Butterflies & Hurricanes || l.s

Chapter 2

With each new year of school, Louis finds himself admiring the exquisite nature of his school more than the last. Maybe he's maturing into a young man who appreciates fine architecture, with its stone arches and stained glass windows.

Or maybe he's simply noticing the millions of dollars their school pours into renovations and appearance each year, the funds coming directly out of parents' hefty bank accounts as part of the 'tuition'.

Likely the latter.

As Louis suspected, this year is no different. He parks his car in Student Lot 4, barely squeezing between a shiny, black Bentley and another car that likely came straight out of a James Bond movie, and he and Lottie take a moment to study the ever-changing landscape of their campus.

The school stands tall, casting a feeling of overwhelming wealth and superiority onto everyone who dares tread its grounds. Not that Louis is necessarily keen on the idea of flaunting such luxury, but it's kind of hard to miss. Its gradiouse stone walls are aging beautifully, sporting colors of wear and seniority as they spiral upwards into castle-like towers. Regularly cleaned, the stones shine in the morning sunshine, quite literally causing the school to sparkle. All it's missing is a moat.

Similar to Louis' own home, deep green ivy streaked with light green patterns inch up the walls of the Paramount Academy of London. Their colors match perfectly with that of the plush grass and venerable oak trees that are scattered all about, warmly inviting students to sit under their imposing and monumental trunks, their leaves reaching out to provide shade on the hottest of days.

The building itself is a masterpiece; a dream for any architecturally-minded student. Having been built in the 1800s, coupled with a constant stream of renovations, it proves to be sufficiently pompous and pretentious, boasting bells and whistles far beyond those of an average London secondary school.

As Louis and Lottie make their way through a sea of perfectly pressed school uniforms (and unattractive haircuts), they approach the main entrance, currently playing host to a multitude of students as they wait to meet up with their friends. The big wooden doors are a rich, dark brown color, nearly as tall as three grown adults. It's marked with decades of careless scratches and nicks, the imperfections adding to the beauty of the school's character.

As he walks inside the arching doorway, Louis only manages to accidentally bump shoulders with one particularly cute boy in the process. He may or may not have stared for a lengthy minute at the boy's curly hair and deep brown skin, wishing he could go back and get his number.

But no, Lottie just had to tug him along, directing him away from the hot guy and into the school.

("C'mon, Louis, you can flirt later, I don't want to be late!" "Jeez, Lots, you're gonna tear my fucking arm off. Quit it before I go limb-less, will yeh?")

Inside, rays of golden morning sun cascade through stained glass windows and artwork, which are strategically placed in and around the main foyer of their school. The warm light lands not on ancient stone, similar to the exterior of the building, but instead on polished and freshly waxed tile floors, causing them to shimmer.

The lockers are spacious and line the walls in a uniform and tasteful pattern of alternating school colors - navy and maroon. The breaks between these lockers are currently occupied by strategically placed patron benches and water fountains.

The cream-colored ceilings are impressively high and wide, the rainbow of colors seeping into the walls from all of the stained glass windows. They make the entire school, and especially the hallways feel entirely more spacious, but in less of a "queen's vacation home" way, and more of an "open plan library" way.