Silver-line university
1782 Words
Shantel stood before the mirror and pursed her lips, twirling around at her mom’s order.
“Hmm… I think the size is just fine,” Maria concluded and set down the notepad in her hand.
Last night was slowly turning out to be amazing until Maria mentioned the university Shantel will be transferring to.
Shantel declined bluntly, asking for the university she was attending before they moved. As expected by her, her request was turned down without a better option.
“Accept Silver-line or leave my house!” Those were Maria’s hurtful words that shattered Shantel last night.
She had run off to her room and refused to speak to anyone until Maria dragged her out of bed, screaming into her ears that it was time for school.
Shantel couldn’t bring herself to accept the new change. She was going to run away, she must run away.
“The uniform is perfect for you, don’t you think, honey?” Maria asked in a persuasive voice, trying to make up for the hurtful words she said to Shantel out of anger.
“I wonder if I have ever seen a university where the students are forced to wear uniforms!” Shantel spat out an entirely different reply.
Maria frowned at her insolence and parted her lips to rebuke her but stopped herself, avoiding the mistake she made the previous night.
“Well… it’s the school’s system, you won’t blame them, will you?” Maria muttered in a calm voice as she tied Shantel’s hair into a ponytail.
“Of course, they are not to be blamed. The only one who deserves the blame is you for putting me in a school like that!” Shantel snapped a curt remark.
Maria’s eyes dimmed as her heart twitched at the hatred she was receiving from her once-innocent baby girl.
“Now you watch your mouth, young lady! Perhaps when you get there, you will be able to make a few friends and ask them the reason for such a rule! Get your things quick, I’m late for work!” Maria’s growl made Shantel wince in annoyance.
She released a sarcastic laugh and marched to her pink wardrobe, she flung it open and took out her backpack.
Maria’s brows snapped up in surprise as she watched Shantel sling the little fluffy backpack across her shoulder.
“You won’t be carrying that, will you?”
Shantel stopped searching for her pen and looked in her mom’s direction.
“Is there a rule that said that I can’t?” she bluffed out an awful reply and switched her attention back to the search.
“Your pen is beside your lampshade; you should learn to keep your things in order,” Maria muttered and turned around, heading for the door.
“Meet me downstairs when you’re done!”
Her mom’s shout from the corridor made her drop to the ground, slumping her shoulder in defeat.
She turned up her lips and mumbled a few gruesome words before grabbing her coat from the coat rack.
As she raced down the stairs, a white fluffy cat wheezed past, meowing loudly.
Shantel shrieked and jumped, tripping on her feet in the process. She tumbled down to the bottom of the stairs and stared at the cat, which disappeared through a little hole in the wall of the corridor.
Her jaws fell open as she wondered what in the world a cat was doing in their house.
“How did it get in?” she muttered absurdly. When she remembered the hole in the wall, she blushed at the stupid question she asked.
“Are you okay, honey?” Maria’s voice jolted her back to reality. Shantel scrambled to her feet and picked up her coat, avoiding her mom’s mocking eyes.
“What were you doing sprawled out on the floor?” Maria asked, mockery laced in her voice.
Shantel snapped her brows up, pursing her lips as she walked past Maria to the door.
Maria shrugged at Shantel's cold behavior and trotted after her.
As they got out of the house and into the car, Shantel couldn’t help but sigh loudly in dejection, knowing she had lost the fight against Maria.
As Maria turned on the ignition, the car coughed and sputtered before flipping off by itself.
“What's going on?” Maria muttered, making Shantel roll her eyes in disgust.
Maria tried bringing the car back to life, but the result remained the same.
“I will have to take the car to the repair tomorrow,” Maria said, getting out of the car.
Shantel followed her out and stood with hands akimbo, watching her mom with fury in her eyes.
“What now?” she asked.
Maria faced her with a scowl on her face.
Shantel, on seeing the expression, knew that she had stepped on a tigress’s tail.
“What is the problem, Shantel Adams? You are such a pain! I’m freaking late for work, but a little devil like you won’t dare make my morning better. You are so terrible!” Maria unleashed all the anger she had been holding in ever since Shantel’s rebellion.
Shantel’s jaws dropped open and she felt her heart twitch in pain at her mom’s words.
“Mum…” she whispered in a breaking voice as tears glistened in her eyes.
“Don’t mummy me. That is the way to Silver-line University!” Maria snapped, her finger pointing at Cleopatra’s cream-colored house.
“That is a house,” Shantel muttered a humorous response amid the uncomfortable situation surrounding them.
Maria tilted her neck and looked at what she was pointing at.
She swerved her head in Shantel’s direction and threw a horrifying glare at her.
Maria seethed loudly at Shantel’s unserious behavior as she grabbed her bag, slammed the door shut, and marched out of the driveway.
Shantel pulled her coat on and trailed after Maria at a distance, avoiding any further quarrel between them.
As they walked like strangers along the scanty street, they received stares from people which began to make Shantel feel uncomfortable.
Maria didn’t seem to care about the stares, she hardly noticed it.
“Mom?” Shantel called out when she couldn’t endure the weird stares being thrown at her.
“Mom?” she called out again but Maria refused to respond to her call.
Shantel sighed feeling a wave of discomfort rock her body.
“Hello!” a voice snapped behind her, making her jump in fright.
She spun around, her heart thumping loudly in her chest as all kinds of negative thoughts drove into her head.
The frown on her face deepened as she stared at the red sports car which she had spotted in the yard beside theirs yesterday.
“Hello?” the voice piped again and a head popped out.
Shantel felt her breath seize as she stared into those familiar blue eyes that brought chills to her body.
“Hello!” Maria replied instead, walking up to Jerry’s car.
The frown on her face earlier was gone, replaced by a radiant grin.
“Good morning,” Jerry nodded towards Maria politely before facing Shantel again.
“Are you going to the university?” he asked, his blue eyes roaming around Shantel’s body.
Shantel narrowed her eyes in disgust and looked away, ignoring his question.
“Yes, she is,” Maria released a nervous laugh, boiling in anger at Shantel’s rude behavior.
“I can drop you off, I’m headed to the university too,” Jerry’s response made Shantel snap her widened eyes at him.
She shook her head in disagreement, her eyes bulging out in horror.
She couldn’t bear to spend a single minute with Jerry, not even a minute.
“No, no, I’ll go with my mom. Besides—”
“She will go with you, I’m late for work already,” Maria cut Shantel off.
Shantel stared at her in disbelief, pleading with her eyes for a change of mind, but Maria was stuck in getting Shantel out of her sight.
“Come on, you’ll be late!” Maria snapped, covering up her desperation with a smile.
Shantel tried to rebel as her mom pushed her toward the passenger side of the car.
She finally dropped the rebellion as she slipped into the seat beside Jerry.
Maria waved at her and shuffled away before Shantel could utter a word.
Finally, she was left alone with Jerry Grey, a guy who wouldn’t stop making her pulse race.
“Are you avoiding me?” Jerry asked as he ignited the car and drove off slowly.
“You are smart enough to notice,” Shantel slammed down a curt reply at him.
Jerry swallowed hard, knowing best not to continue the conversation.
The ride to the university was a silent one, something Shantel remained grateful for.
She dropped her head on the headrest and slowly drifted into a trance, the wolf constantly flashing before her eyes.
It felt like she was in a dream where she not only saw one wolf, but many of them, each with different eye colors.
She was surrounded by the bloodthirsty animals, sneering and growling at her. Their eyes pierced her skin as they trod close to her, showing off their bloodstained fangs.
“No, no!” Shantel screamed out, calling out to her mom and siblings but no one seemed to be nearby.
The wolf she had seen on the way to the town, stepped forward and leaped on her. It crashed her to the ground and pinned her down, using its paws.
As Shantel parted her lips to release another yell for help. The fangs sank into her neck, sending unbearable pain through her body.
She snapped out of the trance, breathing heavily as the dream replayed before her eyes.
She jumped as she felt a cold feeling on her neck, the exact spot that was bitten.
“Are you okay?” Jerry asked and Shantel glanced from her neck to Jerry’s worried eyes.
“Did you touch me?” she asked instead of answering his question and relieving him of his worry.
“Yes,” Jerry replied, looking at her reddened collarbone.
“We have arrived,” Jerry muttered when he realized that Shantel wouldn’t answer his question. Shantel looked up at the huge, tall building before her, and she felt a strange feeling engulf her as the scene replayed constantly before her, replacing the imagery of the magnificent white building with the large block of letters inscribed at the top of the building.
With a racing heart and a frozen body, Shantel spelled out the words glaring at her.
“Welcome to Silver-line University.”
- Writer
