The Beautiful Monster

Melina shrugged as a shy smile crossed her lips. She tried to be as strong as possible by studying and practicing a lot. She didn't spend her free time outside of class doing much else.

"I need to practice that spell more," she replied. Her lack of control wouldn't do when it came time for the end of the year examinations. Senior exams were even harder than the other level's exams.

"Well, do it another time. Tonight, you're going to a party in the courtyard," Blair quipped with an excited smile as she squeezed Melina's arm.

Melina grimaced at the sound of that. She didn't fare well in class. How was she supposed to integrate herself at a party?

She already knew that she would be left alone at some point while Blair went off with her other friends.

She couldn't be upset with Blair about that, though. Blair had a life outside of her, and she didn't want to spoil Blair's night because she had trouble talking to strangers.

"I don't know. I have a lot of homework to do," Melina said as they neared the infirmary at the end of the long hallway.

It wasn't a total lie, but the assignments weren't due for another week. She liked to get a head start on things.

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Maybe she got her work ethic from her mother, who died when she was born. Melina wished that she could've gotten to know her mother, but her dad had been a wonderful father to her.

"No excuses. I will see you at that party tonight. Right?" Blair protested, staring at Melina pointedly as they stopped outside of the door to the infirmary.

Melina sighed, knowing that Blair wasn't going to take no for an answer. Maybe she needed to try to break out of her shell more.

If she wanted friends, she had to go out and make them. This was her last year of boarding school. She wanted to make it count so that she had some memories to reflect back on in the future.

"Fine. I'll meet you there," she replied. She had a few hours to get ready for tonight, and she would need the time to make herself look party presentable.

Blair let go of Melina's arm and clapped her hands excitedly.

"Awesome! Wear something cute, okay?" she said as she gave Melina's black skirt a playful tug.

A light flush crossed Melina's face as she shooed Blair away. She watched Blair stride down the hallway, a few guys nearly breaking their necks to give her a second look.

Melina tucked a loose strand of her dark hair behind her ear, feeling a little self-conscious when the boys looked her way and gave her weird looks.

She hurried into the infirmary, seeking out the healer so that her hand could be bandaged up. It was embarrassing having to explain what happened, but the healer was a kind older woman, who assured Melina that students came into the infirmary with all sorts of spell-related injuries.

This was a learning space. Accidents were bound to happen, no matter how many safety regulations were put into place.

Once Melina's hand had a healing poultice applied to it and was wrapped with white gauze, Melina thanked the healer and strode out into the hallway.

She headed to the stairwell and went up a floor where the dorms were at. When she walked onto the floor, she froze in place as she saw school officials surrounding a broken window and talking among themselves.

Melina stared at the shards of glass on the floor, and she swore that she saw tints of red. Blood? Lately, weird things had been happening around the school.

There were broken windows and break-ins. Tension spread throughout the entire school, but no one knew what was going on.

She snapped out of her thoughts and walked around the school officials, only catching a few words of their conversation, but nothing gave her a clue as to what was going on.

They mentioned something about increasing surveillance around the school. She hoped that would work. What if things got worse?

The school had incidents from time-to-time, but they were mostly internal problems, like students fighting each other. She couldn't remember anything about an outside threat ever happening, and she hoped that it wouldn't.

For the most part, she felt safe behind this school's walls. When she graduated and went out into the real world, she was her only protection. And her dad, of course.

Melina unlocked her dorm room with a silver key. She walked inside and shut the door behind her, dropping her bag off near her desk with a sigh.

Her room was small, but at least she had her own space, even if it only came with a bathroom, a bed, a desk, and a closet. It was good enough for her to escape to after a long day.

Her day wasn't over, though. She had a courtyard party to go to tonight. Everyone went to at least one courtyard party while they were enrolled at the school. It was a right of passage.

Melina had been dragged to a few and didn't really have a memorable time. She usually stood awkwardly off to the side, watching people drink, make out, and talk. She had a feeling that tonight wouldn't be any different.

Still, she was going to do her best to make the most out of tonight. She opened the door to her closet, staring at her clothes that were hung up.

Seventy percent of her clothes were uniforms, but she had a small selection of clothes that she wore on the weekends or at night when classes were over.

She grabbed a black skater dress that she was surprised hadn't collected dust from being left untouched so far.

Melina held it against her chest, looking down at herself and figuring that this could work.. She didn't expect to turn heads like Blair naturally did, but maybe she could stand out in a good way. That was the plan for tonight, but when did anything ever go according to plan?