Flora White Academy

A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first short story that I'm posting. I hope you will enjoy this story! I'll be trying out with this first chapter and will stop if people do not like it, (so if you like it please comment!) Please review and rate my story, please be kind with your comments, thank you everyone!

Disclaimer: I do not own the designer brands or the clothes. Anything that seems familiar to you is probably just a coincidence and resemblance to a dead person is also purely coincidental.

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Chapter 1

I stepped onto the familiar school grounds of Flora White Academy - one of the best private schools in the state. My chauffeur for fifteen years, Mr. Powell, drove my black Mercedes convertible down the pebbled road that was filled with trees, leaving me with my two pink and black Diane von Furstenberg luggage and bag in front of the school gates. I closed the zipper of my favorite black and white Chanel signature tote from Mother which showed that Paige Hall is definitely ready for junior year.

I took my Rayban sunglasses off and slid it into my pocket. Dragging my belongings, I glanced around the  campus. The morning-afternoon sun shining brightly and the red brick buildings forming our nine dormitories and classrooms. The campus was round and the big fountain in the shape of a flower was right in the middle. The sports hall and cafeteria were behind the main buildings.

I headed towards the office building, Lilac, where the faculty and main office was. With my hands full, I attempted to push the heavy glass door, but in vain. To my surprise, when I tried again, it opened effortlessly. A shadow had cast over me and I looked up to see who the kind soul was. It was a towering male with jet black hair whom I recognized instantly.

“Thanks dude.” I said pulling my two luggage into the air-conditioned main office.

“No sweat. This summer was different, wasn’t it?” Christopher shoved his hands in the pockets of his Levis jeans, he was cute in kind of a boy band way.

“Yeah, it sure was.” I knew Christopher since I was three. We first met at Camp X-pression, the camp for kids interested in the Performing Arts such as theatre, dance and music. We attended the same camp until two years ago and now we were both camp counselors, where both of us taught Musical Theatre at the camp every summer.
However, we did not this year because finals were extended resulting in missing the camp. We both also were in theatre, where we starred in our school production of Fame for the school’s last theatre production. Christopher was also in our school’s musical programme, being an excellent pianist.

“I’ll see you tonight Chris.” I gave him a small smile, then dragged my bags to the counter. The main office was spacious, the walls were painted with pristine white paint, and the walls were covered with portraits of past headmasters and headmistresses. There was also a corner to sit, some meeting rooms and the main counter where Ms Martin, now Mrs. Reed, the school’s secretary, sat.

“Hi Mrs. Reed, how was your summer?” I asked her emphasizing her new last name, she had gotten married in the summer and had invited some of us to her seaside wedding.

“Hello Paige, it was great - as you can see.” She did look better; she changed from glasses to contacts, gotten a new short bob haircut and even smiles more.

“Well here are your necessities for this year; we have changed the locks to scanning cards as they are more secure. Please sign the pink form inside too.” Mrs. Reed passed me a white folder consisting the school’s events calendar, my room key (2022), my new timetable and the school rules. I took out the pink form which included the Flower White Academy student’s oath that we would follow the school rules, respect everyone and things like that, which we had to sign every year. If we did not fulfill requirements and got caught doing so, we would be expelled.

“Thanks Mrs. Reed.” I was about to leave when Mrs. Reed called out, “Oh! I almost forgot. Congratulations! You have been selected as one of our five junior prefects this year!” She passed me a white, rectangular, metal badge saying ‘prefect’ in black.

“Oh, wow! Thank you Mrs. Reed.” I kept the badge in my pocket.

“Have a fun year Paige!” I thanked her again and walked out of the building. I was walking towards the Dahlia building - one of the six sleeping dorms, when I felt my phone vibrate. I took my iPhone out of the pocket answered the call.
 
“Hello?”

“Paige! Where are you? It’s been thirty minutes since arriving time!” One of my closest friends, Brooke screeched.

“I’m coming! Give me five minutes.” I hung up and brisk walked to the dorms.

“Look who it is? Paige Hall.” I instantly recognized that obnoxious voice.

“Landon Flores, son of Robert and Gina Flores. Do you need something?” Robert and Gina Flores were my parents’ rivals in the Acting and Modeling businesses. Ever since Landon and I were kids we were also rivals and we always see each other during the annual Arts ball which was for people working in the Arts business.

“How was summer Hall?” Landon had sandy brown hair, a tall and muscular form; he would be attractive if he was not such an asshole.

“Don’t act dense Flores.” I started walking to the Dahlia building, ignoring Landon.

“I know what you did last summer.” He called out that clichéd line, I rolled my eyes and continued walking until I reached the two-story big red bricked Dahlia building. The glass doors opened automatically and the smell of fresh paint tickled my nose. I looked around the newly redone common room.

The walls were painted a light lemon yellow, and it seemed to be bigger. I lugged my luggage up the brown mahogany stairs where all the juniors and seniors rooms are and entered my dorm. It looked very empty - it was twice as big as a Saks display window. The walls were plain white and there were two queen size beds with no sheets, two nightstands, which had two dusty windows over them, two white plastic computer tables, with two white chairs, one walk in wardrobe which the end, a simple toilet. 

My old roommate Rose was expelled last year because she got caught drug trafficking, so I was getting a new one this year. Judging from a sweet, innocent name like that you would not have expected such a thing.

I placed all my stuff down and changed into my white Steve Madden Black Suede boots, as I have worn flats earlier for comfort. I got my tote and headed to Jessica’s dorm which was Dahlia 2012. Jessica was my best friend whom I met in Theatre; she has parents that are more “Upper East Side”. On the walls of the corridor, across each room, were letter boxes. Each box was labeled with a name. Mine said Paige Hall and was in turquoise, my favorite colour. If we received any letters, we would have gotten it from those boxes. I walked down the corridor looking at all the different types of letter boxes until I reached Jessica’s room.
 
“Hey.” I greeted when I entered Jessica’s room. Jessica shares a room with one of the richest girls in this school, Brooke. Brooke’s parents are both famous artists and she was also one of our closest friends and senior. They were both unpacking their things when I arrived and I gave them both big hugs.

“Hey Paige! You look good! Oh! What’s that?” Brooke asked sitting down on her bed which was covered in clothes. Brooke was petite, her hair was silver-blond and her special talent is dance. Therefore, she has a dancer’s physique. Brooke was pointing at my prefect badge peeking out from the pocket of my ADAM Graphite short sleeve dress.

“I’ve been elected.” I said, smiling.

“Me too! This year’s going to be fun!” Jessica squealed, bouncing up and down, her auburn curls bouncing along with her.

“Where’s Nevaeh? She just called me five minutes ago.” At this time, we heard a loud crash coming from the stairs. The three of us quickly rushed there.

“Oh, hi girls!” Nevaeh had fallen; she was on the floor still clutching her Marc by Marc Jacobs natural canvas ‘Miss Marc’ small tote.

“Are you okay Nev?” Jessica asked while helping her up.

“Oh yeah, I’m fine. I just tripped on the stairs.” She giggled and got up. We all went to Jess and Brooke’s room.

“Ok! So presents time!” Jessica said grabbing some things from her purple shiny suitcase. We started exchanging presents. It was our ritual that whenever we came back from a long holiday we would exchange gifts. By the end of the present session, I had given each of them a Mui Mui hair band and in return I got a black Swarovski crystal iPhone case from Brooke, a turquoise plastic watch which looked like rubber from Nevaeh and a Juicy Couture quilted nylon black laptop case from Jessica.

“Gosh, some of these things were from my Christmas list!” I exclaimed, putting on the watch that Nevaeh just gave me.
“We knew it was, that’s why we bought it for you.” Brooke said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, while keeping her own gifts and plugging in her new iPod nano into her iPod doc which was by her bed.

“HI EVERYONE!” Lily’s loud voice shouted into the room. It was Chloe Roberts and Lily Adams - both rich heiresses. To say the least, they thought very highly of themselves and were always joined at the hip. Lily was carrying her Burberry tote while Chloe was texting furiously into her LG phone.

“Oh my gosh! Could you two be any louder?” Jessica said angrily.

“Sorry! We just thought we should say hi! So how was your summer, Nevaeh?” Lily asked twirling a few strands of her newly highlighted blond-brown hair.

“I worked, helping my father out in his law firm.” Nevaeh said, her cheeks going red; I could tell she was a bit embarrassed, talking about this in front of Lily, the rich heiress who was decked out in Burberry from head to toe.
“Oh, that’s great! Lily and I both spent our summers at The Hamptons - everything there was tip top!” Chloe exclaimed, butting into their conversation while still holding her phone.

“Wow that was definitely better than my summer.” Nevaeh instantly changed the subject, “So what do you think they’re going to do for this year’s welcoming dinner?” The welcoming dinner was a ritual where one day before school officially reopens, a feast was held to introduce all the new teachers, rules, and stuff like that. It was held outdoors, near the fountain where they would set up the stage, tables and sound system with a big buffet spread. Mmm…

“I think it will be the same as always, but luckily, the food’s great, and I get to see Brandon!” Brooke replied putting on some cherry flavoured lip gloss.

“Uh… Who’s Brandon?” I asked quizzically.

“He is this guy she has been secretly in love with since 7th grade. He didn’t come to school last year,” Nevaeh said.

“Why not?”

“You’ll see.” Nevaeh said with a grin. I gave her a look of confusion.

“Oh my gosh, did you see Charles Anderson just now? He has gotten even hotter in the summer.” Jessica said, daydreaming.  Charles Anderson was a star pupil. Every teacher loved him; he had the right attitude for his work. His grades were one of the top and he was athletic - he could do every sport, but decided to join the basketball team and is captain.

“Right, I think I’m going back to my room first. I’ll catch up with you girls later.” I grabbed all my things and went up to my room. My new roommate was not here yet so I started to unpack my things, wiping the dusty windows - which I could now see that it overlooked the school grounds, placing new sheets onto my bed, hanging clothes in the closet, unfolding my sparkly new pink mannequin which was just my size and making lists of what else I needed in this room. 

“He's like my Chloe shoes, Betsey bag, oh he's cute…” “Accessory” by Jordyn Taylor, my iPhone sounded. I grabbed it off my night stand and picked it up.

“Hello?” I answered, putting the phone to my ear while still unpacking.

“Hey Paige.” A low, familiar voice answered, The voice belonged to Tyler Clark, a guy who helped me fit in when I had just started eighth grade here, my best guy friend. I was one of the people who wrote for the monthly school newsletter, Scribble the Scopes. Tyler was one of the best school photographers and he was given the job of main photographer of the newsletter. As a result, he helped me a lot in and out of it, he being a year older. I stopped whatever I was doing and lay on my now lime green bed, with the turquoise and yellow pillows supporting me. 

“Hi Ty.”

“Hey do you want to grab something to eat, I just arrived and I’m starving.”

“Sure.”

“Cool. I’ll meet you at the fountain in ten.”

“Okay, see you!” I hanged up and grabbed my purple Kate Spade wallet and iPhone, shut the door and went down. I walked to the fountain and saw Tyler sitting down on one of the benches wearing his black leather jacket, fiddling with his Nikon D5000, which he always had with him, the strap strung round his neck. His chestnut brown hair messier than ever, I must say he had grown even more in the summer. He smiled and took a picture of me when I arrived.

“Hey. Someone’s grew much taller.”

“That is very true.” He gave me a friendly hug.

“Oh, ow, what poked me?” He asked.

“Oops, it’s my prefect badge. Sorry.”

“Hey! That’s great, congratulations!” He gave me a big smile.

“Thanks, I really didn’t expect it.” We walked over to the cafeteria which was strangely empty and got food to eat. The cafeteria could fit about a thousand people; there were tall French windows and many tables. The cafeteria had varied food, from a salad bar, to a fast food restaurant-style service.

“Hey Rich, nice to see you man.” Tyler greeted Richard. He was a scholarship sophomore student who worked at the cafeteria whenever he was free to get some extra pocket money. Tyler started snapping random photos of food and the very empty cafeteria.

“Hello Richard, the cafeteria is really empty today.” I greeted Richard.

“Hey guys, actually the kitchen is closed today because we are preparing for tonight. However, I think we prepared a few extra scones. Would you like to have some?”

“Definitely, thanks. Is it ok if we sit in the cafeteria?” I asked Richard.

“Sure. Here’s your food.” We thanked him and went to sit down at a table near the French windows.

“So Paige how was your summer?” He asked, placing the tray on the table.

“South Beach, it was amazing.” I said while taking a bite of the scone, feeling the sugar rush through my veins. 

“South Beach, I’ve always wanted to go there. In fact I’ve always wanted to travel round the globe.” He informed me. I told him about my favorite places in the world. His blackberry suddenly buzzed, he looked down at his phone and said, “Hey, sorry but I’ve got to run.”

“Sure, no problem.”

“I’ll see you during dinner okay?” He gave me another hug then left in a hurry. I finished my scone and decided to walk around campus. I walked out of the cafeteria and slipped on something. As I braised myself for the fall, something or someone caught me.

“Woah! Are you ok?” Whoever he was said and helped me up.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.” I looked up at his face. Whoever he was had the typical boy-next-door look. Grey eyes with short blond hair. “Uh, hi. I’m Paige.”

“I’m Brandon Bryant, I’m just back from performing in Broadway after a year.”

“So you’re the one she was talking about.”

“Pardon?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Well, it’s nice to have met you.” I gave a small wave then headed for my dorm. I guess this is the guy that Brooke was talking about, but now I know why I do not know him. While walking to my dorm, my phone rang again, now with a text message:

4.20pm-Hey Paige, sorry I left early, but I’ll see you tonight. T

I smiled to myself and shoved my phone back into my pocket, when I saw a pretty girl with a pixie blond hair cut, wearing a white ruffle-neck tank top paired with a jean skirt and simple black three-inched heels, looking quite lost. I decided to help her.

“Hi, I’m Paige, a junior prefect. I saw you are pretty lost. Do you need any help?”

“Yes! Hi Paige! I’m Alexia Bryant, your new roommate; I have been walking around the campus not knowing what to do. I am transferring here this year as a junior and I was looking for the main office building, Lilac?” Alexia asked.
“It is right over there, I’ll walk with you.” We both walked to the office and got to know each other more.

“So your brother is Brandon Bryant?” I asked her while stepping into the main office.

“Yeah, my mum made me transfer here after Brandon came back from Broadway. It has been a hectic year though.” We got Alexia signed in and then we went to our room, me pointing out the different things on the way to the dorms.

“Don’t you think our room needs a makeover?” I asked Alexia as we stepped into Dahlia room 2022. The only colourul thing in this room was my bed and my shiny pink mannequin.

“Yeah, our room looks a little dowdy.” Alexia said dumping her belongings onto her bed.

“Let’s make a list of what we need to buy to make this room look more cheery.” Starting from there, we thought of things such as curtains, new wallpaper and more things like that. We then started unpacking, waiting for the welcoming dinner to start.