The Board

Mid Nov
Friday

As your alarm went off, you looked to the time, 5:30am. You questioned why you stayed up until 2am reading about the history of Jericho and Nevermore Academy. This situation felt familiar. Again, you found yourself in the shower, thinking about the school and the town you would be at later today. What did Mr. Martell mean a statue of Joseph Crackstone? Why would Larissa be part of that, considering what he did? And murders! Who the hell is getting murdered in Jericho? There were so many questions to be answered, if these things were actually true.

At the airport, you checked your flight time. Vermont - 16h. Okay, so you had time to kill. Wait-it's 7 in the morning, "What the hell?!" You ran to customer service to see why your flight was delayed, 9 hours? Apparently they had to fix a part on the plane and didn't have another in the meantime. You made your way to a lounge, ordering breakfast and slumping down into a chair. You thought about Larissa. What was she doing, and how was she feeling? Were the students okay? Should you let her know that you were going to be way late? Wait - did she even know you were coming? The board loved surprise visits, so probably not. You let sleep take you as you thought about basking in her comfort, about her holding you in her long arms as you sat on her soft lap, instead of sitting in this uncomfortable chair.

You looked around. You were in Jericho, at the train station. Wow, that trip was fast considering you had a 9 hour delay. You walked down the station towards the exit. It was a seemingly gloomy day, but you were excited to get to Nevermore at last. When you approached the exit to the outside, the door wouldn't budge. You tried to push it open and it didn't move. "Oh, I'm an idiot" you said as you tried to pull it open, locked. You turned around searching for another way to get out. You walked down some stairs as you saw a man walking in front of you. He kind of looked familiar, he was tall with silvery white hair and a long trench coat. You didn't know any men here like that. You walked a behind him staying a few feet away as he suddenly started to transform. Into what? You didn't know. You stopped in your tracks as he took a second to walk into the light from the dark hallway. Larissa Weems? Was that man Larissa Weems? Oh wait no, Larissa Weems was that man, she's a shapeshifter. "Larissa!" you yelled as you ran up behind her. She turned to look down at you, a frown on her face and her eyes becoming wide. "What are you doing here? Why are you here?" she demanded, a cold look on her face. "Larissa what do you mean?" you asked quietly now, she seemed angry at you. "Anura get out of here NOW, it isn't safe here, not for you, not for anyone, LEAVE" she exclaimed as she pushed you backwards and you fell onto the concrete.

You woke up and looked around, breathing heavily as tears welled up in your eyes. You were in the airport, still. You realized where you were after a minute, and sunk back down into your chair. It was just a dream, Larissa wasn't mad at you, you hoped. You looked to the time, 13h. You had 3 hours to kill before getting on your plane. Getting up, you gathered your stuff and walked down the airport looking for a bar. You didn't have to drive or be responsible right now, so why did it matter.

Waiting for your train into Jericho, you came to a conclusion, you were drunk. It was 5:30pm, and by the time you got to Nevermore it would be almost 7:30pm. What a waste of a day. Digging out a cigarette and lighting it, you watched the people at the station go about their evening. You wondered where they were going. You wondered if their day had been as uneventful as yours. You wondered if they too, were on their way to investigate murders and try to uncover a schools secrets and possibly cover them up so that a woman who worked ever so hard would get to keep her job and her school. Then you wondered if you actually sucked at your job. Everyone told you that you were great at it, that you were great at so many things. But what if you weren't? Why were you planning to lie to your boss if you had to? Maybe you should set out for a new job and move back to Italy. Hell, move to Jericho and get a fun job, a job that's like a hobby. Admittedly, you had money, you weren't doing this job for financial reasons anymore. "Is everyone else here drunk and thinking about a women they only met once?" you mumbled out in an almost whisper. By this time, your train was approaching, and you boarded, partially disgusted with yourself.

Arriving at the Jericho train station, your dream came rushing back to you. This place gave you the creeps now. Walking to the door that lead to outside the station, you whispered to yourself, "If that door doesn't open, I'm not going down those stairs." You pushed and when the door opened, you were met with a cool breeze and sweet smelling air. It was a dark but calm night, not too cool. You began walking and were about to call a taxi when you spotted a bar down the street. You kept walking, in a better mood now than before due to finally being at your destination. Entering the bar you said "treat yourself" and you sat down on a stool.

An hour later you were pulling through Nevermore's big iron gates. You figured you shouldn't get there too late if Larissa was to let you sleep in the temporary quarters. When you got to the front doors you saw students walking around inside. You didn’t think it would be busy at this time of day. Well, it was a Friday. As you walked in the main entrance, you were hit with loud music and you realized that the students were all dressed up, mostly in white or other light colours. You smiled at some of them as they recognized you. They were entering and exiting a decorated room in front of you where the music was blaring from. You smiled to yourself, you were relieved that you weren’t showing up drunk to meet the principal, probably embarrassing yourself as she wanted to turn in for the night. Leaving your suitcase and bags by the staircase, you slowly made your way into the room. It was decorated beautifully with white and silver adorning blue accents. At the other end of the room there was a huge yeti sculpture by the DJ, jump scare. You eyed some punch across the room and almost ran to it. Oh my god Anura, get your shit together, you're probably not even supposed to be here. Find the principal you thought, as you looked around for the tallest person in here. Almost immediately you found her, standing in a corner at the front of the large room. You made your way across the room sticking to the side of the wall, you wanted to surprise her. You stopped for a second. Sober you knew that you would scare her, after all, she didn't know you were even here. But drunk you, drunk you wanted to mess with her, because - because why? You didn't know, who cares. Sneaking up the wall you hoped none of the teachers would see you. You came up behind her and stared up at her hair. It was immaculate. How long did it take for her to do it like that? There were so many details and strands and pins, at least 3 hours. And her dress, it hugged her form so well. You wished you were her dress. She moved her hands from hanging beside her to clasped in front of her, and it pulled you our of your trance. Trying not to laugh, you were about to bring your hands up in front of her eyes, but you were a foot shorter than her not in your platforms. You picked your hands up and lightly squeezed her sides, making her let out a small scream and turn on her heels to face you. Wide eyed with her gloved hand over her mouth, you looked up at her and started laughing. You knew she would've killed you out of embarrassment if anyone could've heard her scream over the music. You grabbed her hands taking one away from her mouth and held them. "It's so good to see you Principal Weems, looking as ravishing as ever I see."

After you scared Larissa all she said to you was that you were underdressed. You said that you didn't know there was a dance tonight, and she said she didn't expect you would show up tonight. Touché Larissa. You found yourself in your temporary quarters once again changing into a light outfit. You had cream coloured flare dress pants packed for the occasion that you did go out, and a white corset for your feminine days. You put on your white platform penny loafers, you wanted to be as tall as you could. Making your way back down to the dance, you picked up two punch drinks and walked to Larissa, handing her one. "Well, you clean up nice" she said with a sly grin. "What's that supposed to mean?" you gave her the same look back. You watched as the students danced for awhile before you broke the silence. "Is there alcohol in this punch?" you asked her, giving her a serious look. She laughed, "Not unless someone spiked it, I wouldn't give these hooligans anything to make them any crazier." You agreed as you looked back to the students. "I don't care either way, I've been drunk since the afternoon." She stared at you, concern written all over her face. "Why have you been drunk since the afternoon?" You nudged her arm and stated with amusement, "I had a 9 hour flight delay Larissa, what else am I going to do."

Again, silence overcame the two of you, and you zoned out listening to the music. Arctic Monkeys 'Do I Wanna Know?' came on and pulled you back into reality. You looked up at Larissa, smiling big. "Why are you smiling at me?" she said as she stroked your arm. "Dance with me Larissa" you hollered as you walked backwards toward the dance floor, pulling her in with an invisible rope.

Twirling her around you in circles and dancing like it was an upbeat song, you laughed at the fact that you really couldn't dance to this song at all. "What are you doing after this Larissa?" you screamed over the music. "Going to bed" she giggled as you pulled her into you. "Care for a drink? A real drink?" you whispered as you looked up at her, she was inches away from you. This was the best you've felt in a long time, it was the most fun you've had, the happiest you've been. This scared you on the inside, but on the outside you were smiling, smiling the biggest you have in years.

*Larissa's POV*

*They were smiling, the biggest, happiest smile you've ever seen. You looked at them and admired their straight cherry red hair and short bangs, you never had the guts to cut or dye your hair. Their tan skin and green eyes, semi lit up by the disco lights that flickered on and off, were the color of jade stone. Their style was so confident, feminine one day and masculine the next, they could pull anything off. You noticed a few tattoos that you didn't before, were those new? They looked good, really good. You thought it was adorable how they were so much shorter than you, were they wearing platforms? The fact that they were so knowledgeable and confident had you wanting to kneel at their feet, desiring to learn more. What got you though, was the way they twirled you around. They looked so in the moment, so overjoyed to be holding your hands. They had everything, a job they excelled at, the luxury to travel, a partner, friends. What you wouldn’t give to have a friend. But they were your friend, weren't they? They worked for the board, of course they weren't. But why were they here? *

Looking down into your eyes, she was also smiling, teeth showing, her red lips curved into the most stunning smile you've ever seen. "I suppose so Anura" you heard her quip as the music changed and the DJ announced the last song of the night. She pulled you off of the dance floor and back to the corner by the DJ. "I have to make sure all the students are alright when they leave" she stated suddenly serious. You stood next to her, trying to be serious despite being drunk "I'll help". The students danced to the last song of the night. It was a peaceful night. It ended up being a nice night, despite your day. Suddenly the fire alarm went off and scared the absolute crap out of you. The next thing you knew, you saw red paint spilling on the tables, on the floor, on the students, and finally on Larissa. You noticed before she did, looking at her you started saying "Am I just drunk, or-" as she realized what was happening. The look of disgust on her face made your jaw drop, as you realized what it was. You looked to the dance floor, a girl in a black dress was entirely too amused as she brought her finger to her mouth. Ew, what was she doing? Did she just eat blood? Looking back at Larissa, you realized that it didn’t look like blood at all. It wasn't thick enough, it wasn't dripping. Your eyes landed on her hair, oh shit, her platinum blonde hair. She was going to be pissed. Watching her slowly lose her composure, you couldn't believe your eyes. She opened her mouth in disgust, and then she screamed. Larissa Weems screamed. You couldn’t believe it, she had lost her composure, lost her professionalism, dropped the mask that she had been wearing for years. You figured she had kept it together up until this point, she had from what you've seen and heard anyway. After she screamed, she watched the students in concern, slipping and scrambling to get out. You didn't look though, you just stared at her. Her silver dress and white gloves, covered in red paint, her white hair, covered in red paint, her pale skin, covered in red paint. You thought it was quite ironic really, how there had been murders in Jericho blamed on Nevermore, yet here she was screaming about red paint. Finally she looked at you, disgust still written on her face. You looked into her blue eyes and drunk you started laughing. You laughed so hard that you forgot you were also covered in red paint. You laughed at the fact that you didn’t know what you were doing here, or why you were having the time of your life. You didn't know why you were laughing, you just knew it felt good. When you looked back up at Larissa, she had the absolute worst look on her face. You froze, you shouldn’t have laughed. You laughed away the drink later tonight that she had kind of agreed to. Shit- but she looked so cute when she was angry. She looked adorable with the splash of colour that she needed, a splash of paint that matched her lips oh so perfectly. You started laughing again.