Chapter four
Without another word Declan walked through the door into a room identical to the one where they had met Mr. Roblin and Donte. However this room had tall wooden doors which was unnatural, since they looked like the belonged on the exterior rather than the interior. As the group walked towards them they opened, automatically, into a grand room.
The walls were a dark red-pink curly-cue pattern, and the floor was a dark wood. There was a single long, dark wooden table, spanning almost the entire length of the room. It was in the very center, beneath two gold and crystal chandlers; and surrounded by more than thirty chairs.
“Welcome to the dining room, where you will eat breakfast and dinner, no snacking cook won’t like that.” As he said this he indicated a few spare platters with fruit, cheese, and bread on the table.
“Then why does he put them out?” Another boy in the room, who was sitting in one of the chairs, looked up from his book and answered Aden.
“To test your willpower?” He laughed and then said to the kids who were about to start laughing too. “I’m serious, he has a thing for life lessons, and wants us to exercise willpower with food. Which is also his passion.” He stood up, walked to the cluster of newbies. He stopped in front of Daniela and gently kissed her hand which greatly shocked her.
“I am Wince. You are obviously the newbies, welcome to Dark Side Manor. I’m 100% positive that you’ve met Lye? She always knows the exact time the newbies are going to arrive and she scares them with the same line every year.”
He shifted his weight onto one hip and leaned against the table in a very girly way. “This is a loony bin, psychotic death wish, blah blah blah etcetera. She also picks one newbie to scare the crap out of with her psychic powers.” Peter, who had been admiring the chandeliers looked at him.
“She does that every year?” Peter asked, Wince nodded and said,
“And I’m guessing that was you? What’s your name?”
“Peter.”
“Ah, Peter. Yeah she does that every year, and I assume that Declan told you her name, and about her psychic-ness, and Donte and Eloy forgot to tell Anthony about the newbies. Declan showed you the parlor and the dining room and is going to show you were your rooms are. Am I correct?” He smiled as everyone nodded, “That’s what I thought.”
“Since your being all, ‘I know best’ Why don’t you take half of the rooms?”
“Sure, I’ll take your job. Again.” Declan and Wince made eye contact, and they seemed to share a look of deep hatred, as Declan handed him a piece of paper. Wince looked at his piece of paper.
“Looks like I’ll be showing the lovely ladies their rooms,” He winked at Daniela, Declan rolled his eyes. Wince pretended not to see and made a deep bow at all the girls, they all giggled.
“Shall we?” Michelle smiled at Terrence before she joined the other girls in following Wince. Jerald nudged Terrence with his elbow, Terrence blushed and turned to Declan.
“Are you and Wince enemies or something?” Terrence asked, Declan sighed.
“Not exactly, its, it’s complicated.” He shook his head as if to throw a thought out of his mind. “Come on, I’m sure you all want to get settled.”
They went back through the giant doors, through the entrance room, and came out into the stair room. Declan lead the boys down the hall towards the grandfather clock. He pulled out his piece of paper, which apparently had room assignments.
“In room one,” He indicated the room on the right the closest to the stairs as he spoke “Is, Jackson Whine” He laughed a bit then tried to cover it up with a cough. “Sorry, and also, Jerald Artison, and the two other guys you’ll be sharing with have been here two years already.” Jerald gave his friends a quick smile and followed the tall blonde guy into room one, they were greeted by two voices yelling.’Hey there!’
“In room two, Jack Linu , George Watson, Andison Pete and Phillip Russel.” He took two steps backward to the next set of doors. “Room three is Daniel Baker, Jay Palmer, and Terrence Whye. Room four…” They went all the way down the hall, until room seventeen and eighteen. “Seventeen is Bradly Simps, and Andy Taylor.” Well that was odd, the boys who were left were Aden, Hayden, Peter, and Dave, but they could tell there was at least two guys in room eighteen. “Alright you four, room eighteen is the largest room on this floor. It was originally a study so you will be sharing with Wit, Olly, and Blake”
Declan opened the door and showed a room that was indeed, very large. The floor was a light, hard wood, and the walls were a rich blue with silver patterns. There were three sets of bunk beds and one single bed; a guy with white-blonde hair was bouncing on the single bed. He was chatting with a guy that was about Aden’s height with black hair. They were laughing when the blonde boy noticed Declan and the other boys. He jumped off the bed and landed with a soft thump on the floor.
“How are you?” He extended his hand to Aden, then Dave, when he shook Hayden and Peter’s hands he had to lower his arm to them he was so tall. “The name’s Wit”
“Peter”
“Hayden”
“Aden”
“Dave”
The black haired boy spoke, his voice was thick with a British accent. “Well Peter, Hayden, Aden, and Dave. Welcome to Dark Side Manor. The name’s Olly. I was born here in Askren Village.” Declan and Wit both gave exasperated sighs and shook their heads at the same time.
“Why is that a piece of information you always find necessary to tell newbies?” Declan asked.
“Well, Declan, my dear friend. It is necessary because I am implying that on weekends, when we are actually allowed to go to the village, that I can show them about.”
Dark Side Manor 