Chapter 1
Ringgg was sadly the sound of the morning bells. It was time to get up, and if I could, I would sleep in for at least another hour. Making your bed and tidying your room was an obligatory chore, and getting dressed by the second-morning bells (3 minutes later) was something all the girls had become accustomed to.
I-Ruby Shelby am perched on the fifth bunk bed in each room, which is crammed with 10 girls and 5 bunkbeds. Short mattresses that felt more like a mat than a supposed cushion came with the beds. Simple white cotton pyjamas that were provided by the orphanage were so warm that I would start perspiring in below-freezing temperatures. I'm just expressing the facts; I'm not whining or anything. However, we were also given four outfits: two for the summer, spring, and two for the autumn and winter. At the moment, I'm rushing to put on my grey knee-length shorts and white shirt.
When the second morning bells rang I was running down the stairs with a bunch of other girls while putting on the stupid shin length socks we were all provided with. Imagine doing that but with over 50 other girls all running so they didn’t have to get a lecture by the head maid. Oh and don’t get me started with the maid. She was a middle aged lady who looked more like she was in her late 50s and 30s. She had permanently squinted eyes from always scowling at us and always and I mean always had a spatula in her hand. I’m pretty sure it was there so we would feel intimidated by her, and by all means it definitely worked.
All of us lined up one by one in front of the food so we could get breakfast and I happened to be farther back in the line but only because I was literally hopping down the stairs to get my socks on. The usual routine would be to get breakfast then sit down at one of the long tables with friends, but of course I am not your typical person and trust me one of my many characteristics is being antisocial. I mean I hate talking with other people and I swear it gives me anxiety when I have to interact with others in big groups. So I tend to keep to myself and nobody seems to care as I am just one ordinary girl.
I look over to see what the menu is for breakfast and it looks to be brown sugar oatmeal with mixed berries and OJ. Ooh the breakfast looks a lot better than most days. Sometimes we have to eat plain yogurt with a banana or have to drink plain white milk. Ugh milk is so disgusting it literally tastes like some rotten cheese turned into a drink. When I turn up to get my food the head maid gives me her squinty eyed scowl and reluctantly gives me my food. I found a spot at the end of the back table. Perfect for not interacting with people.
I sit there quietly enjoying my food when suddenly an announcement booms through the cafeteria. “ Attention girls of Quincy Qs Orphanage tomorrow the prince of Iffindelle is coming to see if any of you are eligible to administer into Redwood Academy. After breakfast everyone of you will be put on cleaning duty to make sure the orphanage is spotless. Remember to make Quincy Qs orphanage proud.”. Hushed whispers began after the announcement mostly from people fanning over how hot the prince may be. I’m pretty sure no one actually cared for getting into the academy as no one here has any brains. I sigh hoping that tomorrow will just go bye quickly and I go back to my quiet life but boy was wrong.
Each room was assigned one main chore out of garden cleaning and trimming, bathroom and powder room cleaning, sweeping and mopping floors, dusting and furniture cleaning and decoration and floral setup. My group got assigned sweeping and mopping floors which is pretty bad as there are 3 floors and they are huge. I got put on mopping duty and went to the big linen closet to grab the supplies needed.
When I got to it and opened it a whole bunch of water flooded from it. Looks like one of the maids forgot to empty the water from the bucket. I slugged over to the laundry room to grab towels unaware that I was walking towards the spill. All of the sudden slipped and almost fell but before I hit my head I stopped like literally stopped. The water had formed a kind of knot around me preventing me from slipping. I was kind of sling shotted back up, almost losing my balance once again. Once I had my balance I pinched myself to see if I was dreaming and nope I definitely felt the pain. I looked at the spill and there was nothing odd about it. I must have been hallucinating I thought and continued to the laundry room.
When I got back the water was gone. No sign of wetness or any liquid was ever on the floor. I asked Ashley and Jenny 2 of my fellow room members if they had cleaned the spill; they both said no, saying no one has gone over there since we were assigned the chores. Oh god I really must be hallucinating. I decided to just go on with my day pretending it was just my nerves for tomorrow. But honestly I wasn’t nervous at all I just wanted it to go by fast so I could continue on with the quiet lifestyle.
After cleaning it was lunchtime and let me tell you I was hungry especially after cleaning basically the whole first floor. I was one of the first to the cafeteria because I ran there from how hungry I was. For lunch there was garden salad with grilled chicken and lemonade. Meh, I mean I don’t mind salad but like it’s not my favorite. I again went to sit at the back table in the corner but this time I brought a book. The Red Pyramid book 1 was one of my favorite books of all time and one of the only books there was. I flipped through it and before I knew it lunch was over.
“Ruby, I need your help with something” yelled Jenny. I walked over to Jenny wondering what she could possibly want me to help her with.
“Could you help me reach the dust pan at the top shelf?” she asked nicely.
I obviously said yes because why would I say no and I felt bad for her. Me and her were both 16 and I was 5,5 and she was 5,0. So I felt bad about how short she was but also because people tease her often about it too. I easily grabbed it for her and headed back to my task.
I mopped and little more then went to the mini library and read my book. Dinner was called but I wasn’t very hungry so I went to the room and read till it was bedtime. Each day we had to strictly go to bed at 9:30 pm and if you were caught out and about or with your light on you would get a lecture by the head maid plus have to do all the chores the next day. But today everybody in my room was on time and we all soundly went to sleep.
