Day number zero at Beller Academy - Was I liking it? Eh.

Who was I kidding, it isn't even the first day yet. Getting accepted into Beller Academy took a lot of hard work, courage, and luck, so I shouldn't be wasting it on premature regrets.

What was it my father always said? Make good decisions, because you're not allowed to regret them later. The outcome is a part of God's Plan.

Sure it was. Those were the brunt of all his lectures, mostly because he had been the pastor at our church for over three years.

At the orientation, I went to the table with our assigned rooms.

"Name?" the lady behind the desk asked.

"Melanie Ibrahim," I answered.

The lady had a sheet of names on the desk that she didn't look at, and typed something into the computer. After a few clicks, she looked at me. "Alright, you're checked in. You're in room 212," she said, handing me a lanyard with my name and room key attached to it.

I smiled politely. "Thanks."

There was a long line of girls behind me, so I grabbed my bag and suitcase and ambled my way toward the elevator.

That's right, the school was so prestigious that it even had an elevator. When I entered, there was already a girl inside, with a similar amount of luggage as I had.

She smiled at me. "What floor are you going to?"

"Two," I said.

She gasped. "Me too!"

Her hair was an odd color. She wasn't quite a redhead, but she wasn't a brunette either. It was a strange mix between the two.

Suddenly, she stuck out her hand. I looked at it. "I'm Maddie," she introduced herself.

I shook her hand. "Melanie," I said. "Mel, for short."

She asked me if I was a new student like she was, a question I answered by gesturing to the luggage beside me.

She was nice, though, a bit extroverted, but it was fine because she filled the silence that my short answers would have caused, and I was happy to discover my room was across the hall from hers.

When we exited the elevator with everything, Maddie took my hand and said, "I hope we have some classes together."

"Me too," I agreed, and we pushed open our room doors.

I was expecting the room to be empty and plain, but when I switched on the light, I stood there shocked for a second.

One side of the room was bare, with a basic bed and mattress against the wall, but the other side was a sight to see. It was like somebody had drawn a line down the middle. That side of the room had some strange, abstract design on the bedcover, string LED lights against the wall, and a nightstand with two sketchbooks and a pack of assorted art tools stacked on the top.

That wasn't even all of it. Above the bed's headboard was a huge painting of a set of lips, dripping with rainbow-colored paint. On the wall above the desk, there was some abstract, metal star thing, a picture of a random woman I didn't know, and a zoomed-in drawing of an eye. The iris of the eye was a mix of the colors white, orange, light pink, and magenta. I stood there momentarily, taken aback by all the chaos.

I was worried about what kind of person my roommate would be. Sighing, I turned back around and faced my side of the room. It looked a little sad and boring compared to the circus on the other side, but at least it was mine.

I made my bed and set a few necessities onto my nightstand, then stood back to admire my work. It didn't change much, and the contrast between both sides was still as stark as it was before.

I heard the door open. "Shit."

It was probably my roommate, and of course she swore. But I was curious to see what a person with the style of a lunatic looked like, so I turned around.

"I didn't know you would already be here," she said. The girl had wavy, shoulder-length black hair, semi-thick eyebrows, and mini hoop earrings. She was around the same height as me, maybe an inch or so taller, but I wasn't about to admit that. She also had long lashes that I was a bit jealous of, and her lanyard was sticking out of the pocket of her cargo pants.

She frowned and stood there looking at me, casting a sort of dark vibe around her.

She suddenly shook her head, collecting herself. "Sorry, let me start over," she said. "I'm Noa, and you are . . . my new roommate?"

I nodded. "Melanie." I stretched out my hand for her to shake because that seemed to be what was customary around here. Noa looked at my hand, then at me, then at my hand again, before lifting hers out of her pocket and shaking mine.

So she wasn't used to handshakes.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Noa held up a hand. "Before you say anything, let's set some ground rules," she said.

I blinked, sitting down on the edge of my bed. "Okay."

"Number one: I don't touch your stuff, and you don't touch mine."

I side-eyed her side of the room. I wasn't planning on touching her unearthly objects, anyway. "Noted."

"Number two: If you're going to be an antagonistic bitch, I'm requesting a room change."

I snorted. "What a warm and inviting way to welcome me to this school."

Noa crossed the room and pulled something from the drawer under her desk. I craned my neck to see what it was, but she didn't show. "It's just a precaution. I've had a history of horrible roommates."

I crossed my arms and arched a brow. "Are you sure you weren't the problem?" I said.

Noa turned and looked at me like I'd grown two heads. "No, Melanie. They were all bigoted pieces of shit."

"Okay," I said, rubbing my hands together and standing up. "I have to finish unpacking and then go to orientation. So I'll be out of your way in a few minutes."

I set up my desk nearly with my aesthetic stationary and notebooks, putting my pens and pencils under my desk drawer.

I stood back again to survey the setup, adjusting a few of the things on top.

I turned around, flinching when I found Noa sitting on her bed looking at me, a judgemental expression on her face.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," she said. She scooched back against her pillow and pulled one of the sketchbooks from her nightstand.

Scoffing, I turned back around and grabbed my phone. "Alright, I'm leaving."

She didn't say anything as I grabbed my lanyard and put it around my neck. I reached the door and turned the handle, but before opening it, I turned around one last time.

"Noa, did you hear me?" I said. "I'm leaving."

"Cool," was all she said, and she didn't look up from her sketchbook.

I stared at her, annoyed. Then I turned on my heel and left.

My bad mood disappeared when I saw Maddie coming out of her room at the same time, and I joined her and a few other students as we went downstairs to the auditorium.

The boys' dorms were on the other side of the building, and a whole bunch of them were coming down the stairs on the opposite side, mixing with the rest of the students at the bottom.

We followed the crowd of new students filing out of the dormitories and outside. The sun was already setting as we entered the auditorium, and Maddie and I quickly found seats. As the auditorium filled up, a group of guys sat in front of us.

A woman stood on the stage behind a podium, tapping on the microphone to test if it was working.

"Good evening students, I am your principal, Ms. Hackney. Welcome to Beller Academy!"

Everyone clapped, and a few students cheered. It was a big auditorium that you could tell was well-funded.

"Before we get into Beller's values, I'd like to congratulate a fellow student for the outstanding service work they participated in over the summer. "Please welcome, Noa Abrams!"

I glanced at Maddie, but she didn't seem fazed. Of course she wasn't. She didn't know Noa. I mean, neither did I, but I definitely wasn't expecting her to win this kind of award.

The clapping died down as nobody walked up to the stage. Principal Hackney looked around. "Noa Abrams," she said again, craning her neck to see past the stairs. Then she turned back to the audience. "It seems Miss Abrams has decided not to show up."

Then she continued with the rest of her speech as if nothing happened.

"How strange," Maddie whispered from my right.

"Right?" I agreed.

The principal talked about the usual—the fundamental rules and values that the school had and stood for, and congratulated us for making it into the program, before we were let out.

When we returned to our dorms, we were allowed an hour and a half of free time until we had to go to bed. I wondered where my roommate was. It wasn't that I cared what she was doing, but I was curious why she hadn't come to accept her reward.

Maddie and I played cards in the common room on the third floor with a couple of people. Curfew was at nine o'clock, and we all had to return to our rooms. I got back to mine, half-expecting Noa to still be inside, but I was surprised when I entered and she wasn't there.

I sat cross-legged on my bed, and my mom asked how my first day was.

Me: Great

I wasn't lying; I may not have been that enthusiastic, but it wasn't too bad. My mom began talking about the curriculum, and what the classes I was enrolled in would be like as if I hadn't already done my research.

The door opened, and I looked up. It was Noa, and she ran a hand through her dark hair before closing the door and walking toward her bed.

I watched her silently. One thing I remembered from Principal Hackney's speech, was the school's strict dress code. We didn't have a uniform, but we were meant to dress professionally whenever we left the boarding house. That meant no cargo pants and no graphic T-shirts.

We were also supposed to wear our ID's around our necks at all times. I looked Noa up and down as she stood there breaking all of the rules.

Her back was to me, and she was staring at her desk as if she was looking for something. Whatever it was, she definitely wouldn't find it in the mess of random things that also rested on the desktop.

"Why are you staring at me?" I heard her say. She was still faced away from me, and had switched to opening random drawers.

"I'm not," I answered. Could she feel my eyes? "You weren't at orientation."

She still didn't look at me. "No shit. I'm not a new student."

I ignored her rudeness. "But your name was called for some philanthropy award."

"Yeah, I'm aware," Noa said roughly. "That doesn't give me a reason to be an advertisement for the school."

I was still talking to Noa's back, and she let out a heavy sigh and closed the drawer harshly, before pulling out her phone and sitting back on her bed. I guess she couldn't find whatever she was looking for.

"So you secretly do good things for communities in need, but act like a dick to everyone else?" I asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," she muttered. I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not, but it was obvious she didn't want to engage in a meaningful conversation, so I dropped it.

Sighing, I changed into my pajamas and went to bed.

The next morning, Noa wasn't in her bed. I didn't know what was up with her, and I didn't have the mental capacity to care, so I quickly got ready and looked up my schedule. Classes started in two days, and today and tomorrow's schedules were filled with house bonding activities.

There were four houses: Sadako (Japanese for Integrity), Pietas (Roman Latin for loyalty), Juhd (Lebanese Arabic for diligence), and Olori (Yoruba for leadership or leader).

Maddie and I were placed in Olori, which I thought was fitting, but unfortunately so was Noa. The Oloris gathered in the common room, where there were bean bag chairs, places to study, and bookshelves made of nice, carved dark wood. It was cozy.

We all sat in chairs by the heads of the house, which were a girl and guy who were both seniors. When they finished their introduction, one of the big wooden double doors creaked open and Noa walked in.

A/N:

I'm not great at creating hooking, edge-of-your-seat first chapters, but I have a lot more faith and confidence in this story than I did in the last one (that was canceled). So I thank you for reading and sticking with me through this chaotic journey.