The next thing on the Welcoming Committee to-do list was: Check New Student into a Dormitory Room.
The girls’ dormitory and the boys’ dormitory were separated by a large Common Room, where the students spent lots of time socializing, doing thronework, and sometimes just relaxing in front of the river-rock fireplace. Getting to the dorm room required climbing more staircases. Meeshell’s legs began to ache. She felt envious of the fairy students, who zipped past, their wings leaving cool breezes in their wake. “I know,” Apple said, as if reading her mind. “If only we had wings.”
They stopped at room 12C. The sign on the door read:
The words twinkled. Apple knocked gently. The door flew open and a girl with blue hair and large blue eyes stood before them. “You must be Meeshell,” she said with a big, welcoming hug. “I’m so happy to finally get a roommate. Come on in.” When she flew around, Meeshell realized that her roommate was a fairy. How hexciting!
The room was a good size, with two canopied beds, two desks, two dressers, and two closets. This fairy clearly had a favorite color because the bedspreads, pillows, overstuffed chairs, and paint were all variations of blue. “These boxes arrived for you from the Glass Slipper.” Three shoe boxes sat on Meeshell’s bed. She set her MirrorPad and book bag next to them. “Where are the rest of your things?” Farrah asked.
“Yes, I was wondering the same thing,” Apple said. “Why haven’t the trolls delivered your luggage? I could call my dwarf network. They do a great job with deliveries.”
“This is all I have for now. My mom ordered some new clothes for me, but I guess they haven’t arrived,” Meeshell explained.
“Oh, that’s no problem. Farrah happens to be a future fairy godmother, so I’m sure she can help you if you need an outfit.”
“Yes, of course. What do you need? How about a jacket?”
She grabbed a silver wand from her vanity and waved it through the air. A little trail of sparkles appeared. Suddenly, Meeshell was wearing a cropped jacket that perfectly matched her dress.
“Thank you,” Meeshell said gratefully.
“Just so you know, my spells don’t last very long. That jacket will disappear at midnight.”
It would seem that Farrah, a future fairy godmother, and Coral, a future sea witch, had something in common—their spells had glitches.
Meeshell opened the shoe boxes. Then she sat on the bed and began trying them on.
Farrah pulled Apple aside. Even though Farrah had lowered her voice to a whisper, Meeshell could still hear the muffled conversation. “How come she speaks so quietly? Is she shy?” Farrah asked Apple.
“Well, she does have a sore throat. But yes, she’s very shy. I bet she’s homesick, too. I think it might take a while for her to feel comfortable with us.”
“Oh, I remember feeling that way when school started.”
“Me too. But I’m her Welcoming Committee representative, so I’ll do everything I can to help her settle in.”
Ashlynn, Briar, and Maddie all walked into the dorm room. “Oh look, the shoes arrived. Those are adorable.” Ashlynn pointed to the pink sneakers that Meeshell had on her feet. These were the ones she found the most comfortable. Ashlynn held a vase, with a strange-looking flower. “We thought maybe we got off on the wrong slipper so we brought you this flower for your dorm.”
“It’s a snapdragon,” Briar said.
Meeshell had never seen a snapdragon before—they didn’t grow under the sea. The flower was pretty, with large petals that folded over one another. But when Meeshell leaned forward to smell the flower, the petals unfurled and a cute little dragon face appeared. It opened its mouth and roared at her! Ashlynn laughed as the vase shook in her hands, spilling some water.
Meeshell jumped away. Luckily, the water missed her, landing on the floor instead.
“Oops,” Ashlynn said. “Sorry about that.” The little dragon flower began to snap its mouth at her. “I’ll just put it over here.” Ashlynn set the flower next to Meeshell’s bed.
Meeshell wondered if the little dragon would move around during the night. What if it splashed water on her while she was sleeping and her tail came out for her roommate to see? “Is it… safe?” she asked nervously.
“Oh, never mind, you don’t have to keep it,” Ashlynn said quickly, picking the flower up. “I didn’t know you were afraid of snapdragons! Or is it the water? Are you afraid of flower water, too?”
I’m not really afraid of cute little flowers… or water! she wanted to explain. I just can’t get my legs wet. The girls were looking at her, waiting for her to say something.
Apple sensed her discomfort and jumped in to try to help her new friend. “You don’t have to explain.” She grabbed a towel from the bathroom and mopped up the spill. Then she began to usher everyone from the room. “I think we should give Meeshell some time to herself. It’s been a long day, and she’s probably tired.” She motioned to Farrah, who followed her into the hallway. Then Apple poked her head back into the room. “We’ll let you rest. And I’m going to get you some lozenges for your throat. See you soon.” And with that, she gently closed the door. Meeshell overheard their conversation as they walked away.
“I don’t think I’ve ever met someone so shy before,” Briar said.
Then Maddie said, “I’m pretty sure it’s my hat. She doesn’t like my hat.”
Their voices faded, leaving Meeshell alone for the first time since arriving.
It was a relief to be alone. She sank onto the bed and let the soft pillow cradle her head.
So many feelings swirled inside her. Everyone had been so nice, and they clearly thought she was a two-footed land-dweller, just like them. But now they thought she had some kind of phobia of water—all water. What if she got thirsty and needed a drink? What would she do? How silly it was—a mermaid pretending to be afraid of water.
She rose from the bed, then walked onto the balcony, looking out over the campus. Students mingled in the quad. Swans swam around the unicorn fountain. A forest spread to the south and the sea spread to the east. There was no sign of the Narwhal. How she longed to be back on that ship, heading home. Back to the watery world she loved. Back to her family and friends.
Back to her beloved tail.
A chime sounded somewhere nearby, pulling Meeshell from her musings. She turned and walked back into the dorm room. The chime sounded again. Was it coming from the MirrorPad? She picked it up. The screen lit up.
Welcome to the Ever After High Mirror Network. You have a message from StoryTeller2. To respond to your message, please set up your Mirror Network chat room account.
A keypad appeared, asking her to fill in her code name for access to the chat room. She sat on the bed and thought a moment. What type of code name should she choose? The answer came quickly. She typed Seashell.
Welcome to the Mirror Network chat room.
New message from StoryTeller2.
StoryTeller2: Hi.
Because they didn’t have MirrorPads in her kingdom, using her fingers to type was as difficult as using her feet to walk, so it took a while to get the hang of it. But soon she mastered the two-finger method.
Seashell: Hi.
StoryTeller2: How are you doing?
Seashell: Fine. Who is this?
StoryTeller2: I’m a student. I know what it’s like to be the new kid. It’s overwhelming at first. If you have any questions about school, I’m happy to answer.
There was a long pause. Meeshell wasn’t sure what to do. Was it rude if she didn’t ask questions? How did this work?
StoryTeller2: Okay, well, I’m here if you need me. Bye.
Seashell: Bye.
The screen went dark. She sat back against the headboard. What an odd way to talk to someone. She didn’t know who StoryTeller2 was, but he or she seemed very nice. And apparently, he or she knew her. Had they already met?
The sound of beating wings drew Meeshell’s attention to the open balcony door. Four tiny fairies flew into the room, leaving trails of sparkles in the air. They carried an enormous package, which they dropped onto the bed. The label read: From Fashionably Ever After… For Meeshell.
“Thank you,” Meeshell told the little creatures, amazed they could carry such weight. They all zipped away.
She eagerly untied the twine and opened the package. A note inside read:
Meeshell opened the box. It was stuffed with clothing—dresses, pants, tops, pajamas, and a swimsuit. Well, the swimsuit wouldn’t be needed, since she couldn’t get her legs wet. She set that into a drawer, along with the pants and shirts. She hung the dresses in her closet. Then she opened her bag and took out her precious belongings—a brush and comb, seashell clips for her hair, a princess mermaid arm bracelet, her pearl headband, and her favorite pink coral necklace.
“Oh, that’s gorgeous!” Apple said when she returned with lozenges. She was referring to an asymmetrical dress with lightweight ruffles, which looked, to Meeshell, like waves. The dress had a coral top with scalloped fish-skin texture. “And this is adorable!” Apple pulled a teal sea-horse-shaped purse from the Fashionably Ever After box. Then she smiled. “It’s kinda funny that you’re afraid of water but you have a total sea theme going here with your clothes.”
“Yeah, that is funny,” Meeshell said sheepishly.
“I hope these work.” Apple gave Meeshell the box of pickled pepper throat lozenges.
“Thanks. Me too.” While her feet were content in their new sneakers, her throat was feeling more ragged than ever. She didn’t want to think about what would happen if her voice didn’t recover. She popped one of the lozenges into her mouth. Then, for good measure, added another. She nearly gagged. They tasted disgusting!
“I know you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed,” Apple said, “but tomorrow will be great. It’s Club Day. That means you can walk around and check out all the clubs until you find one or two to join. Or three. There’s no limit. One quarter, I joined twenty-two clubs. Was I ever busy! But you do whatever works for you. And I’ll be there so you don’t have to worry about getting lost. It will be spelltacular.”
Meeshell hoped so.
Becoming a land-dweller was her destiny and she wanted to make the best of it. She hoped the lozenges would work. Because it didn’t matter if she had no shoes, or if she wore the same yellow dress for the rest of her life. What mattered was her voice.
It needed to heal because it was the key to her future.