Good vs. Evil High (5 page)

The round hallway we stepped into was
different than the rest of what I’d seen. The lighting was a bit
softer and the walls were red and velvety, hung with paintings of
little villages and lazy hillsides.

But the first thing that really caught my eye
was the picture of two boys, maybe ten years old, hanging up across
from the elevator door. Arms around one another, they looked
exactly alike and yet totally different. One’s coat was left
unbuttoned and his shirt partially untucked. His hair wasn’t messy
exactly, but definitely untidy. And his smile made me shiver, it
was so cold. The smile of the other brother was perfectly polished
and warm enough to make up for the iciness of the other’s. “That’s
Headmaster when he was a kid,” Harmony said, pointing to the
better-looking one. “The other one’s his brother, headmaster to the
Cinders.”

“I’m glad I got recruited to this school and
not the other one.”

“Me too. Headmaster’s office is right around
the corner.” Harmony led the way to our left. “I remember my first
time up here. It was my thirteenth birthday. I was terrified, but
Headmaster’s really nice. There was no reason to be worried.”

I was glad I wasn’t the only one to start out
that way.

“What did you do to get recruited?” I
asked.

“It’s kind of weird, but there are a lot of
weird stories here...See, I’ve always had this thing for animals. I
used to bring strays back to my foster home until I could find them
their own home. If I was never going to find a family and a home, I
figured at least I could find one for them. No one was ever around
at my foster home, so no one noticed for a long time. I even used
wire cutters to break a bunch of dogs out of the pound. Somehow I
found them all good homes before anyone figured out it was me. I
got in a lot of trouble, but I did what they couldn’t. I got all
those dogs into happy homes and saved their lives. My story made
headlines and got a lot of other kids on their own animal rescue
missions. It’s not as good as yours, but that’s my story...Here we
are.”

We stopped next to a door with a silver
plaque on it that read ‘Headmaster Trey Veziamo’. Harmony knocked
on it.

“Come in,” a man immediately responded.

“I’ll be right here,” Harmony said before she
sat against the hallway’s wall.

Looks like I’m going in alone
. I took
a deep breath and grasped the doorknob, wondering what Headmaster
would be like.

Chapter
Six

~ Headmaster ~

I pushed the heavy door open and since I
didn’t see him anywhere else in the room, I figured the headmaster
was sitting in the tall office chair that was facing away from me
toward the windows. Bright lights were pointed at several grape
plants located in one corner of the room. Next to the plants, a row
of messy shelves and cabinets hung on the wall. The opposite wall
had photos of teenagers tacked all over it.

As my eyes rested on the desk, clean and
empty except for a laptop and con, the chair spun around. The man
sitting in it reminded me a little of Albert Einstein—his hair,
anyway. And his pastel blue suit was terribly outdated. It looked
like it belonged in the same time period the childhood photo had
been taken in.

“Please, sit down,” he said with a smile. So
I sat in the flowered, old chair in front of his desk. Headmaster
spent a couple of minutes staring at my face, making me extremely
uncomfortable. The silence was only broken when he asked, “Why did
you risk your life to save the little girls in your orphanage?”

“Oh, um...” It seemed like a strange
question.
Who wouldn’t have saved them? Every other girl and
woman there,
I answered myself. “They might’ve burned to death,
and no one else would help them. I had to.”

“But
why
did you have to?”

“They would have suffered. They were alone
and scared. Even the ladies responsible for them left them for
dead. I
had
to.”

“And what if you had died?”

“Theennn I would have died.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

“I...I don’t know. But I couldn’t leave them
alone like that. I couldn’t just do nothing.”

He watched me quietly for another minute
more. “As soon as I heard your story I became curious. My students
who went to get you sent their reports. It seems you have a heart
of gold. The world needs more people like you in it. I’m delighted
to have you here at North Haven High School.”

“Thank you.”

He opened his drawer behind his desk and
pulled out a glossy black and white box. “This is for you.” I
opened it and saw a much smaller silver box inside. My own con.
“It’s programmed to respond only to whomever first touches it...Go
on, then,” Headmaster said.

“You want me to touch it?” For some reason,
the con made me nervous...all those shiny, sharp blades.

“Yes, if you want one of your own. Life’s a
lot easier with it.”

I
did
want one. It would just take
some getting used to. I reached out and barely touched it with the
tip of my middle finger before I yanked it away.

The blades came out and it flew up as it
opened. “Hello, Kristine,” Connie said when it was through.

“Hello.”

“You can call on your con any time you have
any questions or need to be connected to a classmate,” Headmaster
said. “It will help you navigate the castle as well, but for now,
you might want to put it away. Just say Kristine Con, return.”

“Kristine Con, return.” I held out my hand as
it began folding up.

“You’ll find everything else you may need in
your room, except for food. You’ll have to visit the cafeteria for
that. It’s open from six in the morning to ten o’clock at night.
Exceptions are made when you’re sick, of course. Miss McCree will
bring you meals when this occurs.

“Now, I’ll need to create a class schedule
tailored specifically to you. What sort of things do you enjoy
doing?”

I had to think about it because no one had
asked me that in a long time. Life in the orphanage was all work
and no play. If we weren’t reading incredibly boring historical
books or doing our homework, we were cleaning, doing laundry,
washing dishes, or doing more cleaning.

I smiled when I thought of my mother. “I used
to love to bake. I haven’t done it in years, but it used to be my
favorite thing to do with my mom.”

Headmaster smiled back. “Good, good. What
else?”

“Painting used to be a lot of fun. I have a
notebook I sketch in at school, sometimes.” I realized something at
that moment. “It must’ve gone up in the fire.”

“I’m afraid it probably did. I’ll make sure
you get a new one.”

“Really? Thanks!” That was so kind of
him.

“And what were your favorite subjects in
school?”

“Well, I’m good with numbers. Math kind of
comes naturally, but science is my favorite subject, biology in
particular. I love understanding the way every living thing works.
But I hate history. It’s always been my worst subject because I
can’t make myself care about it. And it’s really boring.”

“We have advanced biology and other science
courses if you feel prepared for them.”

“Absolutely! In school, I always read science
books and magazines every chance I got. Ms. Wendy never let us take
anything home, but I’ve kept a one hundred average in science since
Kindergarten. I even averaged a hundred and two in the fourth
grade.”

Headmaster chuckled. “That’s wonderful. I’m
afraid we’re a bit opposite. The gears inside my head refuse to
turn for science, but history really gets them going. It’s nice to
see someone who shares such enthusiasm for any part of
academics.”

“I’m sorry.” Here I was, making fun of one of
my rescuer’s favorite things.

“No, no. It’s quite all right. If someone
asked me about my favorite subjects, I’d have as much to say about
science as you do about history. We’re all made differently with
different talents and interests.

“Which brings me to my next question. Have
you given much thought to what you might like to do with your
future? See, here at North Haven High School, we try to do
everything possible to prepare our students for when we set them
free in the world.”

“You mean when we leave this place?” I’d
barely even gotten there, and already I never wanted to leave.

“Yes. Usually when adolescents become adults,
they’re ready to go out on their own, take life by the reigns and
ride it wholeheartedly. Each student is required to take the basic
science, history, math, and English courses, but we try to focus on
what you will need in the profession you desire to undertake, and
the things you enjoy.”

“So when I turn eighteen, I’ll have to
leave?” And go back into the cruel, lonely world?

“Only if you want to. Obviously, it takes a
lot of people to keep this school going. And every member of our
staff was once a student, one who found a home here and could never
bring themselves to leave it. Ms. McCree and Mr. Westhyme, the
teachers and cooks, all were once North Haven students. We have two
doctors, a dentist, a few nurses, and those in charge of finding
recruits and taking care of the legal paperwork required to make
them disappear and later reappear to the rest of the world. And of
course it takes a lot of helping hands to keep this place clean.
You could certainly be one of the faithful few if you decide it’s
what you want.”

That was a huge relief, because I knew I
would never change my mind about wanting to stay. But I really
didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. For the last several
years, at least, every day was about getting through to the next
one. A lot of things sounded like fun, but I didn’t know what I
would truly love and be happy waking up to every morning. And I
wanted to do something for the school. “I know you need an answer,
but could I maybe think about it for a day or two?”

“Absolutely. I don’t need an answer right
away. I always ask because some students come in here knowing
exactly what they want in life. And others don’t. You’ve given me
enough to create a schedule for your first semester here. And
really, I won’t need to create one until we return from Winter
Competitions. Only three days remain in this semester. Then we
prepare for our departure for the south. It would be pointless to
enroll you in any courses yet. You can accompany Harmony to hers
until then, though. It will give you a chance to make some new
friends and meet the teachers. How about if you come back here to
meet with me Saturday morning around eight o’clock? That will give
you a few days to think about it, and even if you’re still unsure,
I’ll be able to give you your schedule for next semester and speak
with you again.”

“Okay.”

“Why don’t you and Harmony go ahead and see
your new room? Let her know she’ll be excused from her first
class.”

“All right. Thank you, Headmaster. I’m really
grateful to be here at your school.”

He just nodded, so I stood up and left his
office

Chapter
Seven

~ Track Star ~

“We have reached the girls’ living quarters,
destination of Harmony and Kristine,” Connie said as the elevator
slowed to a stop.

The room was now empty except for a woman
folding towels. A few long white couches were placed around the
open area with stacks of books on end tables beside them. Book
shelves filled with more books or games were placed against some of
the walls. Hallways led off to our left and right.

“This is the west wing girls’ living
quarters,” Harmony said. “I’ve never been to the east wing, but I
bet the girls’ quarters are about the same over there. We’re down
the hallway right in the middle there, second door on the
left.”

Second door on the left, gotta remember
that
. But once I saw the door, I knew it wouldn’t matter if I
forgot which door it was or not, because I would never have trouble
finding it. A painting of the Eiffel Tower stretched from the top
of the door to the bottom, and tiny handbags had been hung all
around it.

“Sassy did that,” Harmony told me. She
reached for the doorknob. “She was the first one of us recruited,
and it’s never bothered Nadine or me, so that’s our door.”

“I love it. Did she make those bags
herself?”

“Yeah, she—She’s already here. What are you
two doing here?”

Sassy and Nadine were sitting on the bottom
bunk on the right side of the room, looking at a magazine together.
“Miss McCree said we were excused from first period. That way we
can all go to physical fitness together,” Sassy said.

I walked over to them so I could stare at the
larger scale painting of what I’d seen on the door that began at
the top bunk above them and went right up to the ceiling.

“I’m going to be a fashion designer in Paris
someday,” Sassy said. “I can’t wait to open my own line of shoes
and accessories. Are you into fashion, Kristine?”

“I don’t know. All I’ve had to wear since my
mom died is what was donated to the orphanage. Fashion’s never
really been an option.” Although if it had been, I’m not really
sure it would have been my thing. I care about my appearance, but
comfort seems more important than the latest fashion trend. And I
couldn’t see how it mattered here, anyway, since everyone wore the
same thing.

“Most orphans have that problem. I was lucky
enough to get a big back-to-school shopping trip once a year with
the foster mom I had two years before I came here. She was
okay.”

“So you plan on leaving North Haven when you
turn eighteen?”

“Yeah, most kids do. It’s a great place, but
I wanna see the world and have a family of my own someday.”

“Are you all leaving?”