HELLO, JEAN!

With the shifting having happened yesterday, and the girls having moved from the building that they were living in to the new one near the main school building where the admin offices are, each one of them is excited about this evening because the most awaited event, which is the dance socials, will be happening at that time.

The girls are running around in the whole building to arrange for different things they would need to look spectacular for the event. It will be the first time ever that they will be dancing with the boys officially in school. Which is why all of them wanted to look as good as they could with their make-up, their hair, their dress, their footwear, and their accessories.

But before they went to the auditorium in the main building of the school for the event, they were asked to gather in the lobby before they started getting ready for the dance that was organized to give them a welcome to the senior high school which was starting the next day. This time the meeting was planned to introduce the students to their new roommates who will be allotted a room together right after their summer holidays.

They were expected to make up their minds to stay with new people when they returned from their holidays, and to stay in touch with them via emails during the vacation so that they understood the kind of people who they would be staying with and to be at least build some sort of friendship with them to get comfortable living with each other and figure out the way to keep misunderstandings at bay as it was going to be an important year for them.

Right after tea-time, as they were returning to the hostel building to get dressed for the beautiful evening that was planned by their school, the nannies were in the lobby to make sure that all of them assembled in the lobby and didn’t go back to their rooms yet without the warden assigning them the new rooms.

Ms. Mejia came down, and she didn’t take time to start announcing the names of students one after the other. She announced four names and took a little pause to make it obvious that the four of them would be sharing one room. As the kids were hearing her call them by their names, they would raise hands to make other roommates identify their new roommates.

After a couple of names were announced, and almost half of the people were through, the warden announced, “Marie, Sophia, Charlotte, Jean.”

Marie, Sophia, and Charlotte raised their hands, but the fourth hand was nowhere raised. So, Ms. Mejia announced for the second time the last girl’s name who was supposed to club with them. “Jean!” She called out, but again she didn’t see the fourth hand being raised among all the girls who were standing there.

She understood that Jean was missing from the crowd, but she wanted to give it one more try. With all the voice that she could use, she shouted, “Jean!”

The main door of the hostel opened almost at the same time when she was calling out that girl’s name. Someone in jeans and a striped shirt with boy-cut hair entered at that very moment making it seem very dramatic.

“Where were you?” Ms. Mejia asked and Marie wondered why the warden was letting a dude enter the girls’ hostel. It was only after a reply came from the person who entered the building and was walking into the crowd standing in the lobby, she realized who the person really was.

“I was having my snacks, Ms. Mejia. Sorry I am late.”

“You called my name?”

“Yes, Jean. These three girls with their stands raised will be your new roommates after you all come back from the holidays. Turn around and let them see you,” said the warden.

When Jean turned around instantly, facing all the other girls, some of them waved their hands at her as they knew her already. The rest of them who were mainly from the star performers section were not able to recognize her as she was from the other section which was for average performing students and too much into sports to be seen around in the class.

Jean was the head of the basketball team for girls, and she was the main reason that they won several interschool tournaments. She was extremely talented and knew how to take care of the little things in life. The time when the rest of the girls would ask others for help, she would do such stuff on her own in some or the other way as she was smart like that.

She was also very helpful to everyone despite the fact that she was looked at differently because of the way she dressed, and the way she chose to live. Her haircut used to be talked about the most where girls would mention that she didn’t know how to look like a girl and behave like one as her posture would confuse them.

Similarly, Marie was looking at her with doubts as she was unable to understand why such a beautiful girl with extra sharp features would look otherwise. In fact, even the way that her shirt was tucked in from one side and left hanging from the other looked as if it was a boy who dressed her up.

As Marie checked her out from top to bottom, she noticed her figure which increased her curiosity to know the reason why she was not flaunting it. The roommates which she had at present would purposely wear short clothes to maybe expose a little, maybe flaunt one part of their body which they thought would attract the boys or even if not that, then maybe to make other girls jealous. That is how spoilt the students of Liberal International School were.

Immediately after the warden was done taking all the names of every student and assigning them their roommates, she asked them to get ready for the dance that they had to go to which was planned by the school to celebrate their entry to senior high school.

Just in about thirty to forty minutes from that time, all the girls stepped down from the respective floors that they had their rooms on and were looking absolutely breath-taking. They were attired differently; some of them were in an elaborate evening gown, a number of them were wearing jeans with a cute top, a few of the group were also in shorts and a t-shirt, but almost everyone was dressed in striking colors.

Marie was dressed in a knee-length, dusty pink dress which had a small slit on one side. It was an A-line dress and had a boat neck at shoulder level. The fall of the dress was pretty natural, and she looked stunning the way that she was carrying her dress with the perfect hairstyle, and she was wearing just the right amount of make-up unlike a lot of others who had applied everything in excess on their faces that made them look a little scary.

While everybody was leaving the hostel building to go to the auditorium where the event was planned to take place, Marie got nervous and sat on one of the chairs in the lobby to feel a little better before she left for the dance. The thought of being around boys and well-dressed girls was also frightening. The worst would be to dance with a boy in front of all of them looking at her.

She had never been so close to any boy other than her cousin brothers who she would meet during the holidays when she would go home. Going out to meet random boys in a dress looking so fine, she was very worried if she was doing the right thing because her family was very strict about such matters.

In the time that she had her eyes closed and was lost thinking about the way that she must be because she ought to participate in the school event, she felt a hand on her shoulder. The time she opened her eyes to see who was holding her, she was surprised to see the same person she was shocked to see in the evening, Jean.

“Hello, Jean!” Marie greeted her with confusion as to why she was there.

“Come, let’s go and dance with them boys!” Jean said with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eyes. She pulled her hand from Marie’s shoulder once she opened her eyes.

“I don’t know; I am scared,” mentioned Marie, to which Jean replied, “Don’t be scared, Marie. I will be there for you. Come!”

That made Marie feel a little comfortable, so she took a step forward to go with her. Both of them left for the auditorium holding each other’s hands for the dance socials to follow.