The Stories of Grand Chester Academy - The Dark Days

Chapter 1 - Charlotte

   I couldn't believe it, there it was. Grand Chester Academy. I had always dreamed of being here, but I never thought I actually would get the chance. Two of my closest friends stood next to me - Astra and Harper. They both had accompanied me on this big journey to get where we were. "So are we gonna go in or what?" Astra complained.

    As they started walking, I just stared. The academy was amazing! It had large gray walls surrounded by a garden. The towers came to 6 peaks that formed into a hexagon-style shape. Though it had vines crawling on the walls, the place looked new, as if it was just built. Everything was kept polished and placed to perfection. I watched as others filed around me, walking into where Astra and Harper were headed.

    Harper called out from the crowds,
"Charlotte, are you coming or what? The class starts in 17 minutes!". I couldn't see her because of her height but I could sure hear her. "Coming!" I yelled in the direction of her voice. I finally caught up to them and we walked to our dorms.

    Each of us put down our stuff onto the beds and started unpacking. I, of course, brought the most stuff. My mom used to tell me I always over-packed, but this time was different. I wasn't going back. This was gonna be my new home, and I needed everything in it.

    Harper found our schedules posted on a big hanging mirror on the wall. As I read each of my classes, I got excited. I was gonna have all of the magic I could ever have dreamed of! Except I was only 16, so some of the cooler classes were unobtainable.

    Astra snatched the paper off of the mirror and studied it more carefully. Harper and I just looked at ourselves in the mirror. I could still remember that little girl who was pampered and wore pink dresses and put her hair in little pigtails. No, I thought, I wasn't that little, perfect, cherished girl anymore. I was Charlotte, not Princess or Sweetpea, Charlotte. The pink dresses with tights were replaced with a military jacket and skinny jeans years ago. The vulnerable one was never coming back.

    Apparently, I had been staring way too obviously because Harper commented, "Char, you okay?". I responded with silence. If she could tell something was wrong, she could fix it too. Astra walked over to me and peaked her head over my shoulders. She grabbed my arms and slid her hands down into the mine. Out of the corner of my eye, I could've sworn I saw Harper upset. Astra's pale blue eyes watched mine.

    She said "Hey, we're all going through things too. Your even better now than you were back then.", and touched the ends of my military jacket. "By the way, I love the jacket, I want one for myself," she whispered. I looked back and took Harper's hand, then pulled her into the view of the mirror.

    I looked at us all and confidently said, "Let's survive this semester together." As I looked at us, the idea of a perfect year slipped my mind. I chuckled and said, "Or at least try to last a week." Both the girls laughed like it was a joke. It wasn't. I wasn't gonna last a day.