A lady came out from the back, reading papers. She didn't notice Rihanna at first, so Rihanna cleared her throat for her share of attention.

The office manager, Mrs. Caravelle, looked up and fixed her glasses on the bridge of her nose. She blinked twice, then smiled sweetly, "Hello, you must be our new student."

Rihanna smiled and stood up. "Hi, I'm Rihanna Gessner. I enrolled in recently." She walked up to the front desk and handed Mrs. Caravelle her phone–her email opened on the screen with her barcode enrollment receipt.

"Oh, great, you have it. Alright, let's see..." She examined it thoroughly, then opened her computer screen and started clicking and typing. After scanning her phone, she handed it back to Rihanna. "Alright, there you are. Let's see... hmm... here is your schedule." The sound of a printer working came out from the back room, "You'll also get one in your school's email. So check there if you lose the hard copy. Now let's see where you will be residing this semester." She kept on searching the screen of the computer, after a long irritable silence, a confused expression crossed her face. "Huh."

She took a hold of the office phone and dialed a number.

Rihanna watched while her heart beating uncomfortably with fear.

What's happening? What's going on? She clenched her hands into fists and closed her eyes. Vincent, what's going on?

"Hey, Kim? Hi, I have our new student here, Rihanna? Rihanna Gessner, yes. There seems to be a misunderstanding..."

Rihanna couldn't even hold her composure anymore. Her heartbeat was audible in her ears as she tried her hardest to look collected. Contrary to her outer appearance, inside her head she was screaming, misunderstanding? What misunderstanding? Could you at least explain it to me before going to the boss–or whoever that Kim is!

"Oh really? Oh I see–no it's just that they hadn't put any of that into the computers yet. Alright, but are you sure that it would be alright with the second party too? What about the headmistress? Yes, of course I know that, I just needed conformation. Alright then, I'll do that right now. Thank you Kim, let's meet soon. Bye."

She looked at Rihanna.

Rihanna swallowed in anticipation.

Mrs. Caravelle sighed, "When did you enroll?"

"A couple of days ago."

She smiled, "Ah, that's why. You see, since our school system is limited on the number of students allowed to attend, it also has a limit on the day you're supposed to bring in your enrollment paper. That deadline was about a month ago and so enrollments are expired, simply because we have no more room for extra students."

"But–"

"However," She quickly cut Rihanna off, "you seem to be an exception by the board." The way she looked at Rihanna had a mixture of wonder and confusion. "I do have to point out, since you're going to be a special case, you will have to put up with some things that aren't usual for every other girl in the girls' dormitory."

"Aren't usual?" In all honesty, Rihanna didn't care what those things were, not in the slightest. At the very least they weren't what she thought they were going to be.

She unclenched her fists and sighed in relief.

"Yes, but I'd rather let the second person involved be there before I explain it to the both of you and let you decide. If by any chance, you agree to the condition that came with your late enrollment, then you are welcomed to stay here. If not, then I'm afraid you will have to find a different school to attend. Though I could assure you now, a chance like this won't happen twice."

Rihanna nodded, though not entirely comprehending what that condition could be.

"Well then, it's my duty to show you around the school, so let me go get your schedule and introduce you to all the classes you will be taking."

Mrs. Caravelle patiently guided her through the Academy. Rihanna slowly started to understand most of the important things to remember.

At one point, Mrs. Caravelle pointed at two huge doors behind them. "You are to never come out of these doors under any condition unless the order was instructed by the headmistress."

Rihanna blinked, taken aback. "Why?"

"This is the exit to the outside of the Academy. 'Leaving' is the keyword here. Of course, you'll be able to leave outside numerous times, but there are other doors for that. The whole school is fenced with walls, except for the outside of these doors here. Unlike the rest, they're for when you are to leave the school on either weekends or vacations. Permanently, temporarily, which ever it is, nonetheless you will not be able to reenter once the door locks behind you on the weekdays. And if it's done without permission, serious consequences will follow."

"Oh." Rihanna nodded, but in the back of her mind, she was already calculating.

"Well then, I guess this calls for our last stop. Let's get you to your dorm so you can put your things there instead. I'm sure you're tired from you trip to here, but as you can tell, school starts soon, and while all the other students have been here for almost a month, you're attending only two days before school is starting. And I'd rather that you don't get lost and delay your education. So my task for you is to wake up early tomorrow morning and memorize the whole school by heart, including the destination of all your classes. It may seem complicated at first, but you'll get the hang of it if you roam around enough. Alright?"

Rihanna nodded politely.

They climbed up the staircase to another hallway leading two ways: left and straight ahead. Mrs. Caravelle looked at the paper in her hand once more and started walking straight ahead. Rihanna followed. "Curfew in the fall is at nine thirty. So make sure you're in your dorm before then. A dorm call will be issued nightly. If students are found missing after curfew time, the warning bell will ring and community service will be issued to said students.

"Right now you won't see any girls since it's almost–" She paused in mid-step and looked at the dozens of girls standing out in the hall. "Girls!" She exclaimed.

Half naked girls squirmed in the most obnoxious bedtime lingerie and giggled as they ran back into their dorms.

"Wow." Rihanna said. "They're disturbingly comfortable showing that much skin."

Mrs. Caravelle sighed. "Actually, I'm quite sure they're trying to seduce the grade body president. Since his status in the school disallows him to be in any romantic relationship, they're doing all they can knowing he's very hard to please."

The grade body president?

"What did you mean when you said he can't be in any relationship?"

"To put it simply, he is forbidden to date."

"Why, if you don't mind me asking?" Huh, we'd be a great match.

"Because he is grade president of course. In this Academy, they are many good things that come out of being a grade president. However, there are also some privileges he loses with that kind of honorable position. If by chance he is caught in a relationship, he will lose everything he once had." She smiled and looked at Rihanna pointedly. "Believe me. Its all what these girls want. Yet, everything but what Jessie needs."

Jessie...

The hallway here must be the longest one in school, it really seemed as if it could stretch on forever. Dorm doors were perfectly separated by the same length with the room number drilled on the door with a golden plate.

Rihanna was suddenly transfixed as she realized something. If it's true that those girls were trying to seduce Jessie, why were they doing it in the girls dormitory hallway? She opened her mouth to ask, but as they finally reached the dead end of the dorm hall, Rihanna was surprised to see someone standing in front of a single dorm, punching numbers on a pin pad.

"Jessie!" Mrs. Caravelle called to the stranger.

They stopped near the door and Jessie turned around, a beaming smile appearing on his face at the sight of them. "Hello Mrs. Caravelle." He looked at Rihanna. "Rihanna, correct?"

Rihanna looked at Jessie.

Her eyes locked with his.

For the first time.

Her heart began to beat with ridiculous speed. She stared at the brown headed brown eyed person in front of her with a fumbled mind. Her breathing stopped. Her body stood still. Her thoughts vanished. Her eyes opened a slight bit bigger.

And a feeling in her gut twisted. A feeling foreign and strange.

She swallowed the tight feeling in her throat and dropped her gaze to the tiled floor in between them.

"It's nice seeing you again." He said to Rihanna, then looked at Mrs. Caravelle, "I'm sorry you had to do the school tour. It seemed like Rihanna was busy earlier."

See you again? Busy earlier? Rihanna tried to remember back when she had seen the good looking rich guy in front of her, but only failed.

"Quite frankly Jessie, its not for that reason at all. I also wanted to introduce you to your new roommate."