Arkadia

[Aldrich]

Arkadia, winter of 2016
​

The semester was over. All of the required hand-ins and final exams had come to a close. The winter holidays were knocking at the door. This was a time of the year of mixed feelings for a lot of people— some hated it, others loved it. At the Academy for the Gifted in Arkadia, the concept of ‘family’ was not always a given fact. Many of the students had come from hostile environments wherein their own parents and siblings did not want to have anything to do with them. For Jessica, however, going back home during Christmas had always been natural, but this year she wanted something different. She had decided to stay at the academy to be with those who had nowhere else to go.


For the past year or two, Jessica had been a spokesperson and the face outwards for mutants, the gifted, people with abilities, or whatever you wished to call it. She had appeared in some magazines, morning talk shows, and various interviews, in addition to a video-blog online. One could say that Jessica was a bit of an activist for the gifted and their rights in society. It was not anything major, as some of the other players in that particular field and public eye, but it had netted Jessica with a bit of capital. She was by no means rich, whatever that meant, but Jessica had enough money to buy a Christmas present for each and every student at the academy that had nowhere to go.


It was two weeks before Christmas Eve. Jessica was doing some video editing in her room. Suddenly, the principal of the academy gently knocked on the door to Jessica’s room. She called him inside.


“Is this a bad time?” The principal asked.


“No Mr. Burkhart, I’m not doing anything important.” Jessica said and shut her laptop.


“I heard that you have bought a present for all the students staying with us over the holidays.” Mr. Burkhart said and seated himself on the edge of Jessica’s bed.


“Oh, yes, it was nothing really. It took some sneaky investigation, though, to find out what everyone wanted.” Jessica said.


“That was nice of you to do. I hope they enjoy what they get. But, that’s not the reason why I’m here. I’m here to ask a favor of you. It’s not something that I usually do when it comes to the students here, but these are special circumstances.” The principal said.


“Sure, anything you need Mr. Burkhart.”


“Many of the other students look up to you, Jessica, especially the younger ones. They come from less than favorable circumstances, they are scared and shy, and as you have seen yourself, some of their abilities impose unwanted physical changes to their bodies. Who you are and how you act has helped them, tremendously. You might not see it yourself, but I and the rest of the faculty do.”


Jessica blushed, slightly.


“So, this favor that I’m about to ask of you is something that you’ve already spent your time doing with the students here, which is being a type of mentor, guide, or emotional support. We’ve just received a new student, a girl a year younger than you are. She’s a late bloomer and the circumstances of that were… well, unfortunate. My question to you is, then, if you could take this girl under your wing, so to speak. Show her around, make her feel at home, help her understand her ability, and just be yourself with her. Is this something that you could do for me and the academy?” The principal asked.


The favor sounded much more formal than it needed to be. It was true that Jessica had already been a big sister to many of the younger students, but nobody ever asked her to—it just happened. Of course, Jessica did not mind. She probably would have done what the principal asked of her anyway.


“Yeah, uhm, of course I’ll look after her. When does she arrive?” Jessica asked.


“She’s actually down at reception right now. I asked her to wait there. So, you can go meet her right away, if you want to.”


“Okay, I’ll do that.” Jessica smiled.


A few minutes later, Jessica strolled into reception to find a beautiful girl sitting by the couch and chairs of the waiting area. A strange feeling washed over Jessica in that moment. She felt underdressed and dirty. She began to think about when she had a shower, what she was wearing, and the fact that she did not have any makeup on. Self-consciousness was not a typical feeling of hers, but this lovely stranger imposed it.


“Hi there,” Jessica said with a wide smile on her lips. “I’m Jessica,” she continued and extended her hand for a greeting.