"For your formal admission, you could enroll in the admissions desk. Albeit it's not as fast as me saying you're in the school, but you're a guarantee now. Now, if you excuse me, I think there are other people that are waiting to talk with me."
The two ladies exited the room, "She's… my mom's best friend?" Patricia looks at her grandmother who smiles at her. "Yes, she is. She's the one that your mother is telling me through the letters she has been sending me before. A ginger head woman with a rather stern expression, but deep inside was a good friend. I have met her before as well, she's a charmer." She giggles, "She still carries that even she's a lot of years older than when I met her. She presents a quite exquisite woman. If your mother is still alive, they will be good standing together."
Patricia's joyful face became somber, Klizzette immediately diverted the topic. "Anyway, we should now pursue your enrollment for this school year. Come on, my darling." They walked downstairs where the admission office was.
"Good morning!" A cheerful admission officer greeted them. "You're just in time, today's the last day of enrollment for Pristine Education courses. Unless that's not what you want?" Klizzette shakes her head, "I am here to enroll my beloved granddaughter, Patricia."
"Very well, show me your Seal of Pristinity." Patricia was confused at first, but her grandmother took care of it. She positions her sideways, showing an intricate tattoo on her shoulders. Patricia looks at it as the man observes it from a good distance. It was full of curls, like some sort of a royal seal. On the button of it, there was a diamond shape with some other details she could not understand.
The man nods, "Just fill up these forms and go to that booth there. After that, bring back here the documents, along with the paper that the guy will be giving you there." Patricia started filling up the form when she noticed that her finger slowly fades into a crystal blue color. She immediately bolted on her shoulder bag, finding the cream her sihsih gave to her. A hand holds hers as if stopping her from reaching to it.
She looks and saw her grandmother, gently shaking her head. "You don't need to, my darling. You don't need to hide that anymore." Patricia slowly retracts her hand from her shoulder bag. "In fact, you don't need those fingerless gloves that you wear right now."
"It will be a lot of time to get used to, sihsih." She continues to write on the paper. She's growing conscious as her hand slowly turns into the hard shimmering rock that it is. She was extremely uncomfortable with having this in the public. She turns to her grandmother, "Maybe just for now, please, sihsih? I am just uncomfortable with this crystal hand. It feels like heavy."
Klizzette sighs, "Fine but be used to not concealing that always." Patricia silently nods as she hurries for the cream and applied it to her hand. Her hand slowly becomes a normal human hand. She merrily continued filling up the forms she was required to do.
After the booth took a picture of her tattoo, they came back to the counter to finally make her enrollment in the school official. "There you go, Miss Prudent. Welcome to Pristine Academy. This list has everything that the school recommends you to get to have the best experience in your school year. Your educational necessities will be both available in the resource department and the local bookstores. Just present them this card, and they'll be assisting you. I wish you the best school year, freshman."
They left the admission office and did what the admission officer instructed them to. "I thought magical schools will be less hassle than the previous ones I have gone to. This is a long list!" Klizzette giggles, "Don't worry, while you're not ready, sihsih will not leave you yet. We need to fetch some of your important things and some school supplies. We also need to get you a dorm since I doubt you will be going to my home when your school starts."
They get most of the list of educational necessities listed checked off. They have gone through a lot of stores and traveled most of the center of the campus, to say the least. "Is a city inside a campus? There is commerce here!"
"It's more just of commerce rather than a city, my darling. Pristine Academy has received many students over the years and has constructed its own economy. Almost all of the students here came from far places. The school administrators also don't trust students going out of the campus just to buy their necessities or avail services. So, they built small commerce just in front of the school proper. Many of the owners here are their own former students as well, and they most likely profit to these businesses as well to make the school more prestigious."
"The more you talk about it, the more that it sounds like a city. Miss Sophronia—well, Miss Bethel-Craig's position is much more than a Vice-Chancellor. She's like a vice mayor with this layout of schooling here."
Klizzette giggles, "Well, if you insist. From a perspective of independence, you can call this a city in itself. But in formal terms, it's still a school that allows a little bit of commerce inside it for the protection of its students. Since it's a prestigious school and a lot of successful leaders and heroic warriors came from here, it's a target of most evil things." She sighs, "This school has been through a lot, you're seeing it in its peak of peace."
Patricia was speechless, both in her grandmother's words and grasping how big the school can be. She wasn't still in the school proper, they were approaching a dorm that's not even within the 'school walls'.
They inquire the counter lady for a room in the dorm. It was the third dorm they have asked after going on two that was already full. "Yes, we still have vacancies. Although, there is no single room available." Patricia smiles, "I don't mind a roommate. It's a step to have a Mentiel friend." She looks at her grandmother who seems happy with her decision. "There are just a few questions I will ask of you before I assign you to one room."
After a few questions, some were personal tastes and her behavior, the counter lady hands her a key. "Room 309. It's on the third floor. You will be roommates with a lady named Veronika Gilmartin. I hope you two will go well. If there are complaints, feel free to approach the counter whenever you need it. I wish you luck in your first school year, dear freshman."
"I will accompany you there. I will ensure you will be alright there." Patricia shakes her head, "I'll be fine, sihsih. Besides, most of the things on the list are already ticked off. I could take these into my room along with my luggage." Klizzette smiles, "I will still be around here in the next few days. I forgot to set you up a vault to have some money for your education." Klizzette kisses her granddaughter's cheek, "Now, behave, okay? If you need anything or something happens, don't hesitate to message Chiro or Nickolo. They will relay your message to me."
"Sihsih, I am not a child anymore. I will be fine. You said I will be fine in this world, right?" Klizzette sighs, "Still, there are emanating dangers here. I worry that the events that have happened might have affected you severely." Patricia smiles, "I am perfectly fine, sihsih. Trust me, okay? I could handle myself. This is just college, just more magical."
Klizzette smiles, "I trust you. Be careful. Have fun, my darling." They bid their goodbyes and part ways. Patricia went to the third floor on an elevator-looking mechanism. It took her to the upper floors nice and easy. She searches for her room and found it a bit opened. Patricia enters the room, hoping her roommate was on the other side, but there was no one. "Veronika, whoever this is, forgot a crucial part of life, closing doors." She groans and closes the door herself.
In the room were a double-decker bed, two separate wardrobes, a vanity desk with a mirror, two sets of study tables, and a door that leads to a small ensuite. She takes a deep breath and looks at the baggage she has, "Do I really need to find her?" She groans, "I'm just going to guess." She searched for what part of the room is her roommate's territory and are not. She puts her clothes in the vacant wardrobe and sets her things on other vacant spots that don't have the things she presumes were Veronika's.
It took her the whole afternoon settling herself in the room, preparing to be staying here for a whole year. As she lays on the bottom bed that seems untouched, a click was heard on the door. It opens and a young lady enters the room. Her jet-black hair just barely touches her shoulder, she's wearing a stern look on her face. Her hazel eyes shifted on her location.
"Hey! I'm your new roommate, my name's Patricia. Patricia Prudent, to be precise." She approached her and lend her a hand. The young lady stares at it and crosses her tan arms. "My name's Veronika." Patricia retracts her hand from the embarrassment of her not taking it, "Yeah, the lady at the counter told me your name. Veronika Gilmartin, right?" Veronika nods briefly, "Let me get this out of the way, as long as I go home with a clean room and my stuff untouched, we will not be on bad terms. That's the only thing I want, you could do anything you want in here. As long as you don't get in my nerves, I will never lay my hand on you."
"Don't worry, I am not a dirty rascal—" "Good," Veronika cuts her, "Just keep it that way and nothing bad will happen." She went past Patricia, with their shoulders brushing against each other. She takes a notebook and a pen from her study table and went to the upper bed. She puts on wireless earphones it seems and ignored her for the rest of the night.
Patricia's face flushed in embarrassment, "I'm just going to get some fresh air." She didn't wait for an answer from Veronika and left the room. She went to the general balcony of their floor and takes a deep breath. "I never thought that making friends with Mentiels will be this hard." She sighs, "Maybe it's just her. I respect her decision not to talk with me. Besides, I don't want to admit that my charm is fading off. I could still easily have some friends, right?"
A few days later marks the first day of her school year. Patricia wears her uniform, it was a maroon school vest on top of a white blouse. The vest extends on top of her maroon skirt. She ties her ribbon and fixed her blonde hair. Her roommate was nowhere to be seen, she must have woken up earlier than her. She shrugs and went to the school grounds where students were piling up in front of the administrative building she first visited to enroll in the school.
A man walks up on the top end of the stairs. "Welcome students to yet another school year. I always say the same thing every year, so I will make this speech short. I wish you all the best school year, especially for the freshman and even the seniors who will leave the school soon. Do your best in this year and years to come."
He steps aside and Sophronia steps forward. "Duc et pugna propter excellentiam." She briefly said before turning into a beautiful phoenix, soaring in the sky.