Two of my roommates to be exact. One seemed to not have arrived yet. The two girls looked exactly the same. They had bright blonde hair, almost white. They had just as bright blue eyes. They both looked at me and then waved in time with each other. I waved back shyly. They spoke first, before I could say anything awkward.

  “Hi, I am Luna. This is my twin Georgia,” one of the girls said, sitting on her bed.

  The other girl, Georgia, also spoke up.

  “Luna’s slightly taller. That’s how you can tell us apart. It’s quite hard isn't it? We even have the same power. Invisibility Power,” she seemed a bit more enthusiastic. She was probably the younger one, I thought.

  I nodded, forcing myself to speak and fill the one second silence.

  “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Harriet,” I didn’t really know what else to say, and it didn’t help that they both looked at me as if they expected me to say something more. Georgia spoke up once again.

  “So, what’s your power?” She tilted her head at me.

  “Oh, I don’t really know yet. I’m assuming Light or Electric but I’m going to find out during my csses this year,” I expined, hoping to avoid any further questions about my powers.

  They nodded in sync. The awkward silence I hoped to avoid filled the room. Luckily, a girl with short brown hair, just sitting below her tan shoulders, burst into the room, all bubbly, or however someone would expin an overjoyed person. She was basically bouncing forward instead of walking like a normal person. She looked at me, her eyes widening, if that was even possible. Her eyes were wide and bright to begin with. She gave me a rge, genuine smile.

  “Hello! I heard that you are our new roommate Harriet! I am Olive!’ She bounced over to me before I could even do anything.

  “Can I see your timetable? I want to see if we have any normal csses together tomorrow.”

  I slipped the timetable I had stowed in my pocket, out of it and handed it to her. She unfolded it, and gnced at the small words on it.

  “Huh! It seems we have science during the sixth period tomorrow! That’s good, because everyone hates me there since I keep breaking test tubes and stuff. I accidentally broke one once and the liquid fell on the ground and burnt a small hole in the ground. Oh, I forgot to mention, I have the Strength Power!” The words spilled out her mouth. I wondered if everyone here just naturally talked fast, but I guess I was just gd she was talking about herself and not asking about my different possibilities of power.

  She handed me back my timetable and looked up at me. She was quite short, I realised. Before I knew it, she started talking again.

  “Would you like to come to the gardens with me? I can show you to a couple of my friends!’ She asked excitedly. I felt like no wasn’t an answer in that conversation so I hesitantly nodded. I seemed to be nodding a lot that day.

  *

  We stepped onto the fresh green grass of the gardens. I could see a small group of five people hanging out under a tree, all chatting to each other. Olive gently grabbed hold of my wrist and tugged me forward, forcing me towards the group of people. As soon as she reached them, she left me to go talk to a girl was was showing off her Aqua Powers, throwing water around in the air. It was hypnotising, watching her mold the liquid into various shapes.

  I got snapped out of my daze when a hand fell on my shoulder. My head snapped around. Forest Green. He was smiling down at me.

  “I can’t wait to see you use your powers, whether it’s Light or Electric,” he removed his hand from my shoulder as I turned my body around to look at him properly.

  “I didn’t expect you to be here. I mean- not that I was thinking ‘oh I wonder where Forest is’, more like, you surprised me by being here-,”

  “I get what you mean,” he cut me off. He wasn’t being rude, it was more of an attempt to soothe my worries. My irrational worries.

  “You see quite nervous, although, I guess I understand. You are a new student after all, albeit, a te joiner,” he smirked as if he thought he was spewing something smart. I just stared up at him. I cleared my throat. I don’t know why. It just seemed appropriate to start a new sentence, even if my throat wasn’t scratchy or anything.

  “Do you have science in the sixth period tomorrow?”

  He looked at me, confused, his eyebrow raised while still half smiling.

  “No I don’t think so… a little bit random, don’t you think?”

  I blushed in embarrassment. I should have thought for longer before I asked that stupid question.

  “Oh yeah, I guess it is. Sorry, I’m not a very good conversationalist,” I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. He just chuckled.

  “No worries. I’m sure you’ll get comfortable with talking the longer you stay here,” he gave me a comforting pat on the head.

  “Your hair is soft.”

  My cheeks stayed red. Not in embarrassment that time, but I hoped he thought that it was.

  “Um, when’s dinner?” I ask. I wanted to change the subject. Talk about anything that wasn’t weird or random or… compliments. And I was quite hungry anyway. I hoped the food was good.

  “Ah, yes, dinner is soon. I’m pretty sure I made a deal with Ms Polly that she’d put chicken curry on the menu tonight if I got an A in Math. Which I did, so you can look forward to that, all thanks to me,” it may have sounded a bit arrogant, but it was clearly just a joke. That didn’t stop me from almost physically drooling at the thought of chicken curry.

  I hadn’t had a meal all day. The journey to the academy was a long and tiresome one. Lots of trains and walking, so I was so gd to hear that dinner was going to be good.

  Forest stifled a ugh at my dreaming face, which made me quickly look away. This is the third time my cheeks turned red, and I felt like I was going to turn into a beetroot at that point.

  “Uh, so, who’s Ms Polly?” I ask

  “The Vice Principal. You’ll recognise her when you see her. She has full red hair. She also has Vine Powers,” he expined.

  “Oh, ok.”

  Silence. only small chatter in the background.

  “Come on princess. Let’s go to the food hall early so we can get good seats and the first serves of the food. The first serves are always the best.”

  The fourth time. THE FOURTH TIME. My cheeks are going to permanently stay heated if this keeps happening. Who calls someone ‘princess’ casually? Maybe Forest does. I’ll have to see if it’s something he always says, or something that just slipped out of his mouth once. I shook my head. Luckily he wasn’t looking when I did, or he would have most definitely questioned me. He had been looking at the teachers opening the door to the food hall to go prepare the bowls for the students. He turned back to me.

  His hand was held out

  “Princess.”