Chapter Text
A screeching alarm clock was the first noise Laura Hollis heard on September 1st. Why the first day of school had to be on a Monday, Laura didn’t know. She punched the snooze button on the clock and rolled onto her back. She stared at the ceiling.
“Here we go again.”
She threw her legs over her bed and attempted to stand up. She failed, and fell back onto her bed.
Okay, waking up at six a.m. is much more difficult than I remember.
She stood up again and, this time, managed to maintain her composure. She dragged herself to her closet and threw on the uniform she hadn’t worn for three months.
She looked in the mirror. Plaid skirt, button down, blazer, tie, knee socks, done.
She walked out of her room and looked into the kitchen, where her dad was sipping a cup of coffee, perusing a newspaper. He was in his uniform as well, but a janitor jumpsuit instead. She walked past him and started to put on her shoes at the door.
“Ready?” Laura said, grabbing the door knob.
Mr. Hollis put the cup of coffee down and folded the newspaper. “Yup. Let me just... ” Mr. Hollis patted the many pockets of his suit, and pulled a ring of keys out of one. “Alright, let’s go.”
Laura opened the door. “Wait!” Mr. Hollis yelled. “What did you eat for breakfast?”
Laura reached into the pocket of her uniform’s blazer. She pulled out a granola bar. Mr. Hollis nodded and followed her out of the house.
-----
“You’re awfully quiet.”
They had been driving for ten minutes at this point, and Laura had not said a word.
“What?” Laura asked out distractedly.
“What’s eating you, L?”
“Just first-day-of-school blues.” No, it’s not. She looked back out the window.
Mr. Hollis sighed. “Laura, I know you don’t want to go back. And I know you’ve had a difficult time these past two years. I understand that.” Do you? “But I can’t pull you out. I refuse to send you to that shitty public school.”
“You mean the one where you work?” Laura laughed a little.
“Yes, where I clean up the vomit and spilled milk of teenagers every day. I would know how shitty it is.” Mr. Hollis was approaching her school. “Do you want me to drop you off around the corner?” Laura nodded.
“Laura, I dropped out of high school. That’s why I’m sitting in a jumpsuit that says ‘Silas Public High School.’ At Janarius I know you’re receiving an education. I know you’ll do great things with your life.”
Laura sighed and turned to face her Dad. “I know. It’s just hard having to go back. Feel like I’m walking into my own funeral.” Laura laughed at her own statement. Her father did not.
“Just promise me you’ll make the best out of it?”
She forced a smiled. “I always do.” Laura gave her father a kiss on the cheek and stepped out of the car.
-----
St. Janarius Academy for Girls sits atop a lonely hill, hidden behind oak trees and bushes acting as boundary lines for the students that attend the institution. From a distance, the front of the school looked more like the opening of a wooded forest, but behind the bushes was a flat grass lawn that stretched as far as a football field. At the end of the lawn, you can see a wide building built in the collegiate gothic style. This was the main building. Further back, hidden and completely off-limits to every student, was the old building. The standing death trap broke building code in the mid-1920s, and instead of improving upon it, the school decided to pool funds and donations to construct a new building altogether. Even with the old building looming in the back, the campus was beautiful.
At first glance, you would think the school to be as prestigious as Cambridge or Harvard; it sure looked it. The luxurious campus, though displaced and out of the way, did not reveal the school’s struggle to attract new students with every passing year. This year’s enrollment was a measly 150 girls. Considering the building could hold up to 1500, the Board of Trustees was not very happy to hear the numbers at one of its bi-annual meetings.
Junior orientation was uneventful. Not bad uneventful, just uneventful. Her class gathered on the main lawn, and they handed out schedules and announced homerooms. Laura stood in her designated group and watched as the other students names were called.
“Karnstein, Carmilla. 307.” No movement.
“Karnstein, Carmilla. Are you here?!” The teacher spoke louder this time. A girl with black hair popped her head up from the crowd. The headphones in her ears gave some consolation as to why she didn’t hear her name the first time. Laura looked the girl up and down and realized just how different she looked from the rest of the student body. Most the girls of the were tanned with soft features. They didn’t necessarily look welcoming or even pleasant, but they looked more “teenager."
But Carmilla didn’t. Her black hair was the first major difference, but her face was just as alarming. Her features were sharp, and Laura was pretty sure her jawline could cut glass if tested. She looked like she was in her twenties, not sixteen.
307. My homeroom.
The girl sauntered over and looked straight at Laura. She smirked.
“Hey.” She turned around before Laura could even respond, which was, in all honesty, quite abnormal and even a little rude.
Laura stared at the back of the girl’s head. This girl is going to have more problems than one if she acts like this.
-----
Here comes the rain again
Raining in my head like a tragedy
Tearing me apart like a new emotion.
Carmilla Karnstein was the type of girl to put a song on repeat for hours. She would dissect every lyric, every syllable, every beat, every — wait, someone was calling her name.
She took a headphone out.
“Karnstein, Carmilla. Are you here?!”
Shit. Carmilla stood up as gracefully as she could and gathered. She could feel all eyes on her, and even heard a couple of sighs.
Well, I guess the time has come to strut my stuff.
Carmilla took her time walking over to her newly assigned homeroom. Room 307. By the time the next name was announced, most of the eyes of the junior class were off Carmilla and on to the next victim.
Most.
A girl who looked more like a 7th grader than an 11th grader was staring straight at her. Normally, Carmilla would have rolled her eyes and ignored her, but something about the softness in her eyes and how her lips were slightly parted proved that this girl was not making petty assumptions about Carmilla.
“Hey,” Carmilla said, half-smirking. The girl blushed, and looked down at her feet.
Hm, Carmilla thought. I guess not all of the girls at this school are straight.
-----
The bell rang to signal the end of homeroom. The new girl, Carmilla, was assigned a seat two persons over from Laura. Not that Laura actively picked up on that information. After all, there was only like twenty people in her homeroom. She just happened to notice that Carmilla sat very close to her.
Laura didn’t know what to make of the new girl, but she was interested. Carmilla scowled through all of homeroom and, instead attempting to make conversation with anyone, she took out a novel and began to read. Her headphones were not in, but they might as well have been. Laura opened her mouth to at least try to start conversation, but she backed out last minute. But, could you really blame her? Carmilla was naturally intimidating. She was absolutely stunning on one hand, and on the other, she looked like she didn’t want anything to do with the girls at this school. Especially a girl like Laura.
Except for when she said hi to Laura. Sure, it was abrupt and Laura was shocked, but her eyes were soft and focused only on Laura. Laura felt something. She felt something crippling, on not only her body but on her vocal cords. She was completely lost for words.
But that didn't detract that this Carmilla person was essentially angst in the form of a 16 year old girl.
But maybe Laura should grab this chance by the ankles and swing it around. She had a chance to have somebody. And that somebody was already interested in her. Romantically or platonically, Laura decided that maybe she should take advantage of this opportunity. (Not romantically. It's too early for that. Why did that word even come into my mind?) Laura needed to grab this opportunity before it left.
“Laura, Carmilla, can you two come here for a second?” their homeroom teacher, Mr. Christianson, asked.
Or maybe the opportunity would throw itself at her.
“Yes?” Laura asked, smile on her face. She like Mr. Christianson. He was her English teacher last year; her favorite teacher. He was one of the few reasons Laura was not completely appalled at the idea of her staying at Janarius.
Carmilla was less enthusiastic.
“Laura, I want you to show Carmilla here the ropes for the first few days of school. If I understand correctly, you both have every cla—“
“Mr. Christianson, that’s not really necessary,” Carmilla interrupted. Laura heard her voice more clearly this time. It was deep, and she drew out her words. Laura tried not to seem offended. “I can figure it out as I go.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “What’s the room number of your first class?”
Carmilla stammered. “Five-oh… six. Room five-oh-six.”
Mr. Christianson scoffed. “One-oh-two, but nice try.” He turned back to Laura. “Just make sure she gets to every class on time, alright Laura?”
Laura looked from Mr. Christianson to Carmilla. “Yeah, you got it, Mr. Christianson.”
-----
“Okay, we’re on the third floor right now, so…” Laura spoke, momentarily distracted by the corner she had to turn.
“I know what floor we’re on, cupcake.”
Laura looked back at Carmilla, caught off guard by the nickname. Carmilla smiled. Laura smiled back awkwardly. That awkward smile was why she loved to use it so much. Watching a girl get all flustered by a nickname was her favorite past time.
Laura’s mind was in a million different places at once. “Right, so we need to get down to the ground floor. Oh crap, we’re going to be late if we don’t hurry up.”
Laura picked up her walking speed. Carmilla didn’t. “Carmilla, come on. I’ll be the one in trouble if we’re late.”
Carmilla huffed, but picked up her speed nonetheless.
“So where did you transfer from, Carmilla?” She likes to say my name, Carmilla thought.
“Uh, I actually moved here from a few states away. My mom got a job offer with better perks, better money and she accepted. So, here we are today.”
“How are you liking it so far?”
Carmilla scoffed. “Well, I already made a complete fool of myself when I didn’t hear my name called. So, I’m off to a great start.”
Laura chuckled. “It wasn’t that bad. I don’t think anybody noticed.”
Carmilla smiled and remembered Laura’s face when they’d first seen each other. “You obviously did.”
“Yeah, well…” Laura was lost for words(again). They had finally reached Room 102. “Here we are!” Laura opened the door.
Carmilla looked at Laura through her bangs. “After you.”
-----
Carmilla's black curls draped over her shoulder, covering one side of her face while she took notes. Say something, Laura thought. Anything.
“Carmilla, hey Carmilla!” Laura whispered across the lab table as their Physics teacher read off the syllabus.
Carmilla felt her heart beat when Laura said her name. She brushed it off. She looked up at Laura. She noticed Laura was fidgeting with a pencil.
“What?”
“I bought a book on gravity the other day,” Laura said with a straight face.
Carmilla furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the girl skeptically.
Laura’s neutral face turned into a smile. “I just can’t put it down!”
Carmilla closed her eyes and placed a hand against her forehead. “Oh my God.”
Laura laughed silently, and continued to follow along as the teacher discussed mandatory class materials.
She could feel herself smiling at her syllabus. Maybe this year isn’t going to be so bad after all.
-----
Laura sped her way through the halls, Carmilla dragged her feet behind. When they reached their classrooms, Laura would choose a seat, and Carmilla would choose one relatively close to her. This was how the day went on for the most part. Laura didn't think Carmilla was that irritated at the concept of having to follow Laura around. Laura was a quick thinker, and she definitely wasn't a dull conversationalist. But Carmilla did notice one thing.
Laura didn’t talk to anybody(except for Carmilla, of course). Sure, small-talk of “How was your summer?” and “Do you have an extra sheet of paper?” took place but that was it. Laura didn’t travel from class to class in a pack of other girls. Other than Carmilla trailing behind her, Laura was a lone wolf.
For someone as upbeat and optimistic as Laura, Carmilla expected her to be more popular. But maybe it was Laura’s sheer optimism that turned people off. Carmilla saw people sneering at Laura in the hallways. Laura didn’t notice. Or maybe she was ignoring them. Carmilla did not know much about it, but she could tell people didn’t like Laura for some reason.
But Carmilla didn't care. She was curious in the girl. She observed the mannerisms that were so different from her own, the way she weaved in between groups of girls travelling the hallways, the way her hair reflected light, the way her entire face lit up when she smiled...
There was no questioning it: the girl was cute. And the uniform definitely didn't help Carmilla's thoughts. The official rule was no shorter than the edge of your fingertips, but it seemed that rule was regularly ignored. Laura was no exception.
But Carmilla was getting bored. Class after class, teacher after teacher, skirt after skirt...(okay, maybe not the last one). Carmilla was in a new environment, and she was feeling risky. After the fourth hour of classes, Carmilla suggested they do something.
“We can’t cut.” Laura said, putting books away in her locker. Carmilla peeked in: color-coded notebooks and binders, every text book spine had a label, and it was all held together by a locker organizer. She was almost too clean-cut.
“It’s only a study. Does it really matter that much?” Carmilla whined with a little grin.
“Yes! They take attendance and my job is to make sure you get to class on time!” Laura whisper-yelled. She craned her neck to peek down the hallway. It was quickly emptying. They had one minute until they would be late for class. “I mean, it’s your first day. You shouldn’t push it.”
Carmilla was disappointed. “Fine. Let’s go be boring then.” She folded her arms and started to walk away from Laura.
Laura slammed her locker shut.
“Carmilla!”
No response; Carmilla didn’t hear. She ran up ahead of Carmilla.
“CARMILLA!” She pushed her hand against the locker to prevent Carmilla from walking away.
Carmilla’s eyes shot open. Was Laura seriously about to hit her? “Cupcake, what is your problem?!”
Laura looked at her fist against the locker and woah, did I really just do that? She took a deep breath and looked down at the floor. Nice one, Laura, too coward to look a girl you almost hit in the eye.
“Just…" she found whatever confidence inside of her and used it to look Carmilla in the eye, "don’t call me boring.”
“What?”
“Just please don’t.” All the confidence was gone now. She was looking at her shoes again.
Carmilla’s face softened. “Laura, I didn’t mean…”
Laura looked down the hallway again. Anything to avoid eye contact. “Whatever, let’s just go to class.”
“Laura, I’m—“
Laura turned around and walked away. She couldn’t tell if Carmilla was following her, and she wasn’t really sure if she cared.
-----
Carmilla followed Laura into the classroom.
“Laura, wait.”
“It’s fine, Carmilla.”
They entered the room. There were about ten other girls in the room, but the room was silent. Frustrated, Carmilla settled into the seat next to Laura.
Carmilla folded her arms and slumped into her seat. Well, what the fuck am I supposed to say now?
Should I say sorry? She won’t even let me start talking, though! And it’s too quiet in here, anyway. I don’t want everyone to hear. Maybe, I should wait until the next class. But that’s an entire hour from now. Or maybe I could write her a note…?
Carmilla sat there for ten minutes, thinking of the routes she could go to address this problem. Problem? Was it even a problem? She’d met her a good four hours ago and had already managed to piss her off. She scoffed. Could I be better at making friends? I think not.
She looked over to Laura and holy shit, did I make her cry? Laura had buried her face into her hands and her back was rising slowly with every uneven breath.
Panicked, Carmilla hastily ripped a piece of paper out of her notebook and scribbled a brief note. She pushed it on to Laura’s desk, stood up and walked out of the classroom.
-----
Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. This is why I don’t have any friends. I take everything personally. Now she probably hates me. Fantastic.
Laura brought her hands to her face and breathed in quietly. She inhaled(one, two, three); she exhaled(four, five, six).
She felt someone touch her shoulder and peeked through the spaces of her fingers. A small scrap of paper was resting on her previously-empty desk. Next to Laura, Carmilla’s desk was now vacant.
She unfolded the paper.
“Meet me in the bathroom. -C”
Laura stood up and walked out of the room.