Chapter Seven:

The room was old.

Neat and clean.

But old.

The room didn’t look as if it had been renovated in years. He suspected the last time anything was new in the dorm was when it was built. The bed had a coiled metal headboard and plain white sheets like in a world war one infirmary. The window had a wooden frame and looked too heavy to open, and when Jess did manage to wrestle it open it grunted open and shook the walls and floor and a layer of dust collapsed all on his head.

Sensing dust, the little dustpan and broom in the room flew up to sweep up the dust, but since most of it was in his hair- the dustpan slammed straight into his forehead.

He swore and then the broom started darting around the room trying to flee as he chased it- till finally it swiveled in the air and stared him down...

Like a bullet it darted straight at him! Missed him by a millimeter- and splintered into the wall. A piece of it still stuck out. At least he had a place to hang his coat or socks? Though hopefully he’d be hanging socks on doorknobs.Heh. He might get used to being away from home after all. The dustpan didn’t seem wavered by the death of its friend and set about trying to scoop up some of the splinters.

The charm on the damn things were obviously broken, Jess thought with annoyance as the splinters of the broom somehow revived and tried sweeping each other up. Most charms on objects didn’t last too long anyway but it almost felt like businesses charmed them to have shorter lifespans or just break after a while to force you to buy a new one. They really didn’t make things like they used to.

There was a desk in the room that he could see through the one eye that wasn’t beaten by the dustpan. The desk had a nice little lamp for studying at night. And at the foot of the hospital bed there was a grand old chest for his things and a wire rack to hang his clothes. The room was bare and dated but at least the lock on the door worked.

He opened up the trunk and found the stuff the headmistress had promised him, the had a grimoire and one uniform set. Honestly, he couldn’t fault the uniform. Black pants, a collared shirt, a black slim fitting jersey and a cloak. A bit much aesthetically- and practically too when summer would come. But if he had to choose between this and the ‘Matt’s Quicky Chicky’ sponsored football kits made of thread bare polyester at his last school… No contest.

He never bothered with having a wand or staff with him since using those in public would be less than convenient. He wasn’t planning on doing much combat magic so he wouldn’t need to pick up a stave but the wand for finer magic was a must now. Especially since he actually had to study now. He could get away with hand cast magic for a while but now he’d have to get used using a wand again. It felt a bit silly at times since it reminded him of swinging a wii remote as a kid. It didn’t help that lots of elementary magic starts with lots of silly sounding incantations and wand movements. You’d have to do loops with our hands a nd a ten-line goofy chant- just to move paper cup- or possibly court a flamingo with all the body movements.

Though once you got used to summoning lightning from a stave it didn’t feel so ridiculous.

Uniform now hung on the rack, he picked up the grimoire. Now that could very well be interesting, he hadn’t used one in a long time.

But he was also kind of tired, and full too.

Guess he’d better sleep then.

When he woke next, he’d realised he’d slept longer than he expected. He’d left the curtain open hoping the first burst of sunlight would warm and wake him, but the sky was dismally grey outside. He yawned and stretched himself out. The mattress was definitely old and he had to swing his left arm around to unclick his shoulder after he’d fallen asleep on it the entire night.

Breakfast.

The word suddenly rung through his head.

He’d only had chips and hot chocolate and he was craving actual food to fill himself. He wasn’t a picky eater usually, but it was miserable to have a craving and not satisfy it. Especially a meal. And he had no real interest in living on doritos.

He’d do his showering after he ate, for now a spray of perfume would do. Might as well switch to a new shirt too. He rolled of his long-sleeved shirt and slipped on a slightly baggy black Ray Mysterio shirt. He’d bought it when he was eight and somehow it was still baggy. It was old but still bright because he barely used it outside of the house, and it was comfortable and warm too.

He left the room surprised he still hadn’t met anyone else in the dorm but he was more or less prepared in case someone popped up.

He passed an odd door which was surprisingly painted a bright blue. There were the sounds of grunting coming from inside and small rushed whispers of: ‘come on come on.’

Sounds like a hectic work out.

Jess was fit himself, but he hated gyming. It seemed so monotonous, lifting things, pushing things, flexing things and recording yourself for no reason. But he did like keeping fit so he enjoyed sport for that, it was a lot more fun to run and think and strategize in a tense game than to run nowhere on treadmill.

He made his way downstairs to the kitchen, he remembered there was a clock there which was helpful to check how late you were- especially since his phone wouldn’t even switch on here. He’d probably hike up to the dining hall if he wasn’t too late.

He expected the kitchen to be more or less empty, but to his surprise he heard noises already, and there was a girl sitting at the kitchen table with a clean plate waiting patiently. Behind her was another girl at the stove flipping pancakes- well not really flipping them so much as slamming them into the pan unnecessarily aggressively. There was batter splattered lightly all over the stove and the pancakes looked like crumpled oozing blunt-weapon assault victims.

The girl at the stove turned around to glare at him, with her spatula held up menacingly and the pancake behind her starting to burn.

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It suddenly clicked that the cheery looking girl at the table looked very much like the pancake murderer.

Oh, the twins.

The table twin, who was already smiling before she noticed Jess, put on a wider friendlier smile and greeted him whilst the pancake seemed to start darkening.

“Good morning!”

“Morning.” Jess greeted back. Jeez, this girl smiled way too much. She was too bright for the morning. His eyes hadn’t even adjusted to daylight yet.

“Oh, I’m Jess. I’m new here.” He said, sliding himself into a chair at the table. He was suddenly aware of how groggy he sounded. Amazing how getting extra sleep made you more tired.

“I’m Kate Macintyre and this is my sister Nora.” The girl said slightly taken aback but still cheery. She was halfway to her feet to greet him when Jess sat himself down.

“Oh, Kate!” Jess said, fighting a yawn. “Raj said you were the nice one.”

“That’s very sweet him.” Kate said. “I’m not all that nice though.” She added with a laugh.

“Mm.” he said, smiling politely at the joke.

“You’re a pig.”

That jolted him awake.

He stared at the pancake murder- he should probably stop joking about that because her eyes had narrowed viciously at him.

Kate turned to stare at her sister in alarm.

And it was amazing how they had the same face and body yet wore it completely differently. The cheery one, Kate kept her hair loose and long and slightly curled and bouncy. Her sister had hers straightened and at chopped at her shoulders. They both had soft attractive faces, but the stove twin wore a menacing scowl and smoke and flame from the burning pancake behind her didn’t make her look any less scary.

He gulped and stared in confusion.

“Hm?”

“You have ‘twinsssss’ written on your arm.” Evil twin said.

And now her sister glanced at his arm, and seemed mildly uncomfortable but she looked more concerned with keeping her sister from exploding.

LieLieLie.

He didn’t have to remind himself to lie, but somehow nothing was coming mind-

“Oh, yeah. That was a reminder to myself.” Jess said, he was scared stiffly awake, but he managed to make himself sound as tired as before. “Raj was telling me about the dorm members and told me not to mix the two of you up. So, I wrote it down- I'm bad with remembering people." He added." He also said one of you gets upset easily.” Jess said trying to end with a little joke.

“It’s true.” The spatula wielding Nora said, and surprisingly glanced at her sister to tease her.

“Hey!” Kate protested.

And Nora gave a small flicker of a grin but then she spoke again. “Strange how you wrote nothing else down.”

“Yeah, it was kind of hard to forget the other stories. Brentley is… something, isn’t he?” Jess said, shaking his head slightly.

Kate put on a sort of grimacy smile. “He has his moments, but he’s not as bad as everyone makes him out to be.” She said.

Somehow this girl was a terrible liar, but she seemed genuine. Nah, maybe she wasn’t lying. She probably believed what she said but was terrified of him anyway.

“Did Raj tell you about anyone else?” Kate asked. “You haven’t met everyone yet right?”

“Can’t really remember now.” Jess admitted.

“You should have written it down then.” Nora said, turning back to the pancakes and putting the small fire out with a glare. "You have plenty of skin left..."

Scary.

“Hey, so we’d be the first people you’re meeting!” Kate said. “Welcome to Boxtens Cancer dorm.” She said, doing a jokey curtsey and her impression of a proper British accent. “I trust you’ll find everything to your liking!”

Jeez, that accent was terrible.

“This place is named after the disease isn’t it.” Jess grimaced.

And he could have sworn Nora was grinning.

Man, this place was fantastic!

“Well, I guess I will then luv.” he added with a real smile, and to his horror and Kate’s amusement his British accent was even worse than hers and he couldn’t help but laugh at himself with her.

“So what dorm were you in before?” Kate asked.

“None, I just transferred in.”

“No wonder I couldn’t recognize you, I was so afraid I’d just forgotten your face.” She said in relief. “You sound Keralian, so you’re not an international student?”

“I am Keralian, I was home schooled.”

“That must have been nice.” Kate said, dreamily. "Waking up whenever, studying in your pajamas, spending time with everyone at home. And sleeping in as much as you want!”

“Yeah, guess I’m still in the habit.” He said, ruffling his bedhead.

Kate giggled again.

The conversation was so easy here. He was a bit worried after last night. He thought that he’d be stuck in this place with some horrid people, but they seemed fine so far. Perfectly nice, despite Nora been quite odd. She seemed a bit out of a gothic movie especially with her clothes being all black and hooded but there was clearly something off about her. She didn’t seem aesthetically gothic, and she must have done something quite whacked to get kicked out of her dorm. But for now, all she seemed was intense.

“Would you like to have some pancakes with us? Breakfast is nearly over.” Kate offered, seemingly genuine again. Shame she was stuck in this dorm because she liked her sister. Honestly this girl was way too sweet.

“No, I’d rather just run to cafeteria." he replied. "Maybe I'll see the campus or something .”

“But it’s really far from here. Please have some!” Kate protested.

“No, it’s okay.” He laughed.

“Please.” Kate pleaded again.

“Look, really-”

Nora slammed down a plate with a pancake on it. Somehow the plate didn’t break but the slamming sound sliced through his eardrum.

“Eat.”

“Yes, sorry.” He said, he held out his hand for a fork to zoom over from the drawer, and the charm on that must have been wearing too because it came too quickly and almost impaled his hand- Nora looked disappointed that it didn't.

He picked up the pancake and-

“This is actually good.”

“It’s a pancake. Anyone can make it.” Nora said and turned back to the stove. She never really snapped or raised her voice. But it was always low and threateningly dark, always speaking like she was telling a spooky story around a campfire.

But the pancake was good enough that he didn’t seem to mind- no wonder the demons were winning against mages. Temptation was bloody hard to resist even with all the glaring red flags. Is this why people stayed in those toxic relationships too?

“Do you want some syrup? Or can I get cream?” Kate offered, already to her feet.

“Don’t worry about it.” Jess said, on his feet as well. “Thank you for the pancakes.”

“Don’t mention it! It was just nice to meet you, Jess.” Kate said.

“Yeah, it was.” Jess agreed.

“It was, wasn’t it? We don’t have exams for another couple of days.” Kate said, her excitement skyrocketing as she spoke. “We should hang out sometime! We can give you a campus tour, introduce you to other classmates!”

“I’m actually getting my cousin to show me around.” Jess said, apologetically. He didn't like refusing her it was like popping a balloon. Kate got so excited so quickly and then she'd just look deflated each time. “Gwen Goldwyn." he added. "I just hope she actually does it.”

“Gwen Goldwyn.” Kate said thoughtfully. Thankfully she reinflated fast. "What year is she in? I can’t seem to picture her face.”

“She’s in fourth year.” Nora answered-

When did she turn around? At least she wasn’t glaring at him this time.

“Oh! A fourth year,” Kate said. “That’s why I didn’t remember her. She’s a year below us.”

“She brings tension wherever she goes.” Nora added.

Kate smiled apologetically.

Jess laughed. “Yeah, she does.”

“She has the arrogance of someone with power but has no real power. Those people don’t fare well in real life.”

“Nora!” Kate said sternly, and surprisingly actually did scold her sister this time. “I’m sorry.” she added to Jess.

Jess shook his head, trying to hold back a laugh. “I’m way too entertained to be offended.”

Kate made a hopeful face and mouthed thank you.

“You’re a liar, Jess Goldwyn.” Nora said.

He was too stunned by the statement and even more stunned by her suddenly being seated at the table with a plate of pancakes. She was just at the stove! And why’d she call him a liar> She couldn’t have been talking about the dorm tour just now? He was telling the truth- was this her still stuck on the twin thing? Or was she just being suspicious?

“Sorry, Jess.” Kate said, aloud this time.

But Jess only grinned.

Way too entertaining.