Adventures Of South Hills

CHAPTER 1:

It was the 2nd of September with cold weather. Elle looked at herself in the mirror – light yellow skirt, black shirt with a striped yellow and black tie. Although she didn’t like the yellow blazer, she had to admit, it looked good with her light brown straight hair which touched her lower back.

“You’ll be late, Elle!” Her mother called from downstairs as Elle saw her getting out of the house from the window in her room.

Elle picked up her trunk along with her handbag as she headed downstairs and to the garage. Her mom unlocked the trunk as they started loading the suitcases in it. The handbag was a necessary item which contained a toothbrush, sleeping dress and things like that, in case anyone loses her trunk on the first day.

Elle felt sad that she was leaving her old friends behind but she was excited at the same time, as it was the first time she was going to a boarding school.

The average age for a ninth-grade girl in South Hills was 16. As Elle was 15, she was pretty much the youngest among other girls.

The drive was pretty smooth with the car filled with silence. The bus stop wasn’t very far from their home as they were already pulling into the parking lot after a couple of minutes. It was quite a bigger stop than what she expected. There were girls here and there, wearing “South Hills” uniforms and chattering loudly and excitedly. It looked like everyone knew each other, except Elle.

“I don’t think I will ever be able to know all these girls.” She thought as someone bumped into her.

“Ouch!” She turned around to see a tall girl with round black glasses which suited her perfectly.

“I am sorry!” she said, fixing her glasses.

“It’s okay!” Elle said with as much politeness as she could find in herself.

“Oh okay!” She said without any expression, “Then I better hurry or I’ll miss my bus.” The tall girl said and disappeared into the crowd leaving Elle smiling and confused.

It took a minute for Elle to realize that her mother was not with her and she was standing all by herself at a huge bus stop with thousands of people she didn’t even know.

She was just about to panic when her mother appeared from Nowhere. “Oh God Mom, where were you?” Elle asked with a worried face.

“Oh, I was just finding your house Mistress.” Her mother calmly said. “You should’ve at least told me.” Elle said in a panicked voice.

“Come on baby, there’s no reason to be that upset.” She paused and started to look around until her eyes stopped on a woman, “Look, that must be your house mistress.” Her mom was pointing at a middle-aged decent-looking woman. She was wearing a light brown knee-length skirt with a mint-colored shirt. She had brown eyes and a fine face. The only thing that was going into Elle’s mind at that moment was “Why is everyone here so beautiful?”

“Hello, I am Mrs. Carter.” her mother said once she was right in front of that woman, trying to catch her attention. “Ugh, mom could be so embarrassing sometimes.” She mumbled, getting red in the face.

“Oh, hello, Mrs. Carter.” The mistress took a step back to try to get her personal space back. “And you must be…” she said as she looked at a nervous looking girl standing at some distance from her mother, “Elena Carter.” She said looking down at a paper in her hand.

“Oh, yes. Hello!” she paused and took a step forward, “I am Elle."

“Hello, Elle. I am Miss Harriet. Your house Mistress.” She had a kind smile which comforted Elle, “If you have said your goodbyes, we shall go then.”

“Oh, yeah, sure.” Elle hugged her mother as she followed the mistress. They kept walking through a chain of busses labeled “South Hills” until they stopped in front of one. “This is the bus where all the nineth grade girls will be. I hope you have fun.” She said as Elle entered a bus filled with chit-chat and laughs. Though, nobody seemed to notice that there was a new girl.

She kept walking in hope of finding an empty seat when she saw the girl who bumped into her earlier, sitting alone. She let out a sigh of relief as she headed toward her.

“Hey, I am Elle. Do you remember me?” Elle asked after settling on the seat next to her. The girl nodded while staring out the window. “I am Mia. Mia Jones.”

At first, Elle thought Mia was a good sort but the way Mia looked at Elle and how she talked to her, wasn’t the best sign of a person Elle would want to make friends with.

“Hey, Mi-” Elle started to say before she got interrupted.

“Not at all interested, Elle,” Mia said, holding up her palm while she kept staring out of the window.

Elle felt like she wasn’t needed there so she got up and went to sit in the seat right in front of her. There was a plum, red-haired girl sitting at that seat who told her name was Amy.

Mia was rude to Elle but was a chatty and fun thing around everyone else. And as told by Amy, “She’s the type of girl who likes everyone. Especially new girls."

South Hills was only 1 hour away from the bus stop and the journey was not at all boring. Mia continued making everyone laugh until she and everyone else was worn out.

“Hey girls, we are back at the castle!” Mia screamed excitedly as everyone smiled.

“Looks like everyone likes her.” Elle thought for a second but brushed it off as she didn’t want to focus on the bad on her first day.

“The gate looks royal!” Elle said – when the bus took a turn and entered a beautiful gate – under her breath.

“Just wait till you see the school!” it looked like Mia was eavesdropping.

It was a golden hour. The bus took another turn and there it was. South Hills. Sparkling by the rays of sun with the hills behind it making it look mesmerizing.

“It’s charming!” came out of Elle’s mouth as all the Buses came to a stop in front of the school. There was a parking lot on one side and a huge lawn on the other.

Girls started getting off the bus and in less than a minute, there was a huge number of girls dressed in the school's uniform on the lawn. Some going inside the school, some finding their way, some greeting each other and some still chattering. The ones who came with their parents were still fresh but rest seemed exhausted.

The girls in Elle's bus started to descend one by one too. There was chaos everywhere and it came to a point where Elle lost sight of Amy. Even after getting off the bus herself, Amy was nowhere to be found. Elle tried her hardest to locate her or Miss Harriet in the crowd but it turned out to be impossible.

“Excuse me” the rush was growing with every second, “Hey, excuse me!” Elle felt like someone was calling her but she couldn't identify where the voice was coming from until someone tapped on her shoulder. Turning around, there was a tall, brown-eyed girl, with wavy hair and a gentle voice standing in front of her, “Oh, sorry, I just don't understand who's saying what.”

“It’s okay. I don’t think anyone could hear anything in so much noise.” the girl said, smiling, “Anyway, I am Luna – Head of South Hills.” She extended her hand which Elle immediately shook, “Miss Harriet has given me the duty to take all the new girls to their dormitories and I’m guessing you’re one of them.”

“Yep, that’s right,”

“Okay, perfect. Can you tell me your name and grade, please?” Luna asked, taking out a diary and a pen from her bag.

“Elena Carter and Ninth grade.”

“Okay.” Luna wrote something in the diary then moved her gaze back to Elle, “Do you have your trunk with you, Elena?”

“Oh, no, It’s still on the bus. I am sorry, I forgot to take it off.” Elle said, already running towards the bus.

“Hurry up!” Luna called after her.

Grabbing a luggage trolly with her trunks on top, Elle came a few minutes later. However, by the time she returned, there were seven other girls with Luna. All of them looked younger than Elle except for Natalie. She looked the same height as Elle but way tanned instead of honey-colored like Elle.

“Should we go inside then?” Luna asked, moving her gaze from one girl to another.

“Yes, please! I am dying to see what it looks like from the inside.” one of the younger girls said.