Chapter Six

Chapter six

The next few days were glorious. The weather was just slight of frigid, and the food was amazing. As promised Blake showed them around the grounds. Joined by at least half of the other boys and a few girls. Terrence and Michelle appeared to be getting very close, and when Michelle wasn’t within earshot, all the boys would tease Terrence. He ignored them, and then proceeded to pelt them with pine cones.

They all kept their distance from Lye, and she seemed to know that. Every time they tried to avoid her, there she was. She was always late at dinner time, and she almost always had her eyes on Peter. She also tended to pick on poor George, she even made him cry once.

“I don’t like her. She’s weird, creepy, and cruel.” Everyone had agreed with Terrence on this.

A pine cone scraped across Peter’s face, raising him from his daze.

“Hey Pete, what’s the matter?” Hayden asked him. Peter shrugged.

“Nothing, I’ve just been thinking.”

Hayden shook his head. “You’ve been in a daze since we got here.” He said. He clapped his hand on Peter’s shoulder and gave him a sympathetic look. “Are you feeling homesick?” He asked. Peter responded with a shake of his head. “Then what’s wrong?”

“Lye.” This one word sparked understanding in Hayden’s eyes. He nodded.

“I understand, that girl is not normal.” Everyone would agree with Hayden. Peter ran his hand through his brown hair. “Brush it off man, and hurry up. We’re going into the village today!”

Askren village, it looked like something you would have found in a history book. Except none of the buildings looked ready to fall to the ground from years of use and weather damage. The air was suddenly chilly and they all pulled their coats tighter to their bodies. Wit, Olly and Blake waved at an elderly man outside of the general store. Strangely the man didn’t wave back, in fact he scowled.

“Old Handly isn’t a teen lover.” A voice muttered in Peter’s ear. Peter jumped and turned to find Declan behind him, Declan didn’t blink. “What, did I scare you?” He tilted his head to one side.

“No.” Peter responded, shaking his head.

“Oi! Come check this out!” Olly cried, he was standing in the door of a store and guesting for the group to follow him. Terrence caught Peter’s arm as they followed Olly’s disappearing form.

“Oi?” He whispered in Peter’s ear.”

“It’s a British thing.” Peter whispered back. Terrence snorted and shoved his way through the doorway. “Woah.” Peter said as he looked around the room. The shelves around them were stocked with shelves and shelves of candy and sweets.

“Welcome to the best, and only sweet shop in Askren Village!” Olly announced, throwing his arms wide. A middle aged couple stood behind a counter and laughed at Olly’s dramatic declaration. “Now, remember Americans the money here in England is different the at home.” Dave stretched to his full 6 foot-infinity height as he stepped through the door.

“This is home.” He said, his British accent proving what he said to be true. Olly rolled his eyes and headed to the wall of licorice. The next hour was spent roaming the shelves and asking what the strange sweets were.

“Hello dear.” The lady said as Peter stepped up to the counter.

“Hello.” He responded, giving her a small smile. He dug his wallet out of his pocket and paid for his sweets. “Have you been here long?” He asked her. The lady nodded.

“Oh yes, my husband and I inherited this store from my parents.” He smiled and nodded. “Have you?” She asked him.

“No, I’ve only been here a few days. I’m going to school with my friends at Dark Side Manor Academy.” An ear drum shattering shriek filled the store. Peter jumped back as the woman started screaming. Her husband rushed to her side.

“What’s the matter dear.” He asked her gently. The woman pointed a shaking finger at Peter.

“These are not children! They are from that place.” He voice was a trembling accusation. Declan grabbed Peter’s arm and pulled him back towards the doorway.

“We should go.” He said yanking Peter out of the building. The group crowded in a circle in the middle of the street. Peter and Declan joined them. “Alright everyone, we didn’t make the rules clear. In fact we didn’t tell you the rules. Never tell anyone in the village that you go to Dark Side Manor Academy. People here don’t like the school, they believe the tales and legends told about it. Therefore the people that go there, that’s us, are not liked very much. You have to be careful who you talk to.” Declan said, he turned and started back walking in the direction of the school. “We should head back.” He said. The newbies grumbled all the way back to the manor. Peter stayed silent. He couldn’t get the woman’s screams, her accusation, and Declan’s words out of his head. He turned over in his mind the burning question.

Why?

§***§

On the morning that classes began none of the newbies could eat. As they slung their backpacks over their shoulders, preparing to walk out the front doors, Lye brushed past. She stung them with another acerbic comment.

“Have fun getting lost.” Her voice was lowered to what seemed to be a growling whisper.

“I shouldn’t, but I really hate her.” Jerald nodded in agreement with Michelle’s cold-toned confession.

The walk to the school took about eight minutes, the air chilled with the promise of winter. The group arrived at the school, pausing they scanned the courtyard. There were hundreds of teens, running, laughing, talking, and entering the doors.

Peter, Phillip, Jerald, Terrence, Hayden and Aden were all in the same classes and they actually did get lost before their first class. A tall lanky boy pointed them in the right direction.

“Was it just me, or did he remind you of Mr. Roblin?” Aden asked his friends as they started walking again. Phillip gave Aden a thoughtful look.

“He actually did” Phillip responded.

Their first class was on the second floor, corridor six, room four. The large room was made up of pale yellow walls and a cream colored floor. More than forty desks, not including the larger dark desk in the front, stood in two divided sections. The larger desk was accompanied by a large chalkboard that was nailed to the wall. There were also four round tables, two on each side of the entrance at the very back.

They all walked down the aisle and took their seats located in the middle left. The chairs filled quickly and a soft bell ringed. The door opened again and down the aisle walked the teacher. She had wild curly red hair and green eyes, her skin was pale and she stood at a slender six feet tall. As she approached her desk she turned lightly on the balls of her feet to address her class. Her voice was sharp yet dull.

“My name is Mrs. Light, I am your first period teacher. In here you can finish any homework you have not, and complete your project hours.” She cleared her throat before continuing.

“Project hours are a necessary part of your education here. Not only do they prepare you for some of your classes, but they also work on mental strength, trust, creativity, and other necessary skills and characteristics.

“Since this is your first class and I see several unfamiliar faces today we will do a small paper on who you are.” She looked down at the clipboard she was holding in her thin hands. Without looking up she said,

“Ah, Miss Moon, you grace us with your presence.” Her voice was scathing and sarcastic, Lye brushed it off with a small toss of her head. She walked towards the empty seat in the front, as she passed the row Peter was sitting on she looked at him and winked. He gripped the sides of his desk and stared at his reflection in the smooth wood.

“Any road,” Mrs. Light said, she was walking by the desks dropping a piece of notebook paper on each of the flat surfaces. “Write a small paragraph about yourself, your name, where you came from, some of your favorite things maybe. You have thirty minutes, go” Peter’s heart finally started beating normally again and his breath returned to its usual autonomic pace. Thirty minutes passed quickly, when Peter put down his pencil, Lye stood up. Everyone looked at each other confused. Then bell rang. As the class filed out a brunette girl with coffee colored skin turned to the blonde girl next to her.

“What was that all about?” She asked her friend. Jerald turned around, tilted his head up to look at the girl, and said.

“She’s psychic.” The brunette girl looked at him quizzically. At that exact moment Wit walked by.

“Hey guys” Wit said, clapping Jerald on the shoulder. “What are you talking about?” He asked.

The brunette answered. “They say that a girl here is a psychic”

“Lye? Why yes, she indeed is psychic. I’ve been going to school, and living with her for about,” he whistled “Oh, about four years.” The two girls looked up at the blonde haired, blue eyed, tall mass of muscle that was Wit. The blonde girl managed to stammer out, in a clear American tone.

“I, I thought that this was only age fourteen and up.” Wit shook his head.

“Nope, ages eleven and up can be accepted. Although you have to be really smart to get in earlier, like me.” He hooked his thumb at his chest and gave them all a lopsided grin.

“Yeah, sure.” Hayden said rolling his eyes, he didn’t put up with Wit’s wittiness like everyone else did. Wit pretended to be wounded, then he laughed and looked at his watch.

“Crap, I’m going to be late.” He took two steps backwards, “See you guys at supper” and then he was off.

For the six friends English was next, it was on the third floor, corridor eleven, room six.

The stairs were agonizing, since the school had been built before the 1800’s there were no elevators. There were several staircases on the right side of the school alone, and if you didn’t pay attention you could easily get lost. Luckily there were several maps at each landing so that wasn’t too terribly hard.

By the time the group arrived at their classroom class had already started. The teacher didn’t even look at them, he merely pointed at the six empty seats and said.

“Worksheet one please.” He referred to the white grammar books on each of the desks.

“Man, that was embarrassing” Hayden murmured in Peter’s ear before they sat down, Peter silently agreed.