Part 5

Since I missed last week I thought I might as well post twice this week, so here's the next part.

We left the table in twos and threes, I was afraid I would get lost and stuck by Carly. I wondered about her past as we talked and realized if she'd only been tested four times, once a week, she must have stayed here the whole summer. I didn't imagine the Academy let students stay over the summer, but I didn't ask in case the reason she had left home early was a tender subject.

Pat was waiting for us when we got back to our common room. She was tall and about seventeen with red-brown hair and a slightly upturned nose. She waited for all eleven of us to sit down on the revolting yellow sofas before speaking.

"All right everyone," she said sounding tired and frazzled. "I'm Pat and I'm your youth leader. Welcome to the I.M.T.Y or the Academy as we call it. I'm sure The Loop told you the overview of how things go so I'm gunna give you your map of the campus, your books and your packets." She handed them out as she said it. "The planner has a schedule and a calendar in it as well."

She continued, "now everything's gunna be nice and easy this first week, don't worry about anything being above your level. Did you all hand in your forms when you got here?"

We nodded; Andy had left mine on the desk.

"Good, we read those this morning so we have your uniforms now."

She picked up the bundle of clothes sitting on a chair and passed them out, checking us off on her list.

"Does anyone have any questions?"

When no one responded she nodded "good, if you do you can ask me or a teacher, they'll all be in navy blue."

She went off to a door that said Youth Leader in gold letters. We all parted for our separate rooms and tried on our uniforms. We had been given a pair of dark colored Levis, although Carly told us we could wear any kind of dark colored pants, and a kind of gray, lightweight, long-sleeved blouse with no collar. I was glad I didn't have to worry about picking out clothes to wear everyday, Saturdays and Sundays were the only days we allowed to wear whatever we wanted, but it seemed a bit colorless.

A five-minuet bell rang and we quickly finished doing our hair to go to the auditorium. It was in yet another building in between the mess hall and the main building, which Carly called 'the Base'. The auditorium building or study hall, was the largest of any I had been in yet. It held all the classes we would take as well as the auditorium. We filtered in with the other students who were talking loudly, greeting old friends and making jokes. The four of us who shared a room, Jen, Carly, Kelsy and me all sat together in the middle. Carly waved to a few people but seemed a little shy.

The kids in different divisions had much more colorful uniforms. A small diamond insignia of one of the four colors was off to one side of their shirts and that color was also incorporated into a design on the shirt.

Another bell rang signaling everyone to their seats. To my surprise, Collin sat by me asking if I had settled in all right. He seemed as tired as Pat but had an energy that must have stemmed from the five or six kids he was with. We all quieted down as professor Mason took the stage. 

"Welcome everyone," he said smiling broadly. "I'm glad to see old faces and new. This year we have planned more adventures and games, and we might squeeze a little learning in as well."

People chuckled at this.

"I'm sure you'll all be very welcoming to our new students and help them as much as possible."

There were a few cheers. Collin cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted, "You know it!"

Professor Mason nodded in acknowledgement.

"I'd like to introduce out youth leaders of this year to you all now," he said. "Please come up when I call you. Patricia Spasky of the yellow division," everyone clapped as Pat climbed onto the stage and waved, smiling tiredly. "Dillon Jones of the Earth division," this time the green clad students all cheered wildly. Dillon was blond and sort of short and stocky. "Isabella Fisher of the Wind division," another blond with pink streaks in her hair and far set eyes. "And Collin Evens of the Fire division." Collin got the most cheers of all. He ran to the stage and waved when he got up. "Of course we do not have a youth leader for the Water division because, as usual, there are not enough students to need one, but let's have a round of applause for Kevin and Trevor Whitmore, if you two could just stand up for a moment." Everyone applauded the two scared looking boys I had seen at the blue table. They couldn't have been more then thirteen-years-old.

"And let's not forget our SCD!" More cheers as Emty took the stage. He and Collin bumped fists. Professor Mason signaled for everyone to settle down.
"We would now would like to introduce our new students if they would please come up now."

We nervously got to our feet and trooped up onto the stage, all eyes on us, the students cheering us on. We lined up in front of the youth leads, or just YLs as I had come to think of them.

"Here we have miss Carly of course, and Jen, Kelsey, Jessica, Ben, Carlos, Jason, Wayne, Hailey, Robin and Mariana."

Everyone cheered for us again.

"Alright you may take your seats. I'd also like our teachers to come up."

We left with the YLs and watched as the teachers took the stage. He didn't introduce them as there were too many but he told us how hard they worked to make it a great school. 

Part 4

So you've already read this part but it's really one of my favorite characters I've ever created so I'll post it again so the story will make sense.

A tall scrawny kid jogged up to our table, pulled out the chair next to mine, and fell into it. He was an African-American about eighteen and had a carefree manner that made me feel more comfortable. "How ya-all doin'?" He said to the table at large. 
There was a shared murmur throughout, except Carly who said "hi!" brightly. 
The kid nodded "that's what I though." 
His Cajun accent reminded me of a friend I had had a few years back.
"Okay, I'm the Student Council Director or S.C.D. That means it's my job to represent the entire student body for the school board."
 He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms and legs.
 "You can call me The Ambassador, SCD, YOLO, The Loop, Slice, Emty or whatever othe' crazy things you can come up with."
 "What does Emty mean?" said one boy sitting directly across from Emty. 
He looked at the kid but his expression was masked by the mirror shades he wore. 
"It means Mrs. Larson's little kid couldn't pronounce I.M.T.Y. K so now I'm gunna tell ya-all how things work hear at the Academy. Every weekday, that's Monday through Friday, the bell's gunna ring and wake you up at 6:45. You get thirty minuets to wake up, get dressed and get yer butt down to the mess hall. 
We all meet in the auditorium at 8:17 on Mondays, every other day just go straight to yer first class. That gives ya plenty o' time to eat, grab yer books and even floss if ya have a mind to. After a little message from the Head, you continue to yer first class. Don't freak out or anythin' we'll give ya-all a packet exlanin' yer classes and where to find um. 
Now, since yer all new here yer gunna go to normal classes for one week, then in the mornin' on Saturday yer gunna be evaluated to see what power ya-all have. The first thing ya need to know is not to worry about the evaluation. Some o' these crazy kids like to hype it up like it's some freaky ordeal but it's not." He sat up strait again. 
"Don't let anybody wined ya up. I know everyone that's ever been here and some kids would love to take advantage of the new kids." 
The same boy who had asked about Emty spoke up 
"how long have you been here?" 
YOLO smiled "that's fo' me to know and you not to." 
There was a short silence. 
"Well," said YOLO pushing himself out of the chair. "It was nice seein' ya-all, if ya have any questions I'll be around. Right now you'll have Pat as yer leader. She'll introduce herself after breakfast. Oh that reminds me, on Saturdays we'll have the day off so you can catch up on studyin', hang with some friends, whatever takes yer mood. Sunday you can either attend the church of yer choosing or whatever. We do ask that you are respectful of other's religion and there will be absolutely no alcohol or drugs at any time. Heck, I get nervous when some kids get to the caffeine. 
Well I think that covers about everythin', once again if you have any concerns please ask me or another student or leader. You'll learn what to do pretty quickly; it's not very complicated. Oh, and because we've got new recruits we'll be havin' a party on Saturday night, make sure and swing by those are always fun. Our activity director is amazin', dude, that guy is crazy. Anyway, I'll be seein' ya-all around. Welcome and have a nice day."
He waved his hand slightly and walked away. I noticed he didn't stop at any table to stay. He would pause and chat with students and grab an English muffin or some strawberries.
I liked YOLO, he seemed like the perfect person to be the Student Council Director. 

Here's a small overview of my new play!

Characters-

Kate: main

Jerry: other main

Judy: supporting

Desiree: main villain

Howard: secondary villain

Mr. Morose: supporting

Renaldo: supporting

Friends: Ensemble

Songs-

“Comin’ back, reprise 1” Kate

 “I should (get better at lying)” Kate

“I know it” Desiree

“Time to try” Jerry, Kate, Ensemble

“Keep the fires burning” Desiree, Kate, Ensemble

“Staying on your toes, reprise 1” Howard

“Why I do (for her), reprise 1” Jerry

“Everything in order, reprise (everything out of order)” Judy, Kate, Woman Ensemble

“Like this” Mr. Morose, Renaldo

“Not how I planned it” Judy, Woman Ensemble

“Does she know/I can’t describe” Kate, Jerry

“Last chance” Kate, Judy

“I thought” Jerry, Kate

“You can see” Desiree, Kate as Ensemble

“The darkest night” Kate, Ensemble

“My dream” Kate, Jerry, Judy, Desiree, Howard, Mr. Morose, Renaldo

“Finale (The darkest night, Not how I planned it, Time to try, My dream)” Everyone

Hey! I'm now writing a play!

Of course I tried to do that when I was a lot younger but I think this time I'll stick with it. I'll post more later.

Part 3

Sorry if it still doesn't have any action yet, it really is a lot shorter then it seems and I want to explain things first.

I was a little annoyed with our youth leader for not showing up. We walked, not back to the reception building as I had thought, but to a third just behind it. Now it was morning I could see more of the academy. It was branched out into several small buildings. Five small ones surrounded the main reception building like pedals on a flower. Carly told me that they housed the students of the other branches or magic.

"We all have an elemental power," she explained "earth, fire, water and wind. I'd love to be in water, they're the most rare and I think it's the coolest power."

We came into the 'Mess hall' as they called it. It was a building solely for the purpose of eating and it was huge. There were three different rooms inside: One for breakfast and lunch, one dinner and one, much nicer, for banquets. The breakfast room was just like a school cafeteria but more colorful. The floor was a combination of purple and teal in a mixed marble pattern. The four long tables were brown making them look nicer then the cheep plastic ones I was used to. We all sat at the table marked with a yellow card. The mess hall was filling quickly with other students, sitting at the tables marked with red, green, white and blue cards.

A bell rang and I figured everyone must be here. The green table seemed to be the most popular, almost a third of the students in the room were sitting at it. The red table was also crowded. I saw with a little surprise that the much smaller blue table was almost completely empty with only two identical, redheaded boys. Everyone grew quiet as a smiling woman in a hairnet said,

"Since it's the first day of term, of course we will let the yellow division start."

We stood and went to get our food. It was egg day as Carly explained to me. Any kind of egg you wanted with hash browns, ham, strawberries, English muffins and grape juice. When I asked about picky eaters she just laughed and said, "With our kitchen staff, you don't want to be picky."
The boys from our division had also joined us by now, I could tell that all four of them were younger then me.

I think I finally got the poll to go back up!
Make sure you vote!

Part 2

Next Part:

"You were what?" Exclaimed Kelsey, a twelve-year-old with long blond hair that made me jealous.

Everyone was a little shocked at my 'random thing no one would know about you'. "When I was eleven," I elaborated, "my grandparents live in Hawaii, on Maui, and we were on a hike in the jungle."

"How jungly is Hawaii?" Asked one girl who I had yet to learn the name of.

"It's not really overgrown but if you know where to look it's really nice."

"So what happened?" Prompted Kelsey eagerly.

"My idiot brother Andy found it and started teasing it and poking it and stuff. So when I came over to see it was provoked enough to attack back."

"What kind?"

"A cane spider, really big, long legs, extremely hairy."

Hailey shivered "gross!"

"Where did it get you?"

I showed them all a spot on my hand. You couldn't see the marks anymore but it seemed to intrigue them.

"It wasn't very bad, of course I was traumatized but really they aren’t that poisonous." Just then Andy came out of the boys' room.

"Tellin' that story again?"

His hair was messy and he looked bleary eyed.

"It's the only good one I have" I shrugged.

"Attention students" a female voice came over an intercom and we all stopped to listen. "Breakfast starts in ten minuets".

I looked at Andy "when does your flight leave?" He checked his watch "two hours".

He didn't seem concerned that he had very little time to get home.

I stood, "are you leaving right now?"

He nodded "no point in missing my flight, I don't have magical abilities".

He waved his hands for emphasis. Once I learned a few tricks I'd have to show him when I got home, that would wipe the smug grin off his face. Andy was never one for hugging or emotional goodbyes.

He simply said "so long" and gave me a high five.

As the door closed behind Andy, I watched him walk along the path through the big common room windows, hoisting his backpack a little higher on his shoulder.

"Whoa, that's your idiot brother?" I turned back to Carly and the others.

"Yeah,"

"He's super cute, how old is he?"

I laughed at that, it seemed weird to think of my brother that way.

"Eighteen," I said simply.

"Only four years older than me!" She said brightly. I rolled my eyes.

"I think we'd better go with out the others,” she said.

We mumbled agreements to this.