You Only Live Twice

XXIII

OLIVIA WANDERED THE ENDLESS corridors of the academy for an hour and a half. She was not lost.

The path on the map she was originally following lead her back to her beginning point four separate times before she'd figured out it unraveled more.

Still, when she'd went down a ground level knight armor lined hall and ended up on the roof of a spiraling tower, she did not ask for help. Pride is a foolish thing indeed.

By the time she'd actually found the Grand Hall where she was supposed to be twenty minutes prior all of her grade had already filled the hall and she'd missed the beginning half of the introductory speech.

A few upper classmates were beginning to clean up their table when she'd snuck in. They looked shocked to her see but simply handed her the last badge remaining, a white rectangle with her name and the number forty-three written on the front.

She thanked them quietly and pinned the badge above the breast pocket of her blazer before scurrying off to the nearest open seat.

The seats were wooden benches lined from wall to wall, front to back facing toward each other parallel to the walls and packed with students.

Out of breath Olivia sat down on the very end of the bench closest to the students table on the left of the grand doorway—an open arch showing the long empty hallway to the double doors on the far end—the girl next to her scooted slightly over in an attempt to make more room for her. The girl smiled shyly then turned back to the stage.
Unfortunately the bench was already almost overflowing with bodies and despite the mousy girls efforts, Olivia could still only fit half of her body on the bench without invading any personal space.

Olivia leaned over the table the table and stretched her neck further to the left, toward the stage, where the headmaster was speaking.

The room was completely dark save for the spotlight shining directly at the podium up front. It was hard to see past all the taller heads and with the far distance she could only depend on the resonance to carry the headmasters voice to her ears.

Thankfully she was able to catch the end of the speech, "—and with that I'd like to officially congratulate and welcome you all to Alexandreia! We look forward to meeting and getting to know you all this semester and hope you feel just as excited for this new school year and all the experiences and knowledge we work our utmost to bring to you!" He said enthusiastically,

"The badges handed to you at the door obtain a number on them, this is your assigned group. Staff and upperclassmen will be standing around the room they are to be your group leaders who will give you a tour around our campus and answer any questions you may have. To find your group leader you simply need to match the badge number to the student or staff member holding the numbers sign."

"We hope you enjoy your time here for forever more. Let us all achieve excellence together." With that he leaned away from the podium and applause thundered throughout the room.

The hall was flooded with light as the curtains were drawn open and candle chandeliers and lanterns lit themselves.

The room quickly turned into a rowdy sort of chaos, it was hard to hear anyone over the endless amount of conversation going on at once and bodies swerved and collided into one another.

Olivia ignored it all and slipped past the other children searching for the forty-three board.

She found it soon into her search, a tall, slim girl stood by the arched entrance way holding a white paper with a large '43' painted in neat black numbers bouncing on her toes barely able to hold in her excitement.