Hunted

Act 30; Sir

Amelia got up at 7:30 in the morning and took a hot shower in the Arts Building's shower rooms.

Unlike the tiled and curtained stalls in the Sports Department, the Arts Department used glass stalls that seemed just as thick as the stalls at the Sports Department. They fogged over as soon as the showers were turned on so Amelia was only a little uncomfortable with the arrangement.

Such high-maintenance buildings, Amelia thought as she stepped out of the stall. The Sports department was red and gold, the school's official colors, probably to promote spirit. The Arts Department liked glass, probably to keep the inspirations coming into its students even if they were confined. She was amazed at how the dorm rooms worked. Outside, the entire building had seemed to be entirely see-through glass, but when she entered the room, all four walls were an opaque, pastel green. When she looked out the window, she saw that the walls reflected the outside, like mirrors, and when shone on by the sun, they turned into a tinted white.

As she wore an aubergine sweater over an apricot turtleneck, she wondered how much the school cost when it was first built. When she wore the pair of ultramarine jeans and laced her viridian shoes, she was already wondering what the annual revenue for the operation of the school was. As she combed her damp hair to get the tangles out, she was glaring at her reflection in the mirror, asking herself how she had ever gotten her father's monetary-meting-out mind.

Amelia stopped at the end of the hallway when she noticed a familiar girl standing in front of her door, hand over the wood as though about to knock, when she looked back to see her.

"Oh, hi!" She greeted, spinning on her heal and heading toward her instead. "I was just about to knock."

"Hi." Amelia greeted back, just to be polite. The girl was the same one from yesterday who asked her if she knew Noah. But instead of having her pale blonde hair in a slovenly bun, it now fell in a gorgeous blanket over her shoulders. The front part was shorter than the back, framing her pointed face and making it look youthfully regal. Oh God, she was unbelievably pretty.

"I'm Zerena by the way." The pretty girl introduced, raising an open palm toward her with a kind smile. "Call me Zeery." She literally pronounced the Z in her name with that deeper than average feminine voice of hers.

Amelia shook hands timidly with a too-quick nod, racking her brains bare as how it ever escaped her how gorgeous this girl was. Well, now that she looked closer, the girl was obviously wearing a light amount of make-up, and that the transformation from bedhead mess to runway model must have taken its time, but still.

"I'm picking you up in Noah's stead." She pulled out her phone at Amelia's raised eyebrows. "Here. It seems like his class was called in earlier than usual, so he wasn't able to pick you up. He still wanted you to come though, and asked if I could show you the way. Of course, I've heard you've already been to the Seniors' Department, and if you'd rather go by yourself, I'd totally understand too."

Amelia read the text of Noah asking Zeery to "p p please 100000000000x ice cream roses with icing and sprinkles on top kud u pik up Amelia Walters & brng her to our hist at 4-105 2day by 8. Cant mek it bc ol Zacky dragged me outa my room. Tell her im sorry! :'("

The message was obviously rushed, and she wondered why Zack had to drag him out of his room when their class didn't start until around 8:30. She gave the phone back to Zeery and nodded comprehension, the butterflies in her stomach that usually appeared at the mere recognition of Noah's name suddenly morphing into slithering snakes, hissing at the fact that Noah asked someone as pretty as Zeery to escort her and not some other guy friend he had at the Arts Department. His contact name on top of the thread of messages being "Noahkins" wasn't helping either.