Priory // h.s.

chapter two

About a dozen pairs of eyes turn to watch me as I enter the labratory, making me freeze halfway through the door. "Er..." I say awkwardly, taking in the faces of the people I assume are my new coworkers. "Hi. Um... I'm new?"

A lady with iron-and-blonde colored hair approaches me, wiping her gloved hands on the white of her lab coat. "You must be Amber," she says, her tone polite, if a little cold.

"I am. I mean, I'm Amber. I am- am Amber." I flinch and mentally kick myself.

Nearby, a couple of younger interns duck their heads, failing to hide their snickers. I shoot them an unamused glare.

"Well, Amber, we're really glad to have you on our team of scientists. I'm sure you'll find Priory a wonderful place to work," the older lady recites, as if reading off a script. Her wire-rimmed glaces and bunned hair make me feel like I'm talking to a professor at Hogwarts or something.

I try to avoid slipping into the monotone voice she's using. "Thanks; I already really like it. The Dorms are super-nice, and my roommate is-"

"I'm Maura Finnigan," she interrupts my praises. "I'm the Lab 1 supervisor, so I guess you can consider me your boss."

Blunt. "Okay."

Nodding towards the other interns, she says, "Listen up, everyone! I'm giving Amber a quick tour of our labratory floor. While I'm gone, Reyna's in charge. Continue your work as you were." She hands a set of keys to a dark-haired girl with a serious face; I assume this girl is Reyna, and judging by the ease which Maura hands over the keys, she's one of the most trusted interns in the lab. Understandable, since the rest of them seem to be total goofballs, who are currently making faces behind Maura's back.

I bite back a laugh. I think I'm going to like Lab 1. 

Turning back to me, completely unaware of the horrendous face a blonde-haired boy is making at her backside, Maura says, "Come on, then. I'll give you a quick tour of this level of the building."

Nodding, I trot after her, exiting the lab and stepping out into the blinding white hallway outside. She leads me down the corridor, motioning with her hands as she does so. "There's the cleaning closet," she says, nearly smacking me in the face with her pointing finger. "And right next to it is the storage closet. If you ever need extra materials for an experiment or test, that's where you'd go--you might have to ask someone for keys, though, because they're sometimes locked."

I make a mental note of the location of both closets. "Got it."

Up ahead, the sound of raised voices carries back to us. I furrow my brow and shoot Maura a questioning glance. "Sounds like a fight," I comment.

She seems puzzled at first, and then gives an irritated sigh. "It's them again."

I want to ask who "them" refers to, but I don't need to, because it's at that moment that two young men about my age emerge from around a corner. One is muscular and tan, with closely-cropped blonde hair and magnetic blue eyes. The other is tall and lanky, messy curls spilling across his brow and hiding his eyes beneath them. Both of them appear ready to bite the other's head off at the slightest provocation. 

The blonde one is yelling as they walk towards us, still unaware of our presence. "I swear to God, Harry, you are the one who messed up that experiment. If you would've just listened to me-"

"I'd rather listen to a blind, one-legged pig-" his companion begins a retaliation, but is cut off by Maura.

"Styles! Holton! Both of you shut up!"

Caught by surprise, their heads snap to face her. As they do so, I catch sight of the names written on their nametags: Cade Holton and Harry Styles. Cade's the blonde one, and Harry's the one with the curly hair. Well, at least I know two fellow coworkers' names, despite the fact that they don't look like the two friendliest people in the building--not by a long shot.