Chapter 14 - A Dorm Room Disappointment

August 11

The silence in the grand hall was filled only with the intense thumping of my heart. Slowly the sound of lots of whispering and murmuring filled the hall.

Ms. Proctor put her hand on my shoulder, “Have you gotten anything to eat yet?”

I shook my head.

“Hey kid! I brought you some food. You look like you’re about to pass out,” the comfortingly rough voice of Groundskeeper filled the hall.

“I’d better talk to some of the other families, see if we can’t head off that rumor mill,” the Dean of Students said with an exasperated smile before turning to me with a wan smile, “Welcome to Bearlisp Academy, Max. I’m sorry it had to be under these circumstances, but better days are ahead. I’m certain.”

With that, he walked away and started talking to other people. My hands were still shaking and my breathing wouldn’t seem to steady itself.

“Hey,” Ms. Proctor’s softly reassuring voice came near me, “It’s okay, just focus on breathing. We’re going to get you to a bench so you can sit down and eat something. You’ll start to feel better, I promise.”

She led me gently by the elbow past faces that my mind wouldn’t process saying things that I couldn’t understand. Everything was swimming around me, but eventually the steadiness of the world returned when I was sitting on a cold hard bench.

“Okay,” Ms. Proctor said, “You’re safe right here. Would you like some food?”

I shook my head, but my stomach loudly disagreed with my assertion.

Groundskeeper sat next to me and held the plate while I put salted crackers with meat, cheese, and olives on them into my mouth. Ms. Proctor sat on the other side of me and gently held my other hand.

After a while, I began to feel better. My breathing returned to normal, and the grand hall slowly stopped swimming. Filomena crouched in front of me, with a worried look on her face.

“Are you alright? I know I haven’t been around much, but have you been taking care of yourself?”

“I’m fine, Filomena.”

“She should be alright now,” Ms. Proctor said, “We’ll get you into some counseling soon, Max. I’m still so surprised by his behavior. He’d been standoffish and arrogant when he was younger but to go this far…”

Ms. Proctor stared into the distance, lost in thought, when the bell gonged loudly through the hall.

“Students,” the Dean of Students announced, “Please gather together in the front. Your House Matriarchs will be taking you to your houses, assigning rooms, and giving you other important information for your first day. Hurry now.”

I stood up, and joined a group of other students with the same uniform in front of a plump woman with a garishly patterned dress. Her light gray, almost white, hair was put up in a serious bun, and her red cheeks looked straight out of a cartoon.

“Hello! Welcome! Hi!” she said to each student as they joined the group, “We’ll be leaving just as soon as everyone is here. To that end, if we could just get everyone lined up, and if you could tell me your name, then get behind me, we can get this done quickly and orderly. Yes, we’ll start with you, what’s your name?”

“Um… Julie Xiang,” the girl said softly.

“Hmmm, yes, if you could be a dear and just spell that for me.”

The crowd in front of the Matriarch grew smaller as she checked everyone’s name against a list on a clipboard. She gave Filomena a strange look, but said nothing when my turn came. When Everyone was accounted for, at least I assumed they were, she led us through the halls and out a side door out onto a paved path through red-leafed maple and beautifully blossoming cherry trees illuminated with ornate iron lamps.

There was a gentle tugging on my sleeve and an urgent pssst.

I turned to find a girl who looked familiar, but I couldn’t seem to figure out how.

“I can’t believe we got into the same house!” she whispered excitedly.

I smiled uncertainly.

“Don’t you remember? The bathroom? The gremlins?”

“Oh!” I said stupidly, “Did you end up getting hurt?”

“No!”

“Ohohoho!” Another girl wrapped her arms around our necks conspiratorially, “Do you two already know each other? And you had an illicit tryst in a bathroom? And there were gremlins? Tell me everything. I’m Amy by the way.”

“What?” we both practically shouted at more or less the same time.

“Please unhand my mistress,” Filomena said patiently.

“Let’s keep talking to a minimum, please,” the Matriarch warned in a friendly voice that only teachers and mothers can use, which makes a suggestion sound like a lot more than just a suggestion.

We continued on in silence.

At the end of the path was a large building that looked like an alpine lodge. Warm inviting lights came from the windows, and made me realize just how chilly it was outside. Thankfully this outfit was warmer than you might think. Maybe there was some kind of enchantment on it?

As we entered the main room of Den House, we were greeted with beautiful exposed brick and wood. In the middle of the room was a roaring fire and all around it were comfy couches around wooden coffee tables.

The House Matriarch turned around and addressed us, “Welcome to Den House. This is the house common area. Each Dorm also has a common area. Please make yourself comfortable while I explain how things work.”

After everyone settled onto the couches, she continued, “My name is Hannah Sharpspine. I am the Den House Matriarch. You may call me Miss Sharpspine or Matriarch. In a moment, your Dorm Supervisors will be bringing you up to your rooms, but first some general announcements.”

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“Here,” she snapped dramatically with both hands, “are your student handbooks. Please read them thoroughly before you return for the first day of classes. There is also your very first textbook, you aren’t required to read it before class but I’m sure the more studious of you will be all too happy to skim it.”

One of the boys across from me, started flipping through the book. He jumped when the book slammed itself shut.

“When you return home, if you please, young man. The first floor of each dorm is the common area, anyone may be there and I expect good behavior from you. Only boys are allowed on the second floor, and girls on the third. Understood?”

She paused for an answer, only a few students said anything. She seemed disappointed that there wasn’t more enthusiasm. One of the students raised their hand shyly.

“Yes?” Miss Sharpspine said.

“Um, what about people who aren’t… you know.”

“Hmm? Aren’t what?”

“Boys or girls?”

“Ah, yes, don’t worry, we have special accommodations for our non-binary and agender students. Just inform one of the Dorm Supervisors and they’ll show you where to go. And to be clear, room assignments are based on gender identity. There will be none of that transphobia nonsense here. It’s in the student handbook. Now, let’s get everyone into their rooms.”

She pointed out the entrances to each of the dorms, and there was a chaotic billiard ball effect as students went in every which direction. I managed to make my way through the chaos and joined the students from Friend Dorm. The girl from the gremlin bathroom was not among them.

I really need to learn her name.

“Looking for your girlfriend?” a teasing voice came from my right.

I spun around, “What? She’s not-”

“I think I saw her head to the Partner Dorm. How appropriate,” the girl who had been teasing us earlier said. The smile on her face wasn’t a malicious one but it was just my luck that she was going to be in my dorm.

“Hi, Amy!” one of the other girls said with a wave.

“Oh, hi, Claire!” she waved back enthusiastically.

“So, Maxine…,” Amy began.

I had hoped for a second that she had forgotten about me but no such luck.

“Please just call me Max.”

“Ok. Call me Amy. Anyway, I took a sneak peek at the Dorm Supervisor’s clipboard, and it seems we’re gonna be roomies! I’m not sure who the other two are, maybe we can find them.”

She looped her arm in mine and started pushing me through the crowd of students. Filomena looked annoyed, but followed us as best she could.

“If we could please, for the love of all that is good, form up neatly,” one of the Dorm Supervisors was calling over the excited chatter of the students all talking to each other, “At least the girls? Please? I need you all to-”

A sharp whistle cut through the noise and everything got quieter for a moment.

“Friend Dorm boys! Line up here in front of me, single file. Girls do the same in front of Wilma! Stat!” a man’s voice barked.

Wilma, the girl’s friend dorm supervisor, sighed heavily, “Thank you, Sam. Now, if you ladies will follow me, I will be going from room to room. I will call the names of each person who will be staying in a particular room. You will go into the room, and chat quietly for a minute while I get everyone else sorted out. Then we will call everyone down into the dorm common area, and answer any questions. Understand?”

There was a general noise of assent from the assembled girls.

“Good, now follow me.”

“Um?” the student from earlier raised her hand.

“Yes?”

“What if I’m-”

“Oh, right the nonbinary student. Come to the front of the line, and I’ll explain on the way.”

We followed Wilma up the stairs, stopping momentarily about halfway up. I looked around the person in front of me in time to see the non-binary student gently pushed through the wall of the stairs. Their head popped back out for a moment, and they asked something I couldn’t hear.

“Yep, that room's yours,” Wilma said clearly, “You don’t even have to have roommates, you lucky duck. Enjoy! I’ll knock on the wall when it’s time for us to gather downstairs.”

We continued up the stairs. I brushed my hand against the wall where the other person had gone through, and it felt solid enough. I couldn’t help but wonder how that worked.

Lost in thought about everything that had happened today, I barely heard my name called.

“Maxine Oldstone, Julie zee- Julie ks-,” Wilma tried.

“It’s Xiang,” a girl with long black hair towards the front of the group said, her voice pained.

“Right. Sorry. Um, Sarah Blueloch, and Amy-”

“That’s me,”Amy screamed in my ear, “C’mon Max, let’s see our new room!”

I was dragged bodily behind Amy as she rushed forward, unheeding of anyone in her way. When we got there, the other two girls were already eyeing the room dubiously.

The room was both bigger than I was afraid it would be, and smaller than I hoped. There was a small common area with two sinks and a large mirror towards the entrance of the room. A partition split the room into two sections, each large enough for two beds, two desks, a large dresser, and maybe a bookshelf. It was clear that we were intended to pair up within each section.

I had had no idea what to expect, but this didn’t seem to be so bad.

“It’ll be kind of crowded with five people,” the girl I hadn’t actually met but who I guessed was Sarah said pointedly.

Her hair was a vibrant blue and in a short cropped pixie style.

“I’m sorry?”

“Are you? Do you really think it’s appropriate to have a literal person as a pet?”

“Hey!” Amy whined, “Can’t we just get along?”

“Sure, as soon as she,” Sarah spat the word and pointed at me, “apologizes to this poor hollow and summons a different familiar.”

“If you think a familiar is just a pet, then I pity you,” Filomena said coldly, “but I pity your familiar more.”

It caught me by surprise, Filomena had been speaking a lot more warmly lately so I forgot how she’d been when we first met.

“Excuse me if I don’t want to take the word of a- a- a- shut up! What do you know about it?”

“I know that while I am officially Max’s familiar and therefore I am intended to serve, protect, and teach her, neither of us considers that to be our relationship.”

“Y- y- y- your relationship?!” Sarah squeaked.

“We’re partners,” I said, hoping that would explain things and lessen the tensions, “In everything.”

“Everything?”

“Doesn’t that make more sense than a master-servant relationship?”

“That’s it, I refuse to stand by and watch this poor creature being mistreated like that. I’m changing rooms.”

“Wait, what?”

Unfortunately, none of us could stop her from running out of the room.

“Well, I can tell that this year is going to be so much fun! Let’s take this side of the partition, Max!”

Julie said nothing and went back to looking over one side of the room. Occasionally, she would look over at us, as Amy made plans for how our side would look.