The Solitary Coffin

Avignon Summit Academy. 1

Hour Five. It smells like chips. For all the five hours I've been on this bus, it has never stopped smelling like chips. As my eyes batted open, I lifted my head off of my cousin's shoulder. "Good morning harlot." He said as I rubbed my eyes and chuckled.  "Do you really believe everyone there will be speaking in a British accent? Mickey, we're still in France. No matter how much our parents hate us they wouldn't take us out of it." He shrugged and slowly pushed a chip into his mouth.

I looked down and snatched the bag of chips out of his hand, pushing it back into my backpack. "Someone's in a shitty mood." His real accent sinking in. "I'm exhausted, I want to be in bed." Everyone else on the bus was talking and laughing quite loudly, which irritated my skin off.  "Just about forty minutes and we'll be there Eve. Promise." He said looking down at the gold watch on his wrist.

I wouldn't be on this old yellow bus if I had just listened to my father. Michael and I would both be at our dinner table eating our little hearts away if we had listened. Michael is my twin cousin, so our parents would say. We were born only a day and a half apart. He's my favorite and only cousin and vice versa. If we act like our younger siblings don't exist.

We were headed nearly seven hours away from home to spend our last year of high school in a pit of hell. Or formally known as Avignon Summit Academy in Avignon, Provence. The very bottom edge of France. So far all we know is we are about to be watched like crazy and will have absolutely no way or time to act out. Apparently they have twenty strict rules that we will learn when we get there.

"Do you think the food is good?" I asked Michael who was bent over checking on his cat that was asleep in his carrier. "They better. Or else tattoos will be the least of their worries." I smiled as he leaned back.  Before we knew it the bus came to an odd stop. We looked out my window and noticed a huge building nearly covered with grass and plants like a greenhouse. It was a castle in the middle of the woods. Overgrown with flowers that were clearly taken care of. "I think I need to change the time on my watch." We chuckled before letting everyone get off first and then getting off ourselves. "It's beautiful." I said looking around. "Yeah yeah, wait till we get inside." He said holding the carrier like a suitcase.

We followed the rest of the kids inside and stopped in our tracks at the entrance. "Holy shit, it's beautiful." At this moment I couldn't have a reaction. The halls were wide and clean. No one was here beside us and the kids we arrived with. The ceilings were high, most walls hidden behind trophies or posters. The walls you could see were absolutely perfect. Ridged. As we walked in further we were greeted by a woman and a man who looked like they could be the face of authority all together.

"Hello soon to be students of Avignon. I am Mr. Pine, your Dean. This to my right is Ms. Webb, your archery instructor." She smiled and waved as the Dean continued to talk. Minutes into their introduction I felt lightheaded. "Hey, you okay?" I felt Michaels hand slip into mine. I leaned on him without a word and looked ahead. "Class starts in 20 minutes everyone. Anyways I know you all are waiting for your uniform. It will be on your dorm beds. For now I leave you with rules." Ms. Webb snapped her fingers and from behind them two students came holding stacks of papers to pass out.

As they left, the students asked everyone their names and gave them an envelope along with the sheet of rules. When me and Michael got our envelopes we waited no time to rip them open. I skimmed through the paper and at the bottom written in bright green was "Level four, congratulations ms. D'aureville." However, at the top was my dorm room number.  A bell rang causing me to jump. "I guess I'll see you on the other side?" I gave Michael a big hug before I took his hand and did a quick prayer before him. "See you on the other side."

I crossed myself in Trinity before walking around and finding my dorm. Once I found it the door was wide open. My decorations and other essentials were shipped beforehand and were placed on the left side of the room. The right side was decorated with stars, moons and anything else was either black or gold. Whoever my roommate is was about to hate me when I unpack later. I shut the door and on my bed I found the key to my dorm, a paper with my class schedule and another for me to fill out. As well as my uniform and a Black card. This card didn't have enough numbers to be a money card but an access card.

I dropped my backpack and purse on the floor and dropped on the bed. Looking at the clock I have 10 minutes before class and one of the rules was to be in class three minutes early. I had no time to breathe sadly.

As always I was on time to class and even there five minutes early but not the first one there. The ones that were there first claimed their seats in the back but I loved sitting upfront. My first class was Art with Mrs. Raspberry. I hated the fruit and her name but I dealt with it. The only thing I could think of was the uniform. It was actually really pretty. The school colors were brown, forest green , white and silver.

For the girls it was shorts and skirts either green or brown, under shirts which were white or brown and yarn like jackets in brown or green. The skirts were pretty short for a strict school but it was cute and looked good with my white tights underneath. The silver came on with my jewelry I picked out today. We wore shoes of our choice, if level four.

For the boys they had shorts or pants in white, brown or green and the same jacket in those colors as well. However just like us their undershirts were white only. Their jewelry and shoes were of their choice. If level four.

All classes were forty five minutes long. So after art, I had AP Environmental science with Mr. Lore. Now this name I like. After two more classes I had lunch with I made sure to text Michael and let him know I was skipping so I could sleep. He decided to skip as well and sleep. My last two classes were not very eventful just like the first ones.

As all first days of school it was just a lot of getting to know you questions, which I never enjoyed. When I made my way back to my dorm after my last class I couldn't find it in me to wait up to meet my roommate. It was a chore for tomorrow. I took a shower and got dressed for bed early. I'd experiment and look around tomorrow, maybe even go into town.

Before I fell asleep I made sure to read a scripture from my pink leather Bible and prayed. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep either. I was out like a light and heard nothing nor felt nothing in my sleep.