Chapter 4 FOUR: FIRST FRIEND

Amy Waters hated the fact that she had to change her environment just because her father's stupid job required them to do so. She was comfortable with her social life and how she had built it carefully to where it currently was.

She never had complaints either. This was where she grew up and had been all her life, so she never desired to visit other places or cities.

California was famous for its beaches and the mountains, equally the home of Hollywood, the biggest movie industry. Amy always thought she would explore the whole of California before the sudden news that they had to move to New York.

She wasn't mad at her father though. She couldn't ask to stay behind and finish high school because they had no relatives left in San Francisco to accommodate her for the time being. Even if they did, the transfer was permanent, and her father wanted her to be close to him.

Amy could understand her father's choices. She was all he had left since her mother died a year ago. He worked hard to feed both of them and Amy acknowledged that he was just handling his responsibilities just to take care of them both.

Amy was friendly, and that was how easy it was for her to have a normal social life in any high school society. She wasn't bullied and she wasn't part of the jocks and preps, she was just in the middle, someone that was friends with the nerds and also friends with the popular people.

When Amy got to New York, her father informed her that she was placing her in boarding school, because he was going to be busy a lot and didn’t want her to be alone. This was a new city and he wanted to be security conscious for his remaining surviving family.

Amy didn't agree to this, but on a Saturday morning, her father drove her to her new school with some of her stuff in the back of the car. Her father, Bennet, acknowledged that the school was rather large when they got lost driving around.

Thankfully, with the help of some staff they met, they were directed towards the hostel area before he parked in the provided parking space.

"But dad, why do I have to live on the school premises? School is tiring alone." Amy whined to her father, who only chuckled at his daughter's frustration and complaint.

"You would love it, do not worry." He ruffled her hair and got out of the car to help her with her things. "Consider it a new experience of high school, compared to your old one."

Amy was out of the car and grabbed one of the bags from her father. "I didn't ask for a new experience. Consider how hard it is going to be for me to adjust again to a new environment. What if my classmates don't like me?"

"Darling, they would love you. My daughter is beautiful and smart. If they don't, then it's their loss."

Amy's father had a way of always praising his daughter and lifting her spirits. It was another success as the young female smiled at her father before they both walked towards the gates that led to the boarding area.

They had seen a crowd of other students lining up and Bennet had instructed his daughter to do the same.

"It seems that they have to check you in. So fancy." Bennet commented as the line moved slowly. The sun wasn't that hot, so it was okay to wait a while in the queue.

"Don't you have somewhere to be, dad? I can handle the checking-in myself." Amy nudged her father, and he glanced between the line and his car. The man didn't want to leave her all alone on her first day, even if he wasn't going to be here for the whole of the term.

"Are you sure?"

"Affirmative, dad. Go on!" Amy pushed her father in the direction of his car with a wave. Bennet paused in his steps, before running back to hug his little child, kissing her on her forehead.

"I will visit every weekend if I have to." He whispered to her and she nodded her head. She was going to miss him but she was a big girl. She could handle anything, a small separation from her father was nothing.

"See you on the weekend then," Amy waved to her father's retreating figure and focused her attention on the moving queue. She could see two students attending to the crowd of students waiting to be checked in and wondered why they didn't have more people to assist them.

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

Amy heard one of the students announce in an authoritative voice and for a reason, she was intimidated. Looking around her, she saw some people proceed to remove some things from their belongings and she stood there.

"I should do the same if I were you." Amy felt someone tap her shoulder and she turned around to meet the face of another girl. "Leone Martin isn't someone to play around with."

"But I don't have any contraband items. My father and I followed the list provided on the school website."

The female eyed her closely, trying to figure out if she had seen this face before in the previous school year. "Are you new here?"

Amy wiped her palm against her shorts and extended it out to the female she just met, "Yes. Hi, my name is Amy Waters. I just moved to New York a week ago."

"I'm Estella Brown. Nice to meet you, Amy." The female named Estella shook the outstretched hand before swinging an arm over Amy's shoulder. "So, where did you move from?"

"California."

"How has New York been so far? Did you get a chance to explore before resuming school?" Estella kept on throwing questions but Amy's eyes were focused on the student that was now leaving the crowd of students.

"Hey, Estella. Who is that?"

Estella glanced at Leone and back at the new girl, "Like I said before, that is Leone. She is in our grade, but she practically runs the whole student body. If you don't want to be on her bad side, stay out of her way. Honestly, she is quite scary when she wants to be."

Amy only nodded and moved along with the students that were in the queue. Before she got to the front of the line so that the student could attend to her, the female also stood up from her seat and bowed to the adult man who had taken Leone's place.

After Amy successfully checked in, she wondered how she was going to get her things to the hostel she was allocated to. She was given Benjamin F, but she had no idea how to get there.

Amy turned around and saw the girl she was speaking to earlier come her way. She decided to ask her first non-stranger for directions and maybe for some help too.

"Hi, again. Do you know the way to Benjamin F Hall?"

Estella smiled at the new girl, "That is where I am headed. Let's go, just follow me."

Amy was very pleased and thanked God for she would hate herself if she got lost. As the two girls walked down the road, Amy took her time to commit the path to memory in case she needed to get around on her own next time.

She observed that the surroundings were well-kept and tidy. The gardener must also be very committed to his work with the way he cared for the plantations on the side of the brick path.

Estella finally brought Amy to a group of buildings and paused in her steps. "We have arrived. Each block has a male and female hall, you can see the large letters on each building."

Amy could see that each block had a particular color and wondered which one belonged to Benjamin F. She liked the way the halls were arranged and noticed a particular building that stood in the middle of it all.

"Which one is Benjamin F then?"

Estella pointed straight ahead to an orange block that was in between two red and yellow blocks. "Over there. Each block is allocated a color for the yearly inter-block competitions."

Amy nodded in understanding before Estella continued to walk towards the female hall of Benjamin F before pausing in her steps and turning to the female she left behind. "What is your room number, if I may ask?"

Amy quickly fished out the small piece of paper from her pocket and looked at the number roughly scribbled on it. "Err, I am in room 24."

"What a sweet coincidence!" Estella was grinning from ear to ear. "That is my room too. You are lucky that I get to be your first friend and roommate. We are going to have so much fun."

The gods must be on her side today, was what Amy thought as she hurried to catch up with the female to her new room. She had a feeling she was going to like it here in a way, it had been going great so far.

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Estella had chatted with Amy into the night. The only thing that could make the females stop was the fact that school was in the morning and they needed to be up early if they needed to catch breakfast.

Amy wasn't used to this schedule. Back in California, school started around nine in the morning, and she was used to waking up by eight. She ended up concluding that it was because this was a boarding school, so the time somehow added up.

By the time they were done with the morning routine, it would be 9:00 am and they would have classes till it was break time.

Estella had informed her before they retired to bed that the morning bell would ring at exactly 6:00 am. A staff usually went around the blocks to ring the bell, which Amy found ridiculous. She felt that students could easily set alarms on their mobile devices instead of stressing an adult to walk around early in the morning.

Indeed, the bell rang at exactly 6:00 am and Amy was astonished by how loud it was. She felt that her sleep was too short but she didn't have a choice but to stand up and get ready for her first day at a new school.

Estella was also up and Amy offered for the female to use their bathroom first because she needed to sort out her uniform and her bag, and the female agreed before hopping into the bathroom to shower first.

The girls were ready just in time for breakfast and Estella practically dragged her roommate by the hand to the dining hall, muttering how she wanted to get the best seats before anyone else.

Amy didn't understand what she meant but only hurried after the excited girl because she was the only one she could talk to for now. Estella pulled them both to a table, just in time as some other students got to the same table.

"Why are these the best seats?" Amy leaned into her friend so that only she could hear what she had to say.

Estella pointed to the three boys that had just strolled in and walked toward the empty table beside theirs. They were handsome, Amy couldn't deny that obvious fact, and her eyes followed them until they took their place at their table.

"Instead of sitting beside them, why don't you sit with them?"

Estella gasped dramatically, "That is like walking into a minefield. That table is also Leone Martin's table, and those guys are her friends. That table is reserved only for the five of them and you can only sit there if you get invited, which is rare."

Amy counted the boys once again and realized that they were only three. One of them that had brown hair seemed to be well reserved as he watched the other two that had blonde and black hair respectively, tussle.

"We admirers can only sit beside their table so that Leone won't shorten our life span with her fiery gaze."

"Who is the fifth person then?" Amy whispered to her friend again just as the hall grew silent. Amy looked up and around to know what had caused the sudden silence. Her eyes fell on Leone through her glasses, and she recognized the other female from yesterday who was checking in students.

They both walked to the table and bumped fists with their friends before settling down and the playful two continued bickering about God knows what.

"Her name is Danielle. She is also Leone's best friend and roommate. If there is anyone closer to Leone than the other three, it is her. But all together, they are the Famous Five in Founding Fathers." Estella answered her friend, just as the kitchen staff served each table their breakfast.