Ephy waved at her suitemates as she chose a seat in chorus third period, the only class that everyone in Zephyr Suite had together.
Niara reminded Ephy of Athena, partly because of her long dark hair and intense eyes, but mostly because of the way she started organizing everyone the moment she walked into the room. Students who had already auditioned, including Airin, were sorted into voice parts. Niara put Airin with the first sopranos. She called each student up one by one and had them sing scales and then a nursery song, and then she asked them their height.
Since they went alphabetically by first name, Ephy was one of the first people to audition.
“Alto. Back row.” Niara pronounced and waved her to a seat in the back.
While Liska was auditioning, a student with long, glossy dark hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail plopped down next to Ephy, in the back row of the second soprano section. They wore designer clothing that Ephy recognized from the latest Hip Girl magazine.
“I’m Bellona. You can call me Bell if you want. You’re Xyphon’s sister Ephronia, aren’t you?” Bellona let her gaze travel over Ephy’s rainbow hair and grey-and-pink plaid jacket.
“Most people call me Ephy.” She concentrated on organizing her backpack.
Bellona’s mouth turned up at the corners, but her eyes narrowed. “Nice to meet you, Ephy. Music major?”
“Drama,” responded Ephy, pulling back from the girl slightly.
“I’m doing a dual study in music and drama. I want to be in a TV musical!” The girl now scanned the other students in the room like she was sizing them up.
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“That sounds like hard work.” Ephy tried to sound boring so the girl would go back to the other side of her section.
“My daddy says I will be a once-in-a-lifetime star. He’s a big producer.”
Ephy had no idea what to say to that.
“He’s helping me with our quad battle performance. We’re singing a classic show tunes medley. What’s your suite going to do?”
“Quad battle? What’s that?”
Bellona laughed. “You don’t know about the quad battles? At the beginning of every year, each of the quads has a talent show. The winning suite gets a private pizza party and no lunch duty for the rest of the term. Everyone hates lunch duty, so of course the competition is tough. Are you in Water or Air?”
“Air. Zephyr Suite.”
Bellona huffed. “Oh, I’m in Water. Our class is so big that they put some of us in with the ninth and tenth graders.”
At least we don’t have to compete against her in the quad battle.
Liska finished her audition, and Niara sent her to the second row of second sopranos. She shrugged helplessly at Ephy as she found her new seat.
“Let me know if you need anything,” Bellona said, smiling almost too sweetly. Her head whipped toward an older tall, brown-haired boy, and she hopped up and dashed over to introduce herself to him.
I don’t think I’ll need any help from you. Already forgotten by the girl, Ephy turned her attention back to organizing her backpack.
Niara was only at the O’s (Ophelia Watson), so there still must be a lot of students left to audition. Maybe it would be a good time to put her literature schedule in her new pink paper planner.
At Heskalon, they were supposed to memorize their schedules, though most students kept it written in a notebook to review at night. They weren’t allowed to carry bags or backpacks, but they didn’t change rooms like at Eclipse, so they kept everything in lockers at the back of the classroom. Any teacher could quiz students at any time and hand out punishments (usually running or cleaning), but students cheated if they could get away with it. A few students created their own sign language to help each other cheat on pop quizzes. And some students didn’t need to cheat, if they were a teacher’s favorite.
It seemed that nothing at Eclipse was like Heskalon, but there could be expectations that Ephy didn’t know about. Best to be as prepared as possible.
Drama is next, then Latin, then lunch. Those classes should be easy. I wonder what they will serve for lunch today?