[M] West Hills Haunted High

[Extraordinaire.]

Narissa hadn't even stepped onto campus, before speakers began to blare their first demand.

“Attention students! This is your Headmistress Gelda speaking. In 20 minutes you will hear the dinner bell. Everyone will report to the cafeteria. Everyone must come to dinner, or there will be punishment. As a reminder, Girls and Boys are the stay on the floor their rooms are. I hope you all will have a wonderful school year! This is your Headmistress Gelda.”

"Hey," her mother called before she had time to sneak a glare.
"You know that I'm doing this in your best interest," she confirmed in an authoritative, yet subtly compassionate tone.
"I know," Narissa said in unison to the back trunk slamming, hoping the noise would etch out the hint of sarcasm.
"No, 'Nairy, you don't," her mother shook her head, but was interrupted before she could continue her breath.
"Okay? So then what was the point of trying to get me to understand?" she asked, eye-brows raised in expectation.
"I want you... I... I'm afraid that you've turned to these because of your past. I want you to go to a school older than dirt, where everyone else is in the same position as you. Where you'll have a fair advantage and... And won't be so singled out from someone! I just don't think that drawing more attention to you was the right answer and I'm sorry that I'm just realizing that now."
"Mom, it's okay. I get it."
"Promise?"
"I'll call you tonight."

Room 209.

Navigating the campus proved no difficulty; she already had an amazing sense of direction, but hauling a suitcase that barely passed airport standards, while reading a map with the same hand, proved to be a handicapped pain in the ass. By the time she crawled up to the second floor, she was already minutes late for dinner, and estimating the punishment in her head. Climbing the final steps, her suitcase boomed an echo at each half-assed yank up another few inches, as her eyes began to trail the room numbers.

Just as she turned a sharp corner, she bumped into someone; not a cute little run-in, but a good face-into-shoulder, stumble back and process what just hit you, before looking up at a short-haired figure dressed in her uniform top, with a pair of slacks.

"Oh, sorry," she blurted out of reaction, releasing and tightening her grip on the handle of her luggage.

"Uh, do you know where room 209 is?" she asked without a pause, if only for the purpose of covering for her mistake.

Something itched in the back of her mind, of the gender-floor policy that had been well established to her. But after short observation, she noted that her shirt was strictly female. Although a bit shapeless and despite the shorts, she was almost certain that she wasn't actually mistaken.

[Sunlight-]

She watched him bow slightly, and talk...polite. To polite, and it sounded funny. She bit her lip and raised her eyebrows, trying to compose his modesty. So the trench coat was a...chosen wear? Interesting, to say the least. And the hair, was that natural? It was beautiful, but young men like him usually have a more...common color. The question quickly slipped her mind and was replaced with the way he had looked into her eyes, and by the looks of his look at first said that she wasn't worth his time, and the following question didn't help with his first-impression. It wasn't as much of the question, but the way it was said, and the tone that coated his voice. She stopped abruptly, before forcing herself forwards and stepping inside. She turned to face him. Blocking his view. "Firstly, I'm a human, not a goddess. Secondly, I don't exactly seem to be...entertaining you or whatever, so if you'd like me to leave you alone please say so." She spat out, still an even tone but obviously slightly annoyed.

She blinked once before cursing at herself in her mind. What the hell? That was so rude! Why did you say that!? She sighed to herself, wondering why she said that herself. She was slightly upset with herself way more then she was at him, she didn't even think he was angry at him in the first place. She had just spat out, her voice like daggers and venom, probably hurting him and her in the long run.

Glancing behind her, she quickly collected the dinning room's beautiful appearance. Sparkling chandeliers hung from the ceiling, in a straight line down the long dinning hall. Long, picnic-like tables sat in rows, two connected then a small space. The floor was shiny, polished linoleum, two shades of beige. Four or Six large, beautiful windows lined the sides, even numbers on both sides. Pictures of what seemed to be previous headmasters and headmistresses, covered the wall spontaneously. At the end of the Hall, there seemed to be a staff table. Facing all of the students. They probably don't have much problems with students becoming touchy-feely. She nearly laughed in her head.

[LilyDiana]

She glanced at the necklace Cecelia was fiddling with, finding that it was quartz. A good healing stone, it would also help absorb and transform negative energies, if one wanted to use it in such a way. Aislinn's interest was really peaked when she mentioned something about a reading she had gotten from her cards. "Like, Tarot cards?" she asked, "That's really great, that you can do that. Divination was never really my strong point, no matter how Mum tried to teach me. Water gazing worked best but I'm still quite useless at it." the words popped out of her mouth a in a fast flowing stream, and she was a bit shocked at herself. Generally, it took a knowing a person a bit longer for Ash to go on rambling sprees. She closed her mouth, a light blush on her cheeks.

She registered that Cece had asked her if she wanted to get a seat in the cafeteria, and nodded, "Oh, yeah. Sure. Looks like other kids are starting to come down, too." she observed aloud. As they made their way into the cafeteria, Aislinn she looked around at the other students. Some looked excited, others looked like they were in some kind of strange daze, others had a vaguely frightened look on their faces. "I think you're right about things only getting stranger." she murmured to Cecelia, "What kind of 'weirdness' did you find in your cards?"

[crazydawg444]

James finally heard the statement he was waiting for. "Firstly, I'm a human, not a goddess. Secondly, I don't exactly seem to be...entertaining you or whatever, so if you'd like me to leave you alone please say so." A statement that seemed to be filled with spite and a bit of annoyed aggression. Something like that was normally said to him, people were often annoyed with the way he spoke, he had terrible social skills and lacked the ability to improve them.

Then she seemed to get a feeling of guilt and regret for what she said. James had become very good at reading people and their emotions. It came easily to him now. He smiled slightly, not sure what to say. May i assume asking your name was crossing the line? You may leave if you wish, I am not a very interesting person. I also have poor social skills, so i would not blame you. In fact, you seem like the type who feels bad for such behavior, so to lower the pain, allow me to bid farewell.

After his statement, he began to walk away. He could tell that she was growing annoyed and irritated with him, but was a generally kind person. He did not want her to feel bad for treating him badly, so he decided to end the conversation himself. He could not help to feel a bit depressed about the whole thing still. he was not sure why, and he still got a bad feeling. He looked back into his pocket and looked at the joker card. He could not tell what was making him so uneasy.

[Heir of Void]

Probably under-dressed with his scuffed storm grey jeans, cyan high-tops, and iconic hat gunmetal tank-top that was only a shade lighter (Getting the 'grey' theme here?), Dave continued to back-track through the dimly-lit hallways until he discovered the point of convergence. In other words, the dining hall. Along the way, he passed a couple of other students, already tucked into their new creativity-smotherers, complete with ties and all. The others were most likely changing into the uniforms as the two uncomfortable guys behind him had, struggling desperately to let their inner originality shine through the drab wall of a mass uniform. Luckily, it seemed that Dave had one more day of individual style before joining the collective of the white-dress-shirt-brigade. At least the color of phoenix red would seem to go with his fiery spirit a bit more than the faded blue of an old ocean.

So, enjoying the freedom that the dark grey tank-top offered him, Bro stretched his long arms, tanned by time spent in the deserts of Arizona, and clasped both hands behind his head while striding through the final hall before the entrance to the dining room. At least, he assumed it was the dining room based off of the two students congregating on the side of the entrance. The sudden promise of a potentially good meal piqued his curiosity, so Dave simply pushed the entry door further open and strolled into the expansive dining hall, impressed by the decor but with a left sudden urge to shout out 'Huffle-Puff!!!' to the general lack of applauding young wiza....... I mean, drab contingent of students.

Resisting the strong pull of temptation, Dave instead pivotted on the heel of his left cyan converse and strode back out, turning to face the pair by the door. The light-haired one looked like he was about to leave, so this may not have been the right room anyway, and the only way to be sure was to ask for confirmation.

"'Scuse me for my intrusion, but is this the dining hall, or just another decorative room I've stumbled upon in this labyrinth of dark furniture and archaic decor?" Dave asked quizzically, ironic Texan accent pervading once again.

[RisingPhoenix]

“So, this is the place I’ll be spending my final year of high school?”

There wasn’t much to this place aside from the sheer size. It seemed rather mundane on the outside, but as his father often told him, never judge a book by the cover. He watched as students entered and parents left. His own father couldn’t be there to escort him into this place, but the photographs and brochure he’d received in the mail seemed legit. One thing was for certain, he wouldn’t be eating anything that came out of this place’s cafeteria. He was strict when it came to his food. It had to be prepared a certain way, and he was thankful that he had managed to pack enough stuff in his luggage to last him his entire school year here at West Hill High. Daniel entered into the building or rather the mansion. His technology tucked safely away in his numerous bags. These were no normal bags, they were top of the line name brand expensive bags, but Daniel was never really a materialistic person. He had lent these bags to his old friends many times over, and thankfully they had returned all of them in time.

Upon entering the mansion, the place he’d be stuck at for an entire year, he noticed the rather large main staircase that led up. It was beautiful, and thus the mundane appearance outside truly did hide the beauty of the inside. Daniel walked to his left and soon ran into the main ballroom. Large was an understatement in describing the area. He was sure the entire school plus most of the community could fit in the place. Leaving the ballroom, he went straight across the hall to the library. This is probably where he’d spend a great deal of his time studying and reading up on myth, lore and other various things. Smiling, he turned around and walked out of the library, making a right at the door and heading towards the other end of the hallway. To the right of the entrance was the dining hall. It was massive, yet there wasn’t anything different than any other dining hall in a school aside from the rather medieval themed furniture and accessories. There was no serving line and there were employees working tirelessly behind the scenes. Daniel nodded, as if giving it a slight approval, and exited the dining hall quickly, making his way back to the main staircase.

He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket which he had folded neatly. It was his schedule, and room number. A key to his room was also provided, though he doubted he would need it. He was in room 306, on the east wing. It just occurred to him as he looked at the map provided that there were two sides to this gigantic building, a west wing and an east wing. He wondered why there was such separation amongst the students of this school, but he would not complain, as long as his bed was big, and his room could accommodate all of his belongings. Folding the paper neatly once more and returning it to his front pocket, he made his way up the beautiful stone lined stairs. Not one to get exhausted easily, he continued trucking up the many stairs to the third floor. This was the floor that accommodated the male students of West Hill High, or at least that is what Daniel was told during orientation. There were so many rules at this school, but he supposed it was for the best. No girls allowed on the third floor and no boys allowed on the second floor yet how would that be enforced when the main staircase led to ever floor of the school? It was a question that bothered Daniel, but he would ask the headmistress later, whenever he got the time.

Upon his arrival on the third floor, Daniel watched students hurry by and check into their rooms. Once again things were separated. The west wing was to his left and the east wing was to his right. As he made his way towards his room, he couldn’t help but feel a bit off. Something about this place wasn’t right to him, but his father had invested money in his education and he couldn’t simply leave just because he felt strange about it. He stopped in front of the door with a gold plate on it. There were numbers etched into the gold plate. 306. Daniel inserted the key, turned it and entered in. What he saw made his jaw nearly drop to the floor. The linen on his bed was of one of his favorite colors. It was a massive bed, the linen soft to the touch. The wall was beautiful, adorned with a deep amber colored paint. The dresser was beautiful as well, and looked to be an antique. Daniel continued in and headed towards the bathroom which was adorned in silver. Everything in the bathroom had a silver tone to it. If it wasn’t made of silver, it had the color of silver. Again the antique theme played a big part in this bathroom, and he’d definitely have to get used to it.

His room did not have a balcony, and so he decided to unpack his things. He had packed a mini safe that he safely pushed under his bed, placing his important things in it beforehand. He needed to take a shower after such a long walk up the main staircase. He sighed as he continued to unpack, refolding clothes that had unfolded during the journey up the stairs. Finally, after about twenty minutes of unpacking, he grabbed some soap, a wash cloth and a towel and entered into the bathroom. Thirty minutes later, he exited the bathroom, allowing the built up steam to billow into the beautiful amber bedroom. He quickly found a pair of Calvin Klein underwear as well as a tank top and a pair of black pants. He found a button up silken textured shirt and buttoned it up loosely over the tank top. He pulled on his converse shoes which were also black and looked in the mirror. He was adorned in all black; even his earrings had black stones lining the outside edge. He matched head to toe, and he figured he might as well enjoy it this day since the rest of the school year would be filled with attempts at accessorizing the uniform he’d wear.

After making sure everything was in place, he sniffed himself and found his smell to be quite pleasant, alluring to a degree. Smirking, he grabbed his wallet and slipped it into the back pocket of his pants. He decided to wear his hair down today and took out the braids that formed the Mohawk. His hair fell beautifully to his shoulders and the tips of purple accented the black natural color of his hair. As he ran a hand through his hair, he couldn’t help but feel as if he were being watched. He turned around and no one was there. Then he began to hear a soft banging. Frowning, he looked around the room and found nothing. Shrugging it off, he figured it was the noise of students moving into their rooms.

"Attention students! This is your Headmistress Gelda speaking. In 20 minutes you will hear the dinner bell. Everyone will report to the cafeteria. Everyone must come to dinner, or there will be punishment. As a reminder, Girls and Boys are the stay on the floor their rooms are. I hope you all will have a wonderful school year! This is your Headmistress Gelda."

Daniel rolled his eyes. If this lady thought for one second that he’d be eating anything produced from the kitchen downstairs, she was sadly mistaken and he’d make sure none of it went down his throat. Shaking his head, he pulled his hair into a soft ponytail and left his room. One thing was sure, his stay here would be one he’d never forget.

[Leon G]

And then...
Current Time: 6:00 PM
Day: Monday
Weather: Slightly cloudy. Though it gets dark very quickly in West Hills

Ding, Dong, Ding, Dong! The old bells throughout the school rang at the same time, signaling dinner. The first dinner of the year was always very important to Gelda. She allowed no students to allow it. As the bells rang, the students found their feet moving to the Dining Hall, even if they weren't too eager to. Once Gelda had all the students safely in the Dining Hall, she had the two great wooden shut. No one would be leaving without her knowing. Gelda and the other teachers sat at a special table at the far end of the hall. The table was raised up and made of finely polished cherry oak. Each teacher sat in a chair with a high back, the handles golden and the cushions alternating between the Falcon blue and Phoenix red. Most of the teachers seemed uninterested in the students, except for Mr. V. His dark eyes scanned the room until they met the ones of a girl from Phoenix, a girl with lovely blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair. Georgina Wright. He offered her a charming smile and a nod before Gelda stood up to speak.

"Hello students," Gelda said,her voice dripping with false students, her eyes darting from student to student. She got mostly blank stares and a few curious ones. "I see you all found your way to the Dining Hall." She paused to let out a little chuckle at her half-joke. Of course the students didn't know they had no choice in coming to the hall, so she was the only one laughing. She let out a cough. "Yes, very good. You'll eat all your meals here - as opposed to eating in the basement." Another joke, another fail. Grelda scowled. This is what you get for trying to be a nice headmaster. "But remember, no one is allowed in the basement," she snapped, her voice returning back to its witchy demeanor, "And let me tell you know that the stairs leading to the basement are behind the main staircase. So don't tell me you 'accidentally' wandered in there. The door's locked anyways..." Gelda took a moment to regain her false sugary sweetness. "As you can see, our cook and Nurse, Ms. Greenfield is passing out your dinner.” Daphne quickly dispensed bowls of stew left and right, keeping her head down to avoid the stares she got. Gelda continued. “This is our famous 'Welcome Back' stew! We’ve prepared this specially for our…” Gelda had to choke out the next part “…lovely new students. That’s enough of me talking! Please enjoy your dinner and stay here at West Hills!” There was scattered, pathetic applause and Gelda sat back down scowling.

Mattie Farghbad, the Health and Science teacher leaned towards Gelda. “I thought your speech was wonderful,” he said kindly, his eyes filled with adoration.

Gelda held no interest in his little puppy love. “Go drink one of your potions,” she said cruelly, dismissing him. Unfazed, he turned to talk - well it was mostly telling since Priscilla wasn’t a talker - the Math teacher about his latest experiments.

As Daphne finished pashing out the last of the stew in fine china, painted in colors of blue and red, that somehow went with the silver bowls, she whispered something to a random student. A warning. “Don’t eat the stew,” she said in a hushed whisper to Daniel Henney. When he looked up at her in surprise, she repeated her warning, “Don’t eat it. It will make you forget.” After serving him, she left without another word, her head down.

[Sunlight-]

After standing for a short moment in silence with herself, she finally called out to him. She felt she should at least give him her name for being such a jerk. "Jack," Her light voice called. "Jack Turner." Not really hoping to see his reaction to her uncommon name, she closed her eyes and huffed. Don't worry, she told herself calmly. You'll forget by morning. She gave herself a curt nod as she turned her body, rather rushed, towards the dinning hall. Maybe she'd skip dinner. She just lost her appetite, or what was left of it. The small, minimal fraction of tiny appetite would probably be forgotten by the time she got to the hall, anyway. Where was the hall, anyway? Crap! She had been so hung up about snapping at that boy-James-and her mental argument had her forgetting all about where she was in the school, and where the dinning hall was. She was simply going to ask someone, but as her vision began to get refocused she noticed a big, grey blur.

Whats with men talking like, all fancy? Manners are nice, but these are just...creepy. Trying to focus on it's real shape and form-which turned out to be the body of another boy. Great, just great. When was she going to talk to a female? Probably not until morning. Sighing, she looked at his appearance, wheat-blonde hair that seemed to be wind-swept at all times. His eyes didn't make any more sense, or make him seem natural. Not really natural, but not normal. At least he was dressed like it was warm outside. Made Jack feel sane. Well, as sane as Jack gets. His eyes were a burningly beautiful amber, seemingly looking like flames of of a fire, and the burning feathers of a Phoenix. Hey, I think you might be on to something.
Someone in the back of her head told her. Not fully catching his question, she simply stated what was running through her mind, while it still was do she wouldn't lose the thought. "Your in Phoenix," she said casually, hoping he would be a better person to start a conversation with.

She was quickly lost in her thoughts, asking herself a few questions-like who else is she going to talk to tonight? And if she was going to meet someone and be able to carry a conversation, basically all of her questions were based on the same topic. Finally remembering he had aske a question, she gasped and bit her lip adage ran her imaginary fingers through the files in her head, cussing to herself mentally as she realized it was as good as gone. She sighed to herself, now annoyed at her own disorder, so she smiled sheepishly and requested the question again. "Um, hi...I'm sorry, but I don't exactly remember the question..." She excepted him to laugh, not many people forget things so easily.

[Miss Shell]

“Yep, tarot cards indeed. ” Cec’s smile lit up her eyes and grew when she heard that Ash had also tried her hand at divination. “Different people have different talents for different things,” she said when Ash claimed to be useless at water gazing. She had tried it a few times but could never get the hang of it, most times her attention would turn inward and she would daydream. Ash seemed to be slightly embarrassed about stating all these things, a blush crept onto the girl’s cheeks.

“No need to be embarrassed,” she said in hopes of helping. “You said your mother taught you, my mom taught me most of the things I know now.” It was nice to have someone to relate to finally. She walked with Ash into the Cafeteria, there were a few people already here. There was a diversity in the people, some looked rather normal while other’s uniquely expressed themselves in an assortment of ways.

“As for the oddness I came up with in my reading I pulled I came up with The Hierophant, The Hermit and Death. Such strong cards all at once tends to get my attention.” She paused thoughtfully, “you said divination wasn’t your strong point, do you mind me asking what your strong point is?” Cec smiled, she had never really opened up this way to another person but she found Ash very easy to talk to. “Oh and if you want me to do a reading for you, just come by my room at any time, I’m in 215. And if you do come you may want to bring a sweater.” She added the last part with a sigh. Cecelia took a seat at one of the empty spots on the long tables. “This place looks like something straight out of a horror movie,” she mumbled softly.

As Cec arrived the bells went off signaling dinnertime. At the beginning of the headmistress’s speech she looked up and studied the teachers who would be teaching them soon. They all looked rather odd for the most part. One, a woman seemed as if dead, she had no colour and moved in a very slow manner. Next was another woman, all in white and very pale, a chill ran down Cecelia’s back. There was only one man on faculty, he appeared rather normal, which seemed almost out of place here. The other woman dressed in an exuberant fashion giving of a lively feel. Then there was the headmistress. The woman was a dark cloud made up of creepy feelings. After quickly studying the teachers Cec’s eyes glazed over and she let herself slip into her imagination, ignoring the speech.

When the food appeared in front of her Cec quickly snapped back to reality. She hadn’t eaten much today and had been rather hungry. The stew itself didn't look all that appetizing, maybe that was because she never really did like stew in the first place. Instead of eating it right away she just stared at it, deciding if she would eat or not.

[Azazeal849]

Gina hung up the last of her dresses in the antique wardrobe and stretched her arms, trying to get rid of the dull ache that had settled between her shoulder blades. She poked her head out into the corridor and saw that most of the doors were closed and the lights off, their occupants having already headed downstairs. She chewed her lip; she had missed the orientation because of arriving late - had she also missed all the initial meeting and greeting between the students? She paused to check the mirror and make sure she looked presentable before hurrying downstairs to the dining room.

The dining room was large, but accommodated a surprisingly small body of students. Gina recognised a girl who had been humming to herself outside her door while she was unpacking, and decided that the table currently occupied by just her and a blonde punk-rocker was as good a place as any to sit down.

“Hi guys,” she said, timing her arrival with a break in their conversation so she hopefully didn't seem like she was butting in, “Mind if I join you?”

She smoothed her long top under her legs and sat down opposite Jack, resting her arms on the table.

“I'm Gina by the way. Got in late so I missed the orientation.”

If the students were an eclectic bunch, then the lecturers were even stranger. The school's ongoing theme for the grand and the archaic even seemed to extend to its permanent residents. Gina exhaled softly as she watched them file in and sit down at the top table, chatting amongst themselves.

“Well,” she said to her immediate companions, “We've got either the coolest teachers in the world or the creepiest.”

She spent a few more seconds looking up and down the top table - at the severe, monochromatic headmistress to the animated science teacher and the rather sickly-looking maths teacher. The English teacher, a young man with long hair, happened to glance up just as she was looking at him. He shot her a charming smile. Gina smiled back automatically before turning back to the other Phoenix students.

"Hello students," Gelda said, her voice dripping with false sweetness, her eyes darting from student to student. She got mostly blank stares and a few curious ones. "I see you all found your way to the Dining Hall." She paused to let out a little chuckle at her half-joke. Of course the students didn't know they had no choice in coming to the hall, so she was the only one laughing. She let out a cough. "Yes, very good. You'll eat all your meals here - as opposed to eating in the basement." Another joke, another fail. Grelda scowled. This is what you get for trying to be a nice headmaster. "But remember, no one is allowed in the basement," she snapped, her voice returning back to its witchy demeanor, "And let me tell you know that the stairs leading to the basement are behind the main staircase. So don't tell me you 'accidentally' wandered in there. The door's locked anyways..." Gelda took a moment to regain her false sugary sweetness. "As you can see, our cook and Nurse, Ms. Greenfield is passing out your dinner.” Daphne quickly dispensed bowls of stew left and right, keeping her head down to avoid the stares she got. Gelda continued. “This is our famous 'Welcome Back' stew! We’ve prepared this specially for our…” Gelda had to choke out the next part “…lovely new students. That’s enough of me talking! Please enjoy your dinner and stay here at West Hills!”

There was scattered, pathetic applause and Gelda sat back down scowling.

“That'll be one for the 'creepy' camp, then.” Gina said to Jack and Dave. “So where are you guys from? Thank you.” she added as the pale, wispy-haired cook leaned around her to serve up their stew. She made to smile at Miss Greenfield, but the expression faltered at she took in the woman's pensive face. She seemed deeply troubled about something. Then again, having to cater for several dozen students was hardly a stress-free job.