most exhilarating things to do and I simply loved it. I'd gone almost every winter with my parents for as long as I could remember...but we unfortunately weren't going this year as my parents were going to be in California for several months.

"Come on then Els, let's go find your new room," Dad says eagerly from behind me, having now finished exchanging forms and receiving various items from the lady on reception. I grab the handle of one of my suitcases and head to the lift to the side of reception rather than take the staircase.

After following some signs for the 'ladies residential wing' we find room 2.06; my room for the next two years.

"...and here...we...go...", mutters Dad, slotting my new keycard into the security slot by the door. We open the door and step across the threshold. I am quite surprised at how large the room is. I am also surprised to see only two beds, having been in a dormitory with five other girls for the last few years.

Two double beds flank either side of the room along the back wall, with an ensuite to the right and a sizable study area to the left. At the foot of both beds are large oak trunks and along the wall are oak wardrobes. Each wardrobe features a full length mirror in one of the doors. The decor of this room was in stark contrast to the grandeur of the atrium. Plain white walls, oak furniture and a dark grey carpet; more modern and simple compared to the grandiose appearance of the atrium.

The main source of colour in the room comes from a dark pink floral duvet topped with a fluffy cream bedspread that is already on one of the beds. I definitely had a roommate, but she wasn't here right now. I notice a few photos stuck around the mirror on the associated wardrobe, mainly featuring a rather stunning girl with long, wavy, dark brown hair and another pair of startlingly green eyes. She was surrounded by the same people in every photo and I feel a little overwhelmed again, wondering what my roommate was going to be like. She clearly had an established life here at this school. Would she even like me? The girls in my dormitory didn't care much about me and I'd lived with them for five years.

I notice the lack of any other personal effects and this tells me she probably hasn't returned just yet. Maybe she could show me around, at least?

Dad checks his watch and sighs a little.

"I'm so sorry honey, but I really can't stay too much longer, your mum and I have that flight to catch. Now....are you definitely sure that this is what you want? No travelling tutor? You could still come along with us?" he says, holding both my upper arms and looking at me quite seriously in the face.

I'm not sure. But I just need to be here.

I smile at him, for I am used to this verbal exchange as we had done it every September for the past ten years. But something about this place is giving me a great feeling of trepidation among other things that I had certainly not felt at any of my other schools. For once it just felt like I had come to the right place and this was exactly where I needed to be.

I nod sincerely.

"Honestly Dad, I am really excited. This was a good decision for me. Besides, I'll see you both at Christmas, then again at Easter, and we will all be so busy anyway that time is going to go so quickly," I reassure him. He smiles warmly in response and pulls me into a big hug before giving me a kiss on my forehead. Then, with his hands on my shoulders once more, he studies my face.

"Well...don't forget we are always just a phone call away...or maybe an email when you factor in the time difference. Only call it you really have to," he joked. I laughed and nodded.

"Have a safe journey home, dad. Also a safe flight, of course. Honestly, please don't worry about me, I am going to be just fine."

He hugs me tightly once again before exiting the room. The door clicks shut and that's it; I am on my own.

I sit on the edge of my new bed for a moment and breathe through the nerves I'd hidden from my dad. It was hard starting somewhere new, but I knew I just had to embrace it and power through it, because that was what I did.

I go over to the large window at the back of the room in between the two beds and I look out across the grounds. They are vast, green and lush, just like I had wanted. I can see several other buildings separate from this one; this campus really was quite large.

The closest I had to this back home was Regents Park. I carefully open the window and take a deep breath in, enjoying the invigorating feeling of the warm, late summer air entering my lungs. Looking out at the beaming sunshine I soon feel wide awake, my nerves disappearing as excitement starts to set in again.

It was only half past four so there was still some time before dinner. I look at the site map I'd been given which had the meal times and other items of information anyone new to the school would need to know. The school was actually huge. I wonder how long it will take me to find my way around.

I go back over to my side of the room and begin unpacking my things, wondering when my roommate was going to arrive. Mostly, I wondered exactly what she was going to be like...