• “Monnie?”
    A voice was calling to her. She slept on.

    “Mon-nie.” The voice called again, but this time she felt something nudge her.
    “Hmm…?” she replied faintly.

    “Monnie, wake up. We’re almost there,” the voice whispered. Monnie stirred in her sleep, opening her eyes just a bit. A boy with messy, dirty-blond hair and handsome hazel eyes was leaning over her, trying to wake her up.

    “Lucas?” she replied sleepily, starting to come around.
    “Ah, there you go,” Lucas said as Monnie slowly opened her eyes and sat up.

    They were sitting on a bus seat; her by the window, him by the aisle; heading down the road towards the city.They were the only passengers on the bus, since they were coming from the country. She looked out the window, where she could see the vast city approaching on the horizon. It was little past noon, since the sun was a little lower in the sky.

    "Oh, umm,thanks Lucas. How long have I been asleep?” she asked, for she remembered it being morning when they had gotten on the bus, and she didn’t want to have been a burden for Lucas the trip thus far.

    “You were asleep for a few hours; but I don’t mind,” he replied, but then his face lit-up. “Actually, it was kind of nice, especially when you fell asleep leaning on my shoulder,” he teased. Monnie’s face turned pink. “Relax, I was joking!”Lucas laughed.They were best of friends and known each other since they could remember, growing up next door to each other. These kinds of jokes didn’t bother Lucas, but they seemed to embarrass Monnie. “It’s okay, really,” he said softly, changing to sincere in a flash. He put his arm around Monnie in a friendly embrace as the bus entered the city.

    They talked the rest of the way; Lucas pointing out the sights through the window as the bus strolled through the evening traffic. As they approached their final destination; the boarding-school’s drop-off, Lucas gave Monnie a reassuring smile and whispered, “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. I guarantee you’ll love it here.” He took Monnie’s hand and squeezed it, a habit of his to do whenever he could tell she was anxious.

    When the bus pulled up to their stop, Lucas stood up to get their luggage from the rack above their heads. After helping Monnie up, he proceeded to carry their things down the bus-aisle, through the exit, and onto the curb. Monnie followed close behind since she didn’t know her way around the city, let alone to the school campus; yet. Lucas had been going to school here since he was freshman. Now he was going to be a sophmore; while this was going to be Monnie’s freshman year. Although she had been to the school before, those visits were always to go with Lucas’s parents; Mr. and Mrs. Dane; to pick him up for summer break and holidays. Lucas always came home for holidays;teasing that he wouldn’t want to leave poor Monnie all alone, since they didn’t have any neighbors other then themselves. But Monnie wasn’t complaining.

    They collected their luggage from the pile on the curb and started towards the school gate, where other kids were arriving; getting off buses and out of cabs, being dropped off by parents, or having ridden the subway from some distant neighborhood in the city. They were all heading towards the iron school gates; strolling their luggage, reading the Campus maps, or waiting around for friends. But one thing was for sure; everyone looked ready for the new school year. Everyone except the freshman, that is. While some looked excitedly nervous, others looked about to vomit. Once they went through the elegant iron gates, Lucas gave a big smile and announced to her, "Welcometo Xavier’s Private Academ: a little place we like to call school.”

    Wow, thought Monnie as they entered the school campus, which was not little, not even just big; it was enormous. Having several large dorm buildings, sports fields, shops, pool, and a forest with a stream and a small lake all on site, along with the actual school buildings, which were big enough as are, the campus was a lot more than overwhelming to take in all at once. They walked along, stolling and carrying their lungage, taking a short cut through the forest, which was slightly emptier than the busy sidewalks on the main path.

    “Oh! Wow.” Monnie quietly exclaimed when she saw the small waterfall that the stream turned into when it reached the lake. It was about 10 ft high and made a beautifully musical sound when it hit the lake.
    “I knew you’d like to see this,” Lucas said, grinning . They continued through the woods and exited off a path by the main building. “Here we are," puffed Lucas, setting down afairly large box, which looked like it contained bricks. Monnie felt a twang of guilt.The box contained all of Monnie's favorite books which she couldn't face parting with. Lucas strainted up, streching his sore back, shrugging it off. "Now, do you want to wait here or go with me to get our room numbers?” Lucas asked her.

    Monnie politely shook her head, smiling, and replied, “You do too much, Lucas. Let me.”

    Lucas chuckled and said in his teasing-voice, “Awl, my little girl’s all grown up. Sure, I’ll be here when you get back." He then added, laughing slightly, "Then we’ll unpack and get something to eat;” for Monnie’s stomach had given a loud growl, and she turned pink again and gave him a thankful look.

    “Be right back!” she said, turning away with a flourish, and walked away with Lucas standing there, looking amused.