Trotswold Boarding School

You raise the laminated card to your face, squinting to make out the printed letters that read;

Room 129

Block B

Floor 2

You slide the card into your back pocket and lift your two heavy, black suitcases. You take a few cautious steps towards the gate, attempting to gain balance. Once confident, you walk through the double metal gates and towards the main entrance of the grand boarding school.

You stumble through the main entrance to the reception area and take your time to examine the lavishly designed room. It is a reasonably large, with white marble flooring and white washed smooth stone walls. A large chandelier hangs from the off-white ceiling. There is a small, unlit fire place position on one side of the room with a red Persian rug just in front of it. Three red fabric chairs with wooden legs surround the rug and a variety of potted plants fill the empty areas in the room. Opposite to the fireplace, is a reception desk, made of polished wood that corners off the section of the room. The only way in, or out, of the reception area is through a tight gap, which you don’t plan on going through anytime soon. Behind the desk is a large, plastic filing cabinet. The desk itself is a mess of paper clips, sticky notes and piles of thin paper. Coffee stains sprawl across the desk.

A young woman, in her 20’s and rather slender, taps frantically on a keyboard, in between scribbling notes down on a small notepad. Her hair is a light brown with blond highlights run down her neck. Her face is covered in makeup and she emits the overpowering smell of cheap perfume. She has a grey pencil skirts and an equally grey business jacket with a white blouse underneath it.

You sigh loudly and make your way towards her. You reach the desk and put your bags down and lean on the desk.

…

She doesn’t seem to notice you. You cough loudly and she raises her head slightly from the keyboard. She gives you a onceover before turning her head back down to her computer.

What the…?

“Excuse me?” You ask, slightly annoyed.

She looks up and again and stares at you for a few seconds. She says nothing. You say nothing.

“…Yes?” She asks, tilting her head to one side.

“I’m new here, I was wonderi—“ You don’t have time to finish your sentence.

“Mmmm, yes. You must be…” She mumbles your name and you nod in response.

She taps on her computer and looks up at you and smiles, revealing a set of pearly white teeth.

“You know where your room is?” She questions.

You shake your head in response.

She sighs and rolls her eyes before behind down and picking up a small, folded map of the school. She unravels it and lays it out on the desk.

“We are here,” She says, pointing at a small box and the front of the school, “And your dorm is here.”

You follow her finger to a square on the map; it’s clearly bigger than the reception area but doesn’t seem to be too far away from it. She hands you a pair of keys. You nod and thank her for your help before taking the map and folding it up. She smiles pathetically before lowering her head again. You lift your bags again and make your way to the double doors.

Outside the reception area is a large, circular space with a fountain in the middle of it. It is surrounded by four large buildings, all different sizes. A wide path leads around the back of one of the buildings and leads to the blocks. The entire area is empty and you raise your wrist to your face.

9:47 am. I bet most people are in class.

You wander down the path towards the blocks and inspect each building for its letter.  Your block is only a few feet away from the start of the long path. The blocks aren’t actually blocks. The buildings are connected together and reached along the entire path, ending at the sports track. The only thing that really defines the blocks from each other are the entrances and letters next to them. Each door has a different symbol above them. In total, there are six blocks, each with their own separate symbol.

Your reach your block and push the door open, the powerful blast of the air conditioning flows over your body. The main area of the block is designed in the same way as the reception area, just bigger and a few more seats scattered around the place instead of the desk. At the far end of the room is a lift and a flight of stairs is immediately to the right. You drag your bags to the lift and push the button, making it illuminate.

Fancy.

You wait for a few seconds before the satisfying ding and the slide of the doors reveals the lift. You walk in and press the button, two. The doors slide shut. The lift jerks up, causing you to lose your balance and stumble forwards against the door.

“Floor two. Block B.” A female voice announces as the doors ping open.

You step out and look down the corridor. The walls are cream and the carpet is a dull brown.  You begin to walk down the hall, checking the numbers on each door.

120… 123… 127...

You stop in front of your door and knock lightly. No reply. You raise the key to the lock and slide it in. You pause for a moment before turning the key and pushing the door open. Empty. There are two beds, both with neatly folded bed sheets on.  The bed on the right of the room has a small desk next to it with a small watch and a ‘Daring Doo’ book, with a small piece of torn paper sticking from the top of it, on.

The bed on the left has a set of folded uniform on it with a small greeting note. You drag your bags in and leave them next to door and walk towards the bed. You lift the card up and open it.

We humbly welcome you to Trotswold School.

We thoroughly hope you enjoy your stay.

~Headmistress Celestia

~Deputy Headmistress Luna

“Well isn’t that sweet.” You mumble to yourself before throwing the card towards the bin. You lift the neat uniform off of the bed and move them to the closet.

9:59 am. Time sure does fly when you’re having fun.

You laugh quietly to yourself and smile before yawing loudly.  You decide to have a nap until your roommate came back. Please don’t let him be a complete dick. You climb into bed and drift off to sleep.

You hear the door creak open and you attempt to crack your eyelid open but fail and resort to shifting in your bed.

Maybe a few more minutes…

You hear the faint clicking of gears and manage to peel one of your eyelid apart. The entire room is blurry, but you can see just enough to make out the faint outline of a tall figure. Something above their head begins to glow and they turn away from the mechanical object, which you are unable to define.

Loud music erupts around the room and your entire body shivers with fear. You lurch forward, throwing the covers into the air.

“Welcome to Trotswold!” He screams over the music.

Wait...

You stare in disbelief at the figure standing in front of you.

This school is mixed sex? What the fuck is this shit!?

You continue to stare at the figure standing opposite to you. You blink a few times.

Yup. I was right.

The girl standing in front of you was about 5” 10. Lean body build with pale white skin. Her hair was blue with a thick line of vivid cyan parting the blue into two sides of her head. She wears large, tinted sunglasses and a large smile is riddled on her face. She wore a black t-shirt with a music note in the middle of it. Waves of green cross over the music note. She has tight, ripped jeans on and her high tops rest next to the door.

She drops her back to the floor and turns the music down slightly. The speakers are huge it spreads across the side of the wall next to her bed.

How didn’t I notice that!?

She flops onto her bed. She stares at the ceiling for a while before sitting up, picking up her phone.

Could this be anymore awkward?

Yes. Yes it can be.

A loud knock on the door is barely audible over the sound of the music. The door is flung open and a furious looking girl stampedes into the room and turns the music off. She turns, her face burning with anger.

She’s wearing the schools uniform; a pleated skirt with a black blazer and a white polo. The blazer had a small, stitched badge of the school; the school itself, half of it in darkness, shrouded by the moon, the over half in the light of the sun. On her sleeve is a black orchestral music note. For some reason, she has a bow tie firmly fastened around her neck.

“Vinyl! What did I say about turning your God forsaken music up so loud!?” She screams furiously, walking over to the girl, whose name was apparently Vinyl.

Her ass was right in your face and you blush furiously.

Vinyl raises her sunglasses and smiles.

“Hey Tavy, have you met my new roommate?” She asks, ignoring her question and pointing towards you.

‘Tavy’ entire body freezes and she slowly turns towards you. She scratches the back of her neck and laughs awkwardly.

You stare at her for a few, awkward induced silent seconds before you decide to introduce her.

“Well… I’m-“

Let the bass cannon kick it!

“VINYL!” ‘Tavy’ screamed at the top of her voice.

Vinyl howls with laughter as she turns the music off again.

“Well, anyway… I’m Octavia and I’m sure you’ve met this… menace to music… Vinyl.” Octavia introduces herself and shudders at the mention of Vinyl’s name.

Octavia brushes herself off and returns to her confident manner.

“Anyway… I must be going, the orchestra can’t start without me.” Octavia says, walking towards the door.

She exits the door, but leaves it wide open.  Vinyl tuts loudly and her horn lights with magic and slams the door shut.

Great.

Well, I’m partnered with someone who likes her music and can use magic.

You’d always envied the those who were gifted with flight or magic, but you, yourself, seemed to excel at physical activities.

“Fuck my life.” You whisper.