Camille stood in front of the front desk, waiting for the secretary to notice her. She had been standing there for what seemed like an hour. The secretary was furiously scribbling on a white clipboard, and had not noticed her standing there.

The clock ticked along. Camille stood there for 10, 15, 20 minutes before the forced herself to admit that if she wanted to find her sister, she had to speak up. After all, there was only so much time before lights out. She took a deep breath.

“Um, excuse me?” 

“Oh! I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there,” said the secretary, putting down her fluffy pink pen. “I do hope you haven't been standing there too long, deary, how can I help you?”

“No, not long at all,” Camille said softly, her cheeks growing warm. “I was just wondering, um, do you know what dorm my sist- uh Princess Colette of the French Countryside is in?”

“Princess Colette, you say?” The secretary fluttered around her filing cabinets, rifling through stacks of baby blue paper. “Goodness gracious, I can’t find anything in this mess.” After a few more seconds of searching, the secretary pulled out a lilac folder with ADVISORIES printed on it. She opened the folder and shuffled the contents.

“Doesn’t that say-”

“Advisories, deary. There are a few for each dorm. Were you not in advisory yesterday?” Camille was too embarrassed to admit that she had been hiding out in her own dorm room, reading. No wonder no one was there. “Princess Colette is in Princess Moana’s advisory, which along with Queen Snow White’s advisory, is a part of the Apple Shores dorm. Princess Moana and Queen Snow White are the dorm leaders. Obviously.”

“Thank you so much,” Camille said hurriedly, wanting more than anything to escape from the office. 

“Oh, and don’t forget a dorm pass!”

A few relived minutes later, Camille arrived at the entrance to the Apple Shores dorm. After depositing her dorm pass, she stepped through the apple-shaped archway into something resembling paradise. 

It wasn’t what you would expect when you thought of an apple-beach paradise. There were no murals of palm trees, nor apple trees. Just beautifully painted oak trees with leaves varying from a forest green to the deepest autumn red. The gound was warm, like a beach, and a pleasantly salty scent hung in the air. Camille couldn’t decide if the saltiness smelled more of warm, salted caramel taffy or a beachy ocean breeze, tinged with tropical fruit. 

The colors and components of both summer and fall were spread around the room, though not in an annoying way. Bright light gleamed from the geometrical glass ceiling.

A door labeled Year Ones opened. Her sister and another girl stepped out. Colette saw Camille and her face lit up.

“Camille!” Colette ran up to Camille and hugged her tightly. “I’m so glad to see you!” Camille looked down at Colette’s shining face and a warm smile fluttered across her lips.

“Hi Lettie,” Camille laughed. “Sorry I couldn’t come before dinner. How has your day been?” Camille held her breath, preparing for the worst.

“It’s been amazing!!” Camille was slightly shocked, but she managed to hide her surprise. “Orientation was super cool! I made a ton of new friends, and…”

As Colette continued to talk about her tour, advisory, and who she had met so far, Camille wondered how this had even happened. She couldn’t help remembering her own first day, which, for the record, had been absolutely awful. Were these mysterious school changes to blame? 

“And this is my new friend Aria! We met in advisory.” Colette pointed to the girl standing next to her. Aria and Colette started chatting as they led Camille through the year one door into their dorm room. 

Camille became lost in her thoughts again. It had taken Camille a whole six months to make friends with Merrywhether. How had Colette made a friend so fast? Yes, Colette had the knack of going up to people and immediately befriending them, but Camille knew you can’t just blindly trust people like that. Camille also wasn’t sure how she felt about Aria. 

Nevermind the friends, Camille thought, but Colette had been so nervous for Princess Academy, especially because she was young for her year. Colette hated change. What was Princess Academy doing for her that it hadn’t done to Camille?

But no, Camille reminded herself, she shouldn’t be hung up on this now. Colette had a good first day. Camille should be happy for her.