ThE SChoOL

P-4

There were a lot of confusing and frightening things happening around her , the school , the headmistress, , the hostel ! It all made her so alone and scared that tears filled up her eyes , Mia swallowed hard and thought about the next day , the first day of her new school. She climbed up to her bed and tried to close her eyes .

Mia woke up hastily to the raging bell, the trauma of yesterday filled her head; she felt a wave of lingering tiredness , she cannot remember when she fell asleep yesterday , probably late; , the other girls also woke up . They got out of their bed without wasting time and started to go through there cupboards, eventually. exiting the door. The girls glanced at her sitting on her bed, looking at them, but didn’t acknowledge . not even a smile or any hinge of movement on their faces except for one girl. Before leaving the door, she turned around and smiled at Mia. It was so sudden and surprising for Mia that she stared at her, and when the girl left, a bit of relief came to her .

Mia quickly got down the bed to get ready for her first day. As part of the admission process, she had already reviewed the timetable slips for the start of the day a week before coming here , as though it was like a warning if you might want to back off .

According to the list, they need to wake up at 5 in the morning and be ready at 5:30 to be present at the hall. , need to sign in at the register at sharp 5:30 for studying . Mia got onto her uniform, prepped herself in the common bathroom , passed into the girls then and there some of them gave her gaze and a slight node , and others just walked past her, totally acting busy with what they were doing , which is understandable with the limited time they have to get ready . most of them were impassive to the presence of each other, they didn’t talk much either, apart from a bit of chit chat here and there . Mia got down to the hall, signed in the book , sat down at an empty chair and looked around, Every girl was present there and started to do their work. As for Mia, there wasn’t much to do , so she kept watching other girls. When the giant clock pointed to the time as 5:30 , the girl from last night who woke up Mia came at the entrance of the hall room and chimed a bell . the room fell silent, apart from the noise of people turning of the pages and scribbling on them. It gave off the atmosphere of a library

For Mia the bell was a bit too much. By the time of 5:30, all the girls were already present in the hall. The clock itself was enough , but ‘whatever’ she thought , the annoying bell was the least of her problem to worry right now.

* -------------- *

The start of the day was pretty much boring, like a shooting of an award-winning film with a cliché, predictable plot where nothing much happens and still life goes on. At 6:00 another bell rang and just like yesterday, everyone gathered to collect the food boxes. It was bread with butter and some fruits with milk in a Styrofoam cup, Around 6:00, everyone finished and stared to pack there bags for school. Some girls made a quick glance at Mia , some giving her a nod and a slight smile, but no one proceeded to make a talk with her Even while having there breakfast, they were all into what was in front of them . all the girls formed a line after packing their bags to walk out of the hostel to the campus and before the exit, everyone signed the register. as they slowly walked out and when the hostel was away from vicinity, the line slowly dispersed, and some girls formed groups to walk together The silence faded away, and small giggles and chatting started to rise as they walked along the empty path to the school. Mia walked alone by herself when a hand was suddenly placed over her shoulder She looked up to see the same girl who smiled at her in the morning .

“Hey, I am Sara “ , the girl announced to Mia

“Hi , I m Mia” , Mia replied to the girl with a smile

“I know, I saw your name beside your bed “, the girl replied, smiling back at Mia

“so, how is this place treating you “ , Mia jumped straight in

“why do you ask “, the girl asked, , there was bit of confusion in her face

“Because its not going well for me so far”, Mia replied

“ oh! Right I heard you were called into the office yesterday night, it must be hard on your first day”, the girl replied

“how do you know”, Mia asked, surprised. She was sure everyone was asleep yesterday when all that happened and if she knew, then how much.

“Yeah, some of us know, rarely anyone goes to her office “, the girl said

Mia didn’t want to get reminded of how bad it was for her yesterday.

“yeah! Not so fun”, Mia said

“you will be fine” , the girl said to Mia

“I don’t think so , it’s a bit weirdly strict around her”, Mia said

“it is , but its not that bad compared to other schools , there is no bullying and most of the girls are into studying and they only care about their grades, like no one cares about what is going on with others so you will be fine , You see, that’s why no one gets into the school that easily its a bit different how things are handled around here , the headmistress makes all the rules and the rules are always in our favor , so just follow the rules and try to make a good impression on Madam,” , the girl explained.

“oh! She is the worst”, Mia exclaimed

“hmm , not everyone will support your opinion. Some of us, like most of us, really like her, she is calm and friendly and she rarely loses her temper That’s why everyone was surprised to hear about yesterday; no one gets to be in the dark side of her page, especially on their first day”, the girl said.

Mia couldn’t believe her ears ‘calm and lovely’ Have they even met her? Or is this girl crazy.

“what about you? You didn’t answer if you like this place “, Mia asked the girl

“well , you see, I was kind of bullied back in my previous school by some popular student gang , so that’s why I got here , there is no such problem here , everyone is into their academics and rarely talks to each other unless its important , so I like it here; it's different , you see, madam makes all this rules to make us feel comfortable”, the girl explained

this girl really had it bad back in her previous school, Mia thought.

“she don’t like me”, Mia replied.

“its just one small incident , you will be fine , soon she will forget everything and love you; that’s her nature”, the girl assured her…

Mia hoped that’s true but she couldn’t put her mind into that entirely. Something was off about that women; she could feel it the moment she saw her and from what sara is saying, Mia felt really confused.

“so , why did you transfer back from your previous school”, Sara asked Mia

Mia was hoping that question wouldn’t come up in their conversation

“Well, my parents thought it would be nice to up the quality of my education," Mia lied .