Spearwood Academy Volume One (The Spearwood Academy Book 1) by A.S. Oren Read Free Book Online Page A

would eat. I imagined a free for all of stuffing their faces and belching.
    I almost feel self-conscious about my own table manners. Should I cut my fruit and toast into bite-size pieces? I shake my head. I’m not a slob. I’ll eat as I always have, and if they have an issue with it, they can move tables.
    First things first though, I need to cut my toast in half. There is no other way to eat it.
    “After breakfast, I’ll show you around. What do you want to see first: the stables or the track?” Horace asks.
    “Stables as in horse stables? Perlow . . . Mr. Perlow already showed me where the track is. It’s off the gym, right?”
    “Yes and no, that’s not the track I’m talking about. You’ll see.” He smiles as do the others, even Triton. I wonder what in the world he’s talking about? I’ll just have to wait and see.

THE GRAND TOUR WITH THE HANDSOME FOUR

    A fter breakfast, my tour guides lead me to a door at the back of the dining hall. “This is the back of the school,” Horace says as we exit into a grand courtyard and a vast field. It’s here that the school appears grander than it did when we first stepped into it. Two more buildings stand off from Spearwood, both half the size of the school.
    Large but thin arches line the red-cobblestone pathways of the courtyard every few feet with old-fashioned street lamps hung from their centers. Huge, blooming rosebushes in all colors and breeds line the cobblestone edges like some majestic fairytale garden. As if I’m standing in Nature’s bakery, the air surrounds me with the sweet aroma of roses. Dark, wooden benches stand throughout the yard, but many of the boys choose to sit on the ground where vibrant green grass lays.
    ”Horace points to the building on the right. “That building holds the Arts. If you want to paint, sculpt, dance, whatever, you can go there. The art courses often take place there instead of the actual school. And, that one is the music hall. You can find any instrument you’ve ever dreamed of playing in there. C’mon, we’ll show you the stables now and then the track.” Horace smiles about the track. I wonder what it is. The boys obviously like it. He begins to lead the way. Triton trails behind us like a lost dog.
    “You like that, don’t you?”
    Someone groans as they hit the cobblestone with a thud. I look over to where a boy has fallen on the ground. A group of boys stand around him and throw some type of pastry at his head.
    “What’s going on over there?” I ask. I gravitate in the direction of the scene. I want to help him.
    An arm goes around my shoulders and steers me back toward the path. “You don’t want to do that, Fire. That older boy over there is Lusk Mirren. He is a second year, and you don’t want to get on his bad side. He has one hell of a temper. Most fire users do. C’mon, the stables await.”
    I guess ‘ Fire ’ is my nickname with him. “But what they’re doing is mean. I thought this school would be above all that.”
    The four of them laugh. “Avalon, people are dicks no matter what social class they are, and I think ours is the worst. Nevertheless, listen to Dante. You don’t want to get in the middle of that. Regardless of if you’re a girl, he won’t hesitate to put you on his hit list,” Triton says.
    The others look at him as if he’s grown as second head. I guess he doesn’t speak in their favor very often.
    “But it feels wrong leaving him alone to defend himself.”
    “He’ll survive, they always do,” Horace says.
    I walk with them for a while until the school disappears behind us. The weather continues to stay nice; the sun shines, and fluffy clouds drift above. I still don’t fully understand how this works, but it has to be due to the magic that Perlow was talking about. I got my Hogwarts letter, finally. The owl just got lost for four years.
    Lush green hills roll out in front of us. A large barn with stables extending like long arms off either side of it