Straight-Up Not Having A Good Time At Night Raven College: Prologue

Prologue Chapter 9: Meeting A Freshman

Making her way up Main Street, Kat looked around.
Grim was perched on her shoulder, eating the crusts of her toast.

They'd found a cleaning cart by the front gates, complete with broom, trash can, rake, and one of those garbage-sticky stabby things. It bumped across the cobblestones, rattling as she pushed it along.

In the daytime, the campus really wasn't so bad... It was actually fairly pretty. Very stately, and not as creepy as it had looked last night in the dark.

Students were walking towards the building-- and yep, there wasn't a skirt in sight.
Not that all girls in school uniforms HAD to wear skirts, of course. In her experience, though, at least SOME of them preferred wearing them over pants.

These uniforms were pretty good, though... Way better than the polo-shirt-and-khakis combo from her Catholic school.

The main part of the uniform appeared to be black suit jackets and slacks, button-up shirts, and black-and-white striped ties that some kids had tied in a bow instead of a tie. Everyone wore colored vests underneath the suit jackets, and ribbon armbands on their left arms, with bronze badges holding them in place.
There seemed to be a lot of different colors, and the armbands matched the vests.
God, was this actually a Hogwarts House thing? Or were the different grades color-coded?
All in all, it was a pretty classy look... Honestly, she wouldn't object to wearing it if she had to.
Definitely beat polo shirts....

"Uwaaah-- so this is Main Street, huh?" Grim said, looking around with wide eyes.
"Amazing..."

A few crumbs fell out of his mouth, and she brushed them off her shoulder.

The passing students gave her sideways glances, some whispering behind their hands to each other.

She ignored them.
Like she cared what a buncha' teenage boys thought... 
Okay, she kinda did, but not too much- just the standard level of social anxiety.

"I didn't get to see much of it yesterday," Grim continued, ears swiveling as he tried to take in as much as he could.
"Hey-- what's the deal with these statues?"

She looked up.
Sure enough, there were statues-- carved out of gray stone, several figures stood on top of short pillars, four on one side of the path and three on the other.

"One, two, three, four--" Grim counted. "Seven of 'em... Wonder why they're here?"

Kat blinked, tilting her head slowly as she frowned.
These statues....
She was sure she'd never seen them before, but...

"They've all got kinda scary faces," Grim continued, stuffing the last of the crusts in his mouth and swallowing.
"Like-- this lady over here... She looks pretty mad, right?"
He pointed.

Looking in the direction he indicated, she frowned.
"Huh.... Yeah, you're right."

The statue was of an older woman... How old, she couldn't exactly tell, forties or fifties, maybe?- with her hair in a bun.
While the expression on her face was theoretically serene, there was a patronizing, cloying feel to it, like it was entirely fake. She kinda had Karen vibes...
The dress she wore was pretty nice, though. It had an Elizabethan feel to it, with those blocky hip-pads and the high stand collar.
She also had an undersized crown perched on her head, and what was probably a short heart-shaped scepter or wand in one hand.

"You don't know the Queen of Hearts?"

Kat jumped.
Turning around, she blinked.

There was a student standing behind her.
About the same height as her, he had a cheerful face and a wiry build, with a messy mop of red hair.
His shirt was unbuttoned to just above his collarbone, with his tie done up loosely, giving him a casual air, and his vest was bright red, with a matching armband.
For some reason, he had a big red heart around the outside corner of his left eye. She couldn't tell whether it was makeup, a tattoo, or possibly some kind of really coincidental birthmark.