Chapter 2 TWO: MIGHTY LEONE MARTIN

High school had just started once more, and Leone wasn't even excited one bit. It was going to be another three years of co-existing with these same people all over again and she was honestly tired.

Refusing help from the servant that came along with her, Leone walked into the dorms with her luggage and a basketball under her arm. She had a roommate that she could bear with, at least. It was her best friend and a member of her tiny clique at school.

They were the only reason why the school was bearable enough to attend. If not for them, Leone would have probably changed school in hopes to start afresh somewhere else where her surname or family influence won't put her in the spotlight again.

Opening the door, Leone saw the room was empty and realized that her best friend and roommate, Danielle White, hadn't checked in yet. Well, no one had checked in yet, Leone practically entered the school grounds that Sunday morning earlier than anyone.

It was just the teachers and staff that were loitering around, preparing whatever they needed to welcome students back to school for a new session. Most were pretty surprised when they saw Leone Martin on school grounds that early.

Sighing to herself, Leone walked to her corner of the room and dropped her ball and suitcase on the undressed bed. At least, she had some time to be alone and meditate on her own before the lousy girl she called her best friend returned.

Their room was large enough for two people, with a bedside table for both beds in between the single beds. Each closet that would belong to the occupants individually was against different walls, but close enough to the beds to distinguish who owned which.

They also had a little pantry for their snacks and junk food, the bathroom, and a toilet connected to their bedroom but there was no kitchen. For their feeding, there was a dining hall in the center of the open space which all the dormitory rooms surrounded.

This may not be how every room in the dormitory was, Leone couldn't tell, but she had only heard about it. The rooms she had gone to were pretty similar to hers and she wasn't that idle to check out every room in the hostels.

Leone proceeded to arrange her ironed school uniforms, sport-wears, and casual clothes into the empty closet and threw the sheets on the bed. The earlier she got done with these chores, the longer the time she would spend struggling to sleep. Maybe she would be lucky enough to succeed this time.

Placing the chessboard she owned and the basketball at the bottom of the closet, she proceeded to lay her bed and arrange her shoes under the bed within the space provided.

When Leone was satisfied with everything, she stripped off her clothes and jumped into the shower to clean herself. She had busted a sweat earlier from the tiny chore she did and needed to be refreshed if she was going to fall asleep.

But when she stepped out of the bathroom, Danielle was present in the room.

It seemed the female was waiting patiently for her, having heard the water running in the bathroom when she came in and the tidied part of the room that wasn't hers.

"You came quite early," Danielle smiled at her friend, who only rolled her eyes and used a towel to dry her short black hair before packing it, allowing the undercut to be seen. "It is only the mighty Leone Martin that shows up two hours before anyone else."

"You came late." Leone silenced her and walked to her bed, discarding her towel on the chair in the room.

"Late? This is just ten in the morning, Leone. This is the time required for students to check in."

"You came after me, so you are late."

Danielle laughed at her roommate and got off her bed to arrange the things she had brought. No words were exchanged anymore as Leone was already laying on her back with an arm slung over her eyes.

It had only been three years since Danielle first met Leone and they have been close for two. Leone was the kind of person to be unresponsive to people she wasn't close with. Not like she was loud with close friends, but you could see the difference.

Danielle didn't think that she would call this young female her best friend the first time she walked into this room in middle school. Leone was pretty closed off and refused to communicate each time Danielle remarked or tried to spark a conversation.

Leone kept to herself most time, always using earphones any chance she got just to avoid social interaction. To her, she didn't think there was any need to make friends with her roommate because she thought she wasn't going to be back here the next session. At one point, Danielle got fed up and confronted the young woman, telling her that they had to be acquainted if they were going to be together as roommates for three years.

Leone laughed then, and also ignored her request until her father brought her back again when she started a new grade. Then she decided to honor Danielle's request, also setting some ground rules about how the blonde was to behave around her.

But slowly, they became closer than just roommates and became best friends.

When Danielle was done with her little chore, Leone was seated upright against her bed frame, watching her roommate move about as she sorted her stuff.

"Gosh, did your father send his company's supply of soda with you again?" She noted, seeing the multiple packs of lemonade stacked against the wall.

Danielle's father was the founder of a big lemonade company in the state, Lemon Drop, which surprisingly, was always a shelf seller each time a new batch rolled out.

Leone didn't have to spend money on those things. The advantage of having the daughter and probably heir of the best-selling lemonade company as a roommate was having to get the drinks for free. For some reason, Danielle would tell her father to add extra for her best friend and roommate, and Leone wasn't complaining.

"Don't tell anyone, but my dad is launching a new flavor next week. He sent this as a sample for us and the rest of the gang." Danielle opened one pack and threw the bottle to Leone, which she caught successfully. "Taste it and tell me what you think."

Leone observed the packaging of the bottle. It seemed new, compared to how the designs used to be before, and she read 'strawberry and watermelon' on the body.

"It should be nice," She muttered and opened the bottle, placing it on her lips and taking a big gulp. The sweet taste met with her taste buds, and she shuddered in satisfaction.

Danielle chuckled at her best friend's reaction, "How is it?"

"Fucking love it." Leone proceeded to take more gulps until the contents were all in her stomach. "This was what I needed today."

"Luckily, there is more, just enough for us. And when it's done, we can still get more."

Leone wished she could be in bed till the day was over, but she had to assist the dorm warden of her building to check in students. She wasn't part of the student captains as she was just in grade 10, but she was influenceable enough for teachers and other staff to call on her for assistance most times.

Danielle decided to escort her friend and offer her any assistance. It was more like; you couldn't find one without the other. Everyone in Founding Fathers' High knew that.

Founding Fathers' High was a private school in New York that had both boarding and day facilities. Despite its lasting popularity for being one of the top schools for years, it accommodated students, both boys, and girls, of all social classes.

The boarding area, where the dormitories for students who wished to stay in the dorms were situated, had seven different blocks. Each block had a name attributed to each of the founding fathers; John A, Benjamin F, Alexander H, John J, Thomas J, James M, and George W, and each student, either a boarding student or a day student, was assigned to these houses.

Each block had two buildings assigned to both genders, so there were 14 buildings in total. It wasn't that congested as the land was large enough to contain all but the buildings weren't too high because there was a limit to the number of students the school was willing to take.

The blocks were aligned structurally well, and the dining hall was right in the middle of all the blocks where the students resided. If you wanted to be a boarding student, you had to apply early because of the limited space.

This wasn't an issue. More students loved coming from their respective houses so there was a higher ratio of day students to boarders.

As the two best friends walked out of their room in George W, Leone's face had become poker while Danielle had the cheerful smile she always wore. Walking down the corridor, every passing student moved out of the way on seeing the duo.

It might have been out of fear because Leone always had a frown on her face and people feared getting on her bad side. Even the reassuring smile that Danielle had couldn't calm their nervousness.

No one wanted to block Leone's path. It was said that once, a student walked too slowly in front of her, and she got pushed to the side by a slap to the head.

"As usual, everyone is staring at you," Danielle said in a low voice as the two stepped out of the block and trudged towards the gate that separated the boarding area from the main school ground.

"They are staring at us, not just me."

"Whatever. When would Damon, Luka, and Lois arrive? Those motherfuckers are always late in checking in." Danielle kicked at a stone on the ground and Leone shrugged.

They got to the gate and a male staff member called out to Leone. He was the dorm's master, and he was holding files containing the information of each boarding student that would be checked in this session.

"Glad you're here. Can you check in the students? I have some other duties to attend to for a while."

"It's no problem, Mr. Thompson. I have Danielle to assist me." Leone smiled curtly at the man, and he nodded before handing the files to her. She knew what to do, having assisted on one or two occasions when the student captain in charge of checking in students called in sick last session.

"Great! I will see you later." And Mr. Thompson hurried off in the other direction.

The line of students wasn't that long so it wasn't going to be too stressful for Leone and her friend. All they had to do was check the name of the student on the file with the ID presented to ensure that the right student was checking in.

They also had to check their belongings to make sure that there weren't any contrabands on them. Things like alcohol, cooking equipment, and drugs were not allowed. The school faced an issue when a student overdosed two sessions ago and since then, they have always tried to ensure that these things weren't on school grounds.

Leone and Danielle agreed on the divided work. Leone was going to be in charge of checking for these contraband items while Danielle would be in charge of cross-checking the names of the students.

Leone didn't mind going through the belongings of the opposite sex. She grew up in the company of boys and she was used to their nature. Besides, she was only doing this because Danielle didn't want to touch any male underwear.

The first student presented their belongings and offered their ID card to Danielle. Leone wasn't looking at any faces because she wasn't interested. She was focused on going through their suitcase for the illegal items and confiscating them.

This procedure went on for a while, and Leone was getting tired. It wasn't surprising as she was doing the most strenuous work while Danielle only had to look up names. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead and her frown got deeper.

Tired of going through the same routine, Leone stood up from her seat and barked at the students. She didn't care if they were a class or two ahead of her, her frustrations already got the best of her.

"Kindly endeavor to remove the contraband items from your belongings yourselves before it gets to your turn." She eyed the students on the line, "I won't hesitate to set fire to your things if I find something illegal when you get to me."

The students who were familiar with the sophomore knew Leone was bound to carry out her threat and they couldn't do anything since she was here on behalf of the dorm master and mostly because of her background and reputation,

Those that had contraband in their belongings began to fish out the illegal items. Murmurs began to rise to the air and the freshmen, who had the same, had to follow in the steps of their seniors and tossed their illegal items to the side.

To the freshmen, something about the female student who barked out orders was intimidating, and they didn't want their high school beginning to be filled with bad blood. Mr. Thompson arrived at the scene and watched as the students threw their contraband under Leone's command.

Leone believed her work was done and tapped Danielle's shoulder. "I am going back to the room. See you when it's time for dinner."

And she walked away, leaving her best friend to complete her duties and back to the peacefulness of her room.