They both walked slowly towards the principal's office, getting more nervous with each step they took. They looked at each other with fearful eyes and pushed the big brown doors open. Stepping in they saw a big brown desk and behind it was the Principal they heard so many rumours about in the school.

“Have a seat girls,” said the principal in an intimidating voice.

    The two girls took seats in the uncomfortable wooden chairs.  

The principal leaned forward in her chair and said, “ So tell me how did this all start?” 

***

Annie was not excited about starting her grade ten year at a new school. And especially not happy about her new school being a boarding school. Her blue eyes stared looking out her window at the new town she was going to live in. Fall City, Washington was so much different than Billings, Montana. She was hoping for a more sunny town that could get her pale skin more colour but unfortunately, she got the opposite, rainy and cloudy weather.

“Hey sweetie, we are half an hour away from your new school! You excited?” Her dad questioned

    Annie ignored her dad and didn’t say anything back she just kept on looking out the window. Her dad had to send her to a boarding school after getting in trouble once. She watched her dad drive past the metal gates.  

“We’re here,” her dad said

She got out of the car and stretched out her legs, from being in the car for too long. Looking up at the huge school in front of her with amazement, it had a huge front door and so many windows, there was a roundabout driveway that had a fountain in the middle. This is not what Annie expected her new school to be like, she thought it would be a big, dark, gloomy school that looked like it was haunted, but this was the complete opposite.

“ Annie get your bags,” her dad yelled snapping Annie out of her thoughts.

As she was getting her bags a black limousine pulled up beside her dad’s car. A girl with dark olive skin around Annie’s age came out of the car. Annie didn't pay much attention to her and followed her dad inside the school. But both of them didn’t know that they were in similar situations.

Tracie shared the same feeling of being annoyed at her parents for sending her to a boarding school across the world from where all her friends were in New York. But she wasn't as open about not being excited about going to the new school as Annie because she acted like she was super happy and excited for her mom because she was following in her footsteps. Tracie's mom’s family had a legacy about going to this boarding school and Tracie was not going to be the one to break it.

Her parents couldn't be bothered to come drop her off, so she was all alone going into a new school. She got out of the car to see a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes walking towards the doors with eyes glaring at the school. The driver cleared his throat and snapped Tracie's out of her thoughts. She grabbed her bags from him and walked towards the school doors. As she walked into the school a middle-aged lady that she assumed is one of the teachers came up to her.

“Welcome Tracie Parker to Greendale academy, it is such an honour to have another Parker here,” the woman says to Tracie with a forced smile.  

Tracie put on a brave face and smiled back at her. 

“ I'm excited to be here,” replied Tracie.

“I’m Miss Jefferson, the vice principal at Greendale Academy for girls, “ Miss Jefferson said, “ if you follow me, I will take you to the orientation in our grand hall!”

Tracie followed Miss Jefferson into a huge room, that had many chairs that were mostly occupied with girls around her age. Tracie took a seat towards the front of the room.   Miss Jefferson sauntered to the podium and the crowd quieted.  

“Welcome everyone to Greendale Academy for girls, I am Miss Jefferson the vice principal. Our principal wasn’t able to be here today but she wishes you all the best for the start of the new school year!”

The vice-principal talked for a while about the school but Tracie muted her out. She was thinking about how she could escape this place the fastest, and Annie from across the room shared the same thought.   

“Parents, please start saying your goodbyes. Students make sure you come down for dinner at six-thirty,” Miss Jefferson announced.

Annie said goodbye to her father who was trying not to cry. Even though she was mad at him she knew she would still miss him. Tracie looks around at everybody and sees that they're all saying goodbye to their parents, she suddenly starts to feel lonely because her parents aren’t here. Tracie walks up the stairs towards her new dorm. She sees the number 46 on one of the doors and opens it to find a plain room with two twin beds, two chests of drawers, two closets and two desks. As she jumps onto one of the beds the door opens and there is a girl with pale skin, blue eyes and blond hair. Tracie stands up and put her hand out.

“Hi I’m Tracie, I'm guessing you're my roommate?”    

Annie glares at Tracie and says “I wouldn't be in this room if I wasn't your roommate!”

Tracie just stares at her in utter shock, “What did I do wrong to make her so mad at me?” thought Tracie.

“I’m Annie and I'd rather skip the part where we become best friends and just say to you that I don’t want to be your friend, I just would like to be left alone.

Tracie was still shell-shocked and just stood there awkwardly, while Annie put all of her stuff down and started to unpack. Tracie recovered from what Annie said and started to unpack. To say it was awkward was an understatement, they both put their stuff away silently without speaking a word to each other.  

A few hours later Tracie says “we should probably go down for dinner”

Annie just ignored her and kept listening to her loud music. 

“Okay then,” muttered Tracie under her breath.

Once Tracie left the room Annie lay back on her bed. She already despised this school, and her roommate was the exact type of girl that bullied her when she was younger. She'd met girls like Tracie like that before and know that they’re two-faced and always want attention. Annie lay on her bed for a while just thinking about the girls from her old school.

  She looked up when she heard the door open only to find her new roommate walking in. Tracie was tired and decided she wanted to go to bed early, she started getting ready and when she reached for her necklace that she took off before dinner she couldn't find it on her chest of drawers. She looked everywhere for it but still couldn't find it. A sudden thought came up into her brain and she slowly turned around to face Annie.

“Did you take my necklace?” questioned Tracie.

Annie scoffed “No, why would you think that?”

    Tracie wasn't buying it “Because it was there before I left for dinner and now it isn’t, and you were here the whole time so it would make sense if you took it!”

“But I didn't, you could have just lost it”

Tracie was starting to get more annoyed 

“ You know what.” Tracie stopped herself, “never mind!”

    Tracie wasn't going to make a big deal out of this, she’ll talk to the councillor in the morning about switching rooms.

Tracie got into bed and turned off her bedside lamp. But she couldn't fall asleep because of Annie's loud music playing through her headphones.

“Could you turn that down I’m trying to go to sleep?” said Tracie angrily.

    But Annie couldn't hear her, so Tracie took forever to fall asleep. Finally, Annie turned it off and went to bed. Maybe it will be better tomorrow they both thought.

Annie walked up to an annoyingly cheery alarm. She sat up in her bed and grabbed her phone from her bedside table and looked at the time. Six-thirty!! Annie flopped back down onto her bed, thinking of all the ways her first day could go wrong. Tracie jumped out of the bed and happily started to get ready for her first day of school. Maybe it will be better then I expect Tracie thought to herself. Tracie Iooked over to Annie who was staring at the ceiling, deep in thought. Annie was thinking of whether she should go to class today or skip, her dad popped into her head and she decided to start to get ready for her dad.

They both silently walked down the stairs together. A girl with black hair and green eyes wearing the same uniform that Annie and Tracie were wearing came up to Tracie and started to talk to her.

“Hey Tracie!” she exclaimed, “you ready for your first day?”

“Yes! I can't wait!” Tracie said with the fake excited voice “how about you Bella?”

Annie scoffed from beside Tracie, Annie could easily hear the forced excitement that Tracie was using talking to this girl, but Bella doesn't seem to notice.

What?!” said Bella in an annoyed voice

“Nothing,” replied Annie. Annie decided that she didn't want to make too many enemies today so she just walked away

Tracie stood there looking at Annie as she walked away from Bella and her.

“Is that your roommate?” questioned Bella

“Unfortunately yes,” replied Tracie

“ I would hate to have your roommate.”

    Tracie did not respond she just walked into the dining hall and sat down with the group of girls she met last night. But she couldn't stop thinking about Annie, Tracie found her so annoying from her listening to loud music late at night, responding with snarky remarks and stealing her necklace. At that instant, Tracie knew she needed to find a way to get out of that room with Annie.