One
Clara stood in front of the new school building, staring up at its looming frame. Her mum sent her here because she thought it would be the best way for her to learn. Apparently Clara would fit in better here, but her mum hadn’t thought to ask her how she felt about that.
She peered at her schedule, trying to figure out how to read the rooms. Was that the floor or the room number? There was supposed to be a tour guide, but the place was like a ghost town.
She took a deep breath, allowing the cold winter air to blow by before walking up to the main door. She opened it, surprised to find it so easy to get inside. Of course, things were safer here, her parents believed so, anyway.
She walked into the corridor, a room adjacent to it holding a desk. Behind the desk sat a woman in her mid thirties, and she was typing on a computer, constantly going back to retype things.
Clara stepped into the room, looking around at the paintings and portraits on the walls. School scenery, nature, people. The place was welcoming, and Clara was already beginning to feel a sense of home here.
The receptionist looks up, her mouth dropping open in surprise. “Oh, sorry, dear, I didn’t even hear you come in.”
“No worries,” Clara smiles, looking around again. “This place is nice.”
The lady nods. “Are you Clara?”
Clara nods, holding her luggage in front of her. “Um, I was supposed to be met outside by a tour guide, but no one showed up. I figured it’d be okay if I came in?”
“Oh, of course, honey. Let me call your guide down, I don’t know where she is.” The lady smiles as she dials a number.
Clara stepped away from the desk, admiring the paintings. Maybe one day, one of her works would be on this wall. She admired the eyes of some of the people, the colors standing out against their skin.
She wished she could see eyes that were alive, you couldn’t paint the spark in someone’s eyes when they talk about something they enjoy, when they see someone they love, when they are making new memories. Some things the eye can’t capture, and some things the mind can’t capture.
“Alright, thank you so much, Jacklyn, she’ll be down here waiting for you.” She hung up and turned to Clara, who turned around. She always made a point to look close enough to be respectful but still avoid their eyes.
“Jacklyn’s coming down to help you, she’ll show you around she should be here any minute!”
“Thank you,” Clara nods, taking a seat in the leather chairs. She pulls out a book from her bag and flips it open. She only manages to get through a paragraph before someone walks in.
“Hello!” She exclaims.
Clara looks up, raising an eyebrow. She had a uniform packed, the exact uniform that was expected of them, but this girl wasn’t even close.
Ripped jeans, a white crop top with a butterfly across her chest, long dark hair. Clara didn’t dare to look much higher, instead she smiled and stood up.
“Hello, I’m Clara,” She extends her hand, and Jacklyn shakes it.
“Hello, nice to meet you. Sorry about not being out there waiting, I overslept then wondered if you were coming and thought I was crazy so I went to my class. I’m out all day, though, so I can show you around!” Jacklyn smiled, and Clara couldn’t help but return it.
“Well, let’s get this show on the road then, huh?”
Jacklyn grins. “I like your spirit!”
The girls leave the reception area, and Clara tells the receptionist to have a good day. Jacklyn leads Clara up the stairs to the dorm room.
“The best part about this is that we’re roomies! We can tour as long as we want!” Jacklyn opens the door to the room. Two large canopy beds stood on opposite sides of the room, a vanity table and desk on either wall and two night tables on either side of the bed.
Clara’s mouth dropped open as she took it all in. She couldn’t believe this was going to be her new reality for the next year or so.
“This place is amazing!” She exclaims, wandering over to her bed. She set her suitcase down on the bed, she hadn’t brought too much, the school provided almost everything she would need.
“Yeah, it really is. Wait till you see the dining room, dinner could last you for a week!” Jacklyn smiles admiring her own side of the room. “We get mail from time to time, if your folks want to write to you, or if you want to write to them.”
Clara nods. “I think I’d rather settle in first. I can’t wait to begin learning here!”
Jacklyn’s smile grows. “I can’t either. You’ll love it here. Are you ready to go see the hallways?”
Clara nods, following Jacklyn down to the core subject half of the building. “These are where all of our main classes are. We do alternate learning days, so one day it’s the lower classmen, one day it’s us, and one day it’s the upperclassmen.” She stops in front of a door. “Downstairs on the first floor, english. Yes, you have to walk up the stairs to get to the classes, maths is on the top floor, science, history. We learn the boring stuff here, basically. Any questions so far?”
Clara shakes her head, surprised at how many stairs she would have to go up to get to her maths class. “So, I can’t take the lift or anything? I have to go up the stairs?” She asks as they begin heading down another corridor.
“Unfortunately, not, but we do have fun classes though, are you into any music things? More like do you make music, obviously you have to be into some kind of music when it comes to listening to it.”
Clara smiles. “I don’t play any instruments, I’m not into that kind of thing.”
Jacklyn nods. “That’s okay. We also offer art, photography, culinary arts, and a bunch of other classes. What’s your schedule look like?”
Clara hands the schedule to Jacklyn, who scans it before smiling. “We share most of our classes! How exciting!”
Clara smiles, too, watching Jacklyn carefully. “That sounds like so much fun, will I sit next to you?”
“No, unfortunately, but we could always move seats when the time comes. Maybe we can sit next to each other in art, we get to pick our seats.”
Clara nods, and the tour continues. They find themselves in the special classes hallway. Paintings adorned the walls next to music sheets.
“This school is very particular about its art,” Clara observes. “They’re all very beautiful, they look carefully selected.”
“They are,” Jacklyn smiles, admiring the one Clara was looking at. “The people have all gone here at some point, whether they were a teacher or a student. They earned their place on the wall through being an outgoing person.”
Clara nods. Maybe one day she would be on the wall, though she couldn’t stare at someone long enough for them to paint her eye color. They were a deep hazel color, and they stood out against her pale skin.
“Well, let me show you the art room, then!” Jacklyn took Clara to the art room, opening the wide double doors and Clara couldn’t help but look around in awe. Easels stood with the beginnings of a painting, and there were name tags labeling whose area was where.
“Your setup is close to mine, Mrs. Gallows kind of just goes in order, you know?” Jacklyn explains, leading Clara to what would soon be her favorite part of her day. “Wanna paint something? To, I don’t know, get the hang of where things are here?”
Clara smiles, looking at Jacklyn. She quickly averted her eyes before they could meet. “I’ll just do something small.” She selects a small canvas, propping it up and pulling out a palette and brushes.
She got her paints and mixed them before taking a few minutes to paint an ethereal butterfly. The wings appeared to be shimmering, and Jacklyn’s mouth dropped open.
“That’s really good! Who taught you?”
Clara smiled, the thought of her father warming her heart. “My dad. He was an amazing artist, he could’ve been famous one day, if he had held out.”
“Held out?”
“He,” Clara pauses, thankful she could avoid Jacklyn’s eyes. “He died.”
“Oh, no, I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s okay, he tried. He lived a good life, until the end.” Clara smiles sadly. “I was six.”
“That’s awful, may I ask what happened to him?”
“He committed suicide. He and my mum would always fight, and he just couldn’t handle it anymore. He locked himself in the bathroom and shot himself. We were beyond upset when we found him.”
“I’m so sorry, how are you coping?”
“I’m fine, it was so long ago I barely remember. It was hard at first, but I’m better now. It took some time to heal, you know?” Clara looked up, meeting Jacklyn’s eyes for a brief moment before quickly averting them again.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”
“No, you’re fine. How about we just focus on something else, yeah?”
Jacklyn nods, “Your painting is beautiful. You’ll fit right in here. In the meantime, let’s get back to the tour.”
Clara follows Jacklyn out of the art room, sparing a glance at her ethereal butterfly. It really was beautiful, and she wished her father could be there to see it. He would’ve loved it.
Clara smiles to herself, toying with the necklace holding her father’s ashes. She soon followed Jacklyn, who turned to face her with a grin. “Next is the dining hall! It’s lunch time, too, so you can meet some of my friends.”
Clara smiles, too, and Jacklyn opens two large doors. Tables lined the floor, and Jacklyn grinned, leading Clara to a table and waving to a boy.
He joined them shortly, and Jacklyn introduced Clara to him. His name was Kyle, and he was super polite. Another girl joined them, and so did a guy.
Clara didn’t catch their names, she was too busy admiring Kyle. they had all gone to get their lunch and they’d taken their seats while other kids stirred about, getting food, talking to friends, catching up on homework.
Clara’s admiration was interrupted by Kyle glancing at her abruptly. “Oh, sorry, I wasn’t trying to stare,” a blush creeps into her cheeks. How embarrassing!
“Oh, no you’re fine,” Kyle smiles, and Clara focuses on his lips. There was a small scar above them, and she wondered how he got it.
Maybe one day she could kiss that scar. She snapped back to reality when Kyle raised an eyebrow and said her name, a little louder than before.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I zone out easily.” she smiles awkwardly, meeting his eyes for a heart stopping second. It felt like her heart stopped entirely as she realized they had their eyes locked, and nothing happened.
He looked the same way she felt, shocked, ironically, and confused. He quickly looked away, as if he was hiding something. Clara dropped her eyes to her plate. What could that mean?
Did her curse go away? Could she look at people again without hurting them? What was he thinking and feeling? Was he like her? There were so many questions, but not enough answers.
There would never be enough answers for the things Clara lived with. She could’ help but continue to sneak glances at him, he was quite handsome.
His eyes, they were stormy grey, the color of clouds before a thunderstorm. She preferred rain and lightning, but she didn’t care for thunder. But his eyes were beautiful, they were comforting and assuring.
She almost wished he’d look at her again, and she wished she knew what he had thought in that moment that their eyes locked. She couldn’t make eye contact with people, it would send some sort of shock through to them and they’d always wince afterwards.
She didn’t know how it happened, or if there was a way to fix it. Glasses? Nope. Contacts? Nope. Avoiding their eyes? Good enough.
She has lived almost her entire life not looking people in the eye when speaking to them, she usually gets away with it but sometimes she has to make excuses.
She knows it’s rude, but she can’t help it. Either she looks away or they might get hurt, she’d rather go with the first option. Jacklyn giggled a lot, and she seemed to flirt with Kyle’s friend.
The other girl didn’t talk much, she only nodded when asked a question. She focused on schoolwork, and Clara was thankful she didn’t have to do that, yet.
She would enjoy her time staring at her potential prince charming before she had to waste her lunch doing homework. Besides, is it even homework if they don’t leave the school?
Kyle laughed at something his friend said, and Clara couldn’t help but smile. Something about him attracted her to him, she couldn’t focus on anything else.
Was it that intimate moment she shared with him, despite it being something so simple as making eye contact? She hadn’t done that with anyone in years, she was too scared. But when his grey eyes met hers, she couldn’t help but wonder if she should try again.
She found herself wanting to look into his eyes, to explore his mind, his body, his soul. He glanced at her a few times, too, but he didn’t seem to be as interested in her as she was in him.
She hoped it would work out in her favor, she was falling for a guy she just met.
