Chapter 1

Owl POV: Diesel

       Tabia Academy for the Gifted. I heard the name for that school all the time, especially from my parents. They always knew I was academically gifted and desperately wanted me to attend the school to enhance my gift.

       I honestly didn't care where I attended school but I felt like I would have made them extremely happy by attending, so they set up an appointment for me to meat the head of the school, Tobias, to see if I could qualify for taking the entrance exam.

       I did.

       And part of me was honestly a bit excited to be part of the school once I took the tour. There were four groups, or houses, for students based on one of four gifts; academic, athletic, art, and information technology. Each house had eight students, which would make me feel a bit more comfortable about attending school. I had always been such an awkward and introverted person so being in a school with only thirty-two people might help.

       And then I got accepted into the Owls; the academics.

       My excitement faded and was replaced by nervousness. Everyone seemed to be so confident about being here, even those who, like me, were being at the academy for their first year.

       It definitely didn't help that I was the least talkative person ever. The only time I did talk was when I spewed random facts nobody cared about, which only made me feel quite embarrass so I tried my hardest not to talk.

       The day after I passed the exam was the day all the new students were moving into the school. Each house had three rooms in the school; their hangout room, the girls' sleeping quarters, and the boys' sleeping quarters. We entered through the hangout room, and the sleeping quarters' entrances were through there.

       I was the last new person to arrive in the Owl house, and I felt a lot of eyes judging me even though they all seemed quite friendly. To me, however, everyone always looked intimidating.

       Each house had a team colour, and the Owl's colour was yellow, so the room definitely seemed quite bright. 

       As soon as I got into the hangout, one of the girl's there walked over to me and gave me a smile. "Diesel, right?" she asked and I nodded. "I'm Pearl, the Owl's captain. Welcome to the best house in the whole school. The Tigers may think they are, but it's obvious that it's us."

       "The Tigers are the athletes, right?" I asked.

       "Correct," Pearl said. "They tend to be very competitive, but so are we so we argue about who's better all the time. So, since you are the last one to arrive, I'll introduce you to everyone else."

       Pearly led me over to where everyone else was before introducing me to them. They really did seem really friendly, all giving me a smile as they said their name.

       I wasn't the only new person in the Owls. There were two others, Jade and Moses. The rest were already attending the school; Presley, Ester, Robin, and Trevor.

       The school didn't have anything planned for us for a while since they wanted us to get settled in, so I headed to the boys' sleeping quarters to put all my luggage away.

       The sleeping quarter had four single beds, and thankfully not bunk beds since people would probably argue if they wanted a top or bottom bunk. Each bed had a nightstand beside it with two drawers and a lamp sitting on top.

       There were also four dressers, each being close to one of the four beds, and since there was only one bed left, it was easy to guess which dresser was mine.

        After unpacking, I wanted to walk around the school for a bit. I did go on a tour yesterday before the exam so everyone could see what the school was like if they got accepted, but I would rather walk around on my own.

       I went to the hangout just to leave but before I did, Pearl walked over to me once again. "Before you leave the hangout, I have to go over a few rules with you," she said. "Just general rules for the school. Each captain could choose to have rules for the house, but I'm not like that. Anyway, we have to be in our house by nine on school nights, and ten on weeknights. We are allowed to leave the school premises, but we have to sign out first. They're usually not too strict about us leaving, but if we do, they want us back on campus by eight. That's basically it."

       "Really?" I asked. "Wow, that's... not much. My old school had a lot of rules."

       "Yeah, Tobias wants us to have as much freedom as possible without being so loose that we could just stay out all night or something like that," Pearl said. "Oh, one more thing, and this is basically just for the Owls. I would suggest staying away from the Tigers."

       "Because of the competitiveness?" I asked.

       "Kind of, yeah," Pearl said. "That, and the captain, Wayne, doesn't like his house talking to anyone outside of the Tigers. Even the Coyotes, and they're basically the ones who care the least about the competitiveness. But Wayne will get mad at anyone who talks to his house, and anyone in his house who talks to someone else."

       "Okay, thanks for letting me know," I said.

       "No problem," Pearl said. "If you ever need anything, I'll be here. That's what being captain is for."

        I was just glad I had a captain who seemed like such a sweet girl. If this Wayne guy was my captain, I would honestly be a bit scared.

        Making sure I had my key for the hangout, I left to start my tour around the school. It was such a beautifully decorated school, with such an opening spacing that didn't make it feel crowded at all. Then again, only thirty-two students were attending it.

       And even though I wasn't an outdoor person, it was really cool that the school was close to the beach. 

       I wasn't paying much attention to where I was going, so I ended up bumping into something. The girl I bumped into was carrying a binder full of loose paper, and she ended up dropping it because of me.

       "I'm so sorry!" I said as I knelt down to help her pick it up.

       "Don't be, it's okay," the girl said. "I should have watched where I was going as well since I'm the one carrying this."

       "I still feel bad," I said, picking up the last few papers and handing them to her, then we both stood up.

       "Seriously, it's okay," the girl said, even giving me a warm smile for some sort of assurance. Holding the binder tightly in one hand, she held out the other towards me. "I'm Astrid."

       I did hesitated for a bit before shaking her hand, only because I wasn't used to any form of physical contact with other humans.

       I preferred staying in my room all day.

       "Diesel," I said. "That's my name. I wasn't saying Diesel. Though why would I say Diesel? I have wondered why my parents named me Diesel since it's an internal combustion engine in which heat produced by the compression of air in the cylinder is used to ignite the fuel. Am I rambling? Why am I rambling? Sorry. I'm... sorry."

       Astrid still kept her warm smile. "Hey, don't worry about it. I was nervous on my first day here as well."

        "How did you know it's my first day?" I asked before realizing the answer. "Right, you would know if someone's new since it's such a small school. I sound like such an idiot."

       "No, you don't," Astrid said. "So, what house are you in?"

       "Owl," I said.

       "Lucky you," Astrid said. "Honestly, the Owl house is the best house, but that's only because Pearl is such a sweet girl. My captain is a complete tool. I'm a Tiger, by the way."

       "Yeah, Pearl told me about how strict Wayne is," I said. 

       "He is," Astrid said. "And speaking of, this binder is for him and I should probably get it to him before he yells at me for socializing with an Owl. I'll see you around."

       When Astrid walked my way, I felt like punching myself. Embarrass myself on day one? Check.

       I couldn't wait for day two.

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i didn't last long woo and guess who's going to update another chapter before I go to bed????

i'm crazy starting new books, but i already have my favourite ship in this book and they're somewhat introduced next chapter. WOO.

oh and to clarify the POV order, it will alternate between the four houses. so far, the owls and the dolphins will have one character getting a POV, but the tigers and coyotes will have two (maybe three for the coyotes. probably four ahahahaha)