The girls woke up on Friday morning with plans to get their school uniforms and explore the campus. Finn woke up happy and cheerful, as always. As an air elemental, she had a carefree personality, but she knew what she wanted to do with her life and what she wanted out of it. Her parents had not been happy with her decision that she was leaving to go off to school. Her parents were not the easiest people to get along with, and some of her siblings weren’t very easy to get along with either. They had an idea of what she should do with her life and she had hers. Their ideas were polar opposites of each other. Mrs. Luna, Violet, wanted Finn to stay home and take care of her younger siblings, a younger sister, Meredith, and younger twin brothers, Tommy and Bobby, but Finn wanted to continue her schooling. However, her mother pulled her out of school so she could take care of the younger Lunas. Her mother thought her place was in the home, taking care of her young brothers and sister, and not at school. Finn thought otherwise, so when the opportunity for her to come to the Four Elements Academy was presented to her by Mr. Grayson, she took it gladly. She had rushed home from her meeting, if you could call it that, with Mr. Grayson, packed her bags and was on her way to the Academy.

Finn dressed in a white turtleneck sweater shirt with a white skirt, a pair of white tights, and her white cowboy boots. She loved the color white and only wore white clothes. It was just one of her quirks. She brushed out her long platinum blonde hair and added more color to it with her Crayolas. She finished getting ready in her bathroom adjoining her bedroom. She walked out into the living room and saw that Aurora and Grey were already dressed and ready. Aurora was wearing her sweatshirt and jeans, and Grey was wearing another graphic tee with a pair of skinny jeans and tennis shoes.

Emily was the one they were waiting on. Soon, Emily walked out of her bedroom, dressed similarly to what she was wearing when she’d first arrived, in a black turtleneck crop top and a pair of black leggings tucked into a pair of black, knee-high, heeled boots. Her red hair was pulled up into a tight bun with some strands sticking out and some strands of hair framing her face.

Soon, all four girls left their dorm and made their way to the registration hall. When they walked into Registration and Enrollment, there were some students receiving their uniforms. The staff was handing out the uniforms according to element, so Grey, Finley, Aurora, and Emily split into their respective lines and waited to get their uniforms. The process took a bit of time, because each line had several people there taking measurements to ensure the uniforms given to the student fit them perfectly.

When it was their turns, Grey, Finn, Aurora, and Emily all stood in front of the women taking their measurements, then they were given their uniforms. Finn looked at her uniform with mild disgust. She was glad her shirt and socks were white, but that was all that was white. Everything else was not. Emily liked the fact that her skirt and shoes were black, but she preferred to wear her boots, and the rest of her uniform was in colors she never thought she would wear. She knew the staff and her teachers wouldn’t let her wear her boots with her uniform, so she had to learn to get used to her uniform shoes. Grey and Aurora didn’t seem to have any complaints about their uniforms, since they didn’t really care one way or another.

The air uniforms consisted of a white, short sleeved button-down shirt, with a long sleeved one for winter, a sky-blue tie, an optional sky-blue sweater vest, a short, black pleated skirt, white thigh-high socks, and black, heeled Mary Jane shoes. There were also winter additions, a sky-blue colored sweater, white tights, a cream colored peacoat, and a cream-colored scarf. Finn’s uniform for Flying and Air and Sound for Beginners was included. It consisted of a neon yellow sport shirt, neon yellow sport shorts, neon yellow socks, and white tennis shoes. She also had a long-sleeved version of her shirt and a sweat pant version of her shorts for winter time.

The fire uniforms were made up of a red, short sleeved button-down shirt, and a long sleeved one for wintertime, an orange tie, an optional orange sweater vest, a short, black pleated skirt, red thigh-high socks, and black, heeled Mary Jane shoes. The winter additions were an orange sweater, red tights, a crimson colored peacoat, and a crimson colored scarf. Emily’s Gymnastics uniform was a red, gymnastic leotard and her uniform for Hand-to-Hand Combat and Fire and Lightning for Beginners was a red, sleeveless turtleneck with a pair of black sport pants and combat boots.

The earth uniforms had a green, short sleeved button-down shirt, with a long sleeved one for winter, an optional brown sweater vest, a brown tie, a short, black pleated skirt, green, thigh-high socks, and black, heeled Mary Jane shoes. Their winter additions were a brown sweater, green tights, a forest green peacoat, and a forest green scarf. Grey’s uniform for Earth and Metal for Beginners was a green T-shirt, green cargo shorts, green socks, and brown hiking boots with a green hiking jacket and green cargo pants for winter.

The water uniforms consisted of an aqua, short sleeved, with long sleeved for winter, button down shirt, an optional navy-blue sweater vest, a navy-blue tie, a short, black pleated skirt, aqua, thigh-high socks, and black, heeled Mary Jane shoes. The winter additions for the water uniforms were a navy-blue sweater, aqua tights, a navy blue peacoat, and a navy-blue scarf. Aurora’s Swimming and Water and Ice for Beginners uniform consisted of a purple athletic swimsuit with a pair of navy-blue and purple sport shorts to go over top.

The girls carried their uniforms back to their dorm room and put them in their rooms. Finn, who wasn’t vain in the slightest, wondered what she’d look like in clothes that weren’t all white, Grey and Aurora didn’t really care, and Emily didn’t like that her uniform didn’t have enough black in it for her, but was determined to get used to it. After they put their uniforms away, everyone met in the living room to figure out where they wanted to go first. A map was laid out and the girls discovered that their campus had a pool, a workout room, a greenhouse, a forest, a lake, a library, and a gymnasium.

“Where did you guys want to go?” Grey asked the rest of the group.

“It doesn’t really matter to me,” Emily said.

Aurora just shrugged.

“There’s a forest. Maybe we should go there first and then we can explore some of the other places,” Finn suggested, excitedly.

The other three girls agreed and they all made their way outside. Once outside, the girls made their way toward the forest. The forest was large and the trees seemed to go on forever in every direction. The foliage was thick and it was easy to get lost if you didn’t know where you were going. The leaves on the trees were turning shades of reds, oranges, and yellows, and yet some were still green and some were brown and shriveled. The girls walked along the ground, crunching fallen leaves and fallen branches under their heels, shoes, and feet. They walked until they reached a clearing. The clearing was rather large and there was a bonfire pit with logs for seats, a beautiful, large lake, a few treehouses, and the wide open plain of earth. Aurora was drawn to the lake and when Finn saw the treehouses, she immediately fell in love with them. Emily saw the bonfire pit, but was not drawn to it, per say, as Aurora and Finn were to the lake and the treehouses, respectively. Grey knelt down in the grassy clearing and ran her fingers through the grass, and it seemed to dance to her touch.

Back at the fire pit, Emily had started a small fire and was making her flames dance back and forth. It was a small fire because she wanted it contained so it wouldn’t burn down any of the trees. As much as she hated to admit it, she loved all the foliage around her. It was pretty, especially with the way the leaves were changing colors. She was sitting on one of the log seats when she heard a branch break. Emily looked up from her dancing flames immediately upon hearing the cracking sound and saw a girl that looked about a year or two older than her.

The girl had long blonde hair which hung straight down her back and shoulders. Her eyes were dark blue and she was wearing a white button-down shirt, a short, black pleated skirt, white thigh-high socks, black, heeled Mary Janes, and a sky-blue tie, the air elemental uniform.

“Hello,” Emily said, not really sure who this girl was or what she wanted, so she kept on her guard.

“Hi,” The other girl replied, cheerfully enough.

“I’m sorry, I’m new here and I don’t really know anyone else here but my roommates. Who are you?”

“My name is Kari Sands and I’m an air elemental. What’s your name?”

“My name is Emily Rhodes.”

“What elemental type are you?”

She was reluctant to share any other information other than her name with Kari, but she didn’t think it would cause any harm to answer the question.

“I’m a fire elemental.”

Kari nodded.

“So, what are you doing all the way out here?” Kari asked.

“My roommates and I decided to explore the campus, starting with this forest.”

“This forest is an interesting place. It can sometimes be a dangerous place as well. Just a word of warning. There are things in this forest that won’t hesitate to harm you or anyone who walks through here, animals and the like. Well, this has been an enlightening chat. I’ll see you soon, Emmy.”

Kari left, smiling and chuckling to herself. Emily was a bit confused about the forest being a dangerous place but figured that she was probably right in that dangerous animals were roaming around this forest, animals like bears, cats, wolves, coyotes, and other creatures. Kari’s use of “Emmy” wasn’t lost on her either. She hated that nickname. It was something associated with elementary school, something her classmates and her preschool and kindergarten teachers called her. She absorbed the flames she created and went off to find Grey, Finn, and Aurora. When she found them, they were staring out across the lake.

“Hey.”

“Hey!” Finn replied back, happily. She continued, “Where have you been?”

“The fire pits. I met a girl while I was there.”

“Who was she? Was she nice? What was she doing here?”

“Her name was Kari Sands, she seemed nice, and I’m not really sure. We only talked for a little bit and it was only enough to introduce ourselves, say which elemental type we were, and then she told us to watch out for the creatures of the forest. It’s a forest, so I’m sure there’s probably wolves and coyotes and the like in here.”

“Well, as long as we don’t bother them, they won’t bother us, right?” Finn said, in her cheerful voice.

“Right.” Emily replied back to her, unsure if that was true or not, although she would’ve liked to believe it was true.

“So, now that we’ve seen the forest, where to now?” Grey asked.

“I think I’d like to see the pool next,” Aurora said.

“To the pool then!” Finn said.

“Why the pool?” Emily asked.

“It looks intriguing and I like to swim. I like being around the water, because it’s nice and calming. I feel…I feel home when I’m in the water….” Aurora said, almost on the verge of tears, but she held them back.

Finn saw this and hugged her.

“It’s alright, Aurora. It’s alright to cry. I know how you feel. You feel at home in the water and I feel at home in the sky. We both feel at home with our elements and I think that’s to be expected. You’re going to be alright, everything’s going to be alright,” Finn reassured her.

It had been a long time since Aurora had been hugged. The last time she’d been hugged was when she was a little girl. She had been raised by a single father, who had long since died as well, since her mom and twin sister died when she was born. She almost forgot the feeling of a hug, but Finn’s hug brought all the feelings back. It made her feel safe, it made her feel happy.

“Let’s go see the pool now,” Aurora said, smiling.

The four girls headed to the building which housed the pool. Haring Hall was a large building with a glass ceiling. Grey, Aurora, Emily, and Finn walked into the large building and Aurora was instantly amazed by the size of the pool. There was a large pool where there were a few lap lanes, a couple of diving boards, each at different heights, and another medium sized pool off to one side of the room. Aurora was officially in love with the pool. This was a place where she could come every day after classes and relax. The girls watched the pool goers swim around. Emily looked around, a rather tall, young man catching her eye. Then, as she watched, she saw a girl with long, blonde, curly hair with blue highlights climb out of the pool. She was wearing an aqua blue bikini that flattered her figure quite nicely. The young man with her had dark brown hair and tanned skin. He was wearing a maroon colored T-shirt with a pair of dark red swim trunks. He was holding a blue towel with wave patterns on it and handed it to the young woman who had just climbed out of the pool. He handed her the towel and she leaned up and gave him a kiss on his lips, then she wrapped the towel around her body and they walked out of the building. Emily turned back around and saw the others looking at her.

“What is it?” Grey asked.

“It was nothing, just some people that caught my eye. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing them around the school.”

Grey just nodded, not questioning it any further. Something about them just seemed weird to Emily, but she, too, didn’t question her train of thought any further. She did, however, keep it filed away in the back of her head, doing the same with her encounter with Kari. The girls left the pool soon after and decided to head back to the dorm with plans to continue their exploration the next day.