Despite not having any idea of how Anastasia Chance ranked as a school, I could say it certainly looked nice. The bus dropped us off behind a gleaming golden gate onto a massive expanse of grass so emerald in color that it could have given Evergreen Park a run for its money. A large red brick walkway sat in front of us which bent and twisted around the grounds for as far as the eye could see.
Turning to Mari, Ryan asked,” Where are we supposed to go?''
“The auditorium, more than likely. That’s where freshman orientation is gonna be after all”, she responded.
“It is?”, I questioned.
“Yes, it is. Please tell me that the two of you bothered to show up for the campus tours”.
“I was busy”, We said, raising our hands in defeat.
“ I-Let’s go. I don’t have the time to chew you out right now”, Mari sighed, rubbing her temples.
“Technically you could still insult us on the way there”, I told her.
“Not if I’m giving you bozos a mini tour on our way over there. Don’t want you two getting lost and missing a bunch of class”.
Despite how much I poke fun at Mari for her snarky personality and her gigantic brain, I gotta say it really helps to have a friend like her, especially when I don’t want to do something, like go on a tour for example. She guided us up to a main cluster of buildings consisting of a greenhouse, chemistry lab, computer lab, and a gym, among other incredibly expensive and extra things.
“Wait, hold on. This place has a movie theater? What does a high school even need that for?”, Ryan asked.
“The school is really big on evolving to fit what’s best for their students, people often learn when around their peers and need sessions in order to decompress, so they created specific facilities in order to best improve their students' capability to learn”.
“That’s still such a weird thing to do. I mean how much money does this district even have if they’re putting arcades next to library’s?” I questioned.
“The district probably isn’t responsible for this. I remember my dad saying that this school had AEGIS as a direct sponsor. Granted, I have no idea why AEGIS is putting so much money into a high school of all places”, Mari explained.
“And here we are”, Mari said gesturing towards the building in front of us. A large blue building with large black letters that spelled Auditorium hung just above the doorway with decorative stage lights strewn on each end of the. We walked through the door and entered into a dimly lit auditorium. The freshmen were all congregated into the main amphitheater; a darkened room containing rows upon rows of red chairs leading to a 5-6 foot tall stage which stretched from one end of the room to another. Standing on the stage were two adults.
The first of the two was a fairly tall white man. His close cropped brown hair was brushed neatly. His face was average and completely unremarkable; two eyes, a nose and a mouth. He looked more like what you’d get if you looked at a stock photo on a search engine. His clothing was remarkably unremarkable as well, a white button up that clung to his chest, and a pair of fitted black jeans with matching black dress shoes.
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The woman on the other hand was his complete opposite. She stood a full head shorter than him, and wore a long sleeveless black gown with small flecks of glitter and matching heels which resembled the deep expanse of the night sky. Her blonde hair was long and wild, frizzy without being messy. However the most strange part was her eyes. In the light they looked more like black marbles or beads and shined with an almost piercing gleam.
“Something catch your attention?”, Ryan asked, waving his hand in front of my face.
“Yeah, the people standing on the stage, don’t you think that they’re kind of creepy?”
“What do you mean? They look normal enough to me”, Mari replied.
“That’s the point, the guy on the left looks too normal. He looks like a stock photo”.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. He looks perfectly fine to me”, Ryan said
“Okay, what about the black eyed woman next to him? You can’t tell me that doesn’t look disturbing”.
“Are you feeling okay? Because you’re not making any sense. It’s kinda alarming”, Mari questioned.
Staring back at them I noticed that while the man’s face didn’t grow anymore distinct, the woman’s black eyes had been replaced by a set of pale blue ones.
“Nevermind, I must have imagined it then”, I stated, confused.
“You got some sleep last night, right?”, Mari asked.
“I thought I did. I might be more tired than I thought”.
“We’d better find our seats, it looks like they’re about to start”, Mari interjected.
“Hello students of Anastasia Chance High”, the woman said as we maneuvered our way into three empty seats near the middle of the room, “I would like to begin this with a few words. Qui facti sunt velis, sed memento qui eras. These are the only documented words spoken by the founder of this school, Anastasia Chance. We know little about the time period she grew up in and even less about her life, but we do have these words. Become who you want, remember who you were. Despite the hundred or so years between her time and ours these words and the message behind them still ring true. You will grow and change, but always remember your roots. Much like her, they act as an indicator of the person you are and these few words are what we have chosen to base our school off of; the aspects of development. High school in particular is a time of immense change and personal growth. There is no doubt in my mind that in the course of four years each one of you will leave this place a new person compared to when you arrived earlier this morning, just don’t forget that person. But before then I believe introductions are in order. Hello my name is Nerissa Lynne and I’m your principal for the duration of your high school career, and standing next to me is your vice principal, Angel Lawrence. Finally, with introductions out of the way I would like to be the first to officially welcome you to your first day as members of our family here at Anastasia Chance High School.”
…
The rest of the assembly consisted of the vice principal explaining the expectations we were meant to uphold as members of Anastasia High and explaining that after orientation was finished we’re supposed to join all the other students in our seminar class room. He gestured to a white table standing beside him and declared to us that we would be called down to collect our official schedules, and if anyone already had a physical copy then they were dismissed to head to their next class.
By the time Mr. Lawrence had called my name, half of the room was cleared. Ryan had been called a few minutes ago and they’d given Mari a copy of her schedule when she showed up to a campus tour. They had the same class so I told them to go ahead and that I would be right behind them, but to my disappointment I wouldn’t be following them, my class was in the history center. I exited the auditorium and made my way outside.
‘I should really thank Mari for the mini tour. If she hadn’t been nice enough to give us one I could only imagine how difficult it would be finding anything at this school’.
A five minute walk coupled with a handful of U-turns and I was standing in front of what would be my first classroom in my new school.
“Okay Ms. Krawford”, I thought aloud, “Let’s see what you got”.
I took a single breath before opening the door and entering into a new world.