The Garden of Eden

Chapter 1

I arrived at Willow Academy on a rainy Thursday evening, dripping wet and absolutely exhausted. It took about half an hour before I finally reached Dorm 124, and when I did, I heard Nirvana shaking the walls of the room. I set my bags down and pushed open the door to see a girl, about 17, painting the wall while standing on her bed. I looked in awe for a moment, and she quickly took notice, whipping around and almost splattering paint on me in the process.

"Hi, I'm Olive. I assume you're my new roommate Maeve, because if you weren't then why would you even be here. You know, I looked you up, but I couldn't find anything about you. Are you like a spy or something?" She talked fast, like she was being timed to see just how quick she could speak.

"Hello?" She said when I didn't answer right away.

"Oh sorry," I say, shaking my eyes from the painting and bringing myself back to reality. "Yes I'm Maeve. What are you painting on there." I said, gesturing to the walls to avoid her follow up questions. Her eyes got bright and before I knew it she had gone into a speech about some field hidden in London.

"Ive never been of course, only a few people have ever found it, but this is what I imagine it to look like." She stared at her work in admiration for a bit, and I walked up to get a closer look. It was beautiful. There were vines hanging low, just above a clearing of lush grass and flowers, and in the center of the mural we're two people sitting in each other's arms, looking into the distance with the golden light shining on their backs. In that moment, staring at the mural of this cracked, old wall, I knew I had to find this place.

"So, where's your stuff?" Olive asked, taking us both out of the trance of the mural.

"It's just right outside the hall."

"You better go get that, someone is bound to steal it if you leave it out there any longer."

I rush to my stuff at her words, and when I find them still laying in the hall, I relax.

It only takes me five minutes to bring my stuff in because all I have with me is a duffel bag, an when I'm done putting everything in my broken down drawer, Olive suggests we go on a tour.

The tour ended up being Olive leading me around the school and talking sh*t about half the students we saw, but it was still more informative than the one I took with my mom. We headed back to our dorm a good two hours later, and by that time it was already 11:00.

"Sh*t," Olive says, checking the time. "I have French class at 8:00 tomorrow, I have to get to bed. Do you know your schedule?"

"Uh yeah, yeah I've got it. I'm going to go to bed too, actually, I have an early morning."

"Oh great, I was afraid I would wake you up, I'm not the most quiet in the morning."

I laugh and search for my pajamas in my dresser, hoping I didn't forget them. I found a big black tee shirt and some grey sweats, and took them into the bathroom to change. When I opened the door, Olive was already asleep, just laying on her bed in her clothes. I smiled and climbed in my own bed, reaching over to turn off the light. 'Quite a first day', I thought to myself as I stared at the dark, blank ceiling, awaiting sleep. I could already tell I made the right choice accepting this scholarship, and that it was going to be a very interesting year.