“Welcome to Angel Academy,” he sighed wearily. “Hopefully you will learn plenty of useful things here, like how to look after your things. I’ll let you off this time, considering you’re new, but for future reference I do not tolerate people being late. If you are going to be late, then I would rather you don’t bother coming to my lesson at all. Now, take a seat. Hopefully this disruption won’t have derailed my entire lesson.”
He gestured to the tables that were laid out in a U-shape. All the other students had their notebooks out and were looking at the teacher eagerly. Professor Shackleton leaned against his desk. His arms were folded across his chest and he continued talking even though I hadn’t taken my seat yet. I scanned the faces of my classmate, they were all strangers save one; sitting at a corner was the boy from the library who had smiled to me. I felt a flush prickle my cheeks as I took a seat next to him. He gave a me comforting look as if to say ‘we’ve all been there’, although he d
ared not speak in case he would draw Professor Shackleton’s wrath.
*
Once I had settled in I found myself enjoying the lesson. Professor Shackleton didn’t hide any gruesome or grisly truths from the historical world and I learned plenty of interesting facts over the course of the lesson, and my appetite was whetted for more. Thankfully I didn’t make any other errors during class, and I even managed to contribute to a discussion, which I hoped would improve my standing in Professor Shackleton’s eyes. As we were packing up, the boy spoke to me.
“I wouldn’t worry about it too much, he’s like that with all the new students. I’m Josh by the way.
“ Elsa,” I nodded.
“I saw you in the library yesterday, right?”
“Yeah, that was me. I just got accepted. Things move pretty quickly around here.”
“They don’t like to waste time,” Josh chuckled. “Have you got your dorm sorted out yet?”
“I’m not actually staying here. I live near the city.”
“Oh, okay. How are you finding the academy so far?” We gathered our belongings and left the group. Other people fell into conversation with each other and left in their social groups. I was glad that Josh had started a conversation with me as I didn’t want to feel like a lost little girl all over again.
“It’s big, and I think it’s going to take some getting used to, but I like the feel of it so far. I’m looking forward to learning and improving myself so we’ll see how it goes. I have already made an enemy though.”
“Oh really? That’s impressive. I’d love to know who, unless it’s me I mean, I don’t think I’ve done anything to piss you off so far but I’ve been known to be mistaken before.” He held his hands up and I found his easy humor pleasing.
“No, it’s not you. You’re safe…for now,” I said, laughing myself. “It’s a girl named Julia?”
“Ah yes, Julia,” Josh said knowingly. He had soft blonde hair and carried himself with easy confidence, as though he knew who he was and what he wanted from life. He was around six feet, so I had to crane my neck up to look at him, and his eyes were blue. His skin was pale, and from the way most people looked around here it seemed they were all focused on their studies, as only a few of them looked as though they got any sun.
“You know her?”
“Everyone around here knows Julia. She likes to think of herself as the Queen Bee, which is why she surrounds herself with her friends and she knows how to wrap the faculty around her little finger, which is why she’s confident at getting away with so much. How did you manage to get her attention so quickly? It usually takes at least a few weeks for people to get on her radar.”
“I was walking into the dining hall and I wasn’t looking where I was going, so I crashed into her and all her food went over her.”
Josh laughed heartily. “So that’s why she smelled of meatballs yesterday! Well, I can certainly see why she has you in her crosshairs.”
“Yeah, she’s the reason I was late for the lesson. She intercepted me and told me that she’s going to make this place hell.”
“Yep, that sounds like Julia alright.”
“I don’t know what to do. My first instinct was to throttle her, but I know that’s not going to do me any good in the long run. I don’t want to end up on the bad side of Headmaster Griff. I haven’t built up enough credit in the bank to survive something like that.”
“No, you haven’t, and Julia would make sure that you’re shown in the worst possible light. But she’ll get bored with you eventually, you just might have to put up with some snide comments until then.”
“Great, something else to worry about.”
“Hey, at least you don’t live here. You get to go home. It would be much worse if you were in a dorm with her.”
I shuddered. “Don’t give me nightmares.”
“Do you have any classes now? If not I’m going to hang out with Troy and Adam; you’re welcome to join us.”
“That would be great, thanks. I haven’t had a chance to make any friends yet. I was hoping to go outside and explore the gardens some more, if you fancied a walk?”
“Oh, that’s very kind, but I try and stay away from the gardens, especially during the day. I have pretty bad allergies.”