The Lost Queen Book 1 - Alden

15. Orientation

I get to the orientation room at the same time Victor does, which is a good thing because I have 2 coffees in one hand and 1 in the other, not sure how I would have opened the door. But he opens the door then takes a coffee.

"Thanks man. Didn't even think about coffee. I grabbed you a bottle of water."

"We'll be well hydrated for the 2 hours before lunch."

There is one big wooden table with 12 chairs around it. The chair at 1 end has a bunch of stuff on it. There are 2 cups of pens and pencils sitting in the middle of the table along with a box of tissues. Not sure why they have those, as no one gets sick. It's obvious this is a conference room. I sit at the other end of the table, opposite the big pile of papers and boxes. Victor sits on one side of me and Clark sits on the other.

Jenny comes in smiling, "Morning guys."

"Morning Jenny. You meet your roommate yet?" Victor asks.

"Not yet. She's supposed to be here today." She smiles as 2 more guys walk in.

"I guess they are doing more than 1 orientation then." Clark says. "Wonder how many are going to be in this one, and I wonder how many are here for the 1 first year."

"Me too. I'm Alden. Are you guys here for the 1st year as well?"

"Yes, I'm Phil."

After everyone does introductions. Jenny pipes back up. "I remember my cousin telling me his class he had 25 people but that was the biggest class the school had in many years. Usually they are like 12-15."

"It's just me and Joe in our room. We're not waiting for anyone else."

Emberlynna walks in. "Good no one's late. What are you all talking about?"

"Wondering how many people are in our year." Jenny says.

"11 this year. 4 ladies. 7 Gentlemen. The orientation for the rest of you is tomorrow and then classes will begin Monday. And Ms. Jenny, your roommate, will be here at approximately 8 pm. And V Movers will be bringing the items for you gentlemen about 4 pm today. I ask you to be in your room during that time. The school staff will be there as well as the movers, switching everything about. They are very quick about this and do not need any assistance other than to know which room is which. It should take them about 20 minutes."

"Now that we got that out of the way, several professors will be speaking with you this morning. As well as the scheduler, who is also the boss of the school. So you should be ready to go for classes on Monday. First up to speak with you..." she checks her paper "is the scheduler. So I will go let him know you're ready." with that she walks back out the door.

"The school has good coffee. Think I have time to go get another cup?" Clark stands up as someone walks in.

"Guess not."

"Hello everyone, I'm Mr. Aver. I'm the scheduler. You have a couple of options for the year, but for the most part everyone will be in the same classes." He passes out a paper to everyone. "I need each of you to fill out the top of the paper with your info, and then you will need to choose a volunteer position for 15 hours per week as well as your defense class. Get your info filled out, and I will go over the options for you." He opens a laptop.

"The volunteer position first. As you can see, there are 3 options for students in the first year of studies. Housekeeping, which is cleaning the building, buffing floors, washing windows and such. 2nd option is Grounds keeping, which is mowing, weeding, and trimming bushes. Mostly everything outside. 3rd option is Culinary. For your year, this is simply greenhouse work. You would be growing the fruit and vegetables for the building. Does anyone have any questions about these options?"

"I didn't know we had to volunteer for a job." Phil rubs his eyes.

"Yes, we do require all students to do this. It keeps the school costs down as well as helps to keep non-vamps out. As you may have noticed, there is no cost for you to come here. We try to be as self-sustaining as we can. This keeps the school funds available for large jobs."

"If we don't like it, can we switch?" Victor looks at him.

"Yes, you need to come and see me. I am available on Monday and Wednesdays to help with that."

"I do not want to clean the toilets." Victor says under his breath. "What are you guys doing?"

"I'm going to go with culinary. I don't mind greenhouse work." I check the box.

Jenny smiles. "I'm doing the culinary track as well. We can be cooks after a few years. That will be so fun."

"I'm doing the grounds keeping track. Nothing better than being outside in the sun and fresh air." Clark stretches.

"I'm going to do the grounds keeping track as well. Greenhouses are too damn hot."

"Next section is the defense option. It will last all year, you can not change it. Next year you pick another one. You will do 1 each for your first 3 years here. In the 4th year, the class for defense is guns. Guns use to be an option for the 1st year, but they changed that this year. I'm not sure why. The options you have are: Archery, Martial arts, and Fencing."

"Martial Arts." Victor nearly jumps out of his seat.

"Fencing." Clark marks his paper.

"I'll do fencing with Clark. Learning how to work with swords will be interesting." I mark mine.

Joe finally speaks, "I did archery when I was in school. It's a lot cooler than what people think. Learning how to kill something from a distance, almost completely silently."

"That does sound cool." Victor stares at his paper.

"Hand in your papers. I will get your schedules done and bring paper copies to you before you go to lunch. Your work coordinator will get your schedules for you probably on Monday or Tuesday. One of them is coming to talk to you next. They will be able to answer more questions about the volunteer spots than I can. But lastly, I will tell you the classes you will be in this year and explain how the year works." He grabs a bottle of water.

"The year is broken down into 4 quarters. First year classes are a 3-digit number, starting with a 1. Second year classes start with a 2, etc... So your first class is VAMP 101. The one on the end is for the quarter. So, for the first semester, your classes will be VAMP 101, LAW 101, BIO 101, Nutrition 101, Nutrition 101-LAB, and your defense class. These classes last all year, but the labs will change. Nutrition has a lab in the 1st and 3rd quarters. In the 4th quarter, you will begin your power classes. Um..." he checks his computer. "104 is spreading vampirism, and it does have a lab attached to it. Any questions?"

"They want us to spread vampirism?" Phil asks.

Mr. Aver chuckles, "No, we need to show you how to do it, so you can control it and not do it."

"Ok, if there are no more questions, I'm going to finish up the schedules. I will let the work coordinator know you're ready. I will be back before you go to lunch."

A woman comes in a few minutes after he leaves, "Hi, I'm Mrs. Sydney, I am the work coordinator for the housekeeping field. I want to let you all know how things work here. We all, students and staff, work hard to keep the school going. It takes everyone working together and doing their part. The school doesn't have an unlimited amount of money, so it's important that everyone pitches in. If you spill something, clean it up, make sure items make it to the trash can, stuff like that. Please treat the entire school the way you would treat your own home. When everyone does this, it helps out. Other than that, does anyone have any questions about the volunteer fields?"

Clark smiles at her, "Are there other fields or just these 3?"

"There are other fields. If you do 1 year each of housekeeping, grounds keeping, and culinary, you can join the maintenance department. There is a nursing field as well. But students are selected for that one based on BIO scores. There is also clerical field, that opens for you next year. They work at the library, shops, and spa. The professors can also request to have an assistant for up to 5 hours a week, if they like. Some of the positions open with test scores, others with experience. I have another meeting scheduled. This is Mr. Teos, he is your financial advisor."

"Thank you, Mrs. Sydney. Have a good day. As she mentioned, I am Mr. Teos I am the schools financial advisor. I wanted to speak to you guys about how the money system works here. You are given 350 credits per month for the volunteer work you do. These credits can be used at any shop in the school. So the grocery store, clothing shop, book store, etc. However, they are no good anywhere else. So, if you have bills on the outside, you will need to find a way to make money on the outside. I do have a list of jobs available in the area as well as online, in my office. If you are interested, you can make an appointment to see me at the entrance building desk. Next up to talk to you is technology. I will let them know you're ready."

"Well, that was short and sweet."

"Yea, I don't think he wanted to answer questions." Jenny laughs.

"Hi everyone, it's nice to meet you. I am from the technology department. We are located on the 1st floor. Room M110. I need to pass out some stuff and make sure you can all get them to work. Each student enrolled here gets a smartphone. I strongly suggest you cancel your old cell phones. The roaming charges would be insane if you keep them. So, each person take a box with a phone in it. I charged them today, so they should turn on." He waits for everyone to grab a box, "Are they on? Great. On the first screen, you put in your ID number, then you verify some of your information. Good. Are they working? Is everyone able to log on?"

We all say yes.

"Great, the next thing you all get is a tablet. Everyone take one of these boxes. Open them up and set them up the same way you did your phones. These will help you with your school work. I do believe one of your classes has an online book, but other than that, it'll be for personal use and homework. Anyone have issues setting them up? Make sure you set it up with a password that is hard to guess. Any problems?"

"Last thing I'm going to give you is a Wi-Fi booster. You will take 1 box per apartment. Plug it in your room somewhere. They help keep the Wi-Fi strong throughout the building. That's all I have for you today. I think the scheduler has your schedules ready. I'll message him and let him know you guys are ready for lunch."

"He will meet you back here at 1. I do believe the only place open for lunch today is the cafeteria. So go eat and take this stuff back to your apartments and be back by 1. It was nice meeting you all."

"I have to piss." I head straight to the bathroom. "I'll meet you guys in the cafeteria."

"I'm going to take my stuff to the apartment quick. Want me to take yours?" I hand it to Clark.

Victor hands him his boxes too. "I'll go grab a table."