Show Me What You Can Get Away With

Lost. No, not like the t.v. show. Like that feeling you got when you were younger and wandered away from your parents in the supermarket.

Conflict. No, not like a bar fight on a bad reality show. Like bittersweet. When you have such an opportunity, but of course there are sacrifices that have to be made.

“Now how exactly do you pronounce your name?” The pompous unappealing woman asked, pushing her frames up the bridge of her nose. Wow, I’m kind of terrified out of my mind, does miss head master hot shit have to be such a bitch? It’s not everyday you travel God knows how many miles, by yourself across the freaking country to better pursue your dreams. As if this is a normal freaking day to be dealing with such snobby in-
“Well?” She asks again, tapping her foot in the too-quiet room impatiently.

“Um, Audriana. That’s how it’s pronounced ma’am. However, I just go by Audri.”

“Oh blasphemy! Profound nonsense! Your parents obviously named you as such for a reason Ms. Emerson! Whatever the case, here are your required papers, schedule, map, dormitory information, code of conduct, etcetera. In which case I do expect you to follow every, and all of our rules here. Your room mate is waiting for you outside of my office to escort you and get you better acquainted with our premises. As I tell all of our new students Ms. Emerson, please bring nothing but newfound honor to our school, or kindly turn around and leave. We are very prestigious about our academy, and I am very proud of the Manhattan Academy of Performing Arts.” Yeah, no shit lady.

I nodded my head and smiled, what more could I do? And exited the dusty office of the undelightfully plump Mrs. Watson, and her moustache. I closed the massive French door that led me to the administrators office. I knew the school was extremely old, parts of it even dating back to the 1700’s, but it still blew my mind at how old it really was. Old and elegant, the school could have been mistaken for fucking Hogwarts. Everything was wooden with parts of the interior and exterior made of brick. Candle fixtures that now held light bulbs and fine art adorned the walls. Everything was wooden and hand carved. Chandeliers hung from the very tall ceilings and as I passed the foyer earlier I noticed the intricate skylight in awe. In the mist of it all I had completely forgotten about my room mate. I shook myself from my daze and looked around the administrators office a bit, until I noticed a girl on the outside of the office, looking through the window at me. When our eyes connected she smiled widely and waved. I smiled a bit as well, seeing that she didn’t hate me right off the bat and gathered my bags, exiting another set of huge wooden doors.

“Hello! It’s nice to finally meet you!” The girl said smiling and waving at me some more. She was a few inches shorter than me with light brown hair that matched her light brown eyes and skin. She was still in her school uniform, a plum colored sweater, white button down shirt, and gray skirt. “Let me take that! It seems like you’ve got a lot!” Referring to the several bags I had in either hand.

“It’s alright. I’ve got it.”
“You’re not from around here are you? Oh! I knew it just by the length of time you were in Watson’s layer! I mean sure we have plenty of students that aren’t from around here but it’s cool that you get to be my room mate! What’s your name?” She said excitedly, well I didn’t think it was that big of a deal but okay.

“My names Audriana but just call me Audri please…?” I dragged my sentence out as if to ask her her own name.

“My names, Olivia. Please let me help you a bit! It really seems like you’ve got a lot.” She said. I huffed, not wanting to cooperate but handed her my large hot pink cheetah print Betsey Johnson duffel bag anyway. She smiled at me. “Oh this is so cute! I know we’re going to get along just fine! You have a great sense of style!” It was my turn to smile, we continued walking.

“So Audri, where are you from?” She asked, her black pumps clicking against the floor.

“Arizona.”

“Really? That’s so far! What’s it like down there?” We exit the main building and continue on our way to one of the more smaller buildings. There are six smaller buildings that surround the biggest one.

“Hot. Kind of boring, I don’t know. In my town there wasn’t much else to do besides spend my parents money.”

“Well believe me there’s that plus much more here. I promise you’ll be happy you decided to come to M. A. what’re your preps?”

“Music and dance. Although I wouldn’t mind getting into some of the drama maybe either. You?”

“Strictly theater for me!” She says, placing her hand on her chest overdramatically. I giggle a bit, I don’t usually get along with many girls, she isn’t so bad.

“So tell me the low down on this place.” I say, looking around the massive campus garden we seemed to be in.

“The low down? I’m your girl. Don’t even worry your pretty little head about opening that shit Watson gave you. I’ll tell you what you really need to know. Main building features pretty much what any highschool would. Class rooms, media, library, gym, but there are certain suites that pertain to each art. That building over there,” Olivia said, pointing with one perfectly manicured finger to the building directly opposite from the main one. “Is the auditorium. Only it’s not like any old school auditorium. It’s huge, more like a genuine theatre. The two buildings in front of us are the girls residencies, the Stone residency and the Colvin residency. And we’re in Stone.” She says, opening the door and gesturing. There were girls hanging around the main room, watching tv, making snacks, etc. Olivia waved to a few girls who waved back, all staring at me and turning to talk to the others. Way to make me feel wanted. We continued down one hall until we reached an elevator. “Now there are three floors in each dormitory. And the Stone and Colvin residency’s are connected by a hallway, just as the boy’s residency’s; Allmeyer and Smith are. And just in case you were wondering, all the dormitories are named by the first four founders of the school. The other building beside the school is the dining hall.”

“Wow.” Was all I could mutter.

“I know, it’s a lot to take in, but you’ll get used to it. For years the school was just a regular performing arts academy, the dorms were added in the 1900’s when it became a co-ed boarding school. That’s why they look way more modern than the school itself.” We reached the third floor and Olivia pulled a key out of her pocket, walking to one of the closer doors in the left hallway and opening it. “I’m so glad to have a room mate! I was one of the only girls in Stone without one!” Our room had three light teal walls, and one covered in black and white vintage wall paper. Two beds with fancy iron wrought head boards were pushed against the wall papered wall, with a long black desk inbetween, and two chairs. Shelves hung above the beds, and there were two closets on opposite sides of the room. There was also a bathroom next to the door.

“Wow again, you did all of this?” I asked in awe.

“We’re allowed to decorate any way we want as long as the walls are blank and white when we leave. Let’s just say my parents know a great interior decorator. You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this! This pretty room gets kinda lonely you know!” She says plopping down on the perfectly made bed that was obviously hers and tossing my duffel onto my own bed. I began taking out my own comforter set which was also cheetah print. There was a pattern going on, if you hadn’t noticed. It sort of clashed with the wallpaper but hey, what was I supposed to do about that? I sat down when finished, listening to Olivia go on about how the shopping in New York was absolutely fabulous and how she just had to take me. I figured I’d leave the rest of my stuff to unpack later. “I hope your not hungry I mean there are some snacks in the fridge down stairs but you kinda missed dinner.” She says as she digs out her pajamas.

“Nah I’m okay, I ate before I left the air port. So. Tell me about the guys here.” I say, a smirk finding its way on my face. Alright I know what you’re thinking. But there really wasn’t much to do in my home town besides shop and flirt with guys! An all knowing smirk finds its way to Olivia’s face and she sits Indian style on her bed.

“Oh. You won’t be disappointed. Warning though. With a lot of the girls, the guys are off limits. If you want to have your free pick, don’t really befriend any of’em. I know it seems difficult considering the fact that you have to live with all of them but when one girl likes a guy he’s kinda off limits and, well, you know how girls are. But we’ll get into the rumors and drama on Monday. Like I said, I’ll tell you everything you need to know.” Olivia twists her chocolate hair around her finger as she speaks. This girl knew everything.

“So you’re saying they’re hot?” I ask excitedly, great, she’s rubbing off on me already. Olivia bites her lip and sighs.

“Uh, yeah! Out here M.A boys are known for being notoriously hot and notorious heart breakers. Some of them date outside M.A but not many. I yawn, looking over at Olivia’s clock. It’s 12:30, no wonder. Not to mention the serious jet lag that’s hitting me.

“I hadn’t noticed how late it got. Think I’m gonna turn in. I’m feeling the jet lag really bad now.” I say, yawning again.

“Same, I’ve had a long day.” Olivia turns her bedside lamp off.

“Are you busy tomorrow? Do you think you could finish showing me around the school and stuff?”

“Of course! It’s my job! And not to mention you haven’t gotten a good view of the city yet! I mean it’ll be impossible to show you all of New York in one day but we’ll see where we can get!”

“No rush. How about we not get too carried away?”

“Alright!”

The girl was a ball of energy. But at least I didn’t feel as terribly alone as I thought I was going to. Maybe I’ll be okay here. If I ever want to be serious about my preps then this was the place to be. I hope it’ll be different here. I turn off my own bedside lamp, before drifting to sleep.