Chapter Text
Nina wiped the sweat from her brow as she pulled her luggage up the path. She’s been doing this for ten minutes and was already thinking about shedding her jacket even though she had been chilly before. When she realized she had no idea where she should put her stuff, she had decided to take it with her to the auditorium where they would be doing first day announcements, but she was regretting her decision based on how exhausted she was alone.
“Hey!”
Nina ignored this, people had been greeting their friends and ignoring her struggle since it had begun.
“Hey, you with the suitcase!”
Nina paused, even without the specific acknowledgment towards the current bane of her existence, she would have turned around at this second voice on the fact that the speaker was American, alone. She turned around and looked for who might have called her and soon found two girls watching her. They started walking towards her and Nina was both happy to meet new people and bitter that it had to be when she felt haggard and annoyed.
“Hi, sorry we don’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” Said the shorter one with long red hair. “We saw you struggling to take all of your things up, why didn’t you drop it off at the load off and pick up spot?”
Nina, breathing deeply, looked at both of them. “The what?”
“It’s where students drop off their luggage. And then during the announcements they’re taken to our houses.” Said the black girl with curly hair, she was the American.
“Did you walk all the way here or something?” the first girl asked.
“But even if she did, she’s on the wrong path to get there,” the American girl said.
“I didn’t know there was a drop off and pick up spot.” Nina admitted.
“Oh hey!” the American girl grinned. “A fellow American! I thought I heard an accent... or lack there of, but I wasn't sure. Eddie will be happy, there’s only two of us here. Three now!”
“That’s fun!” said the other one, clapping her hands. “Oh, but back to the issue. How come you didn’t know?”
“I’m new,” Nina began to explain but the fellow American shook her head.
“It says it in your package. You read it, right?”
Nina had, although she was so excited she might have missed something. “I must not have seen it.”
“Shame.” said the first girl, a sad sort of frown on her face. “Could have had whoever drove you drop you off there. You did drive, right?”
“Yeah, from the train.” Nina felt the urge to kick her stuff, wishing she had noticed that line. “Um, so where is the drop off spot? Is it far?”
“Oh no, it’s just behind the school. We could tell something was up when you were headed to the front.” The first girl said.
“We can give you a hand, come on, Willow.” The American girl said.
“Oh sure, oh you brought three bags!”
“That’s not too much is it? One of these carries my bedding and stuff,” Nina asked as they each took hold of one of her bags.
“Oh no, I brought five, I was acknowledging that it was the perfect amount for us, must have been fate. I’m Willow, as you heard.”
“KT,” said the American. “That’s KT like two letters, short for my real name. Lots of people think I’m saying Katie.”
“Nice to meet you, and thanks. I’m Nina.”
“Well come on!” Willow started to walk back the way Nina came. “We don’t want to be late for reveal day!”
“Um... reveal day?” said Nina. “I really should have read my package better.”
“Oh no, this isn’t in your package.” KT explained. “It’s just what the students here call the first day of school.”
“Reveal Day is a big deal here,” Willow said. “I’ll explain. You got assigned the house that you’re going to live in, you know your house right?”
“It wouldn’t really matter if she didn’t,” KT shrugged. “Since it will be revealed soon anyway.”
“I do know it, though.” Nina cut in.
“Oh good, well,” Willow began, “The way things work here is every year, the houses change, they put people together randomly, only criteria being that they’re in the same grade. So whatever house you end up living in this year, you won’t live in it next year, and you won’t live with the same people either.”
“I won’t be here next year.” Nina explained. “I’m a senior.”
“You are?” KT asked. “And you’re new?”
“Not ideal, I know." Nina said. “So let me guess, reveal day is a big deal because you learn who you’re going to be living with for the next year.”
“Precisely. Of course, if you know someone well, you’ll probably text them before school and find out. KT and I already know we’ll be together.” Willow smiled.
They just rounded to the back of the school where hundreds of luggage were. On the back were big shiny crafted letters that went from A to Z, each letter had a section. Cars were on the drive with parents and whomever else helping to unload.
“You put your stuff in the section of the beginning letter of your last name.” KT explained. She started looking at the bag she was holding. “Did you put a label on your bags?”
“Label?”
“You should put your first and last name on the bag so your resident house caretaker knows to take it, otherwise your things get left behind and you’ll have to drag it all the way to your house.” Willow looked over. “I see my bag, I’ll get some labels for you.”
“Thank you,” Nina sighed. “You guys are like angels.”
Willow and KT smiled at her as Willow went to the “J” section and dug about halfway through to find a blue luggage. She opened the first pocket on one of them. “Ah, here they are. And... here is a marker!”
She gave Nina the objects and Nina hurriedly put her name on the labels and slapped it on her three bags. Then she put the one she was rolling in the “M” section and the others followed suit.
“There! All done!” Willow grinned. “Oh look, there’s Joy’s things!”
She was pointing to more luggage in the “M” section. “She’s probably already inside, then.” KT said. “Come on Nina!”
Nina followed the girls as they walked around front to the school. “Joy is another friend of yours?”
“Yeah, I roomed with her last year. We’re actually cousins too!” Willow said.
“I didn’t room with either of them.” KT said. “But Willow was still very friendly to me, she seems to have a radar for new students. She always included me in classes, so I met Joy and also Patricia last year.”
“We won’t be living with either of them this year.” Willow said. “KT and I are in Isis house, they’re going to be in Anubis.”
“Oh, that’s my house!” Nina said.
“Great, we’ll have to introduce you guys, then!” Willow cheered.
They turned into the much louder and much more packed room where students were finding their seats in front of the stage. Willow pointed to a row where two girls were and lead KT and Nina to them.
“Joy!” Willow squealed. The girl jumped and turned, but gave Willow a warm smile. Willow went to hug them, which Joy returned. The girl next to Joy, with the dark red hair, smiled at Willow but looked a little uncomfortable at the hug she received. KT just waved as Joy motioned for them to sit.
“Hey, this is Nina!” KT pointed to Nina. “She’s new, she’ll be in your house!”
“Hi, Nina!” Joy waved. The other girl, probably Patricia, acknowledged her with a head wave.
“She’s American, like KT and Eddie!” Willow grinned. Probably Patricia rolled her eyes and Nina felt the need to sink in her seat.
“Don’t be rude, Patricia.” Joy said sternly to Definitely Patricia. Joy turned to Nina. “She’s not as icy as she comes across, but she’s not particularly fond of meeting new people.”
“Thanks for the analysis, Joy.” Patricia said bitingly. Joy didn’t seem to be bothered by Patricia’s cruel tone.
“We’ve got to tell you something!” Joy said to Willow. “An idea I had, but it’s kind of noisy in here, so I’ll tell you later!”
Willow nodded just as the man on the stage began to tap the microphone for attention.
“Hello! Hello! Can you all hear me, hello! Find your seats! Find your seats!” the man said as slowly the noise level decreased. “Welcome to another year at Amun Boarding School!”
The students cheered and clapped. Nina turned behind when she heard the sound of boys making ‘woof’ sounds. Two tall boys in the back had stood up and put their hands around their mouths to make the sounds. People started laughing and when Nina turned back to the girls she was sitting with, she saw Joy and Patricia roll their eyes with small smiles.
“Thank you Lewis, Clarke.” The man acknowledged.
“Lewis and Clarke?” Nina asked. “Like the Lewis and Clark Expedition?”
“Their first names are Alfie and Jerome, Lewis and Clarke are their last names.” Patricia explained, talking to her for the first time.
“That’s probably even weirder.” Nina muttered to herself.
“I am your principal, Mr. Sweet. I hope that we have a year even better than the last!” Mr. Sweet said. “Now I have a couple of announcements. Number one, as we’ve said we will be a little bit more relaxed about uniform. You may wear whatever you want, so long as it visits dress code standards, but in class students should wear the correct attire. This also goes for any days we have school functions for parents.”
“So much better than before.” Joy said, explaining to Nina. “Before, we practically only wore our uniform and our jammies.”
“Number two, as always you must abide by the rules given to you by your house mother and caretaker. I do not care if one house’s curfew is nine, if your house curfew is eight, you should be in by eight. Number three, tryouts for any and all sports teams will happen next week and while we will provide equipment and uniform, you must get your own cleats and or shin guards, or whatever else is needed for your sport. Finally, we said goodbye to Mr. Coneval last year who had been here for even longer than I have, but we welcome a new history professor, Mr. Winkler!”
The man stood up to the applause of the students, he was young, likely fresh out of University.
“He’s cute!” Willow giggled. Joy smiled and nodded.
“He will also double as the head of the theater department, he was willing to take on the task. Be sure to make him feel welcome!” Mr. Sweet announced. “And that is the end of my announcements.”
“Oh good, we’ll be getting to the reveal now!” Joy smiled.
“You’ll go first,” Willow said to Nina. “They go by name so Anubis is always first.”
“Now, let’s get you to your houses.” Mr. Sweet began. “First house, Anubis. House Mother, Trudy Rehmann.”
A short but kind-looking woman stood and waved, walking quickly to the back door.
“Okay, time to find out who we’ll spend the rest of the year with,” Joy said.
“For Anubis House I need these students to follow Miss Rehmann to the back doors and wait for the rest of your housemates. Mick Campbell.”
“Oh, I’ve never roomed with Mick,” Joy said. Nina could tell instantly this guy was popular because when he stood and did a quick jog to the back, people started clapping and whistling.
“I have, he’s alright,” Patricia said, watching Mick go. “He does a lot of training so he’s out of the house a lot. Just make sure you get your food quickly because he’ll eat it all.”
“But he’s really nice!” Willow grinned.
“You think everyone’s nice.” Joy said.
“You think I’m nice.” Patricia scoffed.
Mr. Sweet cleared his throat and spoke again. “Jerome Clark.”
“Oh no!” Patricia and Joy both said, both turning around. Nina turned too and saw one of the boys from before walk to the back.
“I’m guessing both of you have roomed with him before,” Nina said.
“I haven’t,” Patricia admitted. “But I still know I never wanted to be in the same house as him.”
“I have and he spent most of the time pranking everyone in the house,” Joy grumbled.
“Mara Jaffray.”
“Oh Mara!” Joy grinned. “I love Mara, we even shared a room two years ago!”
“I did too, last year,” Patricia said. “I like her too.”
“Alfred Lewis.”
“What?!” Joy exclaimed. “That’s got to be a joke, there’s no way they’d allow Jerome and Alfie to be under one roof again!”
Nina turned back again just in time to see the other boy clap hands with Jerome, grinning. There was a shorter girl there with wavy black hair shaking her head at them. She must have been Mara.
“Nina Martin.”
“Oh!” Nina jumped a bit at the sound of her name but quickly got up and went down to where the others were. Miss Rehmann grinned at her.
“Hello Nina, welcome to the school! I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time!” she said.
“You’re new?” Jerome asked her. Nina just nodded. She wish she was still with Joy and Patricia, they gave good insight into who she was rooming with. She couldn’t help but feel a little bit nervous around Jerome and Alfie and took a step closer to Mara.
“Joy Mercer.”
Nina stopped herself from breathing a sigh of relief as the girl stood up. Nina hadn’t realized she was short until then.
“No way, Joyless Mercer is with us?” Jerome groaned.
“Don’t be rude,” Miss Rehmann admonished.
“I like Joy, I’m glad she’s with us,” Mara said. When Joy came up she and Mara gave each other tight hugs.
“Eddison Miller-Sweet.”
“Mr. Sweet’s son?” Mick asked.
“Eh, don't worry. Eddie’s cool,” Alfie said.
“I heard you eat a lot,” Joy said to Mick. “And I know these two and Eddie eat a lot. Between the four of you, we won’t have any food left for the rest of us!”
“Good thing I like to cook. Hello Eddie!” Trudy said to the boy as he approached. He nodded at her and then greeted Jerome and Alfie like friends.
“Amber Millington.”
“Oh damn.” nearly everyone muttered this or some version of this, the only exception being Mick and Miss Rehmann.
“Hey watch it,” Mick warned. “That’s my girlfriend you’re talking about.”
“Girlfriend?” Miss Rehmann asked, for sure not aware of this.
Nina watched as the beautiful blonde waved at her admirers and gracefully walked to them, right to Mick. She hugged him tightly and when Nina looked at Miss Rehmann the woman looked like she wanted to say ‘oh damn’.
“Fabian Rutter.”
“Fabian’s with us?” Joy whispered, Nina didn’t miss the excitement in her tone.
“I've never roomed with him. You?” Alfie asked Jerome.
“Yeah, quiet and has a permanent stick up his arse.”
“Jerome!” Miss Rehmann scolded, Eddie and Alfie were laughing. Fabian approached them and Nina’s stomach did a flip. He smiled at everyone nervously and went to Joy and Mara who each hugged him.
“And Patricia Williamson.”
“Ooh Trixie!” Alfie smiled.
“Yacker’s with us?” Eddie asked.
“Oh great, I get to room with the witch.” Jerome muttered.
“A woman with many names,” Nina muttered to herself. “Who sparks many different reactions?”
“Okay, that’s everyone. Come on now!” Miss Rehmann started walking. “We’re a bit farther from everyone else.”
Amber groaned. “I’m wearing heels, I’d really rather not walk too much.”
“Well that’s no one’s fault but your own, is it princess?” Jerome said.
“Lay off, Clarke.” Mick threatened, tightening his hold around Amber’s waist. Jerome rolled his eyes and walked towards the front of the group along with Alfie and Eddie.
“How long have you two been going out?” Mara asked the pair, looking a little bitter.
Amber leaned towards the group with an excited face as they stepped outside and walked down the path to their house. “Since the end of last year! We kept it quiet because we knew we’d want to be in the same house and the school would never have allowed it if they knew we were going out.”
“We asked our parents to be in Anubis, they, of course, had no idea about us.” Mick said.
“Wait, but the way they put people together is completely random.” Patricia said.
“Uh, no way.” Amber shook her head. “Maybe random for most of you, but I have always chosen what house I wanted to live in. Let’s not forget the amount of influence Mick’s parents and my parents have on the school.”
“Then why’d you choose a house so far away from the school, if you don’t like walking?” Mara asked.
“It’s not the walking that’s the problem, it’s the walking in these particular shoes. They’re extremely painful, but they go great with my dress.” Amber said. “And I went to a party last year at Anubis House, it was amazing, I knew it would be the perfect house for when I throw a party.”
“Hey,” Fabian finally spoke up. “No parties, please.”
Amber snorted and blatantly ignored him.
“If you can choose wherever you go and whoever you room with, why don’t you choose rooming with a friend?” Joy asked. “I mean, Patricia and I have gone here five years and only now did we get put in the same house.”
“With friends? Are you kidding?” Amber scoffed. “No effing way, rooming with friends ruins friendships. And no, having a long sleepover doesn’t count as a practice run. Think about it, you’re sharing a space, you’ll see a side of your friend you’ve never seen no matter how well you know each other. Nope, no way. It’s just not safe.”
Patricia and Joy glanced at each other, clearly a bit nervous.
“Jerome and Alfie don’t count. They met each other by being in the same room, they already know each other's quirks.” Amber said.
“How did they end up being put in the same house?” Mick asked. “It’s not like their parents are like our parents.”
“Are you kidding? Have you ever seen Jerome blast his full charm at someone? He probably just asked.” Amber rolled her eyes.
“Oh is that the house there?” Mara pointed. Nina looked up to the beautiful brick house with tons of windows and ivy that hung down.
“Finally.” Amber sighed. “It’s cute. I’ve never seen it during the day.”
“Hey look,” Mick pointed to an older man carrying a few bags to the door. One of them was Nina’s.
“Ugh look at how he’s flinging the bags around, I hope he was a lot nicer with my things,” Amber said. Victor walked inside the house, the doors open, and Miss Rehmann was just paces behind him but she paused and turned to everyone.
“I want to get a picture, everyone line up! I’ll put it in the sitting room, I do it every year,” she said.
“Mirror! Mirror!” Amber started digging in her bag and pulled out a compact mirror and checked herself. “Okay, I’m good.”
Slowly they all stood in front of the brick wall opposite to the door, Nina was between Joy and Fabian.
“Big smiles everyone!” Miss Rehmann said. She took the picture and grinned. “Perfect, okay let’s go inside everyone!”
They followed her inside the house, she made an immediate turn to the room on the left that apparently was the sitting room.
“Welcome to Anubis House! Victor is just finishing taking your things in, he’ll be here to give you the rules of the house soon. You may have heard I’m Trudy Rehmann, you can all just call me Trudy. I’ll be here for anything you need, please don’t be afraid to ask me.” As Trudy spoke, people began to sit down so Nina did as well. “This is the sitting room, the dining room is behind me and behind there is the kitchen. There’s a laundry room on the side of the kitchen as well, I’ll do your laundry for you if you want but it would be a big help if you did it yourself as well. The boys are on the bottom floor, girls on the top, and there’s a bathroom for each of you on each floor. Victor’s office is also on the top floor, needless to say that you shouldn’t go in there. But I’ll let Victor handle where you can’t go. You can decorate your room however you want but no candles and anything like irons and microwaves will be on the bottom floor in its designated location.”
“Trudy?” Amber asked raising her hand. “How many rooms are there?”
“There are four rooms, dear, two for boys and two for girls. In the smaller rooms, it will be two to a room. In the bigger ones, three to a room. The beds are already set up, but I will say this, for the boys room we had to get bunk beds.”
“Oh when I was a kid I wanted a bunk bed.” Mick said.
“Oh good, you can take that room then.” Trudy smiled.
Mick frowned. “I didn’t say I still wanted one.”
“I refuse to be in the room with three people,” Amber said assertively. “I’ll take the smaller one. You three look like you’ll be comfortable together.”
Amber looked at Joy, Patricia, and Mara. Then she turned to Nina with a swing of her head. “So I suppose you’re my roommate. What was your name again?”
“Oh, um. Nina.”
“Nina? Nice to meet you.” Amber smiled.
“Nice to meet you, too.” Nina said.
“Sorry, was that an American accent?” Jerome asked.
“Oh yes,” Trudy cut in. “Nina’s traveled all the way here from America. So that’s already something you have in common with Eddie!”
Nina turned to Eddie who smiled and nodded at her.
“Unlike you all, Nina’s new. I hope you’ll be very welcoming to her.” Trudy said, a bit of sterness in her voice. “Victor will be finished very soon, I’m going to get some things together, call me if you need me.”
While she exited, Amber glared at the alligator that sat on the table in front of them. “I don’t remember all of these weird animals around last time I was here.”
“I guess Victor’s into taxidermy.” Mara said.
“What?” Amber asked.
“Taxidermy. Where you stuff dead animals.”
Amber gasped but whatever she was going to say got cut off by Victor himself walking into the room. He glared at all of them as if they had already done something bad. Everyone kind of leaned away from him in the first bit of house solidarity Nina had seen in the group.
“Up. Get up everyone!” Victor barked at all of them. Everyone looked at each other, a little unsure, but started to stand up anyway. “Line up. Right there, line up. I don’t care what order, I just want to see you all in front of me!”
Again, looking at each other, they got in a line in front of Victor as he began to walk in front of them like a general. Eddie must have thought similarly because he said, “I didn’t know I enlisted for the army.”
Victor paused in front of him and gave him a mean look before continuing to walk. “I’ll have no funny business this year. I’m going to state the rules once and only once. This was my home far before it belonged to the school, I want it respected. Anything you break, you’ll pay for. You break my rules, I’ll make you clean the toilets with a toothbrush. Curfew is nine o’clock, sharp, no later unless explicitly give permission. Everyone should be in their rooms asleep by ten, at that point I shall want to hear a pin drop. The cellar, the attic, and my office are all strictly out of bounds. Girls are not to be in boys rooms and boys are not to be in girls rooms past nine o'clock, I want no funny business. You follow these rules and there should be no problems. Understood?”
“Yes,” everyone said. Victor glared at them all again, as if he thought they were lying.
“The girls’ bags are on the second floor, the boys’ bags are on the first floor, you may choose your own rooms.” He gave them one final glare before walking away.
“What a grump.” Amber said. “Anyway, come on Nina. Let’s decorate our room!”
She took hold of Nina’s hand and practically dragged her up the stairs.
It was much later in the day by the time they were fully unpacked and the rooms were decorated. Nina didn’t do much decorating, she put her bedding on and her pictures up but that was about it. Amber, however, put up all little nick nacks and pictures of her fashion designs, a poster of Victoria Beckham, and lots of other things. She set up her desk like a vanity and hung purple curtains around. When she was finished she kicked off her shoes and sat cross legged on the bed in front of Nina.
“I like you Nina.” Amber said. “You didn’t have to help me with my stuff but you did. I hope we can be good friends.”
“I thought rooming with friends was a bad idea.”
“No, that’s if you start off as friends and then room together. But friends who started off as roommates are the closest!” Amber gushed. “Hmm. I think I’ll go see how Mick is now.”
And with that she found her slippers and practically skipped out of the room. Nina looked around the room before deciding to try and find company for herself as well. She walked to the second girls’ bedroom where Joy, Patricia, and Mara were. Their door was open, Mara was on her own bed while Patricia and Joy sat together on the same bed, Joy’s from the looks of it, she had a pillow in the shape of a J.
“I feel like that isn’t safe.” Mara said.
“What isn’t safe?” Nina asked before she could stop herself. All three girls looked at her. “Sorry... the door was open.”
Joy quickly got up and pulled her in, closing the door behind her. “Shouldn’t have left it open, I don’t want everyone to know.”
“So are you telling new girl?” Patricia asked. “I thought this was just a you and me thing.”
“It doesn’t have to be.” Joy shrugged. “And maybe Nina doesn’t even want to do it, Mara certainly doesn’t sound interested.”
“Well, I mean it is interesting, don’t get me wrong.” Mara said. “But I just feel like it might lead to some very bad decisions.”
“Or a very interesting year.” Joy smirked.
“Um, what’s this about?” Nina asked.
Mara leaned back and motioned for Joy to tell. Nina hesitantly sat down on Mara’s bed and looked at her, waiting for her to object, but she didn’t. Joy grinned at Nina.
“I’ve proposed to Patricia that we have a Year of Yes.”
Nina stared at her and searched her mind for any sort of context and found none. “What’s a year of yes?”
“Basically, it’s saying yes to anything and everything. Nothing’s off limits.” Patricia explained.
“Doesn’t that sound mildly dangerous?” Mara asked Nina. “And a little dirty?”
Joy sighed. “It’s supposed to be, it’s about taking risks. Think about this, we are in our last year of school, our last year of childhood. Some of us are even going to be turning 18 this year! We’ll have to be more responsible next year, we won’t be able to afford to go a little bit crazy. That means it’s the perfect time to do it. We’re young, we should experience life!”
“Beautiful speech. I still think you’re crazy.” Mara said. “And I can’t believe Patricia would agree to this, she says no to everything.”
“She blackmailed me.” Patricia said. “But I do think it could be fun.”
“Nina, don’t you think they’re being a little bit insane?” Mara asked.
But Nina didn’t. Nina thought they were a little bit brilliant. She had been wanting to get out of her comfort zone, start fresh and start new in new place. It would give her more experience before she went to college, half the reason she wanted to be out here. Plus, wouldn’t she be sort of in their group if she did this? Amber was nice but she talked a lot and seemed to be focused on Mick. She really wanted these two girls to like her.
“I actually think it’s an amazing idea,” Nina said. Mara’s jaw dropped, Patricia’s eyebrows rose up, and Joy grinned. “Everything she said is right, and it would force us to look at life in another light.”
“See?” Joy said. “Nina gets it!”
“Wait, you’re serious? You would do it?” Mara asked Nina.
“Not only would I do it, if it’s okay with them, I’m going to!” Nina said smiling.
Patricia smiled slowly. “You’re not what I expected Newby.”
Mara bit her lip. “But... it’s insane! We couldn’t possibly... we just can’t!”
“Mara,” Joy said a large smile on her face. “You’ve already committed to it and you haven’t even realized. You just said ‘we’, meaning you’re already with us.”
“She’s right,” Patricia said. “Otherwise you probably would have just asked for no parts to begin with, instead you sat there asking for more information.”
“I did not!”
“Maybe not with your mouth but, trust me, you asked.” Patricia folded her arms.
Nina turned to her. “I don’t know you very well, I don’t know you at all actually. But I do know that everyone could use a little adventure.”
Mara looked at all three of them and then closed her eyes shaking her head. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but fine. I’m in.”
“Then it’s official.” Joy grinned. “The Year of Yes begins now!”