Moving in (First Year Girls' dorm) on Crotalus Commons

Eliza Bennett

August 22, 2010 11:26 PM

Moving in (First Year Girls' dorm) by Eliza Bennett

For the past week, Eliza had barely been able to contain her excitement; by the time her parents had finally gotten her to the transport center, she had been so tightly wound that she had almost been bouncing on the balls of her feet as she hugged her family goodbye and got on board the wagon. As it was, she had come close enough that her mother had warned her about being ladylike.

Finally, she was getting away from Chicago. Away from all the stuffy, secretive two-generation fortunes that tried to act like Boyds and Careys just to compensate. Away from the new house, which wasn't so much new as it was new to her father, who'd happily moved in after it became clear that his younger but more successful brother wasn't getting out of the psych ward any time soon. Away from the illusion that everyone was actually sad that Uncle Vic had been committed and that Aunt Katherine was well on her way to joining him instead of either indifferently, casually sorry because they'd been in Italy for years and the people who were supposed to care didn't know them, or else pleased at the chance it gave Richard and Nicole Bennett to seize both control of the family fortune and responsibility for its image. Eliza had been almost too enthusiastic about being away from it all to eat at the grand Feast that had been held to welcome them.

That had been the first good sign at Sonora: they had a full-fledged feast, all because less than twenty people had arrived, and what she had been able to make herself eat had been way better than anything at the dinner parties Nicole allowed her to attend or at the handful of officious...things Uncle Vic had thrown when he'd been visiting the States before he lost his ambassadorship. This was a place that knew how to treat people.

Less promising had been her Sorting. Her dad and Uncle Vic's girlfriend had both been Crotali. Considering that one of them was basically a graverobber and the other had sort of provided the grave, she wasn't sure what to make of Crotalus. Plus, as far as she could tell, it was traditionally a House full of stuffy old ladies in teenage bodies, and where was the fun in that?

With her thick, wavy dark brown hair, bright brown eyes, and stylish wardrobe, Eliza was not an old lady, stuffy or otherwise. Nor did she ever plan to become one, even if she did continue to physically age. Her mother was totally proof that a witch could still look good as she got older, and life was more than age, anyway.

After the feast, she followed Amelia Pierce, of the Boston Pierces (her mother would flip when she heard), along with what she thought was the largest group of new students, out of the Cascade Hall and around the school. She was pleased to see that most her new friends were other girls. They'd be a little crowded, since they apparently all shared one room, but it would be so totally awesome to have friends she could talk to any time, and ask for wardrobe tips from or give wardrobe tips to, and, when they were all old enough, hit the parties with.

Once they were in the common room, Eliza was hard put to stop looking around and comparing the elegant room to her new sitting room at home long enough to pay attention to what Ms. Pierce was trying to tell them about the rules and regulations. She tried to look serious and earnest during the part about being respectful and Ms. Pierce not caring who their families were, to assure the stern look that she wasn't at all the kind of pureblood to start things, but wasn't sure how good she was at the serious part.

Finally, they got to go up to their rooms. Eliza couldn't help but rush to be the first through the door. Finding her trunk in front of a bed - how did the school know who would get along and want side-by-side beds? Or were they just supposed to arrange things to suit themselves once they worked all that out? - she sat down on it with a bounce, crossing her legs under her as she did and tossing her hair forward over her shoulders.

"So," she said to the girls coming through the door after her, a wide smile on her face, "who else is totally excited to be here?"

0 Eliza Bennett Moving in (First Year Girls' dorm) 174 Eliza Bennett 1 5

Jordan Adair

August 23, 2010 2:23 PM

Introductions by Jordan Adair

Amelia’s speech had been utterly boring and a little odd in Jordan’s opinion. It seemed a bit centered on Quidditch, the person named Charlotte Abbott, and getting along. She didn’t really care all that much about Quidditch aside from the socializing aspect of the sport. Meaning mostly that it seemed to draw the guys worth looking at. But wasn’t there anything to do besides Quidditch? What about a fashion club? Some of the schools talked about in her teen witch magazines had things like that. Maybe if the school didn’t have one, she could ask about starting one. Would anyone be interested? She guessed she could test the idea against her roommates.

That was the other thing. Why did Amelia Pierce keep repeating about them getting along? They either would or wouldn’t, but even if they did, they wouldn’t always get along. She loved her sisters, but they fought occasionally. It was just the way things were. Just like not everyone was going to be the best of friends. If that were the case, she would be friends with everyone in her performance classes. As it stood, they were all very competitive, all wanting to be the best, which made them more frenemies than friends. She supposed with that something like that would exist or would end up existing here.

After all, the Head of House had kept mentioning a Charlotte Abbott. The girl was Quidditch Captain and Prefect. She must be a pretty competitive girl to have gotten two obviously prestigious positions. Otherwise, someone else would hold one of the spots. She doubted she would ever be a Quidditch Captain since she didn’t think she was going to join, but maybe one day she would become Prefect. She didn’t really want to bother with all of the responsibility, but it would give her some importance, which might be worth it.

But that wasn’t a worry for now as she bounded into her new room. Trying not to feel overwhelmed and trying to exude more confidence than she actually felt, she sat next to the girl on her trunk and linked arms with her though they were strangers. “I, for one, am completely. Though, the fact that we have to wear school robes kind of sucks. I have an entire wardrobe just waiting to be shown off. What about you? Maybe we can leave them open or something,” Jordan said with a longing glance at her own trunk laying close by before turning to the other girl with a grin. “I’m Jordan Adair by the way.” She hoped that this would lead everyone to introducing themselves.

0 Jordan Adair Introductions 173 Jordan Adair 0 5

Eliza

August 24, 2010 9:50 PM

Introductions are fun by Eliza

Calming down slightly, Eliza was surprised and impressed by her new roommate's confidence. Even feeling as bouncy and off-propriety as she had all day, she never would have had the nerve to sit down and link arms with a total stranger. She liked it, though. She'd always wished she could do that sort of thing and be that easy with other people.

"Eliza Bennett," she replied, committing the name and face to her memory. She had always been good at names and faces, when she tried, and this was kind of important. This was one of the people she was supposed to spend the best years of her life with. "Great idea about the robes." She looked down at her own trunk. "It would be practically criminal to let new wardrobes just go to waste all year."

Especially after the effort it had taken to get Mother, who knew about the uniform requirement, to get her a new wardrobe. Her parents could be so annoyingly practical at times. She kind of thought that was why Father had a sister who was more public than he was. Practical people didn't have scandals, but they didn't really have anything else, either. Just their respectability, which only people they knew personally ever heard about unless they had family members who were...less practical.

Not that she really had any room to talk. She didn't back down as often as she thought he did, but she never felt half as sure of her decisions as he always seemed to. Actually having people watch her was awkward and scary, and she didn't really like it because she always just knew she was going to mess up badly somehow.

Her mother...Her mother was just grace personified. Eliza thought she might have given up on living up to Nicole at age four. The only point to even making a cursory effort was to keep Nicole's criticisms to a minimum. She wasn't completely unfair; she could see when Eliza was trying hard, and she was willing to extend some points for effort. Not many, of course, but some. Something was always better than nothing.

0 Eliza Introductions are fun 0 Eliza 0 5

Daisy Thorpe

August 25, 2010 12:27 AM

Very much so by Daisy Thorpe

Of course it would take exactly five minutes after the end of the torturously long feast for her to become hungry. It was beyond Daisy's comprehension why she'd ever thought it could happen differently.

One of the first things she had learned as a little girl was that a lady never ate at a public event. Her parents had never offered any provision for what she was supposed to do at school, where every meal, not to mention much of the time she'd spend in her sleeping room, was a public event. Maybe, just maybe, she could become comfortable enough with her roommates to eat more than a party serving in their presence - she expected to be in that condition by morning; her pastry stash was not as large as she might have liked, and eating in a bathroom was just wrong - but there were boys here. She didn't know how many, if any, were pureblood, and it was going to be a problem until then. She hoped the other girls didn't mind allowing her to be in the middle of the group at the table.

Since that wouldn't be an issue until morning, though, she took a peppermint out of her pocket and, when she felt no one was looking at her, popped it into her mouth. It would only last for a little while, but it would also most likely keep her stomach from rumbling in public if it didn't take the other girls too long to fall asleep.

When they finally came to a stop, any bits of the path to the common room she had retained left her head as soon as she saw the painting they were in front of. It was revolting! This was the House her parents wanted her to be in? Had a headmaster or headmistress of years past had a grudge against Crotali of some kind, or was it a deliberate ploy? No one would believe the House most associated with propriety would be housed behind that...that...thing.

If it was the second, then it was clever. Not clever enough to justify her having to look at that thing every day, though, especially since it would be painfully easy for other students to pick up that it was the common room entrance. If the rest were like this, she'd know where every common room was and how to get into it inside the week without even following anybody.

The room beyond the gruesome image was much more to her liking. Red was a bold color, not necessarily her favorite, but the decorators had done an excellent job with it. She could actually see re-doing her room to mirror some of the compositions when she got home, though she imagined she would talk herself out of it before then. She listened politely to the speech given in the middle of it once they were all inside, keeping her expression attentive but unemotional. Having Amelia Pierce as head of the parentally-approved House felt more like a joke than anything, but....

Well, Daisy had no interest in Quidditch, wouldn't have risked the social issues of playing if she did, and she didn't intend to fight with anyone, so there was no reason for the Head of House's identity to affect her at all. She had never had a lot of respect for purebloods who were stupid about things like Amelia Pierce. There was nothing they could do about it except, if absolutely necessary, try to get around it, so why have a fit that could serve no purpose other than making the unwelcome and unappreciated authority figures take notice and come after them? People didn't like being insulted, even when their backgrounds indicated that they should expect it.

Two girls hurried ahead of her to the dorms after the speech, the first one clearly more excited that the situation really seemed to warrant. Daisy's immediate thought, when the second one sat down beside the first one and linked arms with her, was that they were either family or established friends - neither of which would be good - but then the second one, after mentioning her clothes, introduced herself, and was answered by the first. Outgoing, then.

"Indeed," Daisy said, having swallowed the last of her peppermint on the stairs. She wasn't outgoing, not really, but if that was how the other girls were, then she needed to adapt. "I noticed the new Pecari prefect was wearing her robes open, so maybe it's all right. And we could always have private parties and wear our nice things then." She did enjoy parties, in a way. There was something wonderfully impersonal about them. Since she hadn't introduced herself to any of them yet, she added, "I'm Daisy Thorpe. It's nice to meet you."

0 Daisy Thorpe Very much so 177 Daisy Thorpe 0 5

Jordan

August 25, 2010 3:37 PM

So are parties. by Jordan

Jordan was practically purring at Eliza’s reaction. She had been worried that the other girl would think her completely strange for being so personal so soon. And if that had happened, then she could have been shrugged off and embarrassed, which would not have been a good start to her popularity meter. But as it were, she felt that Eliza had set the stage for her to win over her roommates. After all, she had gotten along with Miya just fine. So, that was two down, two to go. Oh, it could go any which way. The two could detest the three or the two that she had gotten on with could argue or one could be left out or…well, all the options didn’t matter. What did matter was that they all liked her and looked to her. Not that they needed to know that last part.

So, it would be Daisy Thorpe that would be the next to try and win over. “Or…and this is just a thought, but what if the parties weren’t private? We could have one in the common room and invite some guys,” Jordan suggested. Her mind working overtime as one idea jumped to another, she got excited and was about ready to practically bounce out of her seat. “Oh! I know what we could do. We could have an exclusive party. My sister, Dani, talked about something called the Labyrinth Gardens and from what she said, it would be the perfect place. We could invite only a select few people and not wear robes. It would be like a real party.”

Okay, so she hadn’t thought it completely ahead. They, or at least, she didn’t know anyone beyond the four people she had just met. Well, she knew her sister, but she wasn’t about to invite her. Not like she would come anyhow. “We could have it in a couple weeks. We’ll spend this week meeting people and seeing who’s who, then we can send out invitations. It’ll be sooo much fun! And it’ll really get our names out there.” She thought it was rather important that they establish early on who they were. Otherwise, they might get lost in the crowd and she couldn’t imagine anything worse than that. She had no idea why her sister wanted to be one of those people.

“I know just what I would wear too,” Jordan said getting up off Eliza’s trunk and opening her own. She pulled out a dress bag. Zipping it open, she sorted through several before finding the one she was looking for. Holding it up to herself, she showed it to the other girls. The dress was a rather short, red number with an above the waist black belt. “Isn’t it gorgeous?” She petted the silk material fondly. She loved anything that made her feel ultra feminine, especially since she wasn’t at the point where she actually filled out the tops of clothing and she doubted she would for as long as she was involved in dance and gymnastics.

After she put her dress away, the brunette put her polished fingers on her hips and looked around. “We should probably decide if we want to keep this arrangement or not,” she said, referring to where each of their trunks were. Her bed was next to Eliza’s, but that was as far as she got. “Which is yours, Daisy?” For that matter, she wondered which one was Miya’s and who the fifth person was.

0 Jordan So are parties. 0 Jordan 0 5

Renée Errant

August 25, 2010 10:39 PM

Farewell Fatigue by Renée Errant

Renée's eyes had slightly glazed over during Amelia Pierce's speech, but she was able to listen nothenless. She was rather startled at how easily the urgency for sleep had overtaken her.

'With all that food I ate.' She stifled a yawn. 'And that long trip to get here.'

Once the group was dismissed, Renée trudged behind the other girls to their room, not at all surprised to see her trunk there. "Ah, my stuff." She sighed happily and flopped onto her bed. The other girls began to talk amongst themselves but for the moment Renée tuned them out in favor of making the little bit of space around her bed, home. She fished around amongst her luggage before retrieving one of her dearest possessions. Her brother, Gabriel, was forever sketching. It was rare to see him without that sketchbook of his, but it was even rarer to see him paint. So it was exciting that for her seventh birthday he had painted her this portrait. Renée gazed at it now, holding it up in her hands. His words from all those years ago echoed in her mind.

'This is how I really see you, querida. You're wild in the city but tame in the forest.'

The painting was a sort of tribute to The Lady and The Unicorn tapestries. He had painted Renée in the middle of a lush forest, capturing her dark curls cascading down her back, much longer than they were in real life. She was wearing white robes with a green string tied around her waist. The long sleeves were ripped slightly, and her hair looked windswept. Renée in the painting was relaxed on the ground as a centaur approached her, his head held high and haughty.

"Pequeña reina." Renée whispered to the painting, the little code Gabriel had confided to her. It was one of his many nicknames for her. The painting changed slightly. Now Renée in the painting was standing and a thestral had approached while the centaur faded away. She smiled to herself and placed the painting on the wall above her bed.

She tuned in just in time to hear one of the girls mention something about the Labyrinth Gardens. "Ooh, that would be fun." She was genuinely excited about the prospect of a party. Especially one in the gardens. "We should have dancing and music of course. And maybe we could convince some of the house-elves to give us some food." She smiled to herself, house-elves were rather ugly but she felt endeared to them as they were so eager to please. Remembering her manners she smiled at the group, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. "Hi, I'm Renée Errant."

She looked appreciatively at Jordan's dress although it wasn't really her style. Renée enjoyed dresses that were long and loose and the simpler the better. She also actually liked their robes as it fitted her well. Green wasn't exactly her color, but it reminded her of the forest so she really didn't mind. Her mother had also added a light brown string around her waist (not unlike the painting) that brought out her bright brown eyes a little more. She had also slightly altered the sleeves so they fell with a little more of a flourish. All in all, Renée was satisfied with her appearance.

Her fatigue was steadily diminishing as excitement began to bubble over, and she felt as if her entire body was beaming. She was at Sonora finally. She was going to have adventures, and learn magic, and already planning a potential party.

"I'm fine where I am." She sat on the edge of her bed and watched the rest of the girls decide where to sleep. "So, where's everybody from? I'm from New York."

0 Renée Errant Farewell Fatigue 0 Renée Errant 0 5

Eliza

August 26, 2010 10:40 PM

I never said hello to it by Eliza

The new speaker had been more observant than Eliza had at the Feast, since she had noticed the Pecari prefect while Eliza hadn't. She gave Daisy - pretty name - a slight nod of respect. Noticing trends was important; people who did not do so could easily end up dressing all wrong or doing something inappropriate and have an unpleasant situation to work their way out of.

She was, however, almost immediately distracted by Jordan's dress. "Daring," she said, her tone making it a compliment. Eliza thought she herself looked good in red, but Nicole's insistence that it was a grown-up color kept her from going to parties in it. And if Jordan got her way, then the event they were talking about was going to constitute a real party instead of roommates socializing. "Very daring," she added to the idea of inviting outsiders. She could only assume that, given how small their year was, this meant including older students.

It wasn't for sure that anyone had heard her, though, because one of the other girls had just decided to speak up. Eliza smiled at her, adding the new name and face to her memories. "It's prairie elves here," she corrected. "Sorry. I read the student handbook, like, a million times this week."

As soon as she said that, she was worried about seeming too nerdy, but the talk turned to their bed arrangements. "Me, too," she agreed with Renee. "If it's okay with you," she added to the beds on either side of hers. "And I guess I'm kind of from Chicago now. We just, um, moved there last year."

Technically, at least, to take care of Aunt Katherine, who seemed to turn a little funnier by the day. She had a friend now, though, so Eliza hoped she might be a little more normal by the time she got home for midterm. If she wasn't, then it was only a matter of time before the extra space involved in Uncle Vic's house stopped being enough of a good reason to put up with her.

0 Eliza I never said hello to it 0 Eliza 0 5

Miya Saren

August 29, 2010 12:41 AM

Who would say hello to fatigue? by Miya Saren

After the feast, Miya's excitement fell from bouncy, to the point where she had simply shuffled along behind the group. The new students were shown various places, and had eventually ended up in the place most of them would spend their time for the next seven years, the Crotlaus common rooms.

The Head of House, who had introduced herself as Amelia Pierce, began to speak about rules, regulations, and other sorts of useful tidbits to make lives easier. For instance, the portrait of a zombie. It was no ordinary portrait, no, it was the entrance to the common room. Miya grinned slightly at the enchanted picture, it deemed 'interesting' in her book.

The rest of the speech however, deemed 'ridiculously long and probably unnecessary'. Yes, she knew that it would help people, and yes, she knew that the Head more than likely had to do it, but it still didn't keep Miya's boredom and resentment from growing. She was the type of girl who always had to be doing something exciting, not listening to a speech of rules and Quidditch! Though Miya did make a small mental note about the sport, she would probably try and sign up.

As the people dispersed, Miya stayed behind. It would be easier to become more familiar with her surroundings once everyone had gone upstairs to their bedrooms. She took in the deep reds of the commons, and made sure to look for things that could help on her future adventures.

She eventually clambered up the stairs to the girls' dormitories, and stopped at the door that read 'First Years'. Well, that was definitely where she belonged. She could hear slight chatter from outside the door, so she pushed it open. A few girls were there, and they sat on their beds, or stood around the room. She only recognized one girl, Jordan, who had taken out a red dress and held it out.

"Nice dress." She smiled slightly at her before turning towards the other girls. "Hey all, I'm Miya. Miya Saren." She kicked off her shoes and spotted her trunk, which she sat upon. "I like to go on adventures and I don't like wearing shoes." She grinned slightly, wondering how the others would react to her slightly odd entrance.

0 Miya Saren Who would say hello to fatigue? 0 Miya Saren 0 5

Daisy

August 29, 2010 10:40 PM

When it says hello to you first? by Daisy

OOC: Hope I got the chronology right; I put the beds thing after Miya's entrance because of when Jordan put her dress away, but may have gotten something else turned around. Apologies if so! BIC:

Though slightly surprised by it, Daisy returned Eliza's faint nod with an equally brief lowering of her own chin before she joined everyone in looking at Jordan's dress.

It was far shorter than anything she would have chosen for herself, but then, her mother was from the East. They were more strictly modest there. Adair was, now that she thought of it, a name she recognized. Arizona, she thought, though it was hard to be sure without a chart in front of her even given the relative scarcity of magical families in the west outside of California. She had never understood why wizards hadn't done the sensible thing and picked states Muggles disliked as their haunts, but it was two centuries too late to do much about it now. They were what they were.

"Gorgeous," she echoed. Jordan was asserting her status as leader - a leader, anyway. Daisy had no particular interest in being the leader, so long as she wasn't stepped on. She'd leave that particular duty to Eliza, or maybe one of the other girls, if they didn't show more promise. She glanced over at the suddenly talkative one, Renée, and nodded to her as well. "We'll need to think about years when it comes to our invitations, though," she said, mostly to Jordan but also a little to Renée. If she wanted a role in the project, she could at least try for it. "I wouldn't think many people above third year would take us very seriously."

Her older cousins didn't, anyway, though Daisy had long since trained herself not to care much about them. Thorne announcing that he'd leave the family if they didn't let him marry that Muggleborn girl he was so crazy about had been the final straw when it came to her really caring if the older Thorpes of her generation approved of her or not. Maybe he did love Emma, but there was no reason to be just stupid about it.

Daisy looked blankly at the last girl to enter the room, whose introduction, other than the compliment to Jordan's dress, made little sense. "I'm relatively sure shoes are a uniform requirement," she said, but stopped short of asking Eliza to tell them more about that, or pointing out that she was equally sure they hadn't come to school to join the Wizard Scouts. She had the oddest feeling she'd fallen in with a relatively nice group, and that meant playing nice. She didn't want to be the one who got left out. "I'm Daisy Thorpe. This is Eliza Bennett, and that's Renée Errant. I think you already know Jordan from the feast?"

Well, they had been sitting together, with the boy. It was not unreasonable to assume they had exchanged names, and if they didn't want people to know they'd met, then...well, at the feast, there had been no way to do that. It wasn't her fault there weren't that there were so few new Crotali that she'd been able to see everyone before the color faded off them.

"Here," she said when asked about her bed, touching the one on the other side of Eliza's. "I'm also fine with it. And from California."

0 Daisy When it says hello to you first? 0 Daisy 0 5

Jordan

August 30, 2010 9:38 PM

Then, I say good-bye! by Jordan

“That’s what I was thinking too,” Jordan replied to Renee. “I’m sure the prairie elves,” she was sure to use Eliza’s correction, “would be more than happy to provide us with what we would need. And you’re right,” she looked over to Daisy. “It should only be up to third year. Really, anyone else would be far too old. We want to look at future prospects. Those that we should get in good with to those we may want to later date.” She didn’t make it hidden that she was interested in boys. Plus, inviting second and third years was a good idea, because boys matured more slowly, so they might be more on level with them.

Though, not everyone might agree with her, but at least they agreed on her dress. After all, her goal was to dress to impress. She was going to ask what everyone else was going to wear when Miya bounded in with a bit of oddity. She didn’t think it was that big of a deal whether or not someone liked to wear shoes. Sometimes it was weird to wear shoes like on the beach. Sure, there was the obvious choice of sandals, but then one couldn’t feel the warm sand beneath their feet or better yet, drawing in it with their toes. All of that was missed out by not taking their shoes off. How boring was that?

“Yeah, we met at the Feast,” Jordan supplied before rummaging around for her hairbrush. Her hair might have been shoulder length, but that didn’t mean it was any less important to take care of every strand. Curling up on her bed, she began brushing her chestnut tresses. “I’m from Arizona,” she said after the others. An interesting assortment they had going it seemed. Chicago, New York, California, and wherever Miya was from. “Is New York exciting? Do you have a boyfriend back there? Is that where you got that painting?” She said it a breathy, excited whisper, as if it were the most romantic thing in the world.

If Renee did have a boyfriend, then maybe they would get along well since they would have the interested in boys already thing in common. Not all girls her age did. She knew that. Heck, her own sisters weren’t even interested in boys yet, but it would be nice to have that in common with someone. Though, Miya had said Ryan was cute. She bit her lip hiding back a smile. They would have to invite him to the party and see where things went. Hmm, she wondered if the should hand-make their invitations or have them professionally done. Some might be intimidated by the latter, but they would look nicer and set a precedence. However, that could be discussed later. She wanted to hear about Renee’s boyfriend.

0 Jordan Then, I say good-bye! 0 Jordan 0 5

Renée Errant

August 31, 2010 10:10 PM

Boy Crazy by Renée Errant

Renée looked interestingly on at the new girl who had just entered. Her ears had perked up at the mention of adventures, although she didn't quite get the mention of the shoes and decided to just let it go for now.

"Hey." She said after Daisy spoke introduced their names to Miya. "So, where are you from?" Miya seemed a little weird which made her more interesting to Renée.

She began to start unpacking her things, rifling through her stuff to pull out a white t-shirt that used to be her mother's and was too big for her. It smelled like her mother - cinnamon spice and something sweet. Renée smiled to herself and laid it on her bed, she'd wear it as a pajama top tonight.

“Is New York exciting? Do you have a boyfriend back there? Is that where you got that painting?”

Renée laughed and turned around as Jordan asked her a series of questions. "A boyfriend?" She laughed again. "Well there is this - I mean, no, not really..." She thought of Antonio and smiled, her hands absentmindedly twirling the curls in her hair. "Um, my brother painted that." She glanced happily at her painting, pleased that Jordan had noticed it. "He's a really good artist. He's going to be an explorer one day and create maps of places no one has been before." The pride she felt for her brother was obvious in her voice. "And, uh, I guess New York is exciting. I like living in a city..." She turned away from the other girls to tug out the small golden hoop earrings in her ears. "But I'd much rather be living in some great big jungle or forest or something. That's why I love this painting so much."

Renée flopped down on her bed and looked at Jordan but continued to address the rest of the girls as well. "And what about you all? Do any of you have boyfriends?" She smiled, again thinking about Antonio. She wouldn't necessarily say she was boy crazy, but she certainly had gotten a little crazy over that boy. Her eyes got a far away look in them as she remembered those intense eyes, sweet small smile, soft gaze... how frightened that poor boy must have been when she practically chased him all over the courtyard. She wondered if there were any nice boys at Sonora to get crazy about.

0 Renée Errant Boy Crazy 0 Renée Errant 0 5