Chapter 1

Lorcé Callora’s POV

"Dear Applicant,

              The Admissions Committee has carefully considered your application and we regret to inform you that we will not be able to offer you admission…"

My index finger tapped the right button of the mouse to exit the email. I didn’t need to read it all.

That was my tenth rejection. I’m already physically and emotionally drained.

I knew applying for college would be hard but I didn’t know it was 'this' difficult. I groaned as loud as I could.

How am I gonna tell this to my mother?

Like ‘Hi mom, I got rejected by every school I ever applied in.’

I groaned in frustration again as I leaned on the back of my chair. 

Mom would kill me! How could this happen to me? Not only mom but people will think, ‘How did the academic girl did not get accepted by any colleges even the low-tuition ones?’

“Oh my gosh, I can’t even cry.” I rolled my eyes and sighed for the nth time.

I just can’t believe it! Am I that dumb!? Did I miss something with my application!? Oh gosh! I’m really screwed!

I gulped my own saliva as I kept imagining my mother’s disappointed face. She’s probably the least person I would want to be mad at me. I winced at the image of her angry posture as I can’t stop imagining it.

I checked the clock and I saw it was 3:45 pm. There’s about two to three hours left before she comes home from work.

I returned my eyes to the screen of my laptop. My right leg started to fidget in nervousness. I was about to close the laptop down when it received another email.

Must be an automated email from an app since I have already read every admission email.

I was about to close it down totally when the email got opened by itself.

Wait, did I accidentally clicked a key?

My forehead creased when I saw an unfamiliar logo on the email. I read the header.

“Loriostro Academy?”

What the heck is that?

There are foreign written words below it and, of course, I don’t know what it is.

What language is this? I can’t help but question if this email is a spam.

I guess I have no choice but to read it. I scrolled down the email and read it in whisper.

“Dear Ms. Callora, we are pleased to inform you that you have been offered a spot in the class of 2021 for the Academy of Loriostro…”

My eyes grew wide and my hand is now covering my mouth as I gasped. I didn’t realize that my face is now so close to the screen.

What the hell? What the actual hell!?

My right hand reached the yellow post-it note on the top of my desk. It is where I wrote the name of schools that I have applied for and sure hell there’s no Loriostro Academy in here!

I checked the email once again. I read it completely and it seemed legit. But that’s impossible!

I exited the email and refreshed my laptop before checking the email again. It’s still there!

I saw the mysterious logo and the name of the academy again and I am completely speechless.

The logo looked prestigious. There’s like this shapes of diamonds in the middle, it looked like some infinite stairs which you can see when you look down on one.

But that’s not only it, there are five stones surrounding the diamond shape. Each color differs with fiery red, glowing green, deep shiny blue, crystal white and the one at the center of them, golden yellow.

The name of the school on top of the document is also golden yellow and the font made it more look exclusive. It was like from Harry Potter or Jumanji something like that.

I immediately opened an internet search window on my laptop and typed Loriostro Academy.

“No search results?”

I leaned on the back of my chair in astonishment. This must be a joke then?

But the letter said my name...

This is suspicious! I'm really not convinced so I checked the last part of the email for the last time.

“For more important details, we will send you the materials and information you need tomorrow at seven o’clock in the morning.”

Well then I guess I’ll have to wait tomorrow. 

After two and half hours, mom came home finally so I went down from the second floor of our narrow house.

I saw her immediately went straight to the kitchen after leaving her suitcase on the sofa in the living room.

“Hey, mom,” I greeted as I peeked from the kitchen door. She turned her head to see me while she was washing her hands on the sink. She smiled. She was now wearing an apron

“Hey, what would you like for dinner?” she asked.

“Chi—“ I was about to say chicken but do I have the right to demand something if I got rejected by every college I applied in?

Well, the Loriostro Academy thing is still sus so…and I don’t want to get my hopes up. I shook my head unknowingly.

“What? You don’t want anything? Are you alright?” she asked, confused as she dried her hands using her apron. She looked at me with curious eyes.

I let out a nervous laugh, shook my head again and entered the kitchen. “No, no. I was just choosing between chicken and beef in my head.” Oh, she’s definitely not used to me being awkward.

My mother suddenly raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms. “Lorcé Callora, tell me what I am supposed to know right here, right now.”

Damn, I could feel the kitchen getting colder.

I pretentiously creased my forehead before looking back at her with a what-are-you-talking-about kind of expression. And cue...

“What are you talking about, mom? I just actually came down to ask if you’re busy tomorrow. We should go to the city and try the new coffee shop there. I heard that it’s so cool.”

I’m not ready to get scolded yet.

Thankfully, she turned around and rummaged the refrigerator. “I can’t. I have work. You can go on your own if you want. I’ll leave you some cash.”

I sighed in relief.

“Oh, are there any news about your college applications?” she asked casually and I died.

Her back was against me so she didn’t saw the horror that plastered my face. I brushed off that expression when she turned around as I didn’t respond.

I shook my head with my pursed lips.

“No. I have received none yet. Gosh, I don’t know what’s taking them so long. They all must have a lot of students.” I hate lying.

She nodded. “Well, maybe tomorrow,” she uttered and started to prepare food for dinner.

I also nodded in agreement and guiltily whispered, “Yeah. Tomorrow…”

As soon as I woke up the next morning, I immediately checked my emails.

There was none.

I checked the time and it was 6:59 am.

My fingers started to fidget and then I started to bite my thumb.

As soon as the time became 7 o’clock sharp, I received a new email.

My heart started to beat abnormally as I confirmed that it was from Loriostro Academy again.

Gosh! So it’s real!?

The email contained an address and a glorious map sketch of the school. Wow! This is really like what I watch on the movies where kids go to such prestigious school that looked like from old English times.

I know such school does exist in some places but not in ours.

I’m getting more and more curious about this school called Loriostro Academy.

I double checked the address and, coincidentally, it’s some place I haven’t been in all my life.

Should I go or not?

What if I get kidnapped? What if this is another way for them to kidnap young individuals like me who is healthy in every organ? What if this is a prank or a big fat joke pulled by some bored people.

I bit my lips as I contemplated on whether to check the address or not.

But what if it’s real?

It does seem unreal but what if it’s actually true?

‘Well, you wouldn’t know if you don’t see it with your own eyes,’ my mind spoke with me.

“Yeah! Why not?” 

What’s the harm of checking out if it is real or not? I mean...what could possibly happen, right?