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Chapter 3: Expanding your horizons.
Ancient.
That was the first thought that popped into Katie’s head as she came out of the car.
Old, ancient and disgusting looking.
Stonehill Private Academy was an old Victorian like building which had been renovated a few years earlier and turned into a private boarding school for high schoolers. It was situated ten minutes from the CBD, the heart of Sydney, Australia.
Katie’s mouth literally dropped open when her silver N.Y.L.A sandals touched the pavement outside, as she heaved herself smoothly out of the car. Before her stood a building which looked like it was ready to collapse at the slightest breeze, and the thought was not really comforting.
“Well, Miss Cross,” Bryon the escort piped up as he opened the trunk to take out her luggage. “Why don’t you go in first and sign in with the receptionist? I’ll need to get your luggage to your room.”
Katie gave a curt nod. She didn’t know what to say. Not one to show weakness, she couldn’t merely demand for Bryon to take her back to the airport immediately and help book her the next flight back to L.A. She needed to show Rob Rickman what she could accomplish, and beat him at his own game.
Before she could set foot on the stone stairs which led her up to Stonehill, Bryon called out after her once more.
“It was nice to meet you, Miss Cross! I hope to see you around some day!” He shot her a wide smile in which she returned with a rather weak one. His perkiness had started to creep her out halfway through the trip. Bryon was a talkative man, and hadn’t seemed to know or care that Katie was hardly processing anything he had told her.
He returned to her luggage and she proceeded up the stone stairs. To distract herself from an emotion which she barely ever felt, she began counting the steps. Each step she took caused the nervous butterflies in her stomach to disappear, and by the time she got to the top, she nearly laughed at herself for being so stupid.
And there were a total of forty-six steps, if anyone was wondering.
Katie rang the bell, which probably made a loud ringing noise through the thick wooden doors as a short grey haired woman swung the door open immediately and ushered her into the foyer. The foyer was brightly lit with a large glass chandelier hanging overhead. Katie had been expecting a rundown room with a short balding man sitting behind the reception desk – so the bright lights and lavishly furnished interior surprised her – but only a little.
“Come here dear, come here!” The short little lady was waving for Katie to follow her back to the desk. “I’m surprised you’re not hot, what with all the sweaters you’re wearing!” Her little chuckle echoed around the empty hall.
Katie was indeed more than hot. She was boiling. No one had warned her that the seasons would be reversed in the southern hemisphere, and she had dressed heavy as L.A. was still quite chilly when she left. She had already taken off her scarf and sweater, but couldn’t do anything about her long sleeved cashmere blouse.
“Okay, okay,” the little old woman declared as her small greying head bobbed up from behind the desk – she had also adorned on a pair of glasses which enhanced her eyes and made her look a bit like an owl. Katie thought it was rather cute in a funny kind of way, but refrained from sharing her thoughts. “What’s your name, dear?” She tapped away on the computer in front of her before turning her head back to Katie with a small smile.
“I’m Ka-” Katie stopped mid sentence. Was she officially Cassidy Cross? Was Katie Sommers really non-existent now?
The small lady raised an inquiring eyebrow. “I-I’m Cassidy Cross.”
The lady smiled at her warmly again. “I’m Mrs. Blaire, the receptionist and grandmother of this place.” She chuckled as she tapped away on the keyboard. “Ah, there we go. I found your file, Cassidy dear.” She swivelled the computer monitor around so Katie could take a look at her file. Or more like Cassidy Cross’s.
Her own photo smiled back at her from behind the large screen. The picture was definitely her – but under the photo in large bold letters was the name: Cassidy Marie Cross. She could feel her heart sink a little, and cursed Rob Rickman in her head. Did he really have to go to such lengths for a simple audition? He was definitely crazy.
“Let’s see here, dear.” Mrs. Blaire shuffled forward in her high stool to take a better look at the screen. “Well, you’re in the East Dorm, the girl’s dorm. I see you’re from America, so the school system might be a bit different here than over there.” She chuckled again. Katie wanted to tell her she never even went to school back home, so nothing could really be too different. “And of course you’re arriving a bit late. Most of the students have already signed in since last weekend and have settled in already. You know school starts on Monday, right?” Katie’s eyes widened at the information. According to the calendar on her phone, it was Saturday night, so she only had one day to settle in. “Don’t worry dear!” Mrs. Blaire waved her small bony hand around. “I’m sure you’ll manage.” There was a whirling sound as the printer warmed up and spat out a piece of paper – which Mrs. Blaire then handed to Katie and declared it was her class timetable. “Follow me now dear.”
Mrs. Blaire jumped off her little stool and proceeded down the bright hallways. From what Katie could tell from the short glimpses she saw, the doors they passed were classrooms. Mrs. Blaire led her through the large back doors which brought them out into the large courtyard. Lockers decorated the surrounding walls and a large upside down U-shaped building much alike in appearance to the school building they had just come out of stared back at Katie and the tiny Mrs. Blaire.
“The left side is the West-wing,” Mrs. Blaire told her as she led Katie across the large courtyard – dodging the tables and trees that were in the way. “The West-wing is the boy’s dormitory, and all girls are forbidden to enter that wing after 9pm sharp. The East-wing,” she pointed to the right bit of the U-shaped building, “is the girl’s dormitories. No boys are allowed in there after 9pm either.” She pointed to the middle part. “That’s the adjoining section which houses the cafeteria on the bottom level, the library on the second and the student lounge on the top level. Of course, girls and boys are allowed to do all their mingling in there.” She turned around and gave Katie a wink, which nearly caused Katie to walk right into her due to her abrupt stopping skills.
Mrs. Blaire pushed open a set of doors which opened up to reveal a large hallway with more doors all along it.
“Okay, so you’re in year twelve…which means you’re a…senior?” she shot Katie a puzzled look, as if she was seeking assurance that what she said was right.
“Um…I guess?” Katie wanted to tell her that she was as clueless about the American high school system as much as Mrs. Blaire was. But according to her file – or Cassidy Cross’s one – she was meant to have attended some highly prestigious private school back in L.A., and had only come to Australia because she wanted to expand her horizons. Yeah, that Rob Rickman was a real comedian.
They walked up a flight of stairs to the second floor. “Well Cassidy, as a senior,” she chuckled at the word and Katie raised an eyebrow, “you get privileges such as dormitories on the third floor, where the best views are.” She nodded her head once as they made their way up the last flight of stairs. Katie tuned her out for awhile as they proceeded down the brightly lit third floor hallway. Mrs. Blaire had just concluded her speech on what time the lights went off and when curfew was when they stopped in front of a door labelled 312E. Mrs. Blaire knocked on the door twice before it swung open to reveal a tall blonde girl with big brown eyes.
“Mrs. Blaire!” the girl exclaimed as her face literally lit up. “What are you doing here?” Katie wondered how anyone could still be so high at nine in the evening.
Mrs. Blaire chuckled as she grabbed Katie’s arm and shoved her in front of the blonde girl. “Penelope, this is Cassidy Cross! She’s your new roommate!”
Both Penelope and Mrs. Blaire began jumping about like they were high on drugs. Katie shook Mrs. Blaire’s hand off her and forced a smile at Penelope.
Penelope returned her smile with a bright grin. Katie mentally reminded herself to put on her sunnies if she was to go within two metres of Penelope’s presence.
“I’ll leave her in your hands then, Penelope. Have a good night!” Mrs. Blaire waved as Penelope clapped her hands eagerly and stuck her head out of the door to wave at the retreating back of the small old lady.
Katie mentally wondered if it was possible to have a phobia of highly energetic girls.
Penelope (the girl on crack) turned her bright eyes towards Katie as a huge smile overtook her whole face. Katie nearly cringed backwards as the sight almost blinded her. The girl’s teeth were two rows of straight glittering lines which basically overtook her face and twinkled at Katie like they were showing off.
Katie was vaguely aware that the girl had opened her mouth and was introducing her as Cassidy Cross to someone - which she tuned out as she strolled into room 312E to inspect it. She stopped short as she noticed the four beds which took up most of the floor space, and a lump of black sprawled out on the bed closest to another door which most likely led off to the bathroom.
“Okay, what the hell,” Katie demanded at the lump of black who had turned out to be a girl, “Who are you and what are you doing in my room?” Blue-grey eyes surrounded by dark smoky eye-shadow lifted up to meet hers. The girl chewed continuously on the gum in her mouth as she and Katie exchanged eye-contact. Katie couldn’t help but label the girl as either being a gothic freak or emotionally damaged to be able to endure so much black. Goth or emo…it was such a hard decision.
Katie and Goth/Emo girl broke eye-contact as Penelope finally pipped up from behind.
“That’s Rose Mary! She’s our room mate!” Penelope happily declared as she threw her butt onto her own bed – which was diagonally opposite Goth/Emo girl’s – and started bouncing happily on it.
Katie raised an inquiring eyebrow. “Rose Mary…” she tried the name out with a tone of mockery. It was just Goth/Emo girl’s luck to be stuck with such a name.
Rose Mary the Goth/Emo looked up sharply and pointed the black sharpie she had been using to colour her nails in, at Katie. “Call me Rose, I’ll kill you. Call me Mary, I’ll kill you. And if you even dare to utter the words Rose and Mary together, then this special little pen in my hand is going to attach itself to your face and do a little artistic rearranging. And no, I don’t mean a nose job.” She blew a gum bubble at Katie. Her eyes dared Katie to say something else about her name. Katie merely rolled her eyes.
“Ooh, I’m so scared.” She could practically feel the sarcasm dripping off her tongue.
“Whatever,” the girl blew another bubble. “I’d prefer it if you didn’t talk to me at all, but if you desperately have to,” she scoffed at her own words, “then call me RC. Other names will result in instant death, and I’m sure you won’t want to ruin your perfectly styled hair trying to fight me off.” She returned to her fascinating task of colouring her nails with the sharpie.
Katie scrunched her nose at the act. Had the girl never heard of nail polish?
“You know,” she started as she put down the carry on bag she had with her on the last remaining bed in the room. The bed was next to the window, something she was not fond of. She hated waking up to sunlight slipping in through the windows. “There’s this new invention on Earth called nail polish.” She pointed at RC as she went on. “You might want to try it.”
The girl’s blue-grey eyes glowered at her before she opened her mouth and spat out, “Well maybe I would use this so called ‘new invention’ if all the fucking companies didn’t test their products on animals. But a princess like you wouldn’t care would you? You and your wealthy little family back in America probably rush off to the steak house every weekend to enjoy a nice big piece of meat. People like that disgust me.”
“But Rose, I eat meat too,” a soft voice belonging to Penelope spoke up in the bed next to Katie’s. She had ceased her happy bouncing and was watching RC with a sad look on her face. “Does that mean I disgust you too?”
RC’s head swivelled to Penelope immediately. “You’re different Pen,” she stated as if it were the most obvious thing, but it put Penelope to ease as she smiled brightly again.
Katie wanted to scratch the stupid girl’s eyes out. She hadn’t even been in this stupid room for more than ten minutes and RC had already made it onto her official hate list. She wanted to snap at the girl and tell her that she’d never even set foot in a stupid steak house, let alone been able to dine with her ‘wealthy little (non-existent) family’ at one every weekend. The girl probably didn’t tune in on celebrity gossip if she was so clueless to the rumours surrounding Katie Sommer’s life – or there lack of, as of today/night.
“You don’t even know me,” she spat at RC which immediately returned the girl’s attention to her. “What gives you the right to judge me already?” They both glared at each other – blue-green against blue-grey.
RC scoffed. “Like I want to know you, or need to. You’re like a typical Mackenzie. Oh, and for your information, I’m neither Gothic nor Emo – and don’t pretend you’re so innocent, because I know you were thinking it.” She scoffed again. “For someone that has just declared that I shouldn’t have judged you so quickly, what gives you the right to have judged me yourself?”
“Who the heck is Mackenzie?”
“Your new best friend!” RC snapped.
A whimper came from the bed diagonally opposite Katie’s as something bright orange darted out from under the covers and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. That must have been the last girl – the one that Katie had ceased to notice since she’d hidden herself so well under her bright orange blanket.
Penelope giggled from her bed as she either refused to acknowledge or stupidly ignored the death glares Katie and RC were both shooting at each other. “That was Evie.” She lowered her voice as if she was afraid that Evie was going to hear her from inside the bathroom. “She’s a little bit shy.” Penelope giggled again as she crawled under her covers. “I think I might sleep early tonight guys. Good night!” She blew kisses at both RC and Katie before she put on a bright pink eye-mask and then fell back onto her pillow and immediately fell into a deep slumber.
RC finished off her nails and crawled under her covers without another word. Evie never came out of the bathroom (at least whilst Katie was still awake anyways) so Katie decided it was a good idea to sleep away her own miseries as well. Her luggage had been brought up just like Bryon had promised so she searched for the most Summery pair of pyjamas she had brought and changed into them before crawling into bed and cursing Rob Rickman once more before falling asleep.
Katie stirred as the bright patch of sunlight crept up towards her face. She was itchy all over, enclosed under something scratchy and on top of something hard and uncomfortable. She vaguely wondered why her bed in the mansion back in L.A. had shrunk so dramatically overnight, and wondered why Marcella had decided it was a good idea to remove the drapes over her windows, allowing the disgustingly bright sun to shine into the room.
Her eyes flitted slowly open as somewhere in the background, a bathroom door slammed shut – causing someone to groan loudly from Katie’s right.
Her eyes flew open.
She was lying down on a bed next to the only window in the room. Her sheets and blanket was tangled around her legs, and when she tried to focus on the ceiling, she noticed that it was painted a dull white – unlike her bedroom ceiling back home, which was a pale cream white.
Katie was definitely not at home anymore.
Events that had occurred yesterday night replayed through her mind as it powered up and began to work again. A blonde girl sat up on the bed to Katie’s right – and she slowly removed her eye mask and rubbed her eyes to rid of the sleepiness.
The bathroom door swung open again as a figure clad in black padded out, wringing her wet hair with a towel.
“How can you be so awake already?!” the blonde girl – who Katie now recalled to be called Penelope – exclaimed as she fell back onto her back, throwing her arms dramatically into the air.
RC dropped the towel onto the floor at her feet as she headed towards the slide open closet which also doubled as a full length mirror on its sliding doors.
“I’m a morning person, I guess,” she waved her hand around as she slid open the mirror door.
A snore came from across the room just as Katie sat up in bed. Penelope giggled into her pillow as RC reached into the closet for something.
“I can’t believe she’s snoring again,” Penelope said as she sat up in bed once more. “Evie is the quietest person in the grade, yet her snoring can cause an earthquake one day.” Right on queue, the snoring got louder. Katie cringed at the sound – she really didn’t need this shit so early in the morning. Maybe they had made a mistake. Certainly, for something with her status, they would have to provide her with her own room. If she had to sleep through that racket every night - then the thought of giving up the lead role didn’t seem so bad after all.
Evie stuttered a few more choking snores before Katie decided she better make a quick get-away into the bathroom before her eardrums could be physically damaged.
The bathroom was a lot darker, having only a small window situated above the toilet to allow outside light and air in. She wondered how anyone could sleep through such blindingly bright sunlight – and made a mental note to call Alyssa and get her to arrange for someone to put up some curtains. It was the least her agent and guardian could do.
Looking into the mirror, Katie let out a small gasp as a horrid looking reflection of herself glanced back at her. There were some faint beginnings of eye-bags developing under her eyes, her hair was a tragic mess, and her skin looked like they had seen better days.
She splashed cold water onto her face, hoping to wake herself up more – but the same horrible looking girl glanced back out of the mirror.
“Oh, my gawd. What happened to me?!” she yelled into the mirror as someone knocked impatiently on the door. Katie shot a glare at the closed door as the knocking continued at a faster pace. “What?!” she demanded as she swung open the door, revealing RC with her hand clenched in a fist, held up in mid-knock. “What do you want?”
RC rolled her eyes as her hand dropped back to her side. She was wearing all black again – black tank top, black skinny jeans which wrapped around her figure nicely and hugged her hips in an astonishing way which only some people can achieve.
“Gosh, I’m so sorry, Miss Princess.” RC headed into the bathroom and grabbed her hairbrush which had been sitting on the bathroom sink table. “I know it’s your ‘prettying yourself session’, but others need the bathroom too, not just you.” RC stepped out of the bathroom again, running the brush through her hair without a second glance back at Katie.
Katie shot a glare at the back of RC’s head, and then slammed the bathroom door shut once more. How could her luck be so friggen bad? She doubted Alicia would be having trouble with her French boarding school mates. They were probably laughing and enjoying a stupid slumber party in their room with champagne and cute bite-sized snacks. Even being sent off to some strict English boarding school like Ceciley seemed more appealing than the position she found herself in now.
Frowning at her reflection in the mirror once more, Katie began her long string of curses as she tried to fix herself up as much as possible.
Why was fate always so against her?
A/N: The story is coming along now. Woop. These characters are so fun to write about, and make everyone else in my other stories seem like cardboard figures. Bleeh. Chapter four is already underway, and it shouldn't be too long till it's out. Drop me a review and tell me what you think about this, and I would love if you'd be able to tell me about anything I'm doing wrong. Hope you liked the chapter!
And, as always, thanks to Michelle for betaing for me! s2
xo.
-copyright./steppingintohershoes./chapterthree/21.1o.o8/pepperr.
