Tompkin's School (For The Extraordinarily Talented Book 1) (4 page)

The boys left and I entered the girl's dorm and was surprised to find that the inside was even more beautiful than the outside. It felt like a castle. I saw a door that held a sign labeled “monitor” above the entrance and I made my way over to the door and knocked.

“Come in!” A cheerful voice called from inside.

I entered the monitor's office which had bright white walls and furniture. It had been decorated in dark maroon to contrast with the white and it also had paintings of Siberian tigers. Just like the main office had been. I was noticing a pattern. The room had a huge window at one end that looked out onto the perfectly manicured lawn.

The lady was sitting at her desk and immediately stood when I entered. She looked very young, twenty five at the most. She wore a cute white pencil skirt and a white cotton shirt that she topped off with a navy blue cardigan.

“Hi, I’m Sheila," she greeted, offering her hand, “you must be the transfer student? I believe I was told to expect an Izara Torvik?”

“That’s me, but it’s Izzy for short,” I answered.

“Nice to meet you!” She smiled.

“You, too,” I replied.

“Well, have a seat,” she said, as she motioned towards the seat in front of her desk, “actually there’s another girl who is transferring in and I think you two would be perfect roommates.”

She shuffled through a couple of papers and found the one that she was looking for.

“Okay,” she finally began, "so her name is… wow a very long name and she is transferring from Florida. I don’t believe she has arrived yet, but she should be here later on today. I think I’ll put you girls in room S12. Of course ya’ll will be in the Sophomore hall.”

“That sounds perfect,” I said, enthusiastically.

“Well,” she replied, standing up, “let’s take a tour of the place and get you settled in.”

She led the way out of her office and down another hall which led to a huge staircase that was carpeted all in maroon velvet with a mahogany hand railing.

“There are a lot of hallways and stairs,” she warned, "but you’ll get used to it. The Senior hall is on the first floor, but we just past that. The door right there leads to the Junior Hall, which is two floors.”

We kept going and it seemed like the hallways would never end. I had no idea how I was supposed to remember all of this. It was incredible that this Academy was able to keep itself hidden from the roads because it was so huge!

We finally reached the Sophomore Hall and stopped in front of room S12.

“So,” she announced, standing outside the door, “this is your place!”

She handed me a room key and stepped aside to let me unlock the door. I took the key and slowly opened the mahogany door. Sheila followed me through the door and we entered a rather large room with two twin beds, one on the right wall next to the window with a desk beside it and the other pushed up against the wall next to the door with an identical desk next to it. The closet was on the left which took up the entire wall and looked as if it had more than enough space for all the luggage of two girls.

The far wall had a huge window that covered the whole wall and was decorated with heavy black drapes, which was definitely good because I couldn’t sleep with any amount of light shining through.

“Curfew is at 10:30 on school nights,” Sheila said, coming to stand next to me, "midnight on Friday and Saturday nights. Oh, and bathrooms are down the hall. Think this’ll work for you?”

“Are you kidding? It’s perfect!” I replied.

“Great,” she smiled, "so if you need anything or have any questions, you know where to find me.”

“Thank you,” I called over my shoulder as she left.

I met up with the guys soon after and began unpacking the truck. I could see a lot more students were arriving and it made me super excited. I was surprised to find so many people that came here weren’t even from Oklahoma! I don’t know what I was expecting, maybe like log cabins and hillbillies. But that was so not the case and I was glad.

After several trips, I finally brought all of my things up to the Sophomore Hall. When I got to my room with the last of it, I found that my door was already open. I put my bags next to all of my other things and slowly walked into the room.

A tall, thin girl with Asian features and maroon highlighted hair was dancing around to a catchy song as she hung a shirt in the closet. She suddenly froze when she saw me.

“Oh!” She exclaimed, “Hey! You must be my roommate.”

She leaped forward, taking my hand.

“I’m Kia,” she said, “well, that’s my nickname. My real name is Kiatsu Keorattanavong, which is
way
too complicated to remember or even pronounce, but everyone calls me Kia! What’s yours?”

“I’m Izara, but Izzy for short,” I smiled, “nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you, too!” She smiled back, “So, I hope you don’t mind taking the bed by the window? I don’t know, I kinda prefer this bed.”

I noticed that she already had a laptop on her desk as well as a very sophisticated speaker system. Her bed was made with a pink floral comforter topped with other various throw pillows.

“No problem," I replied.

“Here,” she said, bouncing towards the door, “let me help you with your things.”

Together we brought in my four suitcases and put them next to my bed.

“Hey,” she said, suddenly, “do you mind if I ask you if that’s your natural hair color?”

“No, I don‘t mind,” I laughed, “and yes it is natural.”

“Wow!" She exclaimed, “because usually people with blue eyes have lighter hair, or brown hair. But not black! That’s awesome!”

“Thanks!” I laughed.

I suddenly noticed a picture of her on a stage dressed in an elaborate costume.

“Were you in a play?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she answered, “I was a member of my school’s drama club back at my old school.”

“No way!” I exclaimed, "So, was I!”

“Really?” She squealed, "That’s so cool. What a coincidence!”

“I know!” I replied.

“But I can’t believe I had to transfer,” she added.

“Tell me about it," I agreed, sitting on my bed, "I was going to be the president!”

“Wow,” she replied, “that sucks! Where did you transfer from?”

“New York," I told her, "I heard you transferred from Florida?”

“Yes I did,” she smiled, “Miami baby!”

“Nice,” I laughed, "and now we’re in Oklahoma.”

“Ugh," Kia sighed.

“I know the feeling, ” I agreed.

“So, are you going to try out for the drama club here?” She asked.

“They have a drama club here?” I replied.

“Yeah, totally,” she said.

“Then definitely!” I exclaimed, “There’s no way I’m going to miss that. When are they?”

“I think there’s going to be a signup sheet in the monitor’s office,” she said, "and I think the tryouts are a few days from now.”

It seemed this school wasn’t going to be so bad after all and my roommate and I actually did have a lot in common!

“By the way, who’s this playing?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s old school K-pop,” she laughed, “I got a thing for Korean music and this band’s called Shinhwa. Do you mind?”

“No way, it‘s actually kinda cool,” I replied.

“Really? Most people think it’s weird,” she said, surprised.

“It‘s okay, I like some weird stuff, too,” I laughed.

“Like what?” She asked.

“Well, it’s usually French music. The band BB Brunes is my most recent favorite,” I replied, “along with the normal stuff, of course.”

“Of course,” she agreed.

I finished unpacking my things, placing my laptop and school supplies on my desk and making my bed with my green Egyptian cotton sheets and black comforter. It seemed as if this was going to be a great year and I was going to enjoy every minute of it.

Suddenly, my cell phone began to ring. It was Kain.

⎼“Hey," I answered.

⎼
“
Get out here, sis
,” Kain responded, “
it’s almost time for orientation.

⎼
“Coming!” I replied.

“Hey, Kia,” I said, turning to my roommate who was still dancing around, “do you wanna come to orientation with us?”

“Yeah, let’s go!” She smiled, “Let me get my shoes.”

After gathering a few things, we headed out of our room and bounded down the stairs. When we reached the front door of the girl's dorm I saw Lee and Kain waiting for me.

“Who’s that?” Kia whispered, nodding towards my brother.

“That’s my twin brother, Kain,” I replied, "and that’s Lee.”

“He’s
cute
!" She squealed, nodding towards Kain.

“Gross! Stop it, that’s my brother!” I laughed, as we left the dorm, “Hey guys!”

“Hey,” Lee said, "let’s get to the auditorium.”

“Hi!” Kia smiled, bouncing beside me, “I’m Kia, Izzy’s new roommate.”

“You new here?” Lee asked.

“I just transferred from Florida!” Kia replied.

“I’m Lee,” he added, "welcome to the Academy.”

“Thanks!” She said, "And you must be Kain?”

“Yeah,” my brother replied.

“Nice to meet you all!” She cheered.

After the introductions we all headed towards the auditorium that was already filling up with other students. The auditorium was huge and very nice, to say the least. It looked like it was some sort of opera house! The seats were made out of fine, maroon velvet that matched the stage’s curtain. It had dark wood floors and everything was accented by silver frames and edges. It was utterly and inexplicably gorgeous.

Once it seemed that everyone had found their seats the lights dimmed and a small band began to play some sort of Mozart piece. When they were finished the curtains opened, revealing several important looking people. One I recognized as Principle Chomsky, but I had no idea who the others were.

“Welcome,” Ms. Chomsky began, her face barely shifting into a smile, “I would like to take this time to welcome once again all of you who are returning to the Academy.”

She paused only for a moment, gazing out at all of us staring right back at her.

“And for those,” she continued, “who are just starting their first term here I wish you all the very best. Our school believes in hard work, discipline, and we pride ourselves in providing our students with an educational stimulus that which can only be provided by immersing oneself into learning…”

She droned on and on as if we were all interested in what she was saying. I looked towards the others and almost laughed as a boy nodded to sleep, his head just inches away from resting on Kain’s shoulder. Kain nudged the guy away who sat up with a start.

“Is this woman boring or what?” I gasped.

“I wonder if we actually have to be here,” Kia said, mostly to herself.

The microphone suddenly squawked, making me cover my ears for a moment. I looked up at the speaker, who wore an exasperated expression. I hoped that she was almost finished.

“We have many wonderful teachers,” the lady continued, as if nothing had happened, “to my right, Steven Raper and Kevin Johnson head up the Math department. Sheldon Webber and Sheldon White cover our History department…”

“Hey, Lee,” I whispered, “is it like this every year?”

“Every single year,” he replied, rolling his eyes, “I’ve basically memorized her entire speech backwards and forwards.”

“I look forward to it,” I laughed.

He laughed, too, playfully elbowing me in the shoulder.

I turned back towards the stage and suddenly noticed a tall, slight man with thinning white hair and pallid skin that clung to his skull as if it was about to fall off. It was actually scary how skinny he was, but that was not what had caught my attention.

What I couldn’t stop looking at were his
eyes
! It didn’t look like they had any color, just glassy whiteness staring blankly into…nothingness. Was he
alive
? His head seemed to be too small for his body. Even though his body was not even that big to begin with, only sickeningly skinny and tall. But what made him look even stranger was the fact that he had an abnormally long neck that seemed better suited for a Giraffe.

“Who is
that
?” I asked Lee, pointing towards the guy.

“Yeah, I know,” he shrugged, as if he felt the same way, “scary, right?”

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“That’s Professor Valkyrien,” he informed, “he’s been here forever, and I mean
forever
.”

“He’s like a skeleton,” I commented, “how can you stand taking classes with him?”

“Eh it’s not too bad. Maybe we’ll both have the same class with him this year,” he winked.

I just laughed, not really wanting to be in the same room as that scary old man.

The whole thing was finally over and as we made our way towards the exit, I noticed how diverse all the students were. Some had to have come from all over the world and that was impressive for a school all the way in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma. We followed Lee out of the auditorium and a couple of guys came over to join us. I gaped in astonishment as they got closer. Though they looked like high-schoolers, they were both well over six feet tall!