*Chapter 3*

I’m an extremely strong person. I do sports and stuff, but let me tell you, after climbing up four flights of stairs with three duffle bags, even my back and legs were hurting.

“Stupid parents… stupid school… stupid stairs…stupid, stupid, stupid…” I heard AJ muttering behind me. Laila was the only one of us who was able to squeeze into the already packed elevator.

“Gee Fluffy! Why’d you have to be so darn heavy?” AJ huffed when she finally came to the top step beside me. As I was panting and trying to catch my breath, I glanced over at her. In her clutch was the large pink bunny that had kept her from entering the elevator. I kid you not when I say that the thing looked like a five foot long piece of cotton candy. Just looking at it made me hungry.

I looked around the hallway, trying to ignore my rumbling stomach. 

“Hey AJ.” I said, after spotting our room. I looked to see the girl still talking to her ball of fluff. So, I reached over and tapped AJ’s arm and almost sending her toppling backwards down the stairs! I quickly dropped my bags and grabbed her, hauling her back up.

“What are you doing?!” she yelled, gripping my arm. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“No.” I mumbled. “I’m trying to get you’re attention.”

“Well Hon, You got it now.” she teased, releasing me and laughing a little. I laughed to. That’s what I loved about our friendship. No matter what happened, we would always be the ones laughing in the end. I pointed to our left.

“Room 16.” I said staring at the metal numbers nailed to the wooden door. I inserted my key, turned it, and pushed the door open. We entered and took in the sight of our new ‘home’. 

There was a wooden bed set against each of the three white walls, and the one opposite us had a large window behind it. The bed on the left was already made up, suitcases lined up at the foot. In the two corners between the beds, there were two small wooden tables with lamps on them. There was a strange old TV above the doorway, and what appeared to be a closet on the right side of it. On the left side, there was a door that must lead to a bathroom.

“Hmm… I guess it’s not too bad… Well, not as bad as I was expecting it to be.” AJ mumbled.

“The walls are too bland. I think they need some color.” I said, my mind’s eye scanning them like an empty canvas. AJ grinned at me and I could tell she was thinking the same thing.

“Did you bring any Sharpies?” she asked. I grinned back at her.

“I brought something better.” I reached into my bag and pulled out several large tubes of bright paint. AJ laughed.

“Yay! Let’s deface school property!” she yelled, grabbing the tube of neon green paint and holding it up in the air. Somehow, her little fluff ball had also grabbed a tube of paint, but that was all forgotten as I began to approach the one wall. I was already seeing the swirls of color and the different images I would create.

“Hi!” AJ and I practically jumped when we heard the noise, quickly stuffing the tubes of paint back in the duffle bag. A head of red hair popped up from behind the closet door. “Are you Beebe Mills and Adeline Vergas?”

“Yeah, hi. I’m Beebe.” I said.

“And I’m Adeline, but I go by AJ.” AJ stuck out a hand for the strange girl to shake. “And this is Fluffy.” She then proceeded to stick out what was apparently the pink tuft’s arm.

“Oh hi,” said the girl, valiantly shaking both AJ’s hand and Fluffy’s. “I’m Lolicia Jephson, but I go by Lolly.” she said, taking the hand with a sweet, enthusiastic smile. I shook her hand, slightly startled by the bright blue of her eyes.

“Cool,” said AJ. She walked over and sat on the empty bed in front of the window, carefully placing her fluff ball next to her. “Are you a freshman Lolly?” she asked conversationally as she arranged herself.

“Yeah. I got held back though, so this is really my second year at White Peak.” She gave us a lopsided smile. “That’s why I’m rooming with you guys. New students are always room with older students.” I thought this was strange, but when I looked at AJ she just shrugged.

“I guess they thought we’d need help finding our way around or something.” she said to me, glancing at Lolly.

“Yep. I’m supposed to show you how things work around here.” A weird expression flickered across her face, but it was gone so fast, I wasn’t quite sure it was ever even there. “Anyways, we should go over to the main auditorium for the welcome assembly. It should be in about ten minutes. I’m just going to use the bathroom and then we can head down.” She turned to walk towards the door on the left.

“Ok, that sounds great.” I said dumping my bags on my bed.

“Oh, I have one request though.” she said, turning as soon as she reached the door. She gave us a sly smile. “Please no defacing school property while I’m on the toilet.” With that, she slammed the door in our faces.