Samantha Goldhill snorted awake, a thin line of drool connecting her lip to the bed sheets. Somehow, her pillow had ended up on the ground. The sheets of her bed were a mess- she hadn't made them in a while. Her dirty blonde hair was a mess, frazzled up in places and hanging down in loose strands. Blearily she squinted, trying to figure out whether or not she truly existed. She did. Was she...already in her clothes? She glanced down. Yeah.

At some point she had managed to pull on a loose white crop top and a high-waisted skirt of similar color that came down to her knees. The crop top hung over the waistband of her skirt. There were some sand-color leggings tucked into high socks. Oh, yeah, it was fashion statement o'clock. Did Sammy just put her clothes on in the wrong order? That was for her to forget, and for you to never find out. Topping it all off with some sneakers. The entire outfit smelled like wood.

"Yeah, dude. I am...so up right now. You don't even know." Sammy lied, voice deep and tired. She ran a hand down her face. Untangling herself from her bedsheet nightmare, the highschooler clambered to her feet. Squinting, she turned the face of her digital alarm clock to face her. It was past seven thirty, already. Why did she have to get up today? Oh, school. Right. She reached up and touched her hair. It was...wet? Just a little. Memories came to her slowly. She had gotten up at about 5:30 AM, taken a shower, ate some breakfast, and then accidentally fallen back asleep. Oops.

As Sammy thought about this, she realised her eyes had already closed and she was laying back down on her bed. Slapping herself lightly on the side of the face she disconnected from the matress and glanced around the room. It was..a mess. Thankfully Andromeda stayed out of here. It was one thing if her bedroom back home was mess. She had hoped to keep this place in better shape. It was also bare, undecorated, not a lot of personality of charm in it. There was a framed selfie of her and her dad on the nightstand. That was about it.

Resting in a pile on the floor was a very large and baggy black jacket with white outlines. Kneeling over she appreciated the symbol over the front pocket. It both looked like a bunny rabbit and the sign of the horns. Smiling, bags under her eyes, she shouldered it. She reached into the lower pocket and found the familiar stained steel of her lighter. This was the part where she mentioned she was casually able to create fire out of her finger tips. Sammy had accepted this newfound reality without question. She always knew she was magical. She rolled the lighter between her fingers for a few moments and stared at her beside drawer.

It was going to be a long day. She'd need a pick-me-up later. She pulled it open and pulled out her half-used pack of plain packaged cigarettes. Carefully she tucked them in her other pocket, and there would her hands stay for the rest of the day. Also, her cellphone. Sammy grabbed it and placed it next to the cigarettes. It was a tiny, amber colored flip phone. The kind that flung themselves open and clapped themsleves shut. Apparently she had gotten a text, but...she didn't feel like reading it. She turned her flip phone off completely and placed it in her pocket for safe keeping.

The blonde girl, shoulders slumped, eyebrows perpetually a little confused, shuffled out of their shared fancy suite and into the hallway. She raised a hand in greeting towards her suitemate, Andromeda. "Hey, hey. How's it hangin'?" She stuffed her hands back in her jacket pockets.

She trailed behind Romi as they walked to class. "So. We gonna like, do the thing? With the ghosts and all that? You really think they'll, like, pick up the phone or whatever? If I was a ghost, I'd just wanna chill out in the afterlife forever withouttabuncha meatbags trying to disturb my eternal slumber, y'know." Sammy yawned.

"But, hey. It should be fun. Ghosts are cool. I wonder if they have bad sleep schedules, so that's why they only come out at night. Like me." Sammy mused, her dark green eyes perpetually half-lidded. This was her default sate of being.

From the cell phone half-tucked underneath her pillow, a nearly-silent ringtone went off next to Axelle's ear, signaling the end of her six hours. As she was gently roused from her beauty sleep, Axelle had the same thought she'd been having all night still echoing in her mind.

I need to get to bed... She thought again, then blinked a few times.

. . .

...You are in bed, ma cher.

She stretched out all of her limbs, taking in the faint chirping of her alarm, and the smell of freshly-baked cinnamon rolls which always lingered in the room. As she swiped to turn off her alarm, she checked her phone while she slowly shuffled over to the fridge.









That girl's seriously up earlier than a retired Green Beret, Axelle thought apathetically. Her behavior is appalling, but her dedication is... something.

She yawned, and turned her phone's screen off. Then, she quietly opened the fridge, took out the small, foil-wrapped tray that held today's batch, and set it down gently onto the small countertop that the school's faculty had the gall to call a "kitchen area," as it had been labeled on the brochure. Next, she clicked on her small portable oven—a gift from her mother, and no doubt an attempt to tickle her nostalgia, as her favorite birthday present had been an Easy-Bake Oven from her father. With the oven preheating, it was time to jump in the shower.

Tossing her shirt and underwear carelessly onto the floor of the bathroom—who cares, nobody would see her do it—she clambered into the shower and turned it on. She shuddered as the cold water hit her skin like a bucket of tacks—but, the sound of the shower turning on was less harsh if the water hit her, rather than the floor of the tub. She was less likely to wake up her roommate this way, and it did a great job of waking her up, anyway. Washing her hair was also an ordeal—but, long hair was a woman's pride, or so her mother had said once—or half a dozen times—who's counting? Still, she tried to finish her shower as quickly as she could... which was still about 30 minutes. Axelle was the kind of girl who got through the day at her own pace, even if said pace was slower than 24 hours per day.

Wups, she thought as she toweled herself off, realizing that she hadn't brought a change of clothes with her into the bathroom. Living with a roommate was going to be an adjustment for sure. Quietly, she turned off the bathroom light, peeked out from behind the door to make sure Stormy was still sleeping, and quickly began cobbling together something to wear. Something I won't die of embarrassment in, but don't mind if it gets dirty... Oh no, I'm taking way too much time thinking about this! After she finished raiding her clothes drawer and closet, she swiftly sneak-dashed back into the bathroom to continue her self-care routine.

Before she knew it, it was seven, and she could hear Stormy getting up. Finally, she could dry her hair properly with the dryer while Stormy got coffee from the best coffee shop ever. That place had the good stuff: fair trade, no slave labor—oh, and it tasted good too. After she finally emerged from the bathroom, she flicked the lights on and looked for Stormy, but found nothing but a messy bedspread and an unlocked window. Why doesn't she use the door like a normal person? she thought dryly. She shrugged, tore the tin foil off the tray, and put the warmed-up cinnamon rolls in the oven.

While she waited for them to bake, she looked around the room that was to be her new living space. Stormy had already made herself at home, taking over all of the walls and some of the ceiling with her posters. As for Axelle, she had brought barely anything. On her nightstand, there was a single display case with various pins and awards from her days as a girl scout. Or, at least, there would be, if she could muster the courage to take it out from her stack of boxes, which were still in the closet. I'm sure a girl like Stormy would think it's lame, she'd thought every time she considered it. Then, there was her cassette audio diary—even more lame. She had some vinyl records, but if Stormy caught a glimpse of those, Axelle probably wouldn't be able to stop her from peeking into the other boxes. Finally, and most unfortunately, she'd probably never get her hands on any of her volleyball trophies until after her mother's funeral.

By the time Stormy was showering, the cinnamon rolls were starting to brown. "Oh, you're looking cute today," Axelle whispered to the half-dozen cinnamon rolls, lined up neatly on the tray. "Poke~♪" She stuck a toothpick into one. Yep, they were done. She slipped on her oven mitt, took the rolls out of the oven, plated them, and put the plate in a small box she'd acquired from a bake shop. "Crap, makeup!" she suddenly realized, scrambling for her purse. She didn't have time for much; just a little bit of this, a little bit of that... she had to stop herself from humming the song.

As Axelle "finished" her makeup, there was a knock at the door. "Can you PLEASE say something to your roomie about all the noise?" the twin-tailed brunette at the door demanded, right about the time Stormy emerged from the shower and began singing her lungs out. "I'll say something to her," Axelle replied quietly, smiling sweetly as she closed the door on the girl.

At Stormy's prompting, Axelle checked her phone again and read the newest message.

"I spent all night researching, so I'd be a little miffed if she cancelled because of a light drizzle," she replied matter-of-factly, though she'd been against the idea at first.

Slowly, she gathered her things. Purse—check. Strawberry and creme frappuccino with cinnamon rolls—check and check. Book bag full of girl scout cookies—check, check and check. She wouldn't need her textbooks. Despite her resting "daydreamer" face, she was actually laser-focused during class, and had a fine-tuned "this will be on the test" radar. Her phone had Google, a calculator and a notepad, and that was more than enough. "Lead the way, ma cher," she said to Stormy, smiling warmly. "For the coffee," she said routinely, handing Stormy about $15 CAD.

As the carpeted floor of the dorms gave way to tile, Axelle's heels began clacking loudly on the floor.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, remembering something. "I promised the neighbor I would say something to you about your loudness."

Beat.

"So, I'm saying something," she says matter-of-factly.

...and, that was the end of that conversation!

Sure, Stormy was loud, and a bit of a party animal. One would think that being around her would be like being at a loud party 24/7, but a loud "party of one" was a bit different. As long as she wasn't being pressured to drink or be boldly social, Axelle didn't mind being around that type of atmosphere, even though it didn't really suit her demure, poised-but-playful wall flower bit. Her stance on Stormy's antics seemed to be "as long as you make it home, I don't see a problem with it."

Kҽҽɠαɳ Cʅαɾҽყ

Keegan roused a bit from her sleep before jumping up in a cold sweat. Looking around she slumped back down, quickly remembering she wasn’t home right now but in her dorms. She thought for a minute she had assumed she slept in and the children were in disarray and setting the oven on fire. This had happened before and yes it does still haunt her dreams to this day. Bleary eyed she rubbed her eyes with the back or her wrists, twisting her body into a stretch. This helped wake her up just a bit before she grabbed around for her phone. It had tumbled off her bed and onto the floor during her sleep. Reaching down she took a second to take a look through it.

6:27, the bright numbers were illuminated in the still dark bedroom. Yawning she started flipping through all of her messages for the morning.



Keegan sighed, blinking a small tear out her eye. Little nuts they were but she missed them a lot. They always make sure to text her every morning and it brightens her mood up always. She flipped through her phone a bit more and looked through her messages for her parents. They never directly texted her much, just the occasional I love you and I miss you. Sometimes her dad sent links to songs she might like. Those always were welcome. After taking a bit to wake up more and reminisce, she got up and made her way to the communal kitchen area. It was tiny and shabby really but at least it had space. She’s worked with a lot less. Rummaging through her cabinet of food she sighed before taking out her portable coffee maker and starting the process of making herself some iced coffee.

After almost falling back asleep as she got through the process of brewing it and then icing it and sticking it in a fridge to let it cool more she shook her head. She was kinda hoping shaking her brain cells around would get them to work properly but that seemed to fail as it did nothing. Showering perhaps would help.

And it did indeed. It was refreshing and most importantly quiet. Today’s was going to be a long day but she was mostly looking forward to it. She had never messed with a ouija board before but she didn’t think it would hurt to try. All of the rules Axelle was sending in the chat though was making her head spin. She didn’t want to disrespect any ghosts that was for sure. Keegan just silently washed her hair and face as she contemplated how many ways this could go wrong or right. Or if they would even get the answers they needed. Eventually she snapped the water off and started softly drying her hair off. She was overthinking the whole thing, it would be fine. Besides this whole thing was about them trying to understand what’s been going on. Doubtful they would be offended by that. Laughing at herself, she dressed and braided her hair. Kee went back out to the kitchen area right after, dropping her towel in her personal hamper on her way.

Looking around she wasn’t sure if she had missed her roommate or if she wasn’t up yet but Kee wanted to be nice. She made sure to portion Phaedra out a cup of iced coffee and then leave a little wrapped bowl of cut fruit on the counter for her. Made sure she had something to eat at least. She left a cute note with some hearts that said for Phae to make sure she knew.

Keegan took her own food and started collecting her things for school, making sure her books and her drawing tablet and sketchbook were with her. She couldn’t recall a time in which she didn’t have them on her. And at least they weren’t messy. She’s gotten in trouble before for bringing pastel chalks to school. At this point she was pretty sure she had everything on her, before hearing a ding from her phone.



Shutting her phone down she pulled on her jacket and put her backpack on. Looking back she raised her voice “Phaedra I’m heading out, if you take too long I’m leaving without you!”She smiled, full intent on waiting for the other girl. Today’s gonna be weird and interesting she could feel it.

Faye woke up completely oblivious of where she was for the first few moments. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes she sluggishly sat up in her bed, shaking off the light top sheet she used as a blanket. She slipped it off and sat there, at that moment wanting to just.. Go back to bed. The world would move on perfectly fine without her, she thought, but stretched, and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before stifling a yawn. Waking up in the morning had always been a chore for the young Greek woman, and just because she was now attending a fancy private academy didn’t mean that was going to change… She grabbed her phone off the night-stand, noting the “low battery” warning that flashed across the screen. She rolled her eyes, silently cursing herself for forgetting to charge it again.

She unlocked it, and the most recent messages from a group chat named ‘Book Club’ popped up.



Faye went to reply, but then she heard the call from her roommate.

“Phaedra I’m heading out, if you take too long I’m leaving without you!”

“Wait!” She shouted back through the door. She looked back to her phone just in time to see the logo on her phone, a white apple flash on the screen and flicker out. Her phone died. “Fuck!” She scrambled to the charger, as if it would somehow save the device from powering off. She plugged it in- cursing herself, and swearing that this would be the last time that she forgot to charge the damn thing. Why couldn’t it have just a little bit longer of a battery life?! She thought to herself as she ambled toward the door, still trying to slug off her remaining lethargy. Once she was awake, you couldn’t slow her down, but the problem was always getting to that point of alertness to begin with.

She opened the door to see her roommate Keegan, or Kee, as Faye liked to call her. “Hey! I overslept! Like usual! Uh. Gonna shower!” She said, suddenly getting a burst of energy as she realized what time it was, and how late she was going to make the pair if she didn’t hurry up!

She rushed to the bathroom and practically slammed the door. Moments later she was in the water, frantically going about her routine. The water wasn’t even warm enough to steam up the bathroom. That was perfect for her, she didn’t really like being warm, in really any capacity. It didn’t really fit her high-energy personality, but she never did like being ‘normal.’

As she stepped out of the water, her foot slipped, and she managed to catch herself, just barely, by grabbing the shower curtain, nearly ripping it from the mount! “Eeep!” She squeaked, gaining her composure quite quickly. She looked down and frowned. There was an unmistakable tint of frost where she’d set her foot, melting almost as quickly as it’d appeared. “.... Again?” She thought to herself aloud as she wrapped a towel about herself for modesty’s sake.

She opened the door, and rushed back to her room, holding the towel around her, closing the door with her heel. “Be out in a sec!” She shouted through the door as she quickly threw on whatever she thought looked decent that particular day. She grabbed her phone, which had powered on by now, charged to 20%. Just enough, she thought. She grabbed her earbuds, immediately getting some music going, left one ear open, grabbed her backpack with everything else she’d need and headed out of her room. She grabbed the iced coffee, popped a few pieces of the fruit into her mouth and looked at Keegan. “Hokay.” She said, half sighing as she settled herself down. “Let’s go!”

Taking this more seriously than expected, huh. I suppose you'd normally think that, she thought. Though she'd called it research, all Axelle had really done last night was fall down the YouTube rabbit hole like usual. She'd surprised herself a little with just how much she got into it, simply because her roomie seemed into it. but what else can we do? It's not like we can just ask a teacher. Also, if she was being honest, these "supernatural" events—something you'd think normal people would be thrilled to experience—were kind of annoying, if unforgettable.

Axelle resisted the urge to cover her face with embarrassment as she remembered one previous day's events.

Some vines had grown out from the drain and quickly taken over the shower, causing Axelle to swear loudly in French. Stormy might not have understood much of it, but the loud "NON!" had given her away. She'd immediately felt pretty embarrassed by her outburst as she wondered what her roomie must be thinking. Most of that day was spent worrying about what to do; should they call a plumber? Should they pour weed killer down the drain? Was that even safe? Thankfully, the vines had mysteriously disappeared by the time they got back to the dorm. The only proof that any of that day's weirdness actually happened was the mysterious bottle of weed killer still sitting underneath their sink, unused.

She snapped back to reality when she suddenly heard Stormy speak with a perfect French accent.

Axelle made a disapproving sound with the last of her coffee, slurping it loudly through a straw. "Sorry, my check engine light came on. Did you say something about being a bother?" she replied, in a voice which was soft but also slightly stern. "It's every girl's dream to live with a rock star, right? So, have more confidence." As Stormy looked up from her phone, the sweet smile Axelle gave her after she said that seemed to say something like "I don't want to hear you put yourself down anymore, okay?"

Seeming satisfied, Axelle opened the door for Stormy. "Non. After you, ma cher." She smiled playfully, with Stormy's question unanswered.

~✶~✶~❀

Normally, Axelle would sit alone in the front of the class, but at this school, her life was going to be a bit different. Moving quickly to the back corner, she took over a cluster of half a dozen desks, pushing them together to make one big table for the book club girls to sit at.

"Again, Alex?" a redheaded girl said as she made envious eyes at the box of cinnamon rolls.

"I'll stop baking when I'm dead," Axelle proclaimed with the voice of one who was proud of her craft. "Today I have something for everyone, though—check it out. Normally you'd have to wait until October to buy these, but I pulled some strings... Hmhm~♪" she collapsed her book bag dramatically, showing everyone the boxes of chocolate mint cookies.

"So that's your game, huh. Make everyone hungry, then sell girl guide cookies," the redhead accused with a smirk.

"Oh no, I've been found out~♥" Axelle replied playfully as the boxes quickly dispersed throughout the classroom.

As the other book club girls arrived, Axelle would wave them over to the cluster of desks she'd pushed together. "I made one for each of us, so please take one," she'd say to each of them, nudging the box of cinnamon rolls here and there.

‗‗‗‗‗‗

Romi had never really met the free-spirited type like Sammy before. Sure, she'd run into people like her in the bigger cities they'd been to, but she'd never really gotten too close before. At least she could hold a decent conversation with her suitemate despite the blonde girl's air-headedness at the best of times. As much as she liked Sammy, she could have sworn up and down that she'd had the same conversation with her at least a couple of times now about how spirits didn't "pick up" like they were answering a casual telephone call. The girl was superstitious- nearly to a fault, and hoped that they'd at least find something in the way of answers. "Yes, that's the plan, at least. Barring my séance idea, we've really got nothing to go on about those strange goings on in our lives or why we all feel a strange draw to this place." The raven haired girl had begun speaking to Sammy, but now she was more or less speaking her thoughts aloud, and the blonde happened to be in close proximity to her odd ramblings. She offered the girl her other poptart with a gentle roll of her shoulders as if to say she had no idea what to expect. All she knew is that she wanted to enjoy the day when it looked like one of her favorite horror scenarios rather than be cooped up at school doing homework and lessons.

"We'd better manage to get out of study hall quick," Romi's lips curled into a smile. "We need to get some coffee in you stat, Sunshine."

There was a no cell phone policy in the academic wing of the campus, but with so many students milling about their early morning routines, no one was likely to notice Romi looking down at the handheld device in her palm. Plus, none of the other students would be likely to tell on her when they were doing the exact same thing- checking the time, the weather, or their messages before the first classes of the day began.



“Don't worry. Even if the ghosts don't 'pick up', the worst that'll happen is we don't get any answers, and we keep looking for solutions.” She pocketed the device quickly after replying- making sure to silence it so that it didn't ring in the middle of class. She hoped that one of them had gotten there before her to save their seats. The other girls seemed to be more popular than she, and likely had other people that wanted to sit with them, so she knew it might seem weird they were always huddled together in the corner of the classroom. It was why she was working on a cover for them so that it seemed less conspicuous.

Romi didn't want to admit it, but there was something about that day that seemed... off, and she wasn't sure what it was. The crystal against her chest pulsed warmly- humming a bit more lively than she'd felt it before, and she could have sworn the damn thing let off a soft glow out of her peripheral vision. Quickly, she stashed the oblong piece of jewelry underneath the neckline of her shirt- hoping no one else had caught sight of it. There was something about it that she didn't like, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. She refused to wear her worries on her face, however, so that she wouldn't alarm Sammy who still followed behind her.

Catching the heavy door with her hand, she held it open for the blonde. Her thoughts had been answered when she noted Alex and Stormy having thought ahead and pushed a small group of desks together. The smell of the cinnamon rolls hit her before she saw them, and they made her mouth water. "Ahh, Alex to the rescue to save us from early morning hunger." She smiled and took a seat next to Stormy. "I see Sammy wasn't the only one who didn't wanna get out of bed this morning." A soft laugh fell from her lips at the mention of their two missing friends.

"Cool, cool...cool." Sammy responded, nodding her head lazily. Sammy accepted the poptart and bit into it, licking the crumbs from her lips. Samantha didn't care much for answers or seances or ghosts or anything like that. But Romi and the others were her friends, and she just went with the flow. Magic powers and all that- whatever, right? What were you gonna do? But it was an excuse to hang out with her friends and maybe something weird would happen.

"Yeah. Sure. Latte sounds yummy." Samantha said. She looked up at the taller girl's head. Man, she was tall. Very tall person. She and Faye were both just mega tall. Tall, tall, tall.

Wasn't she just doing something? Oh, yeah. Eating this poptart. It's gone now, though. "That was a good poptart. Thanks, dude." Sammy said. Romi was on her phone. The other ladies were usually on them, texting to each other. Samantha didn't really get the appeal. It took her too long to send the texts and she'd rather just call people. Sammy hadn't used her flip phone to painstakingly send a text into the group chat in over three months. And she hadn't read it at all in two weeks.

Sammy gave everyone a wave as they entered the classroom. Alex was baking again, it seemed like. Sammy picked the closest seat and sat down in it, the chair scooting back. "Hey, man. I got out of bed this morning...just, like, the wrong morning. And then I took a nap." The blonde defended herself dismissively.

Before she realised it, Samantha had picked up and consumed her cinammon roll. "Man. That was a good cinammon roll. Thanks, dude." Sammy said. Then she crossed her arms on her desk and set her head down in them, using them as a pillow. After a moment she realised she was falling asleep again, so, she adjusted her head so her cheek was resting on her arm instead. That way her face wasn't buried in the soft fabric of her baggy clothing. Her soft, sleepy ble eyes scanned the middle-distance, occasionally making eye contact with the other members of the Book Club.

"So...yeah. Study hall. Rockin'. We're...not gonna stick around, though?" Sammy mumbled, trying to confirm the plan she knew or cared very little about. It made little difference to her. "Whatever, it's cool. Y'all got it. I'll just follow you guys's lead." She gave a thumbs up. "Go team."

Kҽҽɠαɳ Cʅαɾҽყ

Kee made her way to class, yawning and stretching as she walked into study hall. Of course her and Faye were the last to arrive. She smiled, seeing the makeshift group desk they had put together for everyone. It was a welcome sight and it was nice to see everyone together and mostly awake. Mostly.

Walking up she pulled out a chair and sat down, quickly eyeing up the box of cinnamon rolls.

“..Can I have one..” She said, while already reaching for one. Once she got her confirmation she packed the treat like she was chipmunk into her mouth. She mumbled her praise while chewing, quickly finishing it off.

“Thank you! Amazing as always Alex. Alright so today we are getting out of class yeah? I have something that should get him out. It’s not flashy or anything but should buy us plenty of time.” She said, while rummaging through her backpack. “Time to put some of these uh..powers? Powers, yes, to use. I hope y’all don’t mind but I’m not sticking around for long here. I haaaate study hall” She giggled a bit to herself.

After chatting a bit with the other girls the first bell finally rang for class. Mr. Hopkins walked in and promptly started his morning spiel about what the class would entail and his no phone no talking rules. All the same of course. Today would be different though, as today the girl wouldn’t be around for much longer. Shortly after the first bell the door opened slightly and a female voice called out for Mr. Hopkins. He walked over and held a short conversation with the girl before telling the class he would be back shortly and they needed to stay in their seats. He walked out in a hurry, and after he shut the door Kee turned and smiled at the other girls.

“That’s our cue ladies, let’s go he should be gone for a hot second.” She said collecting all her stuff. Kee made her way over to the door and peaked out into the hall. All clear. She heard some groans of protest from the class as the girl got up to clearly leave. She turned and shrugged at them as if to say “Too bad, could be you too if you really wanted”. She held open the door and with a flourish waved for the other girls to get a move on. “To the park right? Should be a clear path, he’s gonna be on a goose chase for a second. After y’all.” She smiled.