Chapter 6
After breakfast we went back to the north wing, and we were surprised to find that the common room was now filled with racks of clothing. Upon closer inspection I realized that it wasn't just ordinary clothing. Some of the racks were full of sparkling ball gowns of all shapes and sizes, and others were full of pieces of elegant suits. A short middle-aged woman with frizzy hair was directing people around the racks. I could see a few girls who were trying on dresses, coming out into the common room to get opinions from their friends. There were a few guys trying on suits as well. A tall vampire stood in the corner looking quite elegant in a black tuxedo, and he was talking to the girl who had looked at me the day before. She looked at me again, but I was distracted when the woman with frizzy hair came up to me and Jack.
"Ah, you two must be new students. Come, try on some evening wear. You can borrow whatever you'd like for the opening ball. Dresses are on the right and suits are on the left. Shoes are on the shelves." She pointed them out to us, and then hurried off to answer a girl's question about the length of a gown. She looked a little frazzled, but she was clearly enjoying herself.
"Well, this should be interesting," Jack said.
"At least we no longer have to worry about what we're going to wear," I said cheerfully. I couldn't help but be a little excited since I had never really dressed up before.
"I wasn't worried in the first place," Jack said, shrugging. I rolled my eyes.
We split up and went to opposite sides of the room to browse through the clothes. I quickly found a few dresses to try on and hurried off to the bathroom attached to the room I was sleeping in. The other girls were already in there trying on dresses themselves, except for one who looked like she had just gotten out of bed.
The first dress I tried on was pale pink. It had a simple sequined bodice, but the skirt was full and made of countless layers of a very light fabric that almost seemed to float. When I stood in front of the mirror I could see the other girls looking at me with envy, but I didn't really like the dress. It was too tight in the chest, and I thought it made me look like a fairy. All it needed was some glittery wings.
The second dress I tried on was much different. It was made of dark green velvet, with a square neckline and long sleeves. It fit well, but I thought it would look better on someone with red hair. I certainly had the fair complexion of someone with red hair, but my hair was a shade of blond so pale that it almost looked white. The dark color didn't suit me well.
I tried on yet another dress. It was a gold and sparkly ball gown. I looked in the mirror and immediately decided against it. I looked like a gold disco ball.
Feeling dejected, I walked back to the common room and returned the dresses to their racks. The woman with the frizzy hair came up to me.
"Any luck? No? That's surprising. You would look marvellous in a canvas sack, but I can understand the need to find the perfect dress. In fact, I think I know what would be perfect for you." She rummaged around for a minute before pulling out a mass of black lace and shoving it into my arms. "Go try it on," she ordered, giving me a slight push toward my room. She followed after me, apparently quite excited to see the dress on me.
She was right, it was perfect. It was mermaid style, hugging my body at the top and flowing out at the bottom. It was completely covered in black lace, and had a sweetheart neckline and sleeves that covered little more than my shoulders. The black contrasted my fair skin and hair quite perfectly and made my blue eyes stand out more than usual. I had always thought that my eyes were rather peculiar, since the irises were a bright but pale blue surrounded by a ring of dark blue. Of course, the color of my hair was somewhat unusual as well.
The woman surveyed me with satisfaction. "That is definitely the dress for you, darling. We just need to get you some shoes. Stay here a minute and I'll go find some. What size do you wear?"
I told her and she hurried off, only to return a minute later with a pair of black heels. They went perfectly with the dress, and I found I could walk in them without too much trouble. Her job complete, the lady left to help someone else. I changed back into my old jeans and t-shirt, and I put the dress away, careful not to wrinkle it.
When I went back to the common room to find Jack, there was a burly-looking man there who was calling out names and handing out large packages to everyone. He called my name, and I went over to accept my package.
"What is it?" I asked the man.
"School uniforms," he told me.
I found Jack and saw that he also had a package. We opened them together and saw that they were, indeed, school uniforms. They were the same as what I had seen Michael wearing the day before. There were several pairs of black pants and, for me at least, black skirts. I also had a few black sweaters with patterns on them in green, purple, or both, and I figured they were the school colors. There were also a couple of blouses which were purple or green. The packages also included black shoes and a few other things. Overall the clothes were rather stylish, and certainly nicer than anything I owned. There was a note that came in the package that explained that uniforms were to be worn during class hours, but we could wear what we wanted after classes and on weekends.
"I was talking to someone yesterday about uniforms," Jack told me. "He said that the school isn't too strict about them. I think you can wear whatever shoes you want. They just give us shoes in case we don't have any that would go with the uniform."
"I'm kind of glad that we get uniforms. It's not like we have anything nice to wear anyway," I commented. Jack nodded in agreement. "I wonder how they knew our sizes."
"Magic, I suppose," Jack said, and we both grinned.
Having all of that over with, we decided to explore the grounds. The weather was calm and still fairly warm, so we were comfortable. We learned from Sydney, who we met on our walk, that there was a small lake to the south through the woods that we were allowed to go to and swim in, but she cautioned us about the woods to the north.
"There's a cliff about a kilometre in," she explained to us. "We're not really supposed to go out there because it's really dangerous and kind of sudden. I heard it's like at least two hundred feet high, but I've never been there myself."
"Is the water warm in the lake this time of year?" Jack asked.
"I don't think it's ever particularly warm, but it should be tolerable. Most people prefer to swim in the pool anyway. That's where I'm heading now, actually. You guys want to come?"
"Nah," I said, taking in a deep breath of fresh air. "I'd rather stay outside for a while. Maybe later." Jack nodded in agreement and we said goodbye to Sydney and continued our walk. The grounds were quite nice, and the air smelled different than it did in Washington. It was refreshing.
We ended up eating lunch with Michael, since he sat down with us. I could tell that Jack didn't like him much at first, and he kept giving him dirty looks, though Michael didn't notice. After a few minutes Michael's charm won him over. At least, I thought that was it. It might have had something do with the fact that he seemed to realize I had no interest in Michael. By the time we finished lunch they were talking and laughing like old friends.
We spent most of the afternoon in the library, which contained an astounding number of books about magic. I couldn't wait to read as many as I could. I even managed to find a book about auras, which pretty much confirmed everything I already knew. It didn't say what having a white aura meant, but I hoped I would find a book that would.
While I went around the shelves with a silly excited smile on my face, Jack sat in a comfy chair and looked through a book about wildlife, which contained more pictures than text. Occasionally he would look up at me and shake his head in amusement, and that would only make me smile more as I grabbed book after book off the shelves to add to my growing pile of reading material.
I already knew I was going to love this school.