Romeo's Silent Orchid

Chapter 2

Once I was sure they were out of sight, my smile smiled, and my black eyes shifted to the enormous building with a glare. It took me a moment to realize that such an act was fruitless, and a complete waste of my time. Surely someone inside would take note of the car that just left and come outside. A better way to use my efforts would be to spend what ever time I had left.

The first thing I notice was there were no cars.

To my left the courtyard extended, but the grey stone grounds stopped approximately 50 meters from the school, yet still a way off from the tree-line. That’s the thing about this place.

Saint Calibur was situated on a plateau amongst three mountains, with greenery as far as the human eye could see. The view was nice, even I had to admit that. I bet Hylee liked it too.

I wonder if the scenery was one of the things he thought about before he died.

Mostly likely it was. He loved nature.

With nothing left to glance at, I picked my handbag off the ground and hoisted it onto my shoulder, then pressed the black button. The lack of cars was no longer a concern. I forgot they said the car park was on the other side of the school.

Someone must have already been sent out, cause a tall man trotted out the doors heading towards me wath a trolley not a second later. He didn’t have to be close enough to tell he towered over me more than my mother did, and I was right.

His uniform was no more than a simple slack pants and vest, each a match blue colour that was light than the DOC. A white button shirt and red tie underneath accompanied by dress shoes that reflected everything on its black shoes.

As he approached me I made sure to greet him with a smile. He did the same in return, taking a moment to look at my bags before greeting me. “Good afternoon! Amethyst Lake, was it? I hope I’m pronouncing that right.”

I giggled, accepting his extended hand. “Yep, you got it right!” I gave it a firm shake before letting go.

“Ah, that’s a relief. Well, my name is Jamie and I’ll be your attendant for the remaining school year,” Jamie walked over to one of the bags. He picked it up then swiftly slide it across the bottom deck of the trolley. “If you’re ever in need of anything or have any trouble you can come to me and I’ll help you sort it out.”

I nodded. I took a moment to take one last look behind me one last time as if saying goodbye to the trees until another day, then I skipped over to the man with another one of my smiles plastered on my face. “Do you need help?” I asked.

The corners of his lips turned up as he turned to me briefly but he assured me that there was no need and I didn’t need to tire myself before I’ve even gotten inside.

So I let him work, and we ventured into the school from there.

Once inside, I had an idea how Kylee felt when he walked through those doors.

I had to step up a short flight of steps first, but I was too caught up on the interior to feel that it mattered.

The entire place was set up like a circle, stretching wide enough for several rooms to reside on the first floor . I wasn’t close enough to the glass rails to see how far down the floors went, but I could see how many were on top.

It continued on, about three or four floors more, until it reached the large dome roof that allowed the passage of sunlight to descent and shed light on the other floors, in addition to the electric lightening.

To the left, past two doors from where I was, resided a staircase. Well, that answered my question.

There was a lack of students, leaving this platform with mostly adults, some dressed like Jamie. I didn’t know who the others were, as they didn’t dress like the teachers I’m used to. With that in mind, I figured we were on the main floor of the school building, or at least the administrative floor.

Such a sight gave me a really refreshing feel, but it soon went away. I took a deep breath, and it calmed whatever storm was brewing inside me. There is no benefit for me to act up now. Jamie hasn’t said anything, neither has he made a move to lead to where I was supposed to go. I could feel him behind me, just standing there. Don’t over think it, he must be giving me time to take it all in. That being said, I really wanted to take a look at what was down there. I took the first step towards that goal, but in doing so, I ending up tripping someone who was in a rush with my foot.

He fell towards the floor, his DOC sliding out of his hand across the white, marble floor. His arms helped keep his torso from landing on the ground, prompting him to drop on his forearms, one of which held on tightly to a… dark burgundy pouch?

The boy hadn’t said a word until he pushed himself up and looked at me, not blinking. I didn’t know what to say at the moment, having a hard time believing that at my first day I did such a screw up. To rectify this, saying sorry would be the thing that made the most sense.

“You’re not from here are you?” I heard him say.

Once again I felt trapped, like I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. But then I regained my composure. I tucked a lock be hind my ear and widened my eyes. “Yeah, I’m new here. I’m so sorry about that, I don’t even even know how it happened. Here,” I lowered my hand. “Let me help you up.”

What he did next was a little weird. He looked at it, smiled, then looked past me, at who I presume to be Jamie. Then he gave this weird grin. “No thanks,” he said. “I’m gon’ let you go on to your room. Wouldn’t want to hold you guys up.” After which he jumped to his feet, leaned over to take up his DOC, and left, strutting as if he didn’t just get tripped over by a random girl’s foot. I kept an eye and his, and thought back on appearance. He was a boy, a student, going by the device he carried and it’s colour. When his eyes meant mine, the first thing I thought about was how clear they are. He had dark curled locks that tried to hide them, but that was probably because he fell over.

So grey, a shade that I had never seen before. He was on the thinner side, I would even say a bit scrawny. I noticed that he didn’t dress up in any way that made it obvious, just a black V-neck shirt that made its way to his elbows and a pair of black jeans that weren’t skinny. Didn’t seem like the type that goes out a lot, but you can never tell by just the first glance. By the way he spoke to me and grinned at Jamie, he seemed kind of playful too. Or maybe that was him hiding how pissed he was that some newbie nearly caused him to hit his head.

I wrote down all the things I know about him in my mental journal. He could be someone well known around school and come as a great asset to me later, if he doesn’t turn into an obstacle. I sighed. It does seem like a stretch, but I rather be over prepared now than under prepared later. I can only hope my face and voice came off as sincere enough so he doesn’t fault me for it later.

That would be petty, but not uncommon.

I turned behind me to see Jamie giving me a smile. Yes, he was smiling now, but I was sure that while I was turning my head his features morphed into what it is now.

“Let’s go to the administrative office,” was the first thing that came out of his mouth, then he took the initiative to move first. “Was that one of the students here?” I asked as he pushed the cart past me. Upon close observation, it was like he was trying to hide his discomfort with that topic by exhaling heavily through his nose.

“Yes, he was, but he had already gotten transferred,” Jamie responded. He looked at me and continued. “He’s probably here to get the rest of his things, so you don’t need to worry about him.”

Without waiting for a reply he went on to the right. I glanced at him, checked around the corner first since bumping into one person was enough for a day, and went along with him.

We turned another right then traveled down a well lit hall that had even less people and even more doors. I caught the names of some of them as we were passing by. They were the kind of names I had to double check before it actaully stuck in my head.

*Confession Room*.

*Terminal Room*.

*Repairs Room*.

*Expulsion Room*.

My brow twitched. Do you need a room for expulsion? They were a fair distance apart so I figured that the rooms weren’t very big. Gazing back at the man who was helping me with my language, it just came to mind that he wasn’t introducing me to the rooms and giving me an introduction as to what they pertained to. It probably wasn’t his job, Which I understand and all. Just getting a bit too impatient, which was something I had better learn to control.

After walking past those four doors he stopped beside one that read *”Students Administration Office”* In bold, white letters being shown up on a black, tinted glass window. At this point Jamie turned to me.

“Alright, we’re here!” He said. “This is where they do the student briefing for transfer students that are coming in and heading out. Once you’re in there, the student admin will let you know what’s up and what to expect. After that she’ll have someone come and show you the ropes. As well as where your dorm’s gonna be. Easy-peasy.”

I nodded. Figured that’d be the case. “So I’m guessing, You’re not gonna be the one to escort me to my room?”

He chuckled, leaned his head down for a moment then glanced back up. “Unfortunately no, but don’t you worry. The person that they have in store for you will be just as capable as I am.”

I nodded. “Okay, I believe you.”

“You ready?”

I nodded again, smiling this time. “Yes, I am.”

Jamie came over to my side. I watched his hand twist the knob, then he allowed me to walk past him and head inside.

I told him thanks to which he replied with a *your welcome*, before locking the door behind me. I’m guessing he would go to my room to lay down the language. He didn’t say anything about that though. Well, he is one of the members of staff that handles stuff like this and he did come with a big trolley, so I guess he didn’t need to.

Am I overthinking it again?

Maybe I was more anxious than I thought.

The office was constructed with wood from the ground up. Wood that seemed to reflect flawlessly that of sunlight from the only clear window in the room. But that didn’t last long. The clouds came out to block the sun once more, almost succeeding in the making the space dull and lifeless. That was before the one I presumed to be the student admin stood up from her desk and turned on the lights.

“Sorry about that,” she said. “I like using the light from outside more.”