Room 7 and 9

[VEE :: THE CONQUERER]

Dorm Room Seven & Nine

Room Seven - Ash, Open, and Open
Room Nine - Dorrien, Open, and Open

The rooms look the same. They are made up, classily, but with the undertones of an institution peeking through. The walls are a uniform cream with a single band of darker brown around the walls. The furniture is all darker wood. The single beds have wooden, simple frames, the walls are bare. The bureaus are also done in this style, and are about 5 feet high, with room on the top for dumping. Each has 4 drawers, which leaves everyone but one person with three each. The carpeting is a dark beige, and quite lush.

The bathroom is done with rough stone tiles. There is one decent shower and a small bath. There are two and three cabinets, one for each boy. Towels are supplied by the boys themselves, but there are crude wooden towel racks for them.

The kitchen area is simply equipped, with the shelved counters in the same theme as the rooms. There are two sinks, two chopping areas, four wall-mounted cabinets and a pitifully small fridge and freezer. Knives, chopping boards and some basic cooking utensils, cutlery and crockery are supplied. You break it, you pay for it.

In Room Seven

The window bed is taken by Ash.
The middle bed is taken by Open.
The wall bed is taken by Open.

In Room Nine

The window bed is taken by Open.
The middle bed is taken by Dorrien.
The wall bed is taken by Open.

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[VEE :: THE CONQUERER]

It's time to unpack. The horrible bit of travel. I step out of the bathroom in a clean pair of jeans and a t-shirt, feeling better about the day and ready to take on my new school. My hair is wet, and clinging to my neck in that really cold, annoying way. I towelled it dry, but it never obeys me anyway. I stand in the doorway, and look at my bag. The only bag. After some serious searching, I tracked it down to here. It seems I got a good deal with this room. It's fancy. Looks almost like a hotel. But, it already seems like an explosion hit it. I was so desperate to have a shower after the long bus-ride that I kind of threw all of my clothes everywhere. With a sigh, I head to the bureau. Socks, shirts, knife... Knife? There, under my shirts, lies a wicked-looking dagger. I roll my eyes. Mom. I'd page her later about this. I riffle through everything, just making sure that she hasn't packed me any more surprises, and then I straighten.

Where are the rest of my room mates? I look around. Have I really landed a dorm all to myself? Perfect! I grin widely. Now, I can play my violin and belt out songs as much as I like. Sure, I could do all that with a room mate. I could. If I wasn't crippled by stage fright. I hate it when people I don't know listen to my music. My violin has been put in a spot of safe-keeping. It lies under my bed. Sure, it's not ideal for an instrument of its calibre, but enduring the endless teasing that comes with playing it is far worse. I quickly investigate the kitchen suite. Not bad. I can't cook anyway, so I probably won't be using it. I examine the knives for their weapon potential, and hate myself for it. Maybe getting away from Mom won't be such a bad thing.

Oh, what's this? There's a door. It's not the one I came in from, and I doubt it's a walk-in cupboard. I mean, this is nice and all, but it's still a boarding school. Wonder where it goes... I start to hum under my breath as I turn the lock and open the door. Hallway. Hmm. Better see what's on the other side. Another door. Curious, I knock. maybe this is where my room mates are hiding...

[ash]

Ash threw his stuff into the drawers and put on a fresh pair of clothes. He tied his bandana tightly around his forehead. He ran and jumped towards his boat. He missed it and hit the floor. "OH MOTHER FFFFFFFF!" He yelled and rubbed his back. He got up and stretched his back. He gave his bed a light kick and walked towards his door when he heard another open and close. He walked over to the other door and leaned on it and pressed his ear against it. He heard someone walking. He gripped the door knob and threw the door open and saw the other kid. "OH hi."

[VEE :: THE CONQUERER]

I stop, and listen carefully. I can hear breathing on the other side of the door. Enemy? I can't be sure it isn't. Now I kind of with I'd brought Mom's dagger along with me. I tense my hands in preparation. I know it won't do any good. I'm notoriously bad at unarmed combat. Sure, I can take out the school bully, but against a professional, I'm doomed. It makes me feel better, though, when the door shoots open and I jump. I could have screamed, but I managed to stop myself. And I'm relieved that I did.

It's another guy. He's taller than me, fitter than me, but his sound is clean enough. He's got a good spirit. He could snap me like a twig, but he won't. I straighten. He wears a bandanna over his crazy, spiky hair. I smile, hesitant, but kinda hoping that we can be friends. I sure need some friends. "Hello," I reply, my Oxford accent making me embarrassed. "I'm Danny. I live across the hall. Just wanted to see if there was actually any life around here." I smile wryly, and offer my hand for shaking. Or maybe as a gesture of harmlessness. I'm not sure.

[ash]

Ash smiled and shoke the Danny's hand. "Hi there names Ash. Well you found life not the intelligent mind you." He chuckled and dropped his hand and crossed his arms. "So how long you been here?" He said and leaned in the doorway.

[VEE :: THE CONQUERER]

I can't help but smile with this guy. It's rare to find someone who's honest on first meet. It makes a nice change from listening to friendly words hiding a callous spirit. That's what I usually get. "Nice to meet you," I say. He grips my hand. His grip is hard. Not, 'I'm gonna show off how strong I am so I can be the boss,' hard, but, 'I don't know how much this is hurting you, cuz if I did I would stop,' hard. I feel my bones grinding together. I wince. He releases, to my relief, and I rub my aching knuckles casually.

Then he asks an embarrassing question. I hate being the new guy, and now I have to admit to it. I look down at my pager, which doubles as a watch. Mom likes functionality in her gadgets. I look up again, sheepishly. "Three hours, actually. How about you? Tell me that you at least know your way around. If not, I'm doomed." But I'm grinning as I say it. At least there's someone else to get lost with me, even if he can't help me get places.

[ash]

Ash chuckled. "Actually i've only been here for five hours. I guess were both pretty much screwed." He laughed. "But hey atleast you made a friend." He smiled at danny. "Ever run into trouble you know where i'm at." He smiled and nodded.

[VEE :: THE CONQUERER]

Oh, great. So we're both newbies. I was right. We're doomed. But I really have to laugh at the irony of it. It's like a sort of sick joke. Look, at least I won't be the only lost sod on campus. I grin at his easy acknowledgement of friendship. Wow. This guy is one of a kind. "Thanks. Back at you," I return, adding, "But I don't know how much help I'd be to you." Let's face it. I'm a shrimp. Weedy.

I then venture a question. Going back to my room isn't too appealing. I'm trying to put off paging Mom and demanding to know about why she put a dagger in my case. "Hey, can I chill here a while? Not much to do back in my room." Hope he accepts. The longer I stay here, the longer I avoid paging.

[ash]

"Shure buddy come on in." He pushed the door open and walked to a chair and sat down. "Take a seat and take a load off your feet." He smiled at danny.

[VEE :: THE CONQUERER]

I smile, reluctantly. Surely this guy can't be as nice as he seems! That just doesn't happen. I wander into his room. Looks almost exactly the same as mine, actually. I'm about to sit down when my pager buzzes. Hmm. I give the fellow an apologetic look. "That's for me. I have to answer. Could you do me a favour and not listen to any shouting you hear?" I need to answer in private, so I back out of the room again, closing the door with a hasty, but fully meant goodbye.

In my own room, I fiddle with the little watch-like instrument. On the screen, my mom's face pops up. Unlike me, Mom is spectacular. Never changing, and I mean never, she has long, silky black hair, flashy blue eyes and the gorgeous bone structure that haunts many circles. She's smiling happily at me. Her voice sounds crackly through the little speakers when she says, "So? How's boarding school? Met any nice girls?" I know what she means by 'nice'. It's not as gross as it seems, though, because Mom looks like your average university student. Still, I mean, she's my mom!

I roll my eyes. "None of your business," I tell her firmly. She sticks out her tongue at me. "But, I have a feeling that the dagger is..." I continue. She doesn't look embarrassed or guilty. "Oh yes, that. Well, see, I thought you may need some protection." I grit my teeth. "Mom, I can't even use a throwing knife. What good would a dagger do?" She doesn't even bat an eyelid when she says, "Oh, so I take it you didn't find the taser? It's in your boots."

It degrades quickly into violence. I'm not even sure what I'm screaming, but the why is clear enough. She bugged my phone which only has signal because she hacked a government satellite to get it and planted a taser in my boot. And why? Because my principal creeps her out! I scream, I protest, I yell at her. She keeps her infuriatingly calm assassin's voice through it all. Eventually, I just slam the off button. Livid, I slam my bed into the wall... There's a crunch, a twang. The noise a violin makes when it's sandwiched between bed and wall.

I don't even want to look. The sound was clear enough. Can I fix it? Probably not. But I can try. With sellotape, and the right sounds, you can do anything. I can't go to my new neighbour, in case he heard. I decide to go down the hall. It's easier that way.