Nightingale Academy

A few years back, from what I remember, I was known to sit alone under a large tree. Or it could have been quite small, but in my memory, it had been fairly large in comparison to my six-year old body.

Each day during our joint hour of lunch and recess, I'd sluggishly follow behind my energetic classmates as they raced outside and over to the monkey bars, swings, and slides. I couldn't play the same way they did or run to school each morning, ready to finger paint and recite the alphabet with genuine interest. Unlike my young peers, I was dropped off by my mother who would place a kiss on the crown of my head before beckoning me into the building that I learned to dislike so greatly. I pasted a smile on my face the same way the cute blonde girl with long hair in pigtails that sat next to me had pasted her cardboard heart onto a sheet of pink paper, smack in the middle, and pretended to enjoy school for my mum's sake.

I used to blame my isolation and grogginess due to my insomnia. As hard I tried to fall asleep I couldn't. As much as I tried befriending one of my bubbly classmates, I couldn't interest them long enough to get to know them. And so under the shade of my tree, I sat. While the children my age played, I sat on a patch of dirt with my Pokemon lunch box and ate my ham sandwich alone.

Sometimes I tried playing by myself. I had seen many of the children in my class play by themselves for hours. They would play out some type of story with action figures or sometimes even with sticks and sand. I watched them play like that for days before I tried to copy them. I took a toy car out of my lunch box and placed it atop of Pikachu. It was a pink Hot Wheels car that I begged my father to buy me weeks earlier. It had black writing on the sides but I couldn't read just yet. Pinching its sides with my forefinger and thumb, I swished the car back and forth, driving all over Charmander and Jigglypuff. I made circles, squares, hearts and triangles around the pictures with the four tires and even added a few extra sound effects which consisted of the swooshing wind I imagined that my car left behind as it drove with immense speed and shrieking tires as it turned at corners. After about five minutes, I gave up. I grew up as I child who fed on facts and logic. I was a child with no imagination.

.:.

It is now my third week in Nightingale. Exactly fifteen days since I found out my friends' secret. After making my discovery, I studied Azure, Haven, and Hayden's movements and the conversations they had between each other. The more I thought over the hidden meanings and calculated their body language, the more sure I was that my friends were not mere mortals. What they actually are, I don't know just yet.

I was currently stuck in my room with Azure, being forced to watch her model the clothes she planned on wearing in April. Yes, April. It wasn't even October yet and she's already planning her wardrobe for April. If I wasn't so sure that she wasn't human already, I would definitely know by now that she can't possibly be of the same species as I.

“How's this?” Azure asked as she came out of our closet. She wore a simple white shirt, beige scarf around her neck, light blue skinny jeans, and brown boots that covered over her ankles and stopped just beneath her calves. She looked at herself in the mirror and spun to view herself at all sides. She smirked and patted her butt lightly, then turned to me for my opinion.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “You know you look hot,” I tell her. After three weeks I've become even more comfortable with her and Haven. I still felt uncomfortable with Wynona but I've started warming up to her recently. I figured that if I had to be around her all the time, I should try harder to get closer with her.

As for the other humans in Nightingale, they were just as uninterested in me as the students in my former school. Unless I was with Amaranth; in that case, all eyes would be on me. Many of the girls disliked me for that reason. I had captured Amaranth's attention and, apparently, he was very popular despite his secludedness.

Out of the large variety of girls in Nightingale who have obsessions with Amaranth, two give me the hardest time. There is Rachel, who is in my gym class. I can tell she's human for two reasons. Firstly, I don't feel oddly comfortable around her like I do with Azure and Haven. Second reason being that everyone in my gym class is human. I can tell for obvious reasons. But Rachel went out of her way to pick on me. The first sport we played in gym was football. I can still feel her 5 foot 7 inches of wiry and athletic flesh collide into my ribs, sending me across the field.

The second person was a girl in my Study Hall class named Perla. I immediately knew that Perla wasn't a human. She shared the same radiant eyes as Azure and Amaranth, but hers are a deep purple - almost black. And with those abnormal yet beautiful eyes she tore into my soul. I could feel her glaring at me as I sat with Aaron and Quinn at our table across the room from hers. If looks could shove razorblades down your throat and out your arse....Well, you get it.

Disregarding Perla and Rachel, I've had a wonderful time at Nightingale. Every morning I shower and get ready with the sugar-high Azure. After breakfast, Amaranth and I walk to class together. He walks me to the rest of my classes and picks me up after them as well. At first I thought he only did this as a repercussion in case I get lost and can't find my way to class, but after three weeks he was still escorting me to my classrooms and I allowed myself to believe that he enjoyed spending the five to ten minutes between the bell with me. After classes end, Azure and I head back to the dormitory and start our homework or just hang out in our room with Haven and Wynona. Sometimes other friends like Aaron, Quinn, or Garret would join us.

But when homework is finally done with and the rest are ready to call it a night, I stay awake and prepare myself for what I look forward to the most; Amaranth. No matter where I go, or what I do, Amaranth finds me. We spend the whole night with each other. Sometimes we go to the library even after it's closed. Sometimes we go back to the greenhouse and listen to its music or we talk in his room and lay together on his bed. He once took me on top of the roof of our dormitory. We lied next to each other, our elbows and feet occasionally touching, and watched the stars. It was my favourite night out of all of them. We hadn't done anything special and he didn't even hold my hand like the other times, but star gazing with him made me the happiest.

Azure threw a pink dress at me and I shook myself out of my reverie. I pulled the dress off my head and held it out in front of me. It was a pale pink sun dress with with a heart-shaped neckline. The trim was laced in a flowery print and the waist was tied with a thick satin sash that matched the shade of the lace. It was pretty but the waist was too small for Azure and it couldn't possibly reach past her hips. I raised a brow at her and she grinned largely.

“Well, back when I bought it I thought it would fit, but it doesn't. I want you to have it,” she claims, her gaze avoiding mine.

I looked at the collar and see the tag still attached. I roll my eyes. “Did you buy this for me, Azure?”

She played innocent and ignorant until I got aggravated and sprawled the dress on top of my bed. “I told you already, Azure, I don't want you buying things for me!”

“Well that's perfect seeing as my brother was the one who bought it for you, not me.”

I gaped, my mouth hanging open and eyes wide. “What?”

“You heard me.” She giggled and spun around in her yellow and light green plaid dress. “Doesn't this look cute? We should get you a pair like this one. We can wear it together and look like twins! Move over Amaranth! Here comes Lilith and Azure, twins by....”

I ignored her rant and grumbled under my breath. Tonight, Amaranth was going to get it.