It was Lauren's first day of school. She was nervous, but she was excited as well. Lilywood Academy for Girls was her mother's school, her Grandmother's alma mater, and it was Lauren's chance to be part of her family's legacy. She waited outside the main office, where she was told to, for a Claire Daniels.

"Lauren? Lauren Parker?" A blonde girl with green eyes, asked looking at her with a quizzical look. Lauren looked her over, the girl's blonde hair was short and layered, framing her face. The girl's cheeks and nose were speckled with freckles. She was wearing the school uniform, but not in the standard way. Her skirt was plaid, red and knee length and her shirt was a white button down; but instead of a sweater, tie, or jacket she was wearing it with an open vest. She was wearing black high tops on her feet.

Lauren was wearing the same skirt, white button down shirt tucked in, and a crimson jacket with the school emblem on the breast pocket. Her own shoes were black flats, and she was wearing white knee high socks.

"Yes?" Lauren replied as she finished looking over this girl she didn't know.

"Hi! My name is Claire Daniels. I am a senior at Lilywood, and I've been here since freshman year. My friends call me Clay, since we are going to be roommates you can call me that as well. I am going to be serving as one of your temporary school guides." Clay said reaching out a hand in a friendly greeting. I juggle the textbooks in my arms into one and take her hand to shake it.

"Nice to meet you."

She signaled me to follow her as she responded, "Come on. Follow me. So, how much about our school do you know exactly? From what the headmistress said, it seems like you had family that went here. So, does that mean you already know where things are and the history? Do you have any general questions?"

"I know where all the buildings are from the new student orientation, and for the most part I know the student history from my mother. I was wondering, what is the school next door? It looks…different then what I expected." Lauren asked.

"Oh, that. Yeah, well as you may already know the two schools were originally partner schools owned by a wealthy couple. But what you may not know is that they didn't actually own them together. Mrs. Teloiuse owned Lilywood Academy for Girls and Mr. Teloiuse owned Hamilton Boys Academy. But twenty years ago, give or take, they went through a really bitter divorce. Mrs. Teloiuse tried to buy Hamilton from her ex-husband so that she could expand Lilywood, as it was growing. However, out of spite, Mr. Teloiuse refused and instead sold it to be a public boys' school for less than half of what Mrs. Teloiuse was offering for it. At first, it started out alright. However, over the years the school, now just called Hamilton, turned into a place for troublemakers. It is where parents send their sons when they can't control them and want them out of trouble."

"Is it still a boarding school?"

"No. The dorms were knocked down and made into a parking lot. There is a specific bus that takes students up the hill. There is also a path up the hill that leads to the area between the two schools. It is how a lot of the girls from Lilywood get down to the town." Clay explained as she unlocked the door to the dorm building.

"Is this still the only dorm?"

"Yes. The school might have gotten bigger, but there really isn't anywhere to build a new dormitory. The area around the schools is private property and Hamilton demolished their dorm as soon as it was sold, so there wasn't the opportunity for Mrs. Teloiuse to buy it. So, we have entered the world of roommates and bunk beds. It isn't so bad, though. Especially when you are lucky enough to get roommates like Riley and me." Clay joked playfully swatting my shoulder.

Lauren nods as she listens to Clay talking. She feels a little disappointed that she will be sharing a room with two people, one more than she expected. And she thought that only first years and transfers had to share rooms. But, it seemed like a pretty good way to meet new people.

Lauren asks, "Riley? Is she a senior, too?"

Clay paused and looked me over, "You haven't heard about Riley? That is kind of surprising, I would have expected her name to come up during orientation. She is the Student Council President. Plus, she was in charge of the Orientation Committee. Anyway, to answer your question, yes. Riley is a senior. We went to the same school before Lilywood, and we were the only two from our school. So, we ended up hanging out just because we knew each other. Then sophomore year we ended up being roommates, and we have been best friends and roommates since then."

"Oh, that is cool. Did you guys get to pick your roommate then?"

"Yes and no. You can request a roommate, and it they put you down as well there is a high chance you will be paired together." She pauses at the door to a room, hesitating with her hand over the door knob. "Just a heads up," she continued, "Riley can be a bit…intense at times."

She pushed the door open and Lauren got her first view of her room. It was bigger than she had expected with pale blue walls. There were two sets of bunks beds on each side of the room, one with both beds and one with only the top bunk and a dresser underneath. In between the two bunk beds was another dresser, with a lamp and a vase of flowers on top. At the end of the bunk bed with both beds was another dresser, at the end of the other bunk bed was a door. In the middle of the hard wood floor was a round white carpet. Lauren took it all in and suddenly it struck her what was missing.

"Where are the desks?" Lauren asked.

"In order to make space the desks were removed. All students are provided with a laptop, if they don't already have one, and the common area has desks so the administrators removed the ones from the rooms." Lauren was feeling even more disappointed. Partially because she didn't really like the idea of not having a desk, but mostly because she had really hoped to have the same kind of experiences her mother and grandmother had and so much seems like it has been changed since the time they were in school she was wondering if it was even possible.

"Oh, I see," was all Lauren said as she walked into the center of the room.

"You're disappointed, I get it. The removal of the desks only happened a couple years ago, before that it was just two top bunks with the dresser underneath. It used to be enough that everyone shared a room. But, with the increase in expenses and some of the building and maintenance issues, the school is having money problems so they need to admit as many students as they can fit." Clay paused before continuing, "If it makes you feel any better, you can have first pick of the beds and dressers." Clay walked into the middle of the room.

Lauren smiled at Clay and set her bag and books down on the bottom bunk.

"If it is alright, I will take this bed and the dresser in the middle. It seems the easiest, right? The dresser at the end of the bed seems most convenient for whoever is in the top bunk." Clay threw the duffle bag she had been carrying on to the top bunk above Lauren's with such ease Lauren wondered if there was anything even in it.

"Sounds good to me." Clay said with a smile.

"Don't you want to ask Riley what bed she would like?" Lauren asks raising an eyebrow at Clay as she starts opening the drawers to the dresser at the end of the bed, inspecting them for damage or anything leftover from the previous year.

"No, I know Riley well enough to know which bed she would choose." Clay replied with a laugh. "So, when is the rest of your stuff getting here? I'm assuming that you did in fact send it separately and that you own more than what is in that little bag?"

Lauren looks down at the bag on her bed, "It should arrive tomorrow. What about you?"

"It arrived early today. It is at the residence office now, I didn't want to claim it until I had someplace to put it." Clay explained climbing up to the top bunk.

"Well…aren't you going to go and get it?" Lauren asked.

"Sick of me already?" Clay replied with laugh.

Lauren shook her head furiously as she responded, "No, that isn't what I meant. I just thought…I mean, now that you know I thought you would want to pick it up is all."

Clay dropped her hand down over the side of her bed holding a phone in her hand, "Riley's stuff arrived today as well. She said this morning if you got in before she got back to text her and she could pick up our stuff on her way back from her Student Government meeting."

"Oh. Hey, wait. How can she president of the student council of the year just started?" Lauren asked as sat on the carpet, figuring it the best place to sit and continue the conversation.

"Elections run the year previous to the year served. Personally, I think it makes more sense. Because, the freshmen and transfer students don't know any of the people who are running so how they can make a truly informed decision? Besides, by the time the campaigning and elections are done weeks have passed into the school year where the students had no representatives." Clay explained as she typed something on her phone.

"That makes sense, I guess. So…is there anything I should know about you or Riley if we are going to be roommates?"

"Well, for starters, Riley is not morning person. I'm not kidding, don't even try waking her up before 8a.m. on weekdays and it is best to just leaver her be weekend mornings. I'm okay in the mornings. I mean, I'm not all bouncy, morning person-esque. But, I won't bite your head off either. She can sleep through pretty much anything though, so don't worry too much about it. Let me think…Riley can be kind of…abrasive at times. But, she has a lot to do so it isn't that she is trying to be rude, so much as she just cuts to the chase and it can be pretty…blunt. I, a slacker by nature, don't really have that problem. By slacker I mean that I don't get involved beyond classes. I'm not in any clubs, any teams, or any committees. Oh, as far as relationships go, just give us a heads up if you are going to have someone over. Riley is…Riley, so it isn't too much of an issue for her. She is kind of…asexual."

"And what about you? I mean, you are talking about relationships, but isn't that kind of hard in an all-girl school." Lauren interrupts.

"Not really. The school doesn't really like students being involved, but it isn't like they will do anything about it either. There are lots of couples in this school. In fact, a lot of people thought Riley and I were a couple last year. We weren't, by the way. She isn't really my type." Clay replies with a wink that unnerves Lauren a little bit.

"You're type?"

"I am…well, I am not exactly straight if that is what you are curious about. I'm somewhere between bi-sexual and just plain sexual. Don't worry, though. I don't pursue people at random, if it makes you uncomfortable I will keep all flirting to a minimum."

"So, you are interested in girls. It doesn't make me…uncomfortable. I'm not sure what I am exactly. I liked a girl at my old school, but…my mom says it is just a phase. You don't really seem that flirtatious, though."

Clay laughed, "Oh, I can be. I have been designated the school playboy, but I can be normal as well. I like to get a handle on people first. As an all-girl school, some of the girls here are really uncomfortable with it. And as fun as it can be making people uncomfortable, if they already have a negative prejudice against same-sex relationships there is no need to make them feel any more uncomfortable about them by upsetting them."

"That makes sense…does Riley know that you're bisexual?"

"Of course. She doesn't mind. She pretty much has an 'I don't care what you do in your bed, as long as you stay out of my bed' philosophy. As far as flirting goes though, I don't even know if she notices when people flirt with her. She can be kind of thick about that kind of thing." Lauren rolls over on her stomach so that her feet are in the air and her arms are crossed at the side panel of the bed, facing Lauren.

"Clay, can you get the door? I can't reach my keys!" Someone shouts from the other side of the door.

Clay groans and reluctantly rolls over and climbs down from her bed. When she gets to the door, she unlocks it and swings it open to reveal a girl, who Lauren assumes is Riley, carrying a large duffle bag in one hand and a wheeled suitcase in the other.