Chapter 6

The school opens into a long hallway splitting in two after a few cadences, one leading to lockers and classes, while other leading to the office. We followed the one for the office, and in few moments found ourselves face to face with the Principal. "Ah, Good morning. Please, come in, come in, have a seat. How are you doing on this fine day? I'm Isaac Stowell, Principal of Blackwood High.", he greeted us. " Good morning Mr Stowell, we are good. Thank you for asking. How are you?", Dad replied to the pleasantries with a firm handshake. "Good. I'm good. I assume you are here to enrol your children today." He inquired. "Yes. This is Orion, my son, he is 16, to register in junior year," Dad said, whilst pointing to Rock "Good morning, Mr Stowell", he greeted with a handshake, "Good morning son", Mr Stowell replied with a warm welcoming smile. "And this, this is my daughter, Phoenix, she is 13 and ready to start high school." Dad continued this time gesturing to me. "Hello sir, Good morning.", I replied in a small quiet voice. My social anxiety coming up. "Good morning, young lady.", the Principal replied back with the same kindness. Mr Stowell is a middle-aged man, in his early 40s or 45s, with an average height of five feet and seven inches, salt and pepper look for hair, a bit chubby, but very welcoming. He has one of those kind eyes and charming smile, that just warms you up. But something tells me not to test his patience. "Alright, now that introductions are done, let us dive into the purpose of your visit. Shall we!", he said, pulling out forms to be filled for the admission. " In Blackwood High, extracurricular activities are given the same importance as that of the academics. Thus, for Juniors, they have to choose between various sports, arts, science, literature, and volunteering clubs. They have to select any three subcategories of the above-mentioned. It can be all the same categories or different, there wish. You also have the right to choose your subjects, just make sure you add at least one of each core subjects. All your preferences would be taken into consideration, while matching with your current academics, before finalization. But seeing your grades, I think it would be a piece of cake for you to get in any your heart desires.", Mr Stowell said, laughing up, heeded by Dad and me, turning Rock a blushing mess. "Yea, sure, I will fill it up", Rock mumbled, still flustered, whilst taking out a pen and starts filling up.

" Now, for freshers, the rules change a bit.", he carried on facing me instead. I like the way he is talking to Rock and me, and not just Dad alone. "We want freshers to experience and try all the new things, to learn where their passion lays, and to enhance and enrich it. Therefore, they have all the core subjects, along with a few additional subjects in their curriculum. These include - Art, Language, Music/Theatre, Gym and Culinary/ Pottery. You have to take all the subjects the for the first semester, and then according to your preferences and your performance in them, you will have to take at least anyone among the Art, Music / Theatre, Culinary/Pottery. You are also to carry them in the sophomore year. Also, the school has various sports and non-sports club. The sports include Football, Basketball, Varsity, Badminton, Tennis, Gymnastics, Swimming and recently added Boxing. You are required to try for all of the clubs. If you have potential, you would be in. In case, you get selected for more than one, it would be up to students to choose either or both or none, provided they give valid reasoning. In the non-sports category, we have literature, astronomy, science, mathematics, environmental science, social sciences, indoor games, creative writing and psychology & philosophy. In this, you would be part of any three clubs for three months, and then switch for the next three and then again towards the end. All of them have quizzes, debates, poster making, essay writing and various other activities. Again based on your interest and performance, next year you would be required to select any three.", Mr Stowell paused, letting all the information to sink in. "Any question so far?", he inquired, and when I answered in negative, he gave me my form and asked me to fill in. Meanwhile, Rock has completed his and is just going through the checking.

Okay, for the extra subjects, I choose culinary from culinary or pottery, music from music or theatre and the German language as my second language from French, Spanish, Arabic, German, Chinese and Russian. The reason for German, well I'm biracial, and I've got reasons to believe that at least one of my biological parents were from Germany, while others being English.

Once, the forms as well as documents were filled, checked and accepted, the admission procedure was finished off. "Congratulations. Welcome to the Blackwood High", Mr Stowell announced, giving us a blinding smile. I swear it looks like he was more delighted than all of us. Dad politely thanked him on our behalf, discussed a few more rules and regulations, like clothes, working hours, punishments etc. After a quick tour of the school and assuring all of us that someone would be there to show us around on our first day, we were on our way back home, err, mansion! You know, what FM, Ya that sounds good.

Anonymous P.O.V

" Found him. ", said a man in his Bluetooth receiver. He was sitting in a black van, dressed in a wife-beater and joggers. He was around 30, chiselled sculpted face, high cheekbones, olive skin, and those luscious raven curls giving him a look of that of Adonis. But his eyes, they were as black as darkest skies, piercing into your soul. And those mysterious nerve-wracking eyes were fixed on the new addition of the BlackWood Valley, noting every step of this dysfunctional yet content family. "Are you sure?", asked a dominating voice from the speaker. "More than anything. It's him. Though he changed his appearance a bit. Seems like he got a new hair colour and a new pet", The Adonis said with all seriousness. "Watch him. And find more about this pet of his.", and with that order, the line went dead. "The chase came to an end. Let's see what you got know bunny", thought the Adonis, a dark smirk ever-present on his lips and eyes locked on the oblivious family.