They looked away again, back towards the figures dotted about the hall.

One of the girls in the hall caught Emilia’s attention. She stood out from the others because of her green dyed hair.

Almost as if she sensed Emilia’s gaze, the girl turned around.

Her expression broke into a grin, and she stopped what she was doing, making her way over towards them. Emilia watched mutely as the girl approached.

‘Hey Gloria’ the girl beamed. ‘How are you?’

‘I’m doing great’ Gloria replied. ‘Yourself?’

‘I’m great too.’

What’s with her hair? She looks like a cabbage.

‘Aren’t you missing your ballet class?’ Gloria asked her.

‘Oh, the teacher’s sick today’ the girl said. ‘We had a spare period so I asked if I can join the gymnast group today, a few of the other girls in my class did the same. That’s why it’s a little more crowded in here than usual. I didn’t want to just sit around and do nothing. That’ll drive me crazy. So, is this the new girl?’

Ugh. I hate being called that.

A whistle sounded then, and everyone in the hall stopped what they were doing.

‘Yes’ Gloria replied, glancing towards Emilia. ‘This is Emilia, and Emilia, this is Shannon.’

Emilia took in her appearance briefly. Shannon had big brown eyes, jaw-length green hair, and black clips in her hair on either side that formed a cross.

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you’ Shannon hastened, ‘I have to go now, sorry.’

She hurried off then without another word, rushing to meet back up with the other girls in her group as the teacher gathered them around to talk.

Emilia watched her go.

Hm.

‘Classes would all be finishing about now’ Gloria said to Emilia. ‘The canteen will be opening super-soon. Shall we go?’

Fuck yeah!

‘Yes, I would love to’ Emilia gleamed, smiling sweetly back at her new friend.  

They walked out of the gymnasium, stepping back into the open grounds again.

Emilia could see now, the grounds were busy, when before they were deserted, now she could see groups slowly milling out of the buildings here and there.

‘I hope you don’t mind queuing’ Gloria said to her.

‘Not at all’ Emilia replied. ‘As long as I get to eat, I don’t mind waiting.’

‘That’s good.’

‘Do they serve dessert?’ Emilia asked.

‘Of course.’

Emilia smiled at that. ‘That’s good’ she said.

Hearing this, Gloria glanced towards Emilia, smiling back to her in turn.

‘I guess Maddy’s gone back inside’ she said absentmindedly. ‘She doesn’t like crowds all that much.’

Emilia’s attention lingered on Gloria for a little longer, before drifting away again.

God, I hope they have cake.

The meal was divine. The canteen was huge, with plenty of good food and even better, lots of tasty desserts.

Emilia got her cake.

After this, Gloria led Emilia to another building, one of the more modest sized ones. They entered one of these modest buildings clustered at the edge of the school grounds.

It was nice to be here after the noise of the canteen, which had been heavy in the air with chatter.

‘These are the dormitories’ Gloria said.

I hope she’s not getting bored of me…

‘They are organised in numbers one to five. This one is ours’ she indicated, ‘building five.’

It looked exactly the same as the other four buildings.

‘Do you ever forget which one is yours?’

‘Only once. Oh… no maybe I shouldn’t say…’

‘What do you mean?’ Emilia asked. ‘Please tell me. I sense a funny story.’

Gloria frowned, glancing about before speaking again.

‘Keep this a secret but, there was a party some months ago. A few of us got drunk. Nothing happened but…that sort of behaviour is frowned upon.’

Aww? That’s no fun.

‘I think it goes without saying’ Gloria went on, ‘but alcohol is not allowed in this school. Luckily, I wasn’t caught, but a few of the other girls did get in trouble. I wasn’t that drunk but…I did have trouble finding my dormitory, not only the right building but uh…well….’ she looked uncomfortable then, perhaps an unpleasant memory.

Something embarrassing she did? I want to know what it is. But dam I know I can’t just ask…or can I?

Gloria continued before Emilia had any more time to think on this.

‘That was ages ago and we’ve been good ever since. One of my friends just learned that they became and auntie, and we wanted to celebrate. Her older sister back at home had a beautiful baby boy called Ryan.’

‘Cool. So, are there any other rules this school has that I should know about?’ Emilia asked.

‘Sure’ Gloria nodded. ‘Most of it is just common sense. Like….no fighting?’ she shrugged.

‘Was that a dig at me?’ Emilia said in mock annoyance, leaning on a hip and folding her arms.

‘No no, I would never…. ok well maybe slightly…. only a little bit though.’

Emilia chuckled lightly at that.

She liked this girl, and was quickly feeling comfortable around her.

In turn, Emilia’s relaxed manner seemed to make Gloria happy, seemed to put her at ease too.

‘Come on’ Gloria giggled, spinning once playfully before trotting off with a spring in her step. ‘Let’s get back to the dorms. I want to show you your new room.’

 [END OF CHAPTER 5]