[center][h3][code]Reyna Baker[/code][/h3][/center][hr]

One of the buses finally rolled to a stop after a very long trip in front of the academy driveway, and the exhaust left the bus like a long-winded sigh of relief. When the driver reached over and opened the doors, one of the passengers unclicked her seatbelt, grabbed her bags, and bulldozed her way down the center aisle before anybody had gotten up yet – yet they were preparing to do so; their feet, knees, or elbows in the way, and as the person came storming through, they were either pushed out of the way or trampled over as they came storming through.

“Woah!”

“Hey, watch it!”

“Dude, what the fuck!” One young boy yelled, which was cut off by a sharp “Hey! Language!”

“Sorry Mrs. Henderson…”

The offender ran out of the bus, even skipping a step as she leaped out and met the South Carolina heat. She was pleased to find that she had dressed appropriately enough for the weather; her knee-length white skater dress flowed weightlessly in what little breeze there was, causing the hundreds of tiny little Snoopy dogs printed on it to soar through the air. Over it was her black leather jacket, even under while under the South Carolina sun. Camouflage cargo shorts protected her dignity, and the wide-brimmed, floppy straw hat protected her pale, freckled skin from burning from the harsh rays. The young woman, once outside got her affairs in order; the green army backpack was big and bulky, back from her grandfather’s boot camp day, and the rolling suitcase at her side was about ready to burst at the seams, and its handle was wrapped with old airline tickets and both bags were covered in pins. Between just these two bags was everything she was supposed to need for her stay for each academy semesters.

She swallowed down a large lump in her throat as she tried to take in the splendor and immensity of the campus. It was fenced off; the main building was huge and ornately structured and the flora decorating its gardens were like beautiful masterpieces of nature. The size of the campus was also mind boggling, and she couldn’t help but wonder how much money had gone into the facility or how much money it would’ve required to get into this school without assistance or an invitation. As if to shrug off the weight of such thoughts, her eyes were drawn to one of memorabilia tickets on her bag. 

[i]“FROM: PWM; PORTLAND, ME. 
TO: MSY; NEW ORLEANS, LA. 
REYNA E. BAKER.”[/i]

It prompted a fond smile from her, as if the sight was a nod of encouragement, and she marched her way toward the Academy 003 entrance.

Reyna didn’t feel like she belonged here. It was too fancy and too sophisticated. She was used to living in the city where nothing was clean, and everything costed at least twice its actual value, which made everyone scramble for decent-paying jobs that could pay enough to enable them to competitively fight over the scraps they were given. Here? It almost felt like a sense of betrayal to her friends back home to be here, and that it almost wasn’t honest of her to be here – but she was here, so she had to make the most of it. She was given a rare opportunity to claw her way out of a shitty situation, so she had to take advantage of what she was being given. That’s what her mom and dad would want to hear from her, right? So, she faced it, the school, with a brave smile. An eager smile. She pushed down the feelings of impotence to make way for her curiosity and wanderlust. It was time to make history.

The inside was marvelous. Faculty in the entrance hall took her bags and stored them for her, leaving her free and unencumbered to roam the building – until she was shepherded into a central area, unfortunately; no exploring just yet. She was mostly unfocused during the speech, preoccupied with looking around at the décor and some of the strange, new people entering. However, they had her attention when, suddenly, an enormous woman stood front and center on stage and began talking about power assessments, and of course it was the seven-foot-tall black lady who would be everyone’s gym teacher. Apparently not even FAMA was immune to typecasting. More jarringly, Ms. Gallus’ assistant was this girl who looked like a grasshopper. Disarmingly polite and pleasant, but part of Reyna wondered if her… power, if one could call it that, also included eating people’s heads. It was probably better not to think about it.

The food that was soon presented to them, on the other hand, was all she could think about upon being released into the cafeteria. It didn’t really matter what it was they were cooking, as Reyna was an easily satisfied individual who learned to live on the cheapest kinds of foods, so she just found a food try and piled on as much as she could until the caterers told her it was time to stop. It was a mountainous smorgasbord of food, carefully placed on different parts of the tray and stacked in such a way where none of the flavor profiles would conflict with each other too drastically. She was about to find a table for her to sit at and try her best to consume as much of the grotesque pile of food as she could when she saw the collision between two girls, acting as one of the many bystanders watch one swear the other out, and an unrelated third party helping the clumsy girl back up to her feet.

“What a bitch, huh?” Reyna commented flatly to the Indian girl. She overheard her calling herself Kashmira after accepting help from the other stranger. Truthfully, Reyna didn’t have any strong feelings about what happened, it was just an opportunity for her to get involved with others. Part of her even had an inkling of respect for the “bitch” that stormed off, since Reyna could appreciate sticking up for one’s self and setting a standard. On the other hand, Clumsy Girl was just being clumsy. Shit like that happens all the time.

“We can take her out back, if you’d like; teach her a lesson.” She joked. It was like she tried to deliver it with a deadpan expression, though she failed in her attempts to hold back the amuse smirk stretching from one corner of her mouth.