A Chance for More

Chapter 3

Allison

I watched with a bit of sadness the limo that I had come in, driving off with Roger at the wheel. It was at that moment I knew that I was on my own.

I was going to be living in one of the private housing estates. The college had two of them, but they were only a short walking distance from each other. The one I lived in was called Artois. It had about 8 houses in it, all evenly spaced from each other but they all had very different designs.

Mine seemed to be the newest one. It was located at the edge of the estate. From it, I could even see the large stone fence that surrounded the entire estate. My house, like most of the others there, had a beautiful lawn in front that was kept that way by a hired gardener. I had met him on my way in and he had offered to help move my luggage.

The house I was going to be staying in was a gray bungalow, but it wasn't small by any standards. The apartment had two rooms; I didn't know if I would be having a roommate or not but I was open to the concept. The living room was beautiful. It had two large purple sofas and a glass coffee table separating them. There was no TV in the room, but that didn't matter, I was more of a reader anyway. On the walls of the living were beautiful paintings of what I think looked like different areas of the Pyrenees.

The living room also had a few empty shelves that I assumed I would have to fill up with my things. I walked through a door and stepped into an amazing kitchen. It was state of the art, and I immediately made a promise not to let it go to waste. The kitchen had a marble counter at one end. There were also some gas burners and an oven. I didn't look around much before I saw a glass sliding door that led outside. I walked up to it and saw the back lawn.

It was bigger than the front, with enough space that I knew I would be able to have my own garden if I wanted it. There were two large lawn chairs too.

“What sort of school is this?” I asked myself, as I laughed. I walked back into the house and through a corridor. At the end of the corridor, there were two doors, standing opposite each other. I entered the one on the left and saw a carefully decorated bedroom. It was cream-colored like the rest of the house. It had a large queen-sized bed right in the center of it, completely covered with white sheets and a lavender duvet. The head of the bed rested against the wall. Just by the bed was a small drawer, with a large antique lamp on it. A little to the right of that was a large window that had light blue curtains covering it. There was a fully stocked bookshelf at the far end of the room.

On the left side was a giant walk-in closet, so I decided to check that out later. The first thing I did though was pull out my laptop from my bag, then I placed it on the reading table next to the closet.

I walked back to the window and pulled back the curtains a bit, letting some air into the room from the open window. The sun was still out, it wasn't even evening yet.

“A walk wouldn't be so bad. I could just take a look around before I settle in.”

Moments later I was back outside, walking out of the Artois estate. The first thing I decided to do was see what the other estate was like. I walked along the road that moved outside the estate, taking in the view. It was clear to me that Lorient took attention to detail very seriously. The road was lined with trees, providing a healthy shade from the sun and making the road below cool to walk in.

“I could really get used to this,” I assured myself, as a smile crept onto my face. I stood for a moment, letting the gentle breeze run through my hair. Lorient felt like Paradise.

I didn't walk that far before I got to the other estate. The sign read The Dubois Estate. That seemed to be a trend, having names on buildings. I had also seen the name, Dubois, on a few buildings on my way into the college. It seemed like it was a big deal.

“Don't forget that we have to meet tomorrow, I will not tolerate tardiness of any sort.”

The voice sounded so surprisingly familiar, I hadn't expected anyone I knew to be at Lorient. I turned in its direction and saw someone I had never thought I'd see again.

“Maille?”

When she heard me call her name, she turned to face me. A look of surprise passed across her face and I could instantly tell that she recognized me. The look was soon replaced with a normal one. She turned to the girls that she had been addressing and waved them off. Then she turned and stood as I walked up to her.

She had changed so much. Of course, she had, we hadn't seen each other in such a long time. She looked incredibly beautiful. Her dark hair was a lot longer than mine and flowed down to her back. She stood with perfect posture, holding her head up, slightly. She was miles from the shy girl that I had shown around my middle school when we were kids. I was incredibly happy to see her.

“Allison, how are you even here?” She asked. Her speech hadn't changed. She still spoke with a vaguely French accent. I moved closer for a hug but her arms were folded. She wasn't giving off the reaction I had expected.

“I just got into Lorient,” I announced. “Oh my God, it's so nice to see you, I wasn't expecting to see anyone I knew. I guess I should've expected it though. I remember how you told me about this school, and it was all I wanted ever since.”

“Darling,” she said, in such a degrading tone, it made me feel smaller than I was. “We were kids then. I was naive and in need of friends.”

“And I was your friend, remember?” Maille rolled her eyes in response. “I invited you for sleepovers all the time. We would stay up late talking about school and how we wanted to be the best.”

“There it is again.”

“Where is what?” I asked, very confused.

“You want me to know you're the best. Just like you were in middle school. You want me to know you were better than me. Well not anymore. Not in Lorient.”

“It was never like that,” I countered. “Is this because I got slightly better grades? We were always neck and neck.”

“I am not neck and neck with anyone!” Her voice rose as she spoke. She seemed to notice this, though. She cleared her throat and spoke again. “I am not neck and neck with anyone, especially not you.”

“I just want to be friends again Maille. You just left without saying goodbye. I thought I would never see you again.”

“Listen, darling,” she sighed. “It's nice to see you again, but we were friends a long time ago, we were in middle school then. Right now, I'm long past that, why don't you make some new friends? I'm sad to say that I've outgrown you.”

With that, she turned and left me standing there, speechless. She walked a few more steps and turned back to address me one more time.

“You should check out my blog, I'll make sure to explain how things work around here. Welcome to Lorient, Allison. Just try to know your place.”