Elizabeth and I headed to our favorite place near campus, it was an Asian fusion restaurant. It was by far the best one that I ever ate at. The hostess led us to a booth that had a view, and then from there, it was self-serve.
"I'll get the food," I offer, "what do you want?"
Liz gives me the 'Are you serious' look and I laugh, "Alright, alright. The combo A with a chai latte."
She teasingly glares at me, as she tosses a twenty-dollar bill my way. I nearly missed catching it, and walk toward the food bar. As I said, we've been here a lot of times and so it was easy to get what we wanted. "Combo A with a chai tea, and a Combo B with jasmine green tea latte," I tell the cashier, as he nods. Despite the fantastic food and environment, some of the employees looked more excited to be somewhere else than here.
"Next, please step aside if you have ordered," the cashier says bored, waving his hand to the left. I moved to the side as the cashier proceeded with the next order.
"Afternoon, what do you want to order?" he says, disinterested.
"I'll have four coffees. One black, and the rest with sugar," a masculine voice replied. A chill went down my spine. Holy crap, that was a deep voice. I peeked quickly to see a tall guy, that could easily snap me in half. I nearly peed myself, as I saw a tattoo of blackthorn designs circling his upper arm. He looked like a legit gangster!
He easily towered over me, even though I was fairly proud of my 5'4 stature. His hair was extremely messy, like the original version of 'get out of bed' messy. It was dark and contrasted his cerulean blue eyes, well at least I think his eyes were blue since his right eye was covered by his hair. His skin was something extraordinary, as in not a single blemish or acne scar. To how that was impossible, I had absolutely no clue.
Suddenly, his head turned and his eyes met me and his mouth moved but I didn't hear a thing he said. "Excuse me," he says, when my mind escaped from it's haze, "I think he's calling your order."
"Uh what?" I say, completely dumbfounded. The blue-eyed man which I shall refer to as Blue points in front of me, where the grumpy cashier was basically trying to shove the tray of food into my hands.
"Oh thanks," I tell the cashier, taking the tray.
"Sorry and thanks," I say to Blue, and then I do my infamous dash away from him before he got the chance to reply.
I nearly slam the tray onto the table, as Liz looks up from her phone in shock. "Geez, who set your pants on fire," she says, setting up the food and drinks.
"Did you see him? That guy?" I tell her, discreetly looking back at him. Thankfully, he was still there waiting for his coffees.
"What guy?"Liz says, indiscreetly looking behind me.
"Liz," I whisper in horror, "he might notice you."
"So? We don't know him," Liz says, shrugging, until an evil glimmer manifests in her eyes, ''Unless you like him?"
I laugh-choke, "Don't be ridiculous, I've never met him before in my life."
"Uh huh," Liz says, amused.
"I'm serious," I tell her, "And you're right, we'll never see him again."
"You mean, you'll never see him again. I, on the other hand, don't really care either way," she said smugly.
"Whatever," I say, desperate to change the conversation, "Anyways, let's eat."
"Ohhh, I see that," Liz says, cleaning closer to gawk at my burning face, "Is that a blush?"
"N-no," I stuttered, grabbing a napkin to cover my face.
"This is rich, this might the most emotion I've gotten from you in regards to the other sex," she says, happily sipping her tea.
"What do you mean? I've had plenty of crushes," I say in defense.
"Alright, then name them," she dares me.
I cough awkwardly as my mind draws a blank. "Um wasn't there a Harold or something?" I say, unsure.
Liz looks at me with a blank expression before bursting out laughing, "Are you serious? Harold? Oh my god! Good one, whoo!"
"Okay, let's just eat," I say, glaring at her.
"Okay," she says, "Guess I'll have something interesting to tell Mom and Dad huh?"
I throw broccoli at her.
"But seriously, I won't lie that guy did look fine," she says, "I mean the height is insane. He looked about 6 '3."
"Yeah, I was sadly extremely short next to him," I mumble.
"Well, to your first crush in your life, I hope you see him again," she said, raising her tea in a toast with a teasing smile. Some people turned to look in curiosity, making my cheeks turn redder.
"Shut up," I say, pushing her hand down and she bursts into laughter again.
-
It was a few days later when the internship deadline had passed, and I nearly forgot I even applied for the internship. Liz and I went back to our daily schedule, minus any guest speakers, and went to school like good students.
"Okay, class, I have the results of who got in," the professor of my first class of the day said, "the rest of the faculty has been notified of those who were accepted, so those who would like to reject the offer please see me after class."
Chatter started around the class as the Professor shouted, "Shut up losers and listen up."
The class went dead silent as he called up the names. "Miriam, Jayce, Lucy, Owen, Elizabeth, and Mila. Come to the front, if you accept," the Professor continues in a bored voice, "The accepted students are allowed the rest of the day off, and a bus will come by the usual campus bus stops for Nightingale Academy. You many leave and do not screw up."
Shock registered in some people's faces, as some even burst out into tears. I was confused, that was it? I assumed at least half class would be accepted, not only 6 people. What the heck?
"Come on, let's go," whispered Liz, as we both got out stuff to leave. Some girls glared at us in envy and others in annoyance. I mean, couldn't blame them, could I? I would be pissed too if someone who was lukewarm about the opportunity took away something I really wanted.
"That was surprising, huh?" Liz says, "I expected way more people."
"Yeah, same," I say, "But I guess they were really picky."
"Well," Liz says, looping our arms, "We can't fail them when given this opportunity right?"
"Right."
We went back to the apartment and the first thing we did was call Liz's parents, who were mostly thrilled but her dad was insistent in giving us credit cards so we could purchase stuff. After some pleading, on his part, we both relented and then he was thrilled we were going to Nightingale Academy. He even emailed us a bunch of information about the academy.
Apparently, it was built in the early 1700s, and it was older than River College which was built in the 1800s. However, the academy and the college decided to start this program in the late 1800s, originally because of mutual economic benefits. Although now the internship has become an extra study program that allows students to live in a different environment and experience new things, outside of a city landscape.
The principal or headmaster according to the information sites, was a man named Mero. Headmaster Mero or Headmaster for short sounded like it was straight out of a Harry Potter novel.
"I'm sort of getting excited," Liz says, as she zips up her luggage. Unlike her, I only had two suitcases with all my stuff. Liz had three suitcases just for her ingredients and kitchen equipment.
"I'm excited, but also equally nervous for some reason," I tell her, "Like something big is going to happen."
"Something good, I hope," she muses.
"Yeah, hopefully, something good."
"Oh, look the bus should be coming," Lis looks at her watch, "We should hurry."
We struggle down the stairs for a good twenty minutes, before getting outside. A good ten minutes later, we were huffing and sweating just as the bus pulls up. Thankfully, the bus driver actually helps us with our luggage, err rather Liz's suitcases. The bus for Nightingale Academy was not really much different from the usual campus bus, but it was in a darker shade of gray and had no advertisements, unlike a public bus. You could tell this one was a private bus.
The interior was always a bit upgraded compared to a public bus, where they had inviting seats and even cup holders. They had a luggage holder just above the seating area, king of the like on a plane.
"New students of Nightingale Academy, the drive will be over two hours. So please, take a nap or watch a movie," the bus driver explained, "The wifi is posted in the front. Also, my name is Ben and I will be your bus driver today. So any questions, please ask when we stop at red lights. Thank you."
I snuggled into the comfortable seat, "This is so nice."
"It really is," Liz says, pulling a blanket to cover herself, "Well, I don't know about you but I'm gonna take a nap."
Instantaneously, before my reply, she was knocked out.
"Well, I'll stay awake and enjoy the scenery then," I say to a dead sleeping Liz. The rest of the students seemed to take note of their exhaustion and proceeded to sleep as well. It seemed for once, I was the only one willing to stay awake.
I actually wanted to see where we were going, and where we will be staying for the rest of our college experience.
The bus took the main highway to get out of the city. I was familiar with the honking of irritated drivers, the large bridge, and multiple highways. However, once that disappeared into the background, the bus went straight into the green forestry. I didn't even know we had a road for transportation among all this greenery.
This was by far the most green I've seen in all my life. It was trees on top of trees, and this bus path. It was strangely beautiful, in an alien kind of way. The greenery carried on for about an hour, that at one point I thought the bus driver was lost. However, we reached a clearing, where it exited into this mountainside view where a large lake was below. The lake was bluer than what was at city beaches, so it was a shock to see that water can actually maintain its blue hue. It wasn't very common in city beaches, where the water was always a murky green.
The lake continued on for what seemed like ages, and the blue never faded. It was persistent, even though the water was calm. The sun was dying down, but the blue remained permanent. It was about this time that my eyes started to flutter open and close on its own. There was supposed to be a tunnel coming up, and I really wanted to see what it would lead to but my eyes were dropping without my consent. It suddenly felt all too much, like a wave of tiredness hit me and suddenly it was hard to keep my eyes open. The last thing I saw was the bus entering the tunnel and then total darkness.
An important tip when waking me up was to not do it. Especially when I'm especially tired. So, when a hand landed on my shoulder it was a pure reflex to lash out. Unfortunately, it was a bad move because I hit something hard and the pain that emitted from my hand was more than enough to pry my eyes open. "Ow," I mumbled, inspecting my hand, "Did I hit your suitcase, Liz?"
I looked up, expecting my best friend but instead, my voice dies in my throat as I stare up in a pair of multicolored eyes- one gold and the other blue. His face up close was a masterpiece: smooth skin, straight nose, sharp jaw, longer than life eyelashes, and his pretty eyes. It was definitely the coffee shop guy!
"Did you just try to hit me?" he says, with a hint of irritation.
Unable to speak, I shake my head. "Y-you just imagined it," I mumble.
"Did I?" he says, pulling back, "You weren't responding to your friend's attempt at waking up so I volunteered to help."
"Oh," I say, at a loss for words, "Thanks."
He just nods stiffly, before fixing his hair. Realization flashed through my eyes as he covered his unique gold eye. "You're Blue!" I exclaim, without my brain's consent.
Blue looks at me in confusion as Liz rushes toward me from outside the bus, "Oh my god! I thought you were dead!" She pulled me in a tight hug, that cut off my breathing as she mumbled how worried she was. I pat her arms awkwardly because I was losing oxygen by the second.
"Maybe you should give her room to breath," Blue suggests, a hint of worry flashed through his eyes before it was gone. Liz releases me, and I gasp for air as she profusely apologizes for trying to murder me. My eyes wander back to Blue, and our eyes connected but as quick as it did, his gaze shifted.
"Well, thank the gods, she's alive," the bus driver came over to inspect the situation, "Isn't it a good thing that Cerix was here, he was the only one who was able to wake you up from your death sleep."
"Cerix?" I say.
The bus driver gripped Blue's or rather Cerix's shoulder, "This is Cerix, a prince of sorts at Nightingale Academy, among the 4 brightest students of the school."
My mouth dropped open as Cerix shrugs off the bus driver's hand and offers me a hand, "Cerix, nice to meet you."
"Mila Ellis," I said slowly, "Nice to meet you too."
Our gazes locked once again, and I swear a huge wave of deja vu took control of my body like this happened before. I know him.
However, as brief our eye contact was, he looked away and our connection broke. I blinked to gain a sense of reality as I looked at Liz and her knowing smile. She kept looking back between Cerix and me, and I shoved her away in irritation. She kept grinning from ear to ear as she helped me get my suitcases off the bus. Cerix and the bus driver proceeded to talk about something and I couldn't help but peek at him.
Realizing what I was going to do, I shook my head. Get a grip! You're so creepy, like that Erik dude. "Welcome accepted students!" a familiar voice exclaimed, a voice that made my skin freeze over. Erik stood on top of the steps on Nightingale Academy with his arms up, and a happy smile on his face. Might I add he looked too happy for someone at 5:30 pm.
"I'm so glad that all of you accepted," Erik continues, "Welcome to Nightingale Academy!"