Lisa moved hurriedly trying to arrange her things in her box. The little nap she had taken had ended up not being little at all. She had slept till late in the afternoon and had missed both breakfast and lunch. The lady who was supposed to take her to her school was already downstairs and Lisa was still not ready.
“Oh crap.” She said as she tripped on her own feet.
“This isn’t the time to be clumsy Lisa.” She said as she stood up.
It was after she stood up that she noticed the uniform that had been placed on a chair in the corner of her room. She was sure one of the maids had placed it there. Funny how they could place her uniform but not wake her up to get prepared Lisa thought to herself with an eyeroll.
She made her way towards the uniform and let her hand run through the material. It was nice to feel it beneath her fingers.
The uniform was black coloured with a gold badge of a lion’s head on the right breast pocket. She was to wear a white long sleeve within the blazers. There was a short pleated skirt which sat just a little bit above her knees. Lisa let out a smile. She was ready to leave this awful prison.
Some few hours later and some hurting from her stepmother, Lisa was finally ready to go to Macaulay’s college which was the name of the school she would be attending. She was a bit excited to see how the school would be like. Maybe she would be able to escape the clutches of her family’s society even if it was just for one year.
Lisa met Mrs. Woods at the entrance of the room and her family hurried them along saying they would be late. Lisa suspected it was because they could not actually wait to be rid of her.
They made their way to the car and Lisa prayed to God that the school she was going to would be like any other normal school she had read about in novels and not one with pompous rich children whose only job in life was to look down on anybody not worthy of them. She was not so sure the children even knew the meaning if worthy. Most of them had bad grades but since their parents were rich, the teachers made sure to pass them.
“Do you mind if I ask some questions?” Lisa said to Mrs. Woods.
“Ask away dear.” She replied to Lisa with a small smile.
Lisa was still in the process of judging if Mrs. Woods would be trash like her family or better. She looked English and Lisa could detect a little accent from her anytime she spoke.
Mrs, Woods was a graying old lady but she was still physically stiff. Lisa thought she represented the image of governess from the historical novels she had read. She wore a black floor length gown which had a turtle kneck. Everything about her was covered with the gown and she also wore gloves to cover her hands.
When Lisa had first seen her, she wondered if the lady had come for a funeral but was a bit lost. She was about to offer her help to show her around when her family had introduced the lady as Mrs. Woods.
Just Mrs. Woods. There was no other name attached. Lisa had to wonder how her father and the lady had actually become acquitances.
“How is the school. like?” Mia asked her.
“You will know when you get there.” Mrs. Woods said to her with a smile on her pale lips that Lisa wondered if at all the lady was sick.
“I know I will. I just wanted to get a general view so I could prepare myself. You see, I am a very shy person and if I do not get an information prior to what I am to see, I tend to panic.” Lisa said to her with a soft smile of her own.
Mrs. Woods let out a chuckle. She settled her gaze on Lisa who looked straight into her eyes. They were hollow like there was no life in them. Lisa was really beginning to think that the lady was suffering from an illness that could make her drop dead at any time.
“You would fit in just well, Lisa dear. Our school is very comforting and accommodating.” The lady said with a smile that did not quite reach her eyes.
Lisa was already getting uncomfortable so she averted her gaze and looked out the window at the scenery. She wondered what it was about Mrs. Woods that gave her chills. Chills like the one she felt when she saw the girl from yesterday. Lisa shook her head. She had decided not to think about the girl from yesterday and Mrs. Woods was different from the girl. She could speak and she also had a complete set of white teeth.
After some hours, they arrived at Macaulay’s College. Lisa had to admit that the school was built beautifully. It was located in a path of the country she had never seen before not that she had had the opportunity of taking in the features of her country. The school was located on something like a hill.
The big black gate held the crest she had seen on her uniform and as they drive in, she saw students roaming about. Some were talking with friends, some were reading, some playing.
The sight was fascinating even if she had seen something like this before at her previous school. There was just something about the school that drew her in.
The car stopped in front of a building and she and Mrs. Woods stepped out. Anytime a student saw Mrs. Woods, they bowed and greeted her. The lady in topic did not behave as if she gave them any recognition.
Mrs. Woods led Lisa to her office and gave her a paper which had her dorm room number written on it and many other information. After giving it to Lisa she sent her out of the office. Lisa concluded that Mrs. Woods was lukewarm for now. Maybe as time went on she would know if she hated the woman or not.
Lisa looked down at the paper and saw she was assigned to room fifty two. She took her luggage and what looked like a map of the school only to arrive at a flight of stairs. She wondered how she was going to get through this especially when she had hardly seen any student around. She let out a groan.
“Need help?” Lisa heard a female voice ask behind her.
“Yes. Yes I do. Would you be kind enough to assist me?” She asked the girl politely.
“Of course.” Hi will be right back the girl said and before Lisa could ask her what she meant the girl was off.
Lisa was torn between going up the stairs and waiting for the girl. She wondered how a girl shorter than her was going to be of any help at all. The girl had blonde hair like Lisa but hers was a dirty blonde and was shoulder length. It framed her face perfectly well. She had nice grey eyes that sparkled. Lisa wondered if they could both be friends.
She was about to give up on waiting for the girl and climb the stairs when the girl approached her with a male.
“Hello there. Sorry to keep you waiting. I had to drag him out.” She said to Lisa with a smile.
“Oh no worries. Thank you.” Lisa said shyly.
“I’m Sarah and this is my boyfriend Jacob.” Sarah said to her.
“It’s nice to meet you guys. I’m Lisa.” She said to them.
“Well now that that’s out of the way. Jacob be a gentleman and help her with her bags please.” Sarah said to her boyfriend who grumbled something under his breath and moved to take Lisa’s luggage from her.
Lisa had never been around any body this attractive. She blushed a bit when he came close to her and provided enough space for him.
“What room?” He asked her in his deep voice.
“Fifty two.” She said in a small voice as she kept on looking at the floor trying to avoid eye contact with him. This was what she meant when she said she had to be prepared for anything that was to come.
If things just happened unexpectedly, she lost her sense of reasoning. She wondered what was going through Sarah’s head right now. Maybe Sarah thought Lisa was now into her boyfriend. That was always the way it was in novels.
Not that Jacob was not attractive but he looked grumpy. Lisa was not sure she wanted to like any body grumpy and if at all she would be friends with Sarah she did not want anything complicated.
“That’s my room.” Sarah who was standing beside her said excitedly. Lisa couldn’t help but smile.
Sarah held until Lisa’s hand and led her up the flight of stairs as her boyfriend followed behind them. Sarah kept on talking about the school and how they were going to have lots of fun. How her roommate which was now also Lisa’s snores at night but Lisa could just ignore it.
Lisa just let Sarah do all the talking since it seemed she was enjoying herself. Lisa thought that just maybe she would be able to enjoy her final year in high school.