serendipity ✙ harvey kinkle

II

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With the final bell ringing at 3pm sharp, Victoria grabbed her things and placed them in her bag. Placing said bag over her shoulder, she made her way to her locker. Whilst opening it, she felt someone stop beside her, and she glanced over to see Susie smiling at her. Victoria smiled back.

"So," Susie started, "my friends and I are going to the movies after school. Care to join?"

Victoria nodded enthusiastically, glad to already have plans with people on her first day here. "Yeah, of course, I'd love to! I'll just drop off my stuff at home before."

Susie smiled, "Okay, great, see you in front of the movie theater at 7!" And with that, she walked away.

Victoria finished packing her stuff from her locker, put in her earphones, and began her trek home. She felt truly at home in the forest; she had always been fond of nature. When she was younger, she believed she could communicate with them. Now older, she knew those were just childish imaginary games, but she still loved the company plants gave her. She still believed she could always talk to the plants, even if they didn't understand her and had no way of communicating back.

And so she began, "well, dear forest, I just had my first day at school, and it actually went pretty well." She paused for a moment, and then continued, "I made a friend, named Susie, so I think I can book this day off as a success." She suddenly frowned, "though there was this annoying jerk who knocked my books out of my hand and ripped my schedule, then bumped me in the head, and finally was surprised I wouldn't accept anymore of his 'help'. I mean you wouldn't have accepted anymore of his help, no?"

Victoria laughed at the end of her monologue, "who am I kidding, I'm talking to the trees waiting for an answer, as if I was going to get an answer to that question."

If only she knew she was getting one, she just didn't understand it yet.

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Victoria pulled her jacket tightly around herself, the weather being a lot chillier than what she was used to. She was standing outside of the movie theater told her about, albeit she was ten minutes early. She was fidgeting with her bracelet, staring at the small town she now called home.

All was well, until she saw someone she was not expecting, much less wanting to see. She scowled at him, "what are you doing here?"

The boy looked at her incredulously, "this is a public movie theater, I have every right to be here. And besides, I'm meeting with my friends. What are you doing here?"

Victoria huffed, accepting his answer, and squared her shoulders. "I'm waiting for a friend too."

And for the next agonising nine minutes, all was not well. Both teenagers shuffled around awkwardly on their feet, each praying that their friends would hurry up. Looking at anywhere but eachother, they tried to make the time pass. Victoria fiddled with either her ring or her thin braided bracelet, staring at her feet.

Finally, Susie arrived, with two other girls in tow. Victoria smiled, and Susie smiled big when she spotted her, "hey! Glad to see you made it, and I see you've already met Harvey!"

Victoria froze, as did Harvey upon noticing that Susie was talking to the rude girl. "Who?"

Susie nodded in the annoying boys direction, "Harvey! One of my friends that I told you would come to the movies with us!"

Victoria forced a smile and turned to Harvey, "pleasure to meet you, the name's Victoria." with that done she quickly turned to Susie, who didn't notice the tension just yet.

Susie continued, pointing to a girl with black curly hair, "that's Roz," and then she pointed to a girl with blonde hair, "and that's Sabrina."

Victoria smiled warmly and nodded, "nice to meet you both." Both two girls nodded and smiled back in acknowledgement.

Sabrina spoke up, "oh shoot! We should hurry in and get tickets, since the movie is starting soon." Everyone quickly shuffled inside for a night filled with fictional horror.

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Coming out of the movie theaters whilst howling with laughter with Susie because of how Roz jumped during one of the scenes, Victoria truly felt at ease for the first time in a week. They were walking to Dr. Cerberus', for what Victoria found out was considered a tradition in this group; watching a horror movie at the theater, and then coming to this small cafe/bookshop to dissect it. She could get onboard with traditions such as this.

The only problem was Harvey, who Victoria was doing everything possible to avoid because she didn't want to make the others uncomfortable with their jabs and insults. Speaking of which, said boy was opening the door to Dr. Cerberus', holding it upon for everyone.

When Victoria finally made it to the door, Harvey let go, making it slam in her face. Victoria growled under her breath, opening it and shooting a glare the boys way. She sat down opposite of said boy and Sabrina, who she found out was Harvey's girlfriend. She truly pitied the poor girl.

Sabrina started, "Okay, mark my words, that movie is destined to become a cult classic , George Romero is a genius!"

Roz continued, "Are you for real? That movie made no sense; but it was nice to see a black man be the hero for once."

Harvey nodded, "Yeah, agreed, though he did get shot at the end -"

Victoria cut him off with a sarcastic smile, "that just makes him even more heroic, don't you think?" Harvey scowled, but she continued. "He died to save his family from that sheriff. Though it is good he didn't get eaten by those, wait Sabrina what did you call them again?"

Sabrina smiled at her new friend, "Well, in the movie, the newscaster called them "ghouls," but that's not accurate. Reanimated corpses that eat human flesh - the way these things did - are called "zombies" in most cultures, after the Haitian Creole word "zombi" - or so I've been told..."

She glanced at Sabrina, admiring her knowledge of such facts. She glanced around the table, feeling grateful to be apart of such a nice group. She grew quiet, not really participating in the conversation, glancing down at her bracelet. It used to be her friendship bracelet with Cindy; she'd like to think Cindy would be happy for her if she saw how well she was doing. Victoria admitted to herself that although she was feeling okay, she did miss her best friend dearly, and would do anything to reverse the mistakes she made a few weeks ago. But she couldn't. Alas, the only thing she could do was move on, which she was trying to do in the present.

That night, she drifted off to sleep easily. She had always been a heavy and easy sleeper, and on top of that a vivid dreamer. Tonight, she dreamt of a boy who had black curly hair, surrounded by red walls. He was smiling at her, and she felt weirdly at home in his presence, though she has never even seen this boy before, yet he seemed so familiar. She just couldn't put her finger on it.

The boy laughed, and she could feel herself laughing along with him. "So, welcome to the Academy. Fun fact, The Academy was built according to the principles of sacred geometry. Each room is a perfectly proportioned pentagon that locks with the one next to it."