Radcliffe Academy ((Bravo x runawayninja))

[Tentacle_Lover]

Samantha sighed as she finished unpacking her things in her new dorm room. It was.... extravagant...that was for sure. Being here was still a huge shock for her....and such a huge change that it bordered on overwhelming. Not so long ago she had been just a regular girl, going to a regular school like everyone else. That had all changed when her parents had won the lottery. A new global lottery with prizes that were ridiculously huge, but the chances of winning it were so low that nobody ever really expected to win. But of course with such huge prizes everyone across the world was more than willing to give it a try. Quite literally overnight Samantha's parents had gone from regular 9-5 workers to multi-billionaires who were so rich that they were making it onto global top 50 rich lists. Naturally, her parents had wanted to use their newfound wealth to make sure their daughter went to the best school in the world, the best education that money could buy. Then, whether she had liked it or not Samantha had found herself bundled into a private jet, picked up in a limo and brought directly to her new home for the next few years, right through until she graduated from the school's college facilities.

Upon her arrival Samantha had been given a very brief explanation, the headmistress introducing herself before Samantha was guided off to her private room in the girls dormitory building. The whole room was almost as big as the old two bedroom house she had shared with her parents. A living room area, separate bedroom, private bathroom...even among the normal levels of luxury for the school this room was high class...her parents had insisted on...no...demanded the absolute best, and they now had the cash to pay for it. "Ok....I think that's it...done now..." Samantha walked over to the window once her unpacking was done, looking out over the grounds of the school. It was huge...acre upon acre of natural beauty....rolling fields, thick forests...and that was just what she could see from her window, a tiny fraction of what the school had to offer. The girl managed a slight smile, then glanced at her watch, it was time to get going. She had been told to meet her student advisor out front, by the fountain. He was going to be the one who would actually explain the school to her, show her around.

Grabbing her jacket Samantha went to head outside, glancing up and down the hall. Empty. No other students were around...then again there were much better things to do than hang around the dormitory hallways. Pulling the map she had been given from her pocket Samantha made her way out of the dorm building, planning out the route in her head and making her way towards the fountain at the very front of the school, right infront of the huge main building. When she got there....well....she was rather...surprised. The centrepiece of the fountain was a statue, which was not unusual. The statue was of a naked woman, which wasn't all that unusual. What was unusual was the....detail. If it weren't made from stone Samantha could swear it was a real woman. There was incredible detail in the hair, the body...even the genitalia, normally just a smooth nothingness on statues like this, was rather detailed. Not to mention the expression on the statues face....almost like one of....pleasure.
Samantha couldn't help but blush as she looked at it for a few moments, then quickly looked away, shaking her head. "I don't think I'll understand the rich...." She muttered, then glanced at her watch. Now was the time, but whilst there were people walking around none of them seemed to be approaching her....couldn't have been the advisor she was here to meet. "Geez....he's late..."

 

[runawayninja]

Rafe was hurriedly walking through the Main Building right in front of the fountain. The Main Building housed most of the administrative offices and a few of the more business orientated classrooms of the school. There were plenty of trees on the campus and the campus itself was surrounded by a large forest. It was in a very out of the way place, near a small town. It was supposed to get the students away from the city and from the usual luxuries that they couldn't fit in their dorms.

Rafe was wearing a sharp dark blue blazer and slacks with shiny black dress shorts and a black button up shirt. The blazer had the school crest on the left breast pocket, a shield with a scroll and a key over it. Rafe had short, neatly kept silvery hair that matched his somewhat pale skin. It made him seem frail with his slight, slender build, but the truth was that he was anything but. He had bright green eyes that were dazzling to behold, but they seemed untroubled, despite his tardiness.

When he finally came upon Samantha, he smiled politely. "Please, excuse my tardiness, my name is Rafe...I'm your student adviser here. Do you have any questions before we start?" He looked her over, his eyes briefly and not overtly scanning her form, as anyone might do. He was clutching a red notebook in his arm as his eyes kindly acknowledged her.

 

[Tentacle_Lover]

Samantha hadn't noticed Rafe approaching her, the girls back to him until he was practically beside her, turning as she felt a presence around her, looking around at him and blinked. She was drawn to his eyes at first...how could anyone not be? They were so bright it was almost unnatural. Still, she managed to pull her gaze away quick enough, taking a small step back away from him. "Ah...yes...hello there. I'm Samantha, it's a pleasure to meet you" The girl smiled softly, not noticing Rafe scanning her with his eyes. She wasn't too great at noticing that to begin with, boys back at her old school weren't too interested in her body over that of the cheerleaders after all, but he was also rather good at being subtle.

"Oh..well...I guess....I did have one question" Samantha glanced over her shoulder at the statue, then away again. "Um...that...statue? It's rather....detailed...isn't it?" She laughed nervously. "But uh....I guess it was probably here before the school huh? Too old to get rid of or something like that?" She rubbed her head gently. "Well....I'm looking forward to seeing the school...so...anywhere you'd like to start will be absolutely fine with me"

 

[runawayninja]

He laughed softly and nodded a bit. "Most people do notice it...we just call it the Goddess Statue...it was here since anyone can remember and way before the school. Word around the campus is that it belonged to some sort of fertility or pleasure cult." He smirked as though there were subtext to what he was saying. He motioned for her to follow him as he entered the Main Hall. It was cool inside and though quite modern, the interior have a decidedly gothic feel with obvious wood and stone finishes that made it seem out something from out of an age ago. He went to the Student Services desk and mentioned her name and he was given a plastic-wrapped pair of female uniforms, and some papers. "You might've gotten this information transferred to your smart watch, but they just like t ogive you some hard copies in case." In the modern age, most people used high-tech watches with a holographic display that served as phone, e-mail, information display, GPS, mobile internet, and a variety of other functions.

The papers included basic information, a course list of the classes she registered for, a calender of many events and activities, general rules, and a listing of the clubs and student organizations. There were quite a few clubs, but as the list went on, some of them became more unusual and the information about them was very scant. The Alpharus Club, the Daughters of Medusa, and the Hellfyre Club were a few of them. Rafe himself wore a ring bearing the emblem of the Alpharus Club, a black ring with a large stylized "A" in gold. "So there's two uniforms and anything else you might need can be had in the school store. Something I should mention is that the student body here is very mature and well-behaved. Most of us are preparing for prestigious lives of responsibility so we're expected to act a certain way and we pride ourselves of the maturity and behavior of our class. That's not to say people don't have disagreements or act like human beings, but we don't fight or throw things or the like here, we're not children. We would expect the same from you. Some of the students even work here at the school part time."

 

[Tentacle_Lover]

"The goddess statue huh...?" Samantha glanced back at it, raising an eyebrow at the mention of fertility or pleasure cults....she thought those kinds of things had only existed way back in times like Ancient Greece or the Roman empire. It was strange to hear about something like that happening all the way out here....but then again it took all sorts. Still, it was likely from way back before the school was ever even thought of. More than likely the statue had just been left alone as a historical oddity and then forgotten about. Sam glanced at her watch when he mentioned it, she had neglected to check actually, though the indicator did show she had new messages waiting, she'd have to check them when she got back to her room. She reached out to take the papers and uniforms, glancing at them. Well this explained why they had asked for her measurements on the application form, it looked like the uniform had been specifically tailored to her....no surprise given how much this school cost. Everything seemed to be emblazoned with the school logo. Hell, there was even underwear in the packs with the school logo on....must've been to make sure everyone was pretty much the same.

"Hm..." Samantha looked down the list of clubs, most of them just what she'd expect. Drama clubs, Literature clubs, Historical societies, clubs for every sport she had heard of and some she hadn't, but it was at the bottom of the list....there were several clubs listed by name, but nothing else. The others all had details, explanations of what the clubs did, who to contact in order to express an interest in joining....but these....these were just names. "Hm? What are these clubs here?" She held up the leaflet, pointing to them. "They're just names but there's nothing about them. Nothing about who to contact or what the club does. Is it a mistake on the leaflet or something?" Given the relative rarity of printed type these days it was possible it had just been missed off, but given how thorough everything else seemed to be it was a rather big oversight for this place.

 

[runawayninja]

Rafe smiled and nodded slowly. "Those are the secret clubs...no one knows what they do except for the people actually in them. You can't apply for them, you have to be invited to them...they find you, you don't find them. Some say not all of them are listed there." He started walking again and motioned to a large dining hall. "You can get your meals here, they're usually quite generous and well-prepared. Breakfast is served six to eight in the morning and morning classes start at eight. Lunch is noon to one, and afternoon classes are one to three. Between five to ten, dinner is served and ten is curfew where all the students have to be back in their dorms. Whenever you're not in a class or curfew, you're allowed to roam the campus at will or go off campus. There's a shuttle bus that runs from here to Ravenwood, the local town, every thirty minutes and anything that can't be found in the campus store you can get there. You can get fast food, see a movie, the usual things."

"If you want to meet people, I suggest joining a club. Even if nothing interests you, there's the Radcliffe Club. They do a lot of work sprucing up the school and getting ready for one of the events or holidays. Usually all of the clubs contribute something to the events, and there's a lot of them, usually two or three a month. It's like that mostly because it keeps things fresh around here and...well, we like to have fun. In about a week, we're having the Fall Fest, where the clubs try to recruit the new students." He smiled at her a bit and he continued onward. "Did you find your dorm and classes already?"

 

[Tentacle_Lover]

"Secret clubs...?" Samantha raised an eyebrow as she looked back at the book. "And there are more than even listed here...? Huh...what kind of things do these secret clubs do anyway if they don't even list what they do in here?" She blinked, then turned to follow Rafe down the corridor, looking up when they arrived at the dining hall, making a mental note of the meal times along with the class times. Certainly more free time than they had back at her old school. Still, a curfew? She wasn't entirely sure she liked the idea of that but if that was how it worked then there wasn't really much she could do about it. Still, 10pm was pretty late after all. "Oh? A town? Well that sounds pretty useful....I'll have to head down and explore it some time"

The girl smiled, then nodded as he suggested joining a club. "The question is....which club? I never was very good at sports..." She looked down at the booklet again. "...It's these secret clubs that have my interest....though I always was a little too curious for my own good..." She chuckled softly, shaking her head. "Well who knows, maybe I'll get an invite to one of them during this Fall Fest that's coming up hm?" She looked up at Rafe and smiled brightly. "Well, I found my dorm but I have no idea where my classes are just yet"

 

[runawayninja]

Rafe looked left and then right. Seeing no one else around, he smiled a bit and leaned close to whisper to her. "Some students sneak out after curfew. A lot of the secret clubs have meetings after dark, and some couples meet after dark for some...private time, hehe. You have to get through the student watch. They are some seniors and college-level students that serve as a watch. They're not tough to dodge and some of them do that job to get out after dark for some of those same reasons as the others. The hedge maze is a popular hang out and meet up spot for people that sneak out."

Rafe took her down to the various buildings and showed her where her classes were, including an introductory class that all new students had to attend. The buildings all had their own unique look to them. The Science Building had an almost Greco-Roman look like an ancient academy with a large stone mural running up it's interior displaying the various forms of life and the basic biological and chemical components that made them up. The Engineering Building was all metal and stone and had measurements and angles and engineering terms etched into just about every inch of the building. The school just had and incredible amount of detail.

 

[Tentacle_Lover]

"Sneak out after curfew huh? Well I guess that's no surprise really..." Samantha chuckled, then blinked as he mentioned couples meeting for 'private time', a crimson tint creeping its way onto her cheeks. "Ummm....ehehehe....I...see...." She nodded lightly. "The hedge maze...? Wait...this place has a hedge maze...?" She blinked again and raised an eyebrow. "Wow....this place really does have everything...no wonder it costs so much" She smiled and shook her head softly, turning to follow Rafe on the rest of the tour, making mental notes on where everything was, especially where her classes were going to be taking place.

"This place is....amazing....some of the buildings look absolutely ancient...like they've been here longer than people have even lived in this part of the world.....yet some of them look so modern....or at least some of the carvings look way ahead of the time period the surrounding buildings seem to have been built in...." She smiled as they walked around, occasionally glancing at her watch, pulling up the screen to take up a few notes and add them to her map. "Thank you for doing this Rafe. I'm sure you have better things to do than show me around this place" She looked up at him and smiled softly, turning off the screen from her watch. "Have you been here for very long?"

 

[runawayninja]

Rafe smiled warmly at her. "I told you, we're a mature group here. We help each other. An investment in the group is an investment in the self, that's what I say. And yea, Radcliffe has a lot of money so they can afford to do a lot. The families of the students demand the best and Radcliffe usually doesn't disappoint. I'm a high school senior and I'm preparing to go to college here, Biology. I'm just...fascinated by the living world...genetics, immunology...hehe, hormones and pheromones. Speaking of which, I'll show you the hedge maze...there are a lot of stories about that place, some true, some a lot more flight of fancy. Like...some of the students say there's a hooded guardian that stalks the maze at night...sometimes it's a man, sometimes it's a woman, always looking for someone of the opposite gender, alone." He laughed softly. "What young minds won't come up with..."

 

[Tentacle_Lover]

"Well I'm glad to hear that. My old school....well...everyone pretty much just looked out for themselves and that was it...nobody really wanted to get involved in a problem that wasn't their own..." She sighed softly and shook her head. Still....she was away from that life now....she never had to go back. Her parents had more money than seemed possible to spend now. "Biology huh? So...are you going to be a doctor or something?" She smiled, then blinked as he mentioned hormones and pheromones, raising an eyebrow as he laughed slightly at that, but let it slide for the time being, just nodding slightly as he mentioned the hedge maze. "Well....since it's still before curfew I guess the hedge maze will be fine" She chuckled, running a hand slowly through her hair and tucking it behind her ear. "Just hope I don't end up getting lost or anything....I get the feeling I'd be a tad....'overwhelmed' if I was caught out there after dark...."

 

[runawayninja]

Rafe smiled at her and took her hand firmly into his. "C'mon, I'll show you..." He walked her outside where there were plenty of well decorated recreation areas with stone benches and well planned bushes, trees, and flowers. A few people were walking by, some engaging in activities, a few playing and practicing instruments. Some regarded Rafe and his new charge in quite a friendly manner. They passed by a large Olympic-sized poor, and a tennis court, and in sight were other athletic facilities for practice and professional competition. "The gym is over there...it's open to all students and staff during non-curfew hours."

Rafe walked over to a thickly grown and large hedge maze. He smiled at her and chuckled a bit. "This is it...you wanna go inside?" He grinned at her.

 

[Tentacle_Lover]

Sam blinked when he took her hand, looking at their joined hands for a moment before moving to follow him quickly, Rafe starting to move before she could really ask any questions. Her expression clearly gave away how impressed Sam was as they walked across the campus. "Whoa....this place just seems to be getting bigger and bigger.....I've been in entire towns smaller than this campus...." She chuckled, looking around at the various people who greeted Rafe, wondering if they were his friends or simply classmates. "This place really is incredible....I never thought a school could be quite like this...."

Her expression didn't change as they came across the hedge maze, just blinking up at it. "Whoa....I thought it'd be like some crappy little maze....this is....bigger than I thought...." She chuckled slightly, then looked over at Rafe. "Um...well.....sure! Why not?" Normally Samantha would've just wanted to go back to her room but...well...this was a new start. It was time to try and take a few more chances, try to actually make friends.