forum I Went To The Woods Because I Wished To Live Deliberately || Brookestone Academy || Fem DPS || Closed

Started January 10, 2023 by @emilyevewrites group

tune

Birdie followed suit, staring up at the ceiling dreamily.
She looked around with her wide protuberant eyes as she sat down in the first desk in the third row, near the teachers desk.

She then took out an unused purple spiral notebook, which she had painted books and pencils as well as quills sitting in inkpots on. She let it sit on her desk, placing her red No. 2 pencil neatly next to it, folding her hands and resting them in her lap.

Juniper struggled. Much of the courses were simple enough, but she constantly got lost, and was late to a majority of her classes. However, French was the easiest class of the day. She knew enough to be conversational, but nowhere near enough to be proper. She could thank her friends overseas for their help. Her next class was English. She walked in, a little early, which had her check her schedule twice. She looked around the room, and saw her roommate. She waved.
"Hey! Can I sit beside you? You seem to know what you're doing. Everything here is so confusing…"

Gayle glanced over as her roommate spoke to her, having been engrossed in tracing her finger over the desk in the shape of some doodles. She should probably get her actual notebook ready. She usually drew all sorts of things in the margins in lieu of actually getting a sketchbook or something. That would be too distracting. She didn't want to let herself imagine that art could be anything but an enjoyable hobby on occasion. Besides, she had always been best at painting.

She didn't mind helping out her roommate a bit. Gayle knew if she were the new one at the school, she would want someone to show her the ropes or at least stick by her side as she figured things out. "Oh, sure," she blinked, glancing at the seat next to her. "Starting at a new school can be intimidating." At the very least, she could offer Juniper some support.

Juniper sighed in relief.
"Thank goodness. When I tell you I've gotten lost several times today and I've been late to every class, I mean it. It's been horrible."
Juniper started pulling a notebook out of her backpack and set it hastily on the desk. She flipped to a blank page and began tapping her pencil on the desk.
"To be honest, I have zero clue what I'm doing here. I'm nowhere near as prim and proper as everyone else. And compared to you guys, I talk pretty funny. I'm from Scotland for the Queen's sake! The only class I sounded somewhat normal in today, was French! And even then, I got scolded for using slang terms. I'm starting to wish I was back home. With the people I know. And the horses. And my dog. Today has just been a rough day in general."

Gayle nodded, listening to her roommate's complaints. She understood how nerve-wracking going to a new school was, since she had been scared when she'd started her first year here too, though of course she lived much closer. Changing from a school in your hometown to one farther away, with lots of strangers and rules, was intimidating. Especially when said school was a boarding school.

After Juniper finished her short rant, Gayle blinked, glancing over at her roommate again. She had pulled out a notebook herself as her roommate sat down, starting to doodle in the margins already–today it was a field of flowers. She twirled a hair around her finger as she thought about what might be a good thing to say in response, finally coming up with something after what felt like an eternity but was probably only a few seconds.

"If you want, I could show you where your classes are," she offered. It wouldn't be too much work to at least point the girl in the right direction. Besides, Gayle was usually so early that she would have no trouble getting there on time even without the panicked hurrying she usually did. She was a fast walker, after all. It would be fine. "We're in the same grade, so it wouldn't be like I'm going out of my way." She was doing surprisingly well with this interaction, despite her current lack of ease around her roommate. Juniper's more outgoing and talkative disposition was definitely different from Gayle, but it might not be unwelcome. Just in case Gayle was thinking too hard on the subject and didn't actually need to offer help, she quickly added, "Only if you want to, I mean."

Juniper smiled.
"Oh stars that would be so wonderful. Maybe next time the French teacher won't massacre me for being two minutes late. Anyways, you look nice today. Gotta dress to impress am I right? Quick question. Has anyone ever met this English teacher? Or is she new?"

Gayle smiled at Juniper's affirmative answer, relieved. Maybe having a more outgoing roommate would be good for her. She was glad that her offer of help was, well, helpful. She did really enjoy being there for her classmates when she could, despite the anxiety interacting with them sometimes gave her. Lord knew that she needed more friends instead of just acquaintances. She had noticed Juniper come in late for French, and it now made sense why. Of course she didn't know her way around yet. Not everyone scouted things out before they had class to double check they knew the way, and Gayle had been going to this school for a few years since.

At the compliment, Gayle's smile widened a little, and she blushed slightly. She wasn't used to people actually paying much attention to her besides a side glance when she was too nervous to answer a question in class or something. She really was trying to look cute, so it felt nice to think that other people noticed the effort she put in. It wasn't as if everyone else was mean to her or anything, more accurately they just didn't speak to her much unless she was friends with them (which was a precious few members of her grade), and talking to someone felt nice.

As for Juniper's questions, Gayle had heard about the new English teacher. She was honestly pretty curious about the young woman, since their past English teacher was so boring it was a bit of a struggle to pay attention, though she had trudged through it, even taking notes. She already knew more about poetry in the 1800s than she had ever wanted to know at this point, and she was sick of looking for metaphors and symbolism in every text they had to read. Why couldn't a character wearing blue just mean that they like the color blue? It felt like everything had to have a deeper meaning with the past teacher. Maybe this one would be a little more lively.

"Oh, thank you," Gayle responded, glancing down for a moment. "You look nice too." And it was true. Juniper did look pretty today. "As for the English teacher, she's new. I don't really know anything about her, to be honest. I just hope she'll be a good teacher, you know?"

Adalise couldn't help but sneak a peek though the small crack in her doorway as the girls in her next class filed slowly in. It was slightly amusing as they noticed her absence and then glanced around to hesitantly pick their seats for the semester.

Before she could be seen, the woman ducked back with a grin and headed over to her small desk to gather a book and a clipboard in her hands. She settled both into the crook of her arm and made her way back to the door, checking the time. A minute before the class started. Surely, most teachers would be handing out materials now. Or at the very least, sitting at their desks. Not Miss Lansing.

The young new teacher spared a brief glance down at the book balanced on top of her clipboard. The cover was black with golden words pressed into the leather. Five Centuries of Verse. She'd owned it ever since she'd been a young girl, starting at Brookestone Academy. Her parents had never been cruel to her, but they'd never really had the chance. Adalise was sent to the boarding school as soon as she was of age. She could practically see the handwritten words on the first page, but she didn't open the book. Instead, the teacher waited patiently for the next minute before she would enter her classroom.

Juniper smiled at Gayle's compliment.
"Thank you. I tried to incorporate myself into this uniform. I have to show a little bit of personality. As for the teacher, I hope she'll be good. Looking around the classroom, and looking for the teacher, from what I can gather she's probably not contemporary. This should be interesting indeed."

Meg finally walked into the room, still clutching some of her papers from the last class. She had to stay behind with Madame Rousseau about her accent. The young student had always been interested in other languages. It was unlikely that she would travel or need to learn many for the job she wanted… but some part of her couldn't leave the idea of becoming multilingual alone.

She smiled a little as she took an empty seat and started organizing her things to be ready for this class.

Juniper smiled at Gayle's compliment.
"Thank you. I tried to incorporate myself into this uniform. I have to show a little bit of personality. As for the teacher, I hope she'll be good. Looking around the classroom, and looking for the teacher, from what I can gather she's probably not contemporary. This should be interesting indeed."

Gayle frowned slightly in thought, trying to parse out what little she did know about the new teacher. Her old teacher was not exactly what could be called contemporary either, reading straight from the book and assigning them super old readings from boring, long poems that weren't really relevant to this day and age. Maybe the new one would be more interesting, though she doubted it. At least English was reliably boring and easy to answer as long as one studied. Just like every subject here. She was glad it wasn't subjective–having a concrete right and wrong answer made it easy to study. She was great at memorization.

"I get that," she agreed, glancing at her own uniform briefly. She tried to do the same thing. Uniforms were boring, but she could make small alterations or additions to make it her own and show off her style. For someone so shy, she really loved showing her personality and style through her accessories and outfits. "And if she's anything like the last one, we'll basically just be reading from the book. It's not too difficult as long as you study."

Juniper groaned.
"Oh I can hardly stand classes like that. But at least that's easy. Studying isn't my strong suit, but I can do it when the time is necessary."
She looked around the class at all the other girls coming in and sitting down. She thought to herself.
Maybe some of these girls can teach me new things. Or at the very least, would want to be my friend…

Gayle shrugged slightly. She liked classes like that. They required zero critical thought and were easy to memorize the information so she could focus on what was important: getting ready for med school. Ever since she could remember, her parents urged her to get a stable, well-paying job, and doctor was just one of a few examples they had given her. It was straight-forward enough, and the least odious of the choices she'd been given. Left to her own devices, Gayle had no clue what she would have pursued, though it wasn't a topic she often thought about. Her parents wanted her to get paid well, and so she would get a high-paying job. It was for her own good, after all.

Besides, being a pediatrician wouldn't be so bad. She had always liked kids, though she didn't particularly care for the constant babysitting she did for her siblings. But at the very least those long hours had helped her get very good with children, and that job likely wouldn't involve any easy-to-mess-up surgeries or gore.

Her life was fixed, just like the security of the classes at this school. Honestly, Gayle couldn't imagine what having an English class where they would have to create their own work or do much besides copy from the textbook and memorize things. Like every other class, it was pretty black and white. Easy to study and clear when she got something right.

"I can always help you if need it," Gayle offered. "I've gotten pretty good at studying myself, and they say that once you know something well enough to teach it, it means you've really got it down." She also just enjoyed helping people, so it would be a win for them both.

Juniper smiled at that statement.
"Yeah. If you can teach it, you really know it. That's a pretty good thing to go by there Gayle. I would really appreciate it if you helped me study when I really needed to. Now I have a question. Do you know any of these other girls besides me? I have no clue who any of them are, and I would eventually like to get to know them a little bit since I have other classes with them."

Gayle blinked, glancing around the room at the arriving girls. She didn't all of them, but she at least recognized the majority from previous years. It would be hard to not know anyone at all, considering that she had been going to this school for several years, and many of the others had too. It was more that she was intimidated by some of them, and others she had just never really had the chance to talk to since she often spent time in her room or under the shade of a tree outside by herself. So she probably wouldn't feel comfortable introducing Juniper to many people soon, but she could at least point out who was who and which girls that Juniper might want to be friends with or to avoid.

"I know most of them," she responded, looking back at Juniper before glancing around the room again. "Although, I'll admit I don't know all of them super well. I can at least tell you most of their names though, since we've had classes together before."

Juniper seemed outgoing enough to be able to make friends and introduce herself to these girls without help from Gayle, but Gayle might as well try to help anyway since it seemed Juniper was sort of asking her to. She didn't mind doing what she could, but many of these people just weren't really friends with Gayle, due to no shortcoming of their own. Maybe if she were more social she would be better at this.

Juniper clasped her hand together.
"That's alright. We'll get to know them better. Tell me their names. They all have different stories to tell. It will be nice to get to know them. We can ask them if they would like to hang out with us! That worked all the time back home. However for here, we might just need to make it something more along the lines of would you like to study with us. That would probably work better."

Gayle blinked, a bit surprised at Juniper's outgoing behavior. She hadn't really thought of it that way, though she did enjoy slowly getting to know people that she was already friends with. Maybe getting to know an acquaintance wouldn't be so different…right? She certainly hoped so.

"That could work," she agreed, ducking her head a little. "I've never really gone up to people like that, though. So you'll have to do all the talking at first." It wasn't that she was against making new friends, but the concept of reaching out to others scared her. Maybe Juniper was her ticket to actually having more friends in this place. Though she didn't like the idea of having too many, or she would feel obligated to spend time with all of them and that would be too much. She didn't have the energy for that.

Since Juniper did ask for the other girls' names, Gayle pointed them out as they arrived, giving their names and a bit of information she knew about them (which was admittedly not much). Hopefully things would all work out. It was already beginning to stress Gayle out a bit.