𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑

02. 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒑𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒎

Your shiny black dress shoes clicked loudly against the flagstone floors of the corridor. The sound echoed off of the tall arched ceilings in perfect rhythm with your thundering heartbeat. 

What were the odds? Your first-ever day as a student at Welton and you were already running late. At least it wasn't entirely your fault. Your sixth-period teacher at the high school held you and your friend Chris back after class for five extra minutes to clean off the blackboards.

Chris was someone who you considered to be your best friend. She was the captain of the cheer team and her father was good friends with yours. In fact, her entire family was influential enough to the point that you two were encouraged to become friends when you first transferred out of Foxcroft.

Even if you hadn't been kept back an extra few minutes, the school's chauffeur was late to pick you up in the parking lot. You had no choice but to change into your uniform in one of the bathrooms in the main hall as soon as you arrived through the wrought-iron gates of Welton campus. You were lucky no one was in there at the time to barge in on you. There were no women's restrooms on campus besides the unisex ones connected to the teacher's offices.

Because of your last-minute enrollment, the uniform fitting over the weekend was rushed. As a result, you couldn't run a few feet down the hall without your skirt shrugging up over your knee. You briefly considered leaving it alone, but then again you didn't want to get caught breaking the dress-code on your first day. So instead, you stopped dead in your tracks every five steps to pinch and pull the fabric back down over your leg.

You took six classes at your regular school; algebra, chemistry, English, and history followed by art and gym. Over the summer, your father worked out an agreement with Mr. Nolan in which he allowed you to take one of your extracurricular courses, Poetry, at Welton. You argued that the dual-enrollment would look spectacular on your report card. Besides, it wouldn't kill the school to be shone in a somewhat progressive light after centuries of strict, upheld tradition.

The poetry classroom was at the very end of the first-floor corridor, tucked into a short alcove with a thin window on either side of the door. You peered in, ducking down as not to be seen by the students already inside. Mr. Nolan chose poetry as your extra-curricular because it was the smallest class they offered. Surely, word of your arrival would still spread like wildfire amongst the student body.

Voices chattered loudly back and forth through the closed door and you gulped, shifting the weight of the books under your arm. In theory, this was a great idea. You would get a sliver of the finest education in Vermont and at little to no cost of anyone else involved. But now that you were actually standing just feet away from it all, the prospect of being the only girl in a room of roughly twenty other teenage boys made you panic.

Swallowing your fears, you rolled your shoulders back and cleared your throat before reaching up and rapping your knuckles against the firm wood three times over. You winced at the sharp sound of chairs squeaking as the combined laughter and quiet conversations drew to a halt. Every student in the classroom swiveled around to catch a glimpse of the newcomer.

Your eyes darted back and forth across the shocked faces that you saw through the frosted glass window. Mr. Nolan said that it was an unpopular elective, but nearly every seat that you could see was filled.

To your dismay, you made eye contact with Charlie who was seated in the very back of the room, legs propped up on the empty desk in front of him. He had a lazy smile on his face, a pencil clutched loosely between his teeth. But as soon as he recognized you, his jaw dropped and the utensil clattered to the floor.

In that same second, the door was thrust open and you nearly jumped out of your skin. Waiting to greet you on the other side was another boy that you barely recognized. He hadn't been apart of the welcoming committee in Neil and Todd's dorm, but you must've seen him at some point during the Ceremony.