Fyregirl -- chapter 4

“Hurry, hurry, HURRY!” Olivia screeched.1

“I’m DONE already!” I hopped downstairs in my new uniform, holding my crimson school bag and lugging my overly large trunk behind me.2

“What TOOK you so long!” she screamed, deranged, in my face. Yeah, like I was the one taking forever to apply eyeliner, mascara, blush, lipstick, and whatever else make-up addicts worry about. (How can women stand to take so much time with all that make-up?!)3

“Ready, Mommy!” Mina pranced down the staircase like a ballerina -- if there were any Billy goat ballerinas, that is -- but stopped dead when she saw me. We were both wearing the same thing: a white polo shirt and navy skirt (which was already 2½ inches above her knee as far as I could tell).4

She made a horrified face -- and started to bawl at the top of her lungs.5

“WAAAAAAAHHHH!! MOOOOMMM!! She -- COPIED -- ME!” She stomped her foot forcefully on the step for each of those last three words. (Yet I couldn’t see a single tear on that pale face.)6

“Oh!” Olivia ran to hug her dear little girl, while I stood there, dumbfounded. “I’m so sorry, dear, I’m so sorry!” They “cried” together. “Mommy won’t let it happen again, dear, no it won’t!” To me, she ordered, “Hope, go change.”7

A volcano might just have erupted inside that house. I stood, enraged. I opened my mouth to yell my head off when I saw Olivia’s pupils contract and her eyes narrowed. (She has a scary way of doing that a lot. I swear, nobody knows how freaky it looks until they’ve actually seen it happen.) So, without further ado, I stamped up past Mina’s smirking face and threw on a yellow polo shirt and a plaid skirt instead.8

In the navy van (the one Scamp and I had so tediously washed on my birthday), Mina was allowed to ride in the passenger seat, while I (of course) had to squeeze into the back with the luggage.9

In less than ten minutes we were there. (I had no idea we lived this close to Gryfnix!) While Mina and Olivia exchanged a tearful farewell (“Oh dearie, I’ll miss you so much” blah blah blah… “I’ll miss you too” blah blah blah), I hoisted up my bag and stared up at the school. A fence beside the building stretched out across the landscape, wielding a vast field of green grass. Only a few cars were in the parking lot; we must’ve been either extremely early or extremely late. Big red, bold letters spelling GRYFNIX SCHOOL were emblazoned across the top. And before the giant double doors leading into that tedious place they call school, stood an iron gate that looked as if it had stood there for centuries, barring the way for some but yielding the path for others.10

I took a deep breath -- and, with my schoolbag slung onto my back and dragging my luggage behind me, I cautiously pushed my way past that wrought-iron gate, wondering if this school would change me for better or for worse.11

“All new students report to the headmistress’ office, third floor. Repeat: all new students report to the headmistress’ office, third floor.”12

The voice issued from speakers positioned everywhere, as far as I could see. I searched through the five sheets in my hand, given to me by some guy at the front door. (Each sheet was a map for each floor.)13

“Headmistress’ office, headmistress’ office,” I mumbled to myself, glancing at all of the squares indicating the thirty-floor classrooms, many restrooms, teacher’s offices, and even a science laboratory (or a demolition lab, for all my map-reading skills). Finally, I cited the headmistress’ office in the top middle of the third sheet of paper. Clutching my belongings, I made my way up the stairs at an easy pace.14

On the second floor, I found Mina chattering animatedly in her snooty voice to a group of popular-looking girls (where had her luggage gone?). It looked like snobbish girls here would be magnetically drawn together. I traipsed through the crowd, feeling more uneasy by the second. (What if I didn’t find where I “fit in”?) A squid seemed to move into my stomach, squirting its ink out as it swam hesitantly from one end to the other, unsure where it belonged. (Funny, I had squid the other day. . . .)15

As I was rushing up another staircase that led to the third floor, I collided with something (or someone), and I bounced down a few stairs. The books in my bag flew everywhere, and my trunk thudded down the stairs, each with a louder THUD than the last; I heard my skateboard rattling inside it (how could I go to Gryfnix without my skateboard?).16

"Oh --"17

“The next thing I knew, a mane of black hair swept everywhere as the girl I collided with retrieved and dropped my books and such, all the while apologizing endlessly for her clumsiness, while I sat there, dazed.18

“Omigod! I’m-so-sorry-I’m-so-sorry-oh-my-God-I’m-oh-so-sorry, I’ve been here for a year already and yet I still can’t seem to navigate anywhere without knocking things over, oh dear, I really hope you’re OK, I --”19

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” I cut in hastily, trying to end her rapid monologue. Recovering from the fall, I stood up, brushing myself off.20

“-- no wonder I’m always picked last in P.E., it’s because I’m so clumsy and will drop every single ball that comes my way, oh my God oh my God are you OK? I don’t think you got hurt very badly, but if I’m wrong --” (This poor girl had a slight tendency to babble profusely when she was nervous, I noticed.)21

“I’m OK!” I grabbed her shoulders and wheeled her around to face me. We stared at each other at arm’s length, taking in each other’s faces. This worried student had straight black hair which fell down to her shoulders, with long bangs parted on her right side that fell elegantly into eyes which surprisingly mirrored my own.22

Upon looking at my face, she caught her breath and stared (whether horrified or anxious, I don’t know), her mouth agape. As if realizing that it was rude to stare, she blinked and gestured at herself. Her voice seemed to be higher-pitched than before when she spoke:23

“Hi! Erm . . . I’m -- I’m Rose Cheyde, and I’ve been at Gryfnix for a year already, but I’m still the same ol clumsy me. You are --?” She smiled hesitantly. I had the impression she already knew who I was, somehow, but I answered her anyway to be polite.24

“Hope Burne. So -- so you’ve been here a year already?” I tried to straight out the jumbled-up puzzle pieces in my head. “But I thought -- I thought that Gryfnix School started in seventh grade!”25

She giggled tensely. “Actually, Gryfnix includes sixth grade as well, but there are so many people that think we start in seventh grade, like you. Oh!” Her eyes brightened, as if she had just remembering something. “You’re new here, aren’t you? You’re supposed to be at the head’s office, right? That’s Miss Laness. She’s really nice, but if you get into trouble with the caretaker or a teacher, she’ll be like, ‘You should know better, you’re a smart student, that’s why you go here’ -- not that I’ve actually gotten into big enough trouble to be sent there, but I have friends who get in trouble occasionally --” She paused to draw breath; I became aware of the fact that she was continuing her unnecessary chattering again, I thought, letting out a little laugh.26

“Rose,” I cut her off. “I’ll put my books back in my bag, and then we’ll go off to the head’s office, all right?” I began picking up my scattered books and crammed them into my bag. One of them (the History textbook) was particularly thick; I had spent practically all of last night trying to shove that in my bag, and I had finally succeeded after a few hours of trying, only to have it now fly out again (I thought that thing had been firmly lodged in there!). I hid my slight annoyance particularly well, however. When most of my many textbooks had been retrieved and stowed away again, Rose gave a sudden “Oh!” and seemed to race me to get back my last two books.27

After I had slung my bag over my shoulder again, nearly collapsing with the renewed weight, Rose led me up the staircase, along a hallway, past a storage room, where luggage was to be deposited, and finally to a stone griffin standing guard in front of a beautifully ornamented door with a brass knocker and a golden plaque that spelled out HEADMISTRESS: MISS LANESS in large bronze letters. I heard distant footsteps of other excited new students coming this way.28

As we approached the door, a rough female voice reached our ears. Rose flung out an arm to stop me with a wearied expression.29

“What’ve they done this time?” she whispered, listening intently.30

“-- didn’t do anything this time, Miss Laness, one minute I was drinking out of my water bottle, the next, my face and hair were soaking wet! Look at that idiot’ girl’s face, of course she did it, you can see it etched --” 31

I heard a long deep sigh come from somebody else within the room, as if that person wanted to be anywhere but there. This next voice I heard was crisp and official; I deduced that it was issued from the mouth of the headmistress herself.32

“Maya, in the future, let’s not the point the finger at somebody unless you have absolute -- don’t give me that look! Anna, let’s hear your side of the story.” I detected from her tone of voice that she had been through this routine innumerous times already. A smooth voice chimed next, sounding grumpy.33

“My side of the story? Well, I went to Gryfnix, hoping to find a bunch o’ cool people, and what do I find instead? An obese camel, whose guts I hate like water pollution!” (I stifled a laugh.)34

Another drawn-out sigh. “Anna, we do not call each other such impertinent names, especially not in my office. You and Maya have gotten into heaps of trouble for all of last year; isn’t it possible that you be nice to each other this year, not even for one day? If I get another report on a prank one of you has pulled on the other --“35

“Atchoo!” Argh, Rose! And just when this conversation was becoming so fascinating. . . . An icy silence followed Rose’s sneeze while she looked at me guiltily. Then --36

“Come in.”37

While casting unsure sideways glances at each other, Rose twisted the doorknob and slid the door aside (it was a sliding door? Then what was the doorknob for??), and we walked hesitantly into the headmistress’s office.38

What I had stepped into was a somewhat grand room, though rather cramped. In the far left corner, there stood an enormous bookcase, with thick books of every color and height, complemented by another bookcase on my immediate right,, though only half the size, but with the same types of books. Directly opposite of that hung an antique-looking painting of a stereotypical medieval hallway, with doors on each side and a lengthy rectangular, red rug carefully laid out down the middle, as if graciously awaiting the touch of the high heels worn by a queen. Next to the painting were several stools stacked on top of one another, waiting to seat students who had done serious wrongdoings. Wherever there had been an uncovered area of canvas, there was a certificate or blue ribbon or otherwise. Smack dab in the middle of the office stood a brown desk, with a name tag that read HEADMISTRESS; an elderly woman sat behind that desk, with features that so resembled Olivia’s that I stepped back in horror, wondering what on earth my foster mother could be doing here.39

And there, looking as though they didn’t want to share even a universe together, sat two girls whom I supposed to be Maya and Anna. One looked as if she had been outdoors more than in, for her skin was quite brown, but the other had a clean, glowing look about her.40

“Well, girls, I see that our new students are due here any moment now. Maya, Anna, you are -- actually would at least one of you care to stay? I’d like a couple of people to help me cover the basics of what is expected of Gryfnix students.”41

The girls with the tanned skin jumped to her feet, but instead of heading toward Miss Laness, she bolted to the door to leave. Rose, however, was barring the doorway (whether accidentally or on purpose, it was hard to tell).42

“Rose, let’s go,” she muttered. Rose’s intentions, however, were quite the opposite.43

“Maya, I’m staying,” Rose said, flashing a small smile at the headmistress.44

Maya opened her mouth to argue, but paused. Then, she sighed and turned back around to face Miss Laness.45

“Fine,” she said coldly. “I’m staying, too.” I could’ve sworn I heard her mutter, incensed, “But who wants to talk to newbies?”46

The soft-skinned girl hopped out of her seat with a change of expression, looking cheerful, grabbed my hand, and shook it forcefully, exclaiming,47

“Hiya, I’m Anna! A-N-N-A, Ah-na, not An-na -- I hate it when people call me that, even if by accident -- and I was here in 6th grade as well, which was really enjoyable, except for the ob-” -- Miss Laness cleared her throat pointedly; Anna shook her blonde bangs out of her eyes and continued -- “Anyway, Gryfnix is a whole lot of fun: There are field trips to awesome places, sports teams, clubs, and even an awesome swimming pool! I think you’ll find a lot of excitement here at Gryfnix, just you, me, and Rose.”