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[center][sub][color=#a51d45]Location:[/color] Rest Stop -> Front Gates[/sub]             [sub][color=#a51d45]Interactions:[/color] Elysia [@alexfangtalon][/sub]             [sub][color=#a51d45]Date:[/color] August 24th, 6:25 AM -> 7:00 AM[/sub][/center]
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[center]Just a little before 6:30 AM, a white Pilot pulled up to the rest stop. There was an Uber sticker on both the rear and passenger windows of the car- it didn’t belong to a parent. The driver was far too young to be one anyways. There was a high-school aged girl in the backseat, too, dark-skinned and curly-haired. Ramona had hired the Uber to drive from the airport to Wellington Academy. The car stayed parked at the stop after it had pulled up, the engines still going. Then, after a minute or so, the back door popped open and Ramona hopped out. With a heavy grey duffel bag already slung over her shoulder, she raced to the trunk and popped it open. With effort, she planted her feet in the ground and hefted two suitcases out, dropping them on the ground once she was done. Once everything was out of the trunk, she gave a thumbs-up to the driver and he drove away, leaving her alone at the rest stop. 

Ramona could barely keep her eyes open as she tugged her suitcases over to where she thought the coach would pick them up, staggering the entire way. At this point, she had been awake for… she checked the leather watch on her wrist and sighed. 20 hours. It wasn’t that the flight from Miami to Vermont had been that long. The plane ride had taken only five hours, and she had spent half of it trying to sleep and the other half trying to read Chinese literature. So it hadn’t been that. Rather, it had been all the [i]extra[/i] time. She had gotten to the airport three hours before her flight, and it had laid over in Philadelphia, which took another two hours. A
Starbucks had been her guardian angel in Philly, but apparently it had been too early for the coffee shop in Burlington to open when she landed. And, even then, she hadn’t had enough time to get coffee once she landed- she had had to race across a deserted airport to her 4 AM Uber. The drive to Wellington Academy had taken them winding through dark, unpaved mountain roads for nearly two hours, with no coffee in sight. So now, at 6:30 AM, her eyes were trying their best to betray her by closing and lulling her into sleep.

With her bright yellow-painted nails, she pinched the sensitive skin on the inside of her wrist, jarring herself back to being three-quarters awake. Fighting to keep her eyes open, she glanced around and nearly lost her breath. The New England wilderness was only missing a blanket of snow to make it a proper winter wonderland. Even here, from the road, it was breathtaking. Mountainous and covered in what seemed to be some sort of tree, it was radically different from the wilderness of Florida. The sun was steadily rising It was August, and it was cold even now. Realizing the chill, Ramona tugged her zip-up jacket closed, sticking her hands in its pockets. Maybe she had brought too many tank-tops for the climate here. As of right now, even her current outfit didn’t seem to be enough- a black zip-up hoodie from Hollister, exercise pants, and slides with socks. She was wearing sunglasses, too, which didn’t seem to be too necessary. She took note of the other students around her, dark brown eyes skimming over the few other students that had arrived this early. She yawned, anxious for the coach to arrive.

She had been waiting for this moment for what felt like eons, although she knew she had only applied 6 months ago. This school sounded perfect to her. Ramona was good at math and science and history, sure, but what she loved was languages. And it turned out that trying to focus on things that she [i]didn’t[/i] love led her to crash and burn. But no school except Wellington would let her forgo the general curriculum and instead pursue her interests. It had been a miracle when she had been accepted, and now she was here- actually here. Or about to be. She wondered what her classes would be like. Or her [i]roommate[/i]- it said on the information sheet she had been given that her roomie’s name was Evelyn Albright. She liked to imagine that her roommate spoke a language that she didn’t know yet, but she had looked her up and found only mentions of piano competitions and recitals.  She hadn’t been able to find any videos, though. That was probably her thing, her special Wellington skill. Ramona just hoped that her piano playing wouldn’t interrupt her studying.

Finally, the coach pulled up to the rest stop. Ramona had never seen a coach before, and was honestly kind of expecting a horse-drawn buggy. But, much to her disappointment (?), it just kind of looked like a bus. Not wanting to take too long, Ramona let everybody else go before her, finally dragging her heavy suitcases and bag onto the coach with her and sitting in one of the front seats. The seat beside her was left empty, so she could scoot over to the window seat and gaze outside without any feeling of guilt. 

The scenery seen from the Wellington coach was even more beautiful than from the road. Ramona watched, captivated, as the coach cut through the slim forest road, the boughs of the pine trees brushing against the windows. The thin morning light filtered through the forest, casting leafy shadows on the windows. The coach bumped as it went over rocks and divots in the dirt path, and when Ramona thought that it couldn’t get any cooler, a tunnel appeared ahead. She pressed her cheek to the window, aiming to see what laid ahead of them. The tunnel appeared to be the entrance into the Academy- after all, that was what it said. Her ears popped, and she made a squeak of discomfort. And then, it passed through the tunnel. A gorgeous mural covered the insides of the tunnel. Ramona pressed her hands against the window, wanting a closer look, but it disappeared within seconds as the coach sped past the tunnel and started to struggle up, up, up, further up the mountain. [color=#a51d45][i]I didn’t think that mountains could be this high,[/i][/color] she thought, hands pressed to the window as the coach struggled through the path. 

They pulled up to the gates a few minutes later. The doors of the coach popped open, and Ramona gazed out for a moment or so, marveling at the exquisite gates. She caught herself doing this and then, groaning, pulled her duffel back onto her shoulder and hauled her suitcases out of the coach, muttering a [color=#a51d45]“thank you”[/color] to the driver before hopping out. 

Attempts to focus on getting to where she needed to be were not enough. Instead of looking for the other incoming students, Ramona trudged up to the statues and simply stared. She cocked her head. They looked vaguely… Greek? Roman? Like goddesses of some sort. Athena and… she couldn’t quite place the other one. Before she quite knew what she was doing, her right hand was touching the statue. She yanked it away quickly.

She looked around for a moment more, finding the spot where she had been told to wait for her cottage leader and standing there.  She was a bit too tired to initiate conversation, with anyone, so she chose not to. 

Then, a shorter girl approached her, holding out a notecard. Ramona blinked. [color=#a51d45][i]Did I drop one of my flashcards?[/i][/color] But she was sure that her flashcards were in her supplies suitcase… she took the card, reading it, and popped her head up. Her mouth formed an “o”. She was [i]mute[/i]. And from Zinnia Cottage!

[color=#a51d45]“Oh, it’s awesome to meet you! I’m Ramona Hernandez.”[/color] She waved to the younger girl, smiling widely and naturally. [color=#a51d45] “That’s funny, because I’m in Zinnia Cottage too. I don’t think you’re my roommate, though. I’m a sophomore, but I just enrolled this year…”[/color] Ramona trailed off, glancing to the side.

[color=#a51d45]“Anyways, since you’re, uh, mute, do you speak ASL? Sign? Whatever. My Wellington thing is that I’m a polyglot. I’m trying to learn ASL right now, but I’m not very good at it, like, at all. It’s kind of hard to practice and stuff because it’s not written or anything and I have to memorize all the… nevermind. Just wondering.”[/color][/center]