Young Writers Society

Ignacio |the Courtyard | 1:47 PM

"Damn he's weird." Ignacio was the first to speak after Amor --- pretty name; not so pretty boy --- left to chase a butterfly, another girl rushing behind him.

Alexa shrugged. "He means well... I think."

Both Ignacio and Paris stared at her.

"I mean, he's obviously an...interesting guy---" she began to say, but he cut in and groaned, "Please, please don't use the word 'interesting' anymore, or I'm going to die." Ig knew he was exaggerating a bit, but he just couldn't stand the word after hearing it for the umpteenth time.

"Dying? You're going to die? Wow." a voice piped up beside them. The trio turned around, and nearly bumped into the person speaking.

It was the girl who followed Amor. "I'm Dante, nice to meet you," she blabbered and held a hand out.

They all shook hands and introduced themselves.

"Ooh, your name really is Paris?" she asked, her amber eyes widening.

Paris rolled his eyes and nodded. Ignacio could almost hear what he was thinking: was each and every single person that he was going to meet from now on a weirdo?

God, I hope not.

"Paris really is an amazing city." she continued, "And Alexa is a pretty name---"

"Hello guys!" Amor popped out of nowhere and practically screamed at them. "I lost the butterfly. Ah well." He peered at Alexa, "Aren't you supposed to be devouring Iggy here already?"

Ignacio broke in, "Alex isn't hungry. At least, not for human flesh. Or praying mantis flesh."

"You're calling each other pet names already! Aw, so cute. But what would you call Ig, Lexy? Ooh, I know!" he giggled, "You'll call him Eggy, like an egg, and we'll call him Iggy."

Suddenly, a voice blared from the loudspeakers. "Orientation will start in ten minutes. Make sure you have your acceptance letter with you! If you left it in your dorm, please ask our ghost maids to fetch it for you."

Dante|the Courtyard | 1:49 PM

Ghost maids! What the hell was a ghost maid? As if to answer my question, a frail white being moved through the primmed wall, holding a package out to me. I stumbled back, frightened. It wasn't that I hated ghosts, no, my Grandpa was a ghost, but the other ghosts at the cemetry hadn't been as nice as they played out to be. I sunk back into my jumper trying not to let the ghost see my fear. That's what they played on; fear.

"Your papers," she mouthed, no ssound coming from her lips.

I nodded nervously, and quickly snatched them, turning my back on her as if that would make her dissapear. Glancing over my shoulder momentarily, I realised the ghost had indeed departed. I let out a sigh of relief. Alexa pulled out a group of papers from her bag, and began to sort through them.

"We might as well go then, aye?" Iggy asked, raising an eyebrow.

Paris nodded. "Might as well."

Dante| Hall | 2:00 PM

"It's huge!" I gasped, craning my neck back to take it all in.

Suddenly a large teacher moved past us, motioning with her head to hurry. Pushing through the glass doors, the sound of babbling hit me like a wall of bricks. I never liked schools. Gulping, my nerves began to play up. This reminded me of back home, where I was the laughing stock of the whole playground.

"Are you just gonna stand in the way, or are we going to go in?" Alexa asked.

I quickly nodded and stepped in. The smell of cleaning appliances wafted around my nose. A woman stood in front of the podium consulting some papers. I bit my lip. Everyone was talking about that woman, owning the school and all. But what was her name? I couldn't place my finger on it!

"Isn't she just gorgeous?" Armor muttered, staring up at her dreamily.

"She's like, thirty years old or something?" Iggy and Paris said in sync.

"And yet, she's still got it!"

Paris|The Courtyard | 1:49 PM
*will edit this a bit later*

Paris wasn’t sure what to make of the boy named Amor. He was an odd one that was for sure. Paris had a sickening feeling he’d meet more nut jobs like Amor at Spirit Academy. He pulled out some antibacterial soap to clean the hand the boy had kissed.

When Ignacio stopped the girl from using the word interesting Paris nearly applauded. He too was growing weary word. A new odd girl joined the growing party with Amor.

Paris looked up at the podium where a line of adults sat. They had to be the teachers. Standing in front of them organizing some papers was a tall blonde woman. Paris had to agree with Amor, a fact that irritated him greatly. The woman was beautiful despite her age, although her beauty was slightly marred by the cold distant look she had on her face.

“Let’s find some seats before this starts suggested Paris. The five teens found chairs in the front. Shortly after the blonde woman spoke into the microphone in front of her, telling everyone to take their seats. Paris expected absolute chaos as kids ran for seats but it was oddly organized and tranquil. He looked up to see one of the teachers staring without blinking at the crowd. The woman was odd looking by any standards. She lime green pants and a thick pink overcoat zipped to her chin. Her hair was a mixture of the two colors. Could she be responsible for the mellowness of the crowd? He assessed his own thoughts and feelings. It was oddly subdued considering he was sitting next to Amor who like usual was talking nonsense.

“This is going to be fun,” Amor proclaimed.

“Define fun. If your detention includes Chinese water torture then I must agree.”

“Don’t be such a downer. She’s interesting. I want to hear her talk,” Amor said.

“We are at a school for people like us. This should indeed be inter…” Alexa began before Ignacio glanced at her.

“What did I say about that word?”

Alexa sighed. “Fine, intriguing. Is that a better word?

“Not really,” Paris said.

The blonde woman at the podium began to speak. “Welcome to your first year at Spirit Academy. This school was founded for the purpose of bringing together special students and training them to use their powers in a productive way.” She went onto talk about rules and expectations, much of which Paris didn’t pay attention to.

After she gave her speech each teacher in turn came up and gave a smaller speech about their individual expectations. They talked about what classes they taught and each one acted as an advisor for whatever studies. Paris discovered his advisor and teacher would Mr. Sutherland. He looked to be in his early twenties and he didn’t seem that bothered by rules and such like the other teachers. His wife however who got up after him talked for thirty minutes about color coding one binder.

At the end of the orientation Principal Prescott got up again. “There have been some changes to the room assignments. Look on the bulletin outside this room to see if any changes were made to your room and get to rooms to unpack and mingle. You dismissed.”

Again an odd calmness settled on the crowd as they all got up and headed for the bulletin. He hoped he would not get his room changed to include Amor.

*Rooms changed slightly*
Room 203-Paris, Ignacio, Amor, Damian
Room 206-Cora,Alexa,Cassandra,Dante'

Four to a room with bunkbeds.

>As you've probably noticed I'm not very good with the time thing-o. Sorry about the large gaps that I'm placing in... <

Dante |Room 206| 2:45 PM

Pushing around my equipment, I hopped back to examine the changes I had made to my desk. Still not right! Fussing, I grabbed at my pencils and books and began to reorganise them, again. Birds whistled outside. Funny, how birds could sing around ghosts. I certainly wasn't. Every five seconds I was checking over my shoulder wondering if one would pounce on me or worse... I stopped, my hand shaking above my erasers. I needed to calm down. It had happened years ago, it was all in the past. It wouldn't happen again, not even in a thousand moons!

"Still not right!" I huffed, pouting my lips childishly. "Doesn't seem like home." Grabbing at my ruler, it hit me. Pushing all my stuff into one messy pile, I placed my bag on top and flopped onto my bed. Perfect! "Just like home!" I could feel my eyes beginning to droop. I hardly ever was awake at this time. My body clock had always been weird. For some reason I preferred to jump around at night and sleep during the day. The reason was because I'd usually spend time in the graveyard with Grandpa till daybreak and would sleep during most of my classes.

All those teachers...they had practically fried my brain! Why were they telling me all those things in one large dose? It all went in one ear and out the other, none of it sunk in. They wouldn't test us for that would they? I suddenly felt panic take a hold of my heart. Maybe I should ask the prinicpal for her speech notes. I rolled onto my side, tyring ot block out the sound of my thoughts. That's ridiculous, a small voice piped in my head. Why on Earth would they test you on the enterance speech? You tell me! Why would there be a school for people who can talk to ghosts?

Placing a pillow over my head, I groaned loudly. The door suddenly opened and Alexa came in carrying bags after bags of equipment. She glanced at my desk then at my clothes already sprawled around the floor of my bunk bed. Her nose immediately scrunched up as if the floor had sprouted zillions of spiders.

"I knew this was going to happen." She muttered, placing her bags on the opposite bed. "I'd get someone who had no respect for cleanliness."

I giggled, sitting up. "Just making it seem more like home!" I didn't want to mention that home was crap anyway, and I didn't want to get over my head because I would have to return their once my scholarship expired or the school discovered I was dud with emotional problems. I forced my smile to grow across my cheeks. Alexa sighed, and shook her head. Her hair jumping around her face.

"What ever suits you," she said.

I looked over at the door expectantly. "I thought there was more poeple that would be boaring with us?"

"Late comers, maybe? C'mon, lets go check out the sights."

Dante |Gardens| 3:17 PM

We walked in silence through the gardens. Insects wizzed around, digging into blooming flowers. I dug my fingers into my sweatshirt and hid my head deeper into it, as people passed Alexa and I, giving me conspicous glances. I don't like it when people stare at me. Alexa stopped by a scarlet red rose and picked it from its stem, taking in a deep breath as she pressed it under her nose.

"These flowers are beautiful!" she chimed, entranced.

I rolled my eyes glad that the hood hid my face. She had said that many times since we had managed to lose ourselves in the maze of fauna. The suns rays danced across the leaves, reflecting off of their green sheen. Running my finger down the stem of a weed, I felt the white furs scratch against the print on my thumb.

"It's a weed." Alexa lifted her brow in a matter of fact way. "Why are you admiring it when there are so many other beautiful flowers to see?"

I stood up, realising she had been watching me. "Every flower has beauty, including weeds. You just have to explore hard enough to find the rose within." I said in a low voice. Alexa raised an eyebrow, as if seeing me for the first time. I gulped, realising my cloak of childishness had slipped. "I mean, it's fun to touch!" I laughed obnoxiously. "It has 'lil hairs on its stems that itch!"

Alexa | Gardens | 3:19 p.m.

Alexa quirked a brow up, not believing what had come out of Dante’s mouth. She had said something that was so profound; it just didn’t fit with her.

“I mean, its fun to touch! It has ‘lil hairs on its stem that itch!” Dante had pulled her hood forward, and was avoiding Alexa’s knowing gaze.

She stopped to pick up another orchid and brought it to her nose. “I just love the smell of them.”

“Yeah, if you like sneezing later on!” Dante gave a little giggle.

“I won’t- a-a-a-ACHOOOOO!” Alexa sneezed so hard that the orchid lost its petals. She flung her hair back into place and heard Dante’s laughter.

She glanced over at her to see that she was doubled over and holding her stomach. “The look on your face was priceless!”

“Yeah, I guess,” Alexa mumbled. “Hey, let’s go back to the room so I can get a tissue.”

Dante’s laughter subsided enough for her to answer, “Okay.”

Dropping the stem, Alexa walked to the exit of the gardens, Dante walking beside her. They passed the boy’s dorm and headed to the game room. They saw some students playing on the wiis and PS3s, but Alexa didn’t recognize any of them.
They passed through the doorway and started up the stairs to their floor. A ghost maid was waiting down the hallway outside their door when they got to the landing. Alexa froze for a second, but centered herself by taking a calm breath.

Dante turned to her, “Why do you do that?”

“Do what?” Alexa glanced at her then started walking to their room.

“That deep breathing whenever there’s a ghost.” Dante motioned to the ghost.

“Oh, well I had a mentor that I lived with for a couple of years that taught me how to cope with my fear of ghosts.”
Alexa stopped in front of the ghost, but she said nothing.

“Uh, is there something wrong?” Dante asked.

“No, there is a new student and I was dropping her things off.” And with that she disappeared from their sight.

Alexa looked at Dante and shrugged, then turned the knob and walked into the room. All she saw was bright red hair.

“Umm, hi!” Dante rushed into the room and jumped onto her bed.

The new girl had decided to bunk above Alexa, and she jumped when she heard Dante’s welcome.

“Oh, hi. I was just unpacking.” She motioned to her bags.

“Well, welcome.” Alexa held out her hand and the girl gripped it firmly. “I’m Alexa.”

Jocelyn| Car| 1:49

Jocelyn shoved the white ski hat on her head, her light blue shirt contrasting against her dark jeans. To the protesting of her mother, she had already unbuckled the seatbelt and had a hand on her suitcase filled with her most important belongings. Her instruments were in the trunk, in expensive cases so they wouldn’t get damaged.

“We’re almost there, hon.” Her mother was crooning to her, trying to get down her nerves. A smirk found it’s way to her face.

“That’s what you said thirty minutes ago. I thought Marines knew where they were going?”

“Don’t take that tone with me,” her father said, but she could see his smile in the rearview mirror, “we’ll be there on time.”

“According to you, we’ll be late because we’re already ten minutes early right now. Being on time is late for you, remember?”

“Shush, Joz. We’re here, see?”

She did see and before the car had completely stopped, the door was opened and her foot was on the ground as soon as it wasn’t moving. Practically flying, she was trying to carry all of her instruments at once but it didn’t work out. Growling, to her father’s amusement, she ran up to the entrance with her suitcase and violin in one hand, and her cello in the other.

“I’ll take those-” Jocelyn cut off the ghost by dropping her suitcase and gently piling her cello and violin together.

“Thanks! I have one more bag! Be right back!”

She started sprinting to the car, nearly running into her father, carrying her keyboard.

“Thanks, daddy.” She kissing him on the cheek then blew a kiss to her mother. “Love you both! I’ll write!”

Running into the entrance, she once again let a ghost maid take her belongings. Her acceptance letter was clutched in her fist, as she ran towards the orientation. Just as her watch changed to two, she found a seat and was breathlessly listening to the speeches.

Afterwards, she went to check her room number, wanting to go and punch something but decided to take a look around first, not being able to take in the sights before hand.

After a lengthy hiatus, I think it's time for us to restart this storybook!

Ignacio | Room 203| 2:53 pm

Oh Lord, Ignacio thought to himself as he let his long legs dangle over the ladder that connected his bunk to Paris’s, watching Amor make a mess out of his desk. He was pretty sure he would go crazy being stuck in a room with Amor for the next three years, but at least he had Paris. He at least was relatively saner than him and Amor combined.

He ruffled his black tangled mess of hair, and continued surveying what was to be his room for the rest of his adolescence. The simple pale lilac wallpaper was somehow comforting, and he grudgingly admitted that the creaking parquet fitted nicely with the wooden bunk-beds. And the fact that each and every one of them had antique roll top desks made him conclude that this academy was not bad at all.

However, he most certainly did not want to share a wardrobe with the other boys. Especially Amor.

Ignacio slipped off his bed and walked over to where their communal wardrobe stood, lugging his suitcase after him. He briskly started unpacking his clothes --- all white button downs (he could wear them as his uniform, he realised), causal black ties, grey hoodies, sweaters and jumpers, black skinny jeans and lastly, he put all his earrings into a black box.

Paris and Amor followed suit, all ears tuned out Amor’s continuous chatter. Occasionally a few phrases slipped into his mind --- Iggy, you’re so emo! What’s up with those earrings? --- but Ignacio did not respond, just nodding and “uh-huh” a few times to placate the boy.

He silently placed his battered fountain pens, commonplace books and his ink bottle on his desk as the boys unpacked (Paris neatly folding his clothes, Amor haphazardly chucking his jeans into the poor wardrobe) and his red Converses impatiently tapped the floor. He ached to wander the school grounds and into the library. He had heard loads of good things about the library, and it was supposed to be really big and was next to the courtyard.

“Are you guys done yet?” he finally asked when Amor accidently dumped a pile of hoodies on an annoyed Paris, narrowly diffusing their potential argument.

“The map says the library is near the girls’ dorms,” Paris informed them as they strolled down the quiet hallway.

Amor wriggled his eyebrows at them. “Ooh, that means Lexy might be near! With our Italian friend!”

“You mean Dante, right?” Ignacio said.

“I never could have guessed that you were so greedy, Iggy!” the normal looking boy laughed, clapping a hand on Ignacio’s back, “Leave some girls for Paris and me!”

Paris hotly interjected, “Hey, I never said I wanted ---“

“Anywho, is that the library?” Ignacio made an attempt to grin, and tugged at the grey sleeves of his jumper.

“Hell yeah!” Amor cheered, and charged in, pulling unfortunate Ignacio along with him. Paris followed in their footsteps, muttering something about “stupid, obnoxious boys”.

Just as Ignacio had expected, the library was enormous, filled with the brim with lovely, gorgeous books. He was awestruck at how the librarian had obviously treated each and every single book with love and the utmost care, all neatly stacked row after row according to the Dewey Decimal System.

He wandered around, letting his pale fingers brushing over books as he walked past them, the bright sunshine illuminating his way and his raven hair. He was completely absorbed in feeling the creamy pages and smelling the old, dusty scent of books, so he didn’t notice there was a person right in front of him.

He crashed right into a small figure, both falling to the ground. Bewildered, Ignacio only came to his senses after he flipped his fringe out of his blurry ice blue eyes. “I am so sorry, “ he smiled sheepishly and helped the girl to her feet.

“S’ okay.” The girl cheerfully replied, holding out a hand. “My name’s Jocelyn, but you can call me Jozzy.”

Ignacio shook her hand and let what he hopefully thought was charisma emanate from him. “I’m Ignacio, Ignacio Derwent. Nice to meet you.” His eyes met her hers, and they were a greyish green, like those of a certain ghost. He immediately let go of that painful train of thought, and tried to dispel the sadness that suddenly clouded his mind.

A whistle came long and low behind him. “Iggy, we told you not to hog all the girls for yourself,” Amor lightly chided.

Jocelyn clearly found Amor amusing, and she giggled. “You’re funny.”

Amor mock bowed. “It is an honour to be bestowed such a great compliment on me from such a charming young lady. I am Amor, lovely Love; and you, my lady, are…?” he inquired.

She giggled some more, and replied, “Jocelyn, Jozzy for short.”

“Jozzy, we will get along quite nicely, just like Iggy and Paris over there,” he declared, nudging bored Paris, “Don’t you think so, Paris?”

“It depends on how you look at it.” came the answer.

“So what are you guys studying here? I’m a shaman!” Jocelyn beamed.

Amor laughed. “I’m an everything man, just like Leonardo Da Vinci!”

“As if you’re as great as him,” Ignacio muttered under his breath, and continued, “I’m a witch. Not that I’m a woman, but yeah.”

“Psychic.” Paris said shortly.

Paris~

Paris watched Amor with a sickened dissonance as he spoke to Jozzy. He was like a character out of a cheesy French romance novel. But since Amor was such a scattered individual it was like the book also was narrated by someone one drugs.

“So what are you guys studying here? I’m a shaman,” said Jozzy.

Amor laughed. “I’m an everything man, just like Leonardo Da Vinci!”

Paris refrained from rolling his eyes. If he did it to much his eyes might get stuck like that, upturned in his head. It would be a challenge not to roll his eyes at every thing Amor said. Paris heard Ignacio mutter something under his breath, but Paris didn’t catch it. Whatever he said was probably directed at Amor. Ignacio quickly changed his tone and directed his answer towards the girl claiming himself to be a Witch.

“Psychic,” said not seeing a reason to elaborate outside of the one word.
“Oh,” Amor grabbed Paris hand. The sheer shock of it was the only thing that kept Paris form punching him. “What does my future say? I hope it’s good. I know it’s good. Can you see it? I bet it’s wonderful to behold.”

Paris snatched his hand away and started mumbling in French. “Amor, juste fait taire avant que j'ai coupé vos lèvres et fais une boucle de ceinture d'eux.”

“What does that mean?” Amor asked with wide eyes.
“It means don’t grab my hand again,” Paris snapped.
Jozzy smiled at Paris, which made him squint.
“You really shouldn’t be so negative. I think Amor’s enthusiasm is nice.”

Again Paris managed at the last second to stop an eye roll. You’ve known him for a shorter period of time then we have. Trust me when I say it gets annoying quickly.”
This statement did not seem to bother Amor instead began to chatter away at the girl. The worst pat was she encouraged him with the occasional giggles that insured he would go on.

Paris redirected his attention to see a girl with long red hair examining a book on the shelf not to far from where they stood. Paris was not one to introduce himself to people, but his annoyonce with Amor was enough to break him of his usual habits. He walked over to the girl.

“I’m Paris, and you are.”
The girl looked up from the book and her eyes went over him as if she was appraising him.

“Cassie she said finally after a long moment of silence. She looked over his shoulder. “Are those your friends?”

Paris looked back. “I’ve known them for a few hours, so I couldn’t really say.”

“They seem a bit odd,” she said flatly.

Paris had to give her that one. The motor mouth Amor, the perky blonde and the emo like Ignacio. It was an odd bunch. Paris could not deny that fact.

Amor seemed to notice them. He came over and Ignacio and Jozzy followed.

“I see Paris has found himself a girl too. Try not to steal her Iggy.”

This time Paris let his eyes roll.

Cassandra | Library- 3pm:

Cassie narrowed her gaze at the other boy. The motormouth. "I am not anyone's girl," she snapped, turning back to her book. Sighing, she shoved it back onto the shelf. "Not interesting," she muttered.

"What was that?"

She glanced towards the girl beside her, almost invisible to the others. Gracie, the one constant ghost in her life. Cassie decided it was best not to talk to Gracie in front of the others, and instead smirked as she turned back to Paris. The motormouth was watching her, but Cassie ignored it, instead focusing her attention on Paris.

"Paris, was it?" she asked, careful not to look at anyone but him. "Would you like to go for a walk? I feel a headache coming one." A discrete glance towards the one who talked too fast and back to Paris. She smiled, only a little and waited.