Chapter Text
Ellie looked out the car window at the old orange trees with leaves falling from them. It was undoubtedly a representation of how Ellie felt, slowly dying with her soul shattered.
“Are you feeling okay, sweetheart?”
“Yes, Dad, I'm fine,” she replied in a monotone voice.
“Listen, I know this must be difficult... Moving, going to a new school, but you know it was necessary.”
“Just like it's necessary to abandon me in a damn boarding school.”
“I'm not abandoning you. This is temporary, until I can calm things down and get everything sorted out for the new house... And this school is one of the best. Believe me, you'll be fine.”
“Ugh.” She crossed her arms and slumped a little in her seat.
Her father looked at her sideways, somewhat concerned. There was an awkward silence until he cleared his throat.
“Do you have everything?”
“Yes, you already asked me that before we left, when we were leaving, halfway there, and now that we're about to arrive.” She moved her right hand slightly as she spoke.
“I just want to make sure you have everything and that everything will be fine. Okay?”
“Yeah, Dad, I know, but I'll be fine.” She looked back out the window, bored.
But despite those words, Ellie felt extremely nervous and terrified inside about starting at a new school, having to make new friends, and having to adapt to a whole new environment. Just thinking about it made her stomach clench, and she bit her lower lip hard and played with a strand of her bangs, which covered part of her face.
It didn't take long for the school grounds to come into view, with Ellie's father driving toward the parking lot next to the school, where there were already a few cars. They parked in a spot somewhat away from the rest. Her father got out first, but Ellie made sure no one was around before getting out.
"Come on, Ellie, you're not a little girl anymore, you don't have to be afraid of interacting with people"
“I'm not afraid of interacting, I'm afraid of... No, I'm not afraid, I just hate people” she said in a raspy tone, narrowing her eyes.
"I wonder when you'll get over this phase".
“It's not a phase, Dad, this is the real me, you have to accept it.” She closed her eyes as she pointed at herself with her palms.
“Whatever you say, help me get your bags out.”
When the trunk opened, Ellie opened her eyes and went over to her father to take one of her suitcases. But suddenly she heard the loud noise of a car engine, turning to see a man parking rather abruptly and almost running over two students who were passing by. A rather large and burly man got out of the car.
“Damn it, Reed! Be more careful!”
“What did you say, Carter? Do you want me to beat the crap out of you?” he said with disdain, slamming his fist into the palm of his hand.
“Come on, let's go,” said the other student, taking his friend by the hand and walking away.
Ellie could see Reed smiling as if he had won a fight, and she thought he was extremely pathetic. Then she noticed a well-dressed woman in heels approaching them. She was tall, with dark hair tied back in a ponytail. She walked up to them, and Ellie had to look up, feeling somewhat intimidated.
“Nice to meet you, you must be the Parkers. Isn't that right?”
“A-Ah! That's right, it's us. Nice to meet you, you must be Miss Kristal. Right?” The man spoke, extending his hand to her.
“That's right, Kristal Mclane. I guess this is Ellie Parker. It's nice to meet you too.” She shook the man's hand and then shook Ellie's hand.
“Hey.” She nodded slightly, raising an eyebrow. “And you are...?”
"I am the principal's assistant. We are very happy that you have chosen our boarding school to study at. We will make sure that everything is fine and that you have a pleasant school experience. Right now, the principal will be giving a welcome speech in the auditorium. I can take you there".
"Oh, yes! That would be perfect. Well, I guess this is goodbye for now, Ellie" The man would say, clearing his throat.
Ellie turned to look at her father, noticing the sad look on his face. Although she was upset that he was “abandoning” her there, Ellie couldn't help but raise her eyebrows and walk over to her father to give him a hug. The man was a little surprised but immediately responded.
“I guess I'll see you on Thanksgiving. Right?”
“Yes, yes, ah... You can call anytime you want, I'll be there for you whenever you need me, sweetheart.” He hugged her a little tightly.
“Thanks, Dad. I hope everything gets better soon,” she whispered with a slight smile.
Kristal couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of pain when she saw that interaction between father and daughter, but she quickly shook her head. Once they parted, Ellie waved goodbye as her father closed the trunk and got into the car, starting it up and driving away, waving goodbye as well. Ellie bent down to pick up her two suitcases, looking at Kristal.
“All right, follow me, Miss Parker.”
And with that, Ellie began to walk behind her, unable to help but press her lips together and narrow her eyes with some concern, once again feeling her nerves begin to devour her from within, not knowing what awaited her from that moment on.
[...]
The auditorium was a huge theater hall, with Ellie sitting in the middle rows, looking at all the people around her, shrugging her shoulders a little. The school principal, Mr. Clark, appeared on stage, accompanied by some teachers and other administrators. Clark stood behind his lectern, a smug smile on his face, with all the students silent as he brought his mouth close to the microphone.
"Good morning, my dear students, welcome back to Tipiskaw Academy for another year. I know you all come from days of rest, laziness, and fun during the summer vacation, but you must remember that all that is behind you now. It is time to get back to discipline, studying, respect, and excellence. Your parents trusted us to send you to this academy for a reason, and that reason is because we can make you great. It will be a great team effort!
The only response the principal got was silence from the students, with only a few murmuring or whispering to each other. Ellie could hear some of them, looking at the person next to her, an Asian girl in a pink sweater, whispering something to a boy with golden hair and dark glasses.
“Ugh, I can smell from here that he didn't wash his mouth”
“That's where GreFAT got his bad habits from,” whispered the boy in response, smiling mischievously.
Ellie raised an eyebrow, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with these comments, so she looked ahead, bored, resting both hands on her legs and hoping it would all end soon.
[...]
It wasn't long before Ellie, along with all the other students, was taken to the dormitories, which were divided into two buildings on either side of the main academy building. Ellie could see a huge number of girls, heard a lot of voices that made her head hurt, and received so many strange looks that she had already gotten used to it. She was the last of the new students to stay with Kristal, who was guiding her to the fourth and top floor of the building. They went down a few more steps to reach the hallway with the rooms, where there were other girls talking and moving their things around.
“Okay, Parker, you'll be staying here. Room 32, third door on the right. You'll be sharing a room with Tess Morgan. If you need anything, you can ask her or come find me near the principal's office. Good luck, Parker.” Kristal smiled at her, holding a clipboard in her hands where she wrote something down before leaving.
“Oh, thanks,” she replied curtly, not because she wanted to, but because she still felt... a little nervous.
Ellie was grateful that none of the other girls were looking at her at that moment, as they were very focused on their superficial girl talk. Ellie entered the room she had been assigned and quickly closed the door behind her. The noise of other people's conversations fell silent for a second, which she appreciated, and she looked inside what would be her new “home.”
It was a small room. There were two beds, one on each side of the room, with two desks on each side with their respective chairs and two sets of shelves. There was a window in the middle that looked out onto the courtyard, and under the window was a heater. Ellie took a step forward, the wooden floor creaking slightly under her feet. There was barely half a meter separating the two beds. On the beds, there was a pair of ironed and neatly folded clothes: the school uniform. It consisted of a dark gray sweater, a white long-sleeved button-down shirt, a navy blue skirt, and finally black tights with slip-on shoes.
“Well, I guess all the clothes I brought will be useless then.” She sighed heavily, leaving her two suitcases on the right bed.
Ellie quickly began unpacking. Her father had made her bring more things than she would have liked, although she appreciated his concern. After taking out a few pairs of clothes, some books, and notebooks, Ellie came across a framed photo of her and her father when she was about 10 years old. Ellie took a deep breath and a smile momentarily appeared on her face until she heard the sound of the door opening, which startled her a little.
A dark-haired girl entered, her hair reaching her waist. Her face showed a lack of emotion, a cold stare that made Ellie's hair stand on end. She stood there, looking at Ellie with total indifference.
“He-Hey.”
“Hey.”
Despite the awkward silence, Ellie couldn't help but admire how cool this girl was...
“I-I guess you're Tess. Right? Oh, I'm Ellie, Ellie Parker, I'm new here.” She cleared her throat, trying to sound as disinterested as Tess.
“Great. I'm Tess, nice to meet you.”
“The pleasure is... mine.”
“Welcome to hell, Parker. You should have stayed in Stawaki.”
“What? N-No, I'm not from... there. I'm from New York.”
Tess didn't respond right away, putting her suitcase next to her bed and then taking her school uniform to put it on her desk so she could lie down on the bed, letting out a slight sigh.
“Uh... Have you been here long?” Ellie asked, sitting down on her bed.
“Longer than I'd like, about three years. They said it would help my personal development and growth, that I'd make lots of friends and stuff. All that nonsense.”
“I see.”
Another awkward silence...
“Knock, knock!” The door suddenly opened, and a girl peeked in. “Tess, dear!”
Ellie was startled again by this sudden appearance, as the girl didn't even ask permission to enter, she just did. She was a rather tall, thin girl with short brown hair, wearing glasses and braces, poor ugly thing. She was wearing part of her school uniform, only the sweater was missing.
“Hey, Ivy. How was your vacation?”
“It was amazing! My parents and I went to a cabin near the mountains by a lake. It was beautiful! We also traveled to Hungary. It was WONDERFUL to reconnect with my roots and discover more about myself,” she said enthusiastically, sitting at the foot of the bed. “We also went to the beach. Tell me, can you see my tan?”
“Not really.”
“Oh, damn! I always fail to tan well.” She pouted slightly until she looked at Ellie, raising her eyebrows in surprise. “Hey! I've never seen you around here before, and I recognize everyone's faces. Are you new?”
“Ah... Yes, I am. Ellie Parker.” She raised her hand slightly.
“What a pleasure to meet you! I'm Ivy Berki. I'm sure you've heard of me from my various theater performances throughout the state. You could say I'm something of a celebrity.” She said proudly, placing a hand on her chest.
“Oh, yes, sure... That's where I recognized your last name from.” She lied, looking away.
"You're lucky you got Tess! She's the best roommate you could have, you hardly notice she's here".
“With you screaming and rehearsing all the time, it was hard to get anything done.”
“I see you're, um... good friends.” Ellie raised an eyebrow.
“For two years now! You see, Ellie, I wasn't always this beautiful, popular girl you see here. I used to be just as bitter and depressed as Tess. It wasn't until I started acting, getting on stage, and auditioning that I discovered my true self. An enthusiastic girl born to be a star! And just when I met Tess, I felt like I shone even brighter" After saying that, she leaned over slightly to hug Tess, who didn't seem to mind.
“I see...”
“Hey. Didn't Tristan come with you?”
“Oh, right! Tristan decided to sleep on the boys' side this school year. They said it was to ‘experiment’ a little, but I think it's because there's a boy they's starting to like. They didn't tell me directly, but they hinted at it” she said amusedly, raising both eyebrows.
“Tristan? Wait... Can they sleep on either side if they want to?” Ellie looked confused, bringing a hand to her neck.
“Oh, yes, Tristan is non-binary, so after several discussions and long, long, long talks with the administrators, they said that Tristan and other non-binary kids could choose to stay in whichever dorm they wanted.” “Ivy explained, sitting down. ”You know what, sweetie? Don't expect anything from the administrators here"
“Oh, uh... I'll keep that in mind.” She smiled slightly, raising both eyebrows.
[...]
After settling in and chatting a little more with Tess and Ivy, Ellie decided to go out for a moment to “get to know” the place a little better, although it was more of an excuse because she felt overwhelmed by Ivy's intense personality. Ellie was sitting under one of the trees behind the school building. Ivy explained that the first day was mainly for settling in and getting everything ready for the next day, which would be the real “first day.” The academy was a huge place, with the main building in the center and the dormitories a few meters away on either side. Behind the academy was a huge courtyard that led to a lake. Also, a little further away, there was a football field. Ellie could see the goalposts from where she was sitting. In front of the academy, near the entrance, were both the library and the gym.
Ellie had her sketchbook resting on her legs, making some sketches. From time to time, she looked up to see the other students passing by. There were quite a few of them, all locked in their social circles and probably having silly conversations: “What did you do this summer?” “Do you want to go study?” “OMG, Johnny, Jennifer's party is going to be awesome,” and other things that Ellie hated.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice when a boy approached her, only realizing it when he cleared his throat to get her attention.
“He-Hey, excuse me, ah...”
“What do you want?” She looked at him with annoyance.
She was surprised when the boy handed her a pamphlet, now looking at him with confusion.
"You are cordially invited to our magical Thursday nights, where we will gather to play Dungeons, Dragons, and more dungeons. We will have delicious food, non-alcoholic drinks, and lights that reflect the stars in the sky. Oh! And also lots of fun and magic. Believe me, you'll want to be there!" he said quickly and nervously, his hand trembling noticeably.
Ellie grimaced at that, looking at him strangely. The boy had short brown hair, thick glasses, and noticeable acne on his face, as well as anime pins on his uniform.
“N-No, thanks...”
“Come on! It'll be fun, and besides, you're alone, just like us, you can...”
“Don't tell me who I should hang out with and who I shouldn't, weirdo. I said NO. And you know what that means?” Ellie stood up, staring at him harshly.
“A-Ah... No?” He replied, covering himself slightly with the pamphlets.
“Exactly.”
With that said, Ellie tucked her notebook under her arm and walked away without even glancing back at the boy. She walked across the grass, passing between the other students, earning a few curious glances in the process, which she immediately hated, shrugging her shoulders. Luckily for her, it didn't take her long to get away from the crowd of students, walking to the side of the school building where there weren't as many people. But as she climbed the stairs to reach the stone path, she saw something... A child? Yes, it was a child! And she was running with a box in her hands, heading straight for the front of the residence.
“What the hell?”
That was all Ellie could say, looking around. Should that kid even be here? No one seemed to care or even notice. The girl, not knowing why, decided to follow her, first walking but then picking up speed to run when she saw that the girl was getting further and further away. Ellie passed by some students, even almost bumping into a curly-haired boy who said something to her in Portuguese, but Ellie didn't even pay attention.
She could see that the little girl was heading straight for the library, and Ellie tried to catch up with her before she went in, but she didn't make it, and the little girl entered the building. Ellie grimaced when she reached the door, narrowing her eyes and wondering if it was a good idea to go in or not. She stood there for a few seconds until she finally opened the door slowly to peek inside.
The bookstore was dimly lit, with a large number of enormous bookshelves, as expected, filled with books. There were also some tables and carts with books on them. Ellie took a step inside, closing the door behind her and looking around, trying to see where the child was.
“Ah... Little girl? Are you here?” she whispered, although she tried to make it a little louder.
She took a few steps, constantly looking around, hoping to find something that would tell her where the little girl had gone. She approached one of the shelves and saw that it was the biology section, which made her look bored.
“Here's your stupid box! Next time be more careful or they'll fire you.”
Ellie heard that shrill voice in the distance. It must have been the girl's, but it seemed she wasn't alone. She would go between the shelves, walking a little, trying to find out where the little girl's voice had come from.
“You did an excellent job, Fiore. Let me open this and...”
The other voice sounded like a man's. He sounded older, and from the tone of his voice, he sounded British and depressed, which didn't surprise Ellie. What did surprise her and quickly set off alarm bells was what a little girl was doing bringing something to an adult in a place where there was no one else. She hurried, having detected the voice coming from the right side of the bookstore.
When she arrived, she peeked out from behind a bookshelf and managed to see the counter. In front of it stood the little girl, and on the other side, a man wearing glasses, a blue sleeveless sweater, and a white shirt underneath. His hair was tied back in a ponytail, and his face showed his desire to die. He was opening the box to check its contents, smiling with satisfied.
“All right, everything's here. You did a good job, Fiore, you earned this.” He bent down to pull a rather large book from under the counter and handed it to the girl.
“The Warrior Cats!” she exclaimed enthusiastically until she noticed something and cleared her throat. “I think you forgot something.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah.” He took something else from under the counter, this time a lollipop. “Here, enjoy.”
“This job was a piece of cake. Those stupid teachers didn’t even hesitate to let me in. Next time, though, be more careful where you leave your things. I won’t do your dirty work again unless you improve your rewards.”
“...I thought those two were good rewards.”
“They are, but it was too risky. Next time, I want ice cream.”
“Fine, I'll get you ice cream.” He rolled his eyes but smiled amusedly.
Fiore also smiled amusedly before walking over to a chair behind her, sitting down, and opening her lollipop to start eating it. Ellie was extremely confused by this and couldn't help but leave her seat.
"What the fuck is all this?”
Both the man and the child looked surprised by the girl's sudden appearance. Although the child immediately looked at her with annoyance, the man became somewhat nervous.
“A-Ah... T-This isn't what it looks like.”
“Then what does it look like? A grown man receiving a box with mysterious contents from a child, and you're rewarding her for it. Are you the librarian or something? And what the hell is in the box?" she asked, crossing her arms and clutching her notebook.
“What do you care, you pain in the neck? Go lift your skirt for someone else,” Fiore replied indifferently.
“What?” Ellie looked at her in shock.
“Fiore. What did I tell you about talking to others like that?” The man scolded her immediately.
“Ugh, I spent the whole damn day playing the good little girl! I’m tired of it! It’s only the first day and I’m SICK of all these jerks. My roommate is a crazy animal taxidermist! Can you believe it?!" She complained wearily, raising one of her hands.
Ellie was stunned to hear the child speak that way. How could a 10-year-old girl talk like that? What kind of education had she been receiving? The man growled and brought a hand to his face, almost pushing his glasses down before looking at Ellie.
"Listen, this really isn't what it looks like. I know it looks bad, but... I was just asking Fiore to bring me a box I left in the staff room. I'm Alec, I'm the librarian in this dump, and this kid is the only interesting person you'll find in this whole damn place: Fiore. She's too smart for her age, so she was promoted a few years early".
“I'm still too smart to even be in this grade, but they couldn't skip me any further,” the girl complained, rolling her eyes.
“...I guess that makes sense,” Ellie whispered, narrowing her eyes at Alec. “And what's in the box?”
“Oh... Some cans of beer,” he admitted without much trouble, shrugging slightly.
“Beer? You bring beer to school? Wait! You sent a child to get beer for you?” She took a few steps forward, alarmed.
“If you put it that way, it sounds bad. But it was so the other teachers wouldn't notice.” He took a can out of the inside. “I'd offer you some, but I don't think you're old enough to drink.”
“W-Wait. You drink at school? Isn't that illegal?” She asked him, standing in front of the counter.
“Meh, no one comes here, not even the teachers. I don´t like them enough, so I can do whatever I want.” He took a seat in his place, opening the can.
“Don't you think it's bad to drink at 4 in the afternoon?”
“Maybe, but I really don't care at this point in my life.” He took a sip.
“Besides, being here means I can do whatever I want and skip class. It's great!” Fiore laughed softly.
“Skip class? You let her skip class?” She turned to look at Fiore and then saw Alec.
“You complain a lot. Don't you have any friends or anything else to do?” Alec raised an eyebrow.
Ellie remained silent for a few seconds, looking away for a moment. Alec just watched her curiously, while Fiore laughed.
“Ha! She doesn't have any friends!”
“Shut up! It's just... I'm new here.” She shrugged.
“Oh, that explains a lot.” Alec took another sip of his beer.
“How can you keep drinking and acting like that with me here? Wh-What if I report all this to the administration?"
“And why would you do that? You're new, nobody gives a damn about you. They probably won't even listen to you.” Fiore shrugged, not even looking at her.
“That's true.” Alec raised his beer. “Why don't you just relax?”
Ellie remained silent when they both said that, which annoyed her, but at the same time made her wonder. Could that be true? It was obvious that those two had been doing things like this for a while because of their careless attitude. It seemed that no one really cared or knew what these two were doing, which to Ellie was already a sign of how little importance the administration seemed to give to that place. She stood there, relaxing her body and rubbing her right arm, feeling somewhat uncomfortable.
“So... what do I do?”
“How about you start by not saying anything about what you saw here? You're new, you have an advantage over the rest of the idiots at this academy. You can set yourself apart, and if you don't tell anyone, I might put you high on my list of people who aren't idiots.” Fiore smiled mockingly.
“That's right, be different from the rest,” Alec encouraged her half-heartedly, taking another sip of his drink.
“Wow, I'll be considered ‘cool’ by a 10-year-old girl and an alcoholic man. This is what my life has come to,” she said sarcastically.
“Look at it this way, if you don't say anything, we'll let you hang out here as long as you want, you can skip classes and everything,” said Alec, resting both arms on his desk.
“Are you really suggesting I skip class? On my first day?” Ellie looked at him even more indignantly.
“Trust me, you'll get bored with classes quickly. It's better to be here. It's quiet, you have tons of books, and you can laugh at how miserable Alec is.” Fiore tilted her head to point at Alec, smiling wickedly.
“Hey, my life isn't that miserable.”
“You drink beer hidden in the library of a school and your only friend is a 10-year-old girl. It’s miserable and pathetic, Alec. Face it" Fiore raised an eyebrow indifferently.
“Ugh… Yes, my life is miserable,” he lamented, burying his face in his desk.
“So... I—”
But before Ellie could say anything, the school bell rang, causing her to startle slightly and turn to look behind her. Fiore growled softly, pointing her lollipop at the girl.
“Just keep your mouth shut and you can come here whenever you want without anyone saying anything to you. And if I find out you opened your mouth, believe me, I'll do whatever it takes to make you suffer. If you don't believe me, ask that big guy on the football team. He apologized to me on his knees for spilling my juice," the girl said maliciously, narrowing her eyes.
Ellie just swallowed hard at the threat, not knowing why she was a little afraid of a girl. But she shook her head and took one last look at that deplorable place before turning around and walking away, moving the strand of hair that covered part of her face and wondering if it would be a good idea to keep quiet about it, so she just took a deep breath and snorted, leaving the library and trying not to think about it too much.
Once outside, Ellie watched some students walking toward the academy, wondering why they had rung the bell. Among all the students, she noticed someone in particular... A girl with curly brown hair tied in a reddish bun, who, along with other students, was carrying protest signs. Ellie raised an eyebrow, but before she could go down the stairs to approach the group, she heard strange noises coming from the side of the library.
Ellie, overcome with curiosity, walked slowly over to peek and see what was happening. It was then that she saw Reed cornering another student against the tree among the bushes, a student with blue hair tied in a ponytail.
"It's over, Hamilton! You enjoy laughing at me, huh? Now you'll see!"
“Go ahead, do it! By hitting me, you're just proving my point!” the boy challenged him with a mocking smile.
Ellie raised both eyebrows in surprise and some fear at witnessing what was happening, causing her to look around, unable to see any teachers or students nearby. What should she do now?