WEEK LATER

Beatrice slumped down on her chair and groaned as she heard her uncle and his assistant discuss the preparations of the welcoming. She wondered to herself why they just couldn’t arrive already and get the event over with so she could go back to her room and not have to sit next to her cousin Hero and her Aunt discuss the men that would be coming to the school and have to hear Hero squeal about them.

“I bet there handsome.” Hero said matter of factly “ All military men HAVE to be handsome. It's like, a requirement to enter the army.” 

Her mother slapped her daughter in the shoulder playfully “One of those men is your Uncle, dear Hero!” she exclaimed.

Beatrice rolled her eyes “I don’t think that's going to stop her looking, Aunt Teresa.” she said wistfully.

Hero rolled her eyes back at her and continued to speak to her mother, her eyes sparkling with exitement.

Beatrice looked around the colorful courtyard lazily as she watched all the teachers gather around, waiting for the guest to arrive. She glanced to the other side of the yard to see all the security gathered in one area near the gates, leading them was the lead guard William Dogberry. Beatrice always wondered how Dogberry got in charge of security, for it is no secret that he was a foolish and not a very bright man. He was a man in his late forties, with a messy, spiky beard and ragged clothes and requed of liquor and had misty eyes. One could be robbing an office and he would merely just glance at them and continue on walking around the school as if he owned the place, even though no student nor teacher paid him any attention. And a student could just bribe the man with a bottle of wine or brandy and he would let them pass without a second thought of regret and would be more tipsy then a coin on its last turn before the sun even peeked over the hill.

But now, Dogberry was on top attention to Beatrice's uncle like a dog wanting to please his master. He even brushed his hair in a strange, neat style and wore a belt and was barking orders to his men about everything. He practically repeated everything Messina said and yelled it to his officers.

Beatrice signed as a breeze blew through her ginger hair, wacking her eyes. She brushed it away angrily. She hated the fact that she had to wait for an uncle she had never met and his companions. She barely even heard about him from her Uncle Leonardo. She stood up from her chair as her uncle and his assistant walked over to the chairs, still in deep conversation.

 “Yes, sir. I just got word that the cars are arriving near the school.” the assistant said.

The Headmaster stroked his beard as he spoke to the assistant, the teachers chattering became but a whisper as he began to speak, “About how many miles more?” he asked. The assistant shrugged his shoulders  “ They just reached the town. So I'm estimating around 5 miles till they reach the school road. Plenty of time” 

Leonardo rubbed his face with his hands and Teresa comforted him by rubbing his shoulders as he flopped on a chair next to her “Dear there is nothing to worry about, you’ll see.” she reassured him. He merely groaned in response.

Beatrice rolled her eyes. “Who exactly are we meeting? These ‘companions’. I mean, they must be important for such a big welcoming.” she walked over to her uncle and stood in front of him and her Aunt, waiting for a response. The assistant laughed “They are quite important ma’am. They’re soldiers and are very close to your uncle.”  Now it was Beatrice's turn to laugh “Ya, already got those pieces of information. But are his companions just as important as my uncle? The one that me nor my cousin have ever met?” 

The assistant shrugged “I am sure they are Beatrice. Peter’s bringing them along to the school.” 

“And they shall also be attending here!” Leonardo said as he walked over to the assistant and Beatrice, face still pale and sweaty from stress “My brother is coming here to stay after an injury to teach and he thought it would be nice to bring his two companions here to finish their schooling.” he turned to look at Beatrice in the eye, frowning  “And I expect you to behave yourself in front of these gentlemen, niece.” 

Beatrice rolled her eyes “Gentleman? Not much of a gentleman because they’re turning up late and making us WAIT.”

Headmaster Messina rolled his eyes “Pardon my niece, she has a habit of starting wars with people she hasn’t even met yet.” he signed “A war of words and wits.” The assistant laughed “What a good habit to have” he teased. 

“Sir? They are arriving” one of the guards said as he put down his walkie talkie and pointed to the long black cars arriving in front of the ivy infested school gates. 

“Dear lord Leonardo.” Teresa said as they guards rushed in panic as Dogberry yelled orders to open the gates “You really should have cleaned the gates before the event.” 

Headmaster Messia sighs “Yes, of course dear.” Beatrice smirked seeing the guards fighting and losing with the tangled vines to open the silver gates. One of them frantically ran across the courtyard to the shed to get the garden scissors “They're having fun, aren’t they?” Beatrice says wistfully. The assistant snorted a laugh and Hero giggles as she walks closer to the mob of people waiting for the cars to get in the courtyard. 

Thanks to some miracle, they were finally able to free the gates of the green ivy and proceeded to open the gates and the long black car enters and drives on the stone road towards the mob of staff and stops in front of the academy. Beatrice felt her uncle push through the crowd of teachers toward the car and stood in front of the group. He was shaking more than a California earthquake.

The passenger door opened and a man comes out of the car and hurries over to open the back door. Beatrice raises an eyebrow “Who needs a man to open their door?” She asks to no one really as the man opens the black door wider “It's the twenty first century.” Hero nudges her sharply and shushes her. She clearly wanted to see who where their uncles guests that were staying at Red Glass Academy.

Three men stand out of the car as a few of the staff members hurry over to the back of the car to get the guest bags. One man puts out a hand and stops them from proceeding. He was a man in his late twenties or early thirties. He had dark black, messy hair and deep as the ocean eyes that twinkled with happiness. His face has a shadow of a beard and wrinkles from his smile that covers half his face. He wore a simple emerald green suite and black dressing shoes but he still made it look classy. Beatrice noticed that looked quite a lot like her uncle but younger and not as put together with Leonardos neat hair and classy black suit. Also Leonardo eyes are a dark brown, not blue and Leonardo did have a beard. The other man also had a brace on his thigh, clearly due to an ingury.

The man spread out his arms, his smile not failing, “ Ah! If it isn’t my big brother Leo!” He rushed over across the dirt road and practically tackles the Headmaster as he gave him a forceful hug. Leonardo hugged him back, laughing. All forms of stress gone from the system as the two brothers hugged. They break apart still grinning, Beatrice though it was weird to see her Uncle smile so widely. 

“Never has trouble arrived here in such stylish manner.” joked the Headmaster. “But that is normal for you Peter.” Peter swatted his hand “Ah, you know me and my fabulous entrances.” He motioned towards the two men standing a few feet behind them “How rude of me, I forgot to introduce you to my two good friends!.”

One of the men in the pair was standing quite awkwardly as Peter said those words and came over to them with Leonardo. He had sandy blond hair that was in a neat style that reached behind his ear. He had soft chestnut brown eyes that very behind a pair of square black glasses. He had a very strong figure that was wearing only a simple blue T-shirt and Jeans. He was very handsome. Beatrice caught Hero glancing at him the entire time, red heat growing at her checks.

The other man has dark black hair, similar to Peter’s, It was styled messy like as if he merely brushed a comb over it in the morning and called it a day. Yet he pulled it off with charm. He had beep brown eyes that twinkled with misfief. His face wore a charming smirk. He also had a very strong figure ,like did the other man and Peter, that stood lazily in spot and wore a white shirt under a jean jacket and black jeans. 

“They're from the army, they must be so strong.” Hero whispered over to Beatrice.”I can’t believe their around our age.”  “Ya, no duh.’’ Beatrice responded sarcastically. 

Peter walks over to the boys and puts his hand on their shoulders, “Brother, these are my two good friends, Claudio and Benedict.” The headmaster walked over to the two men and shakes their hands, “It is nice to meet both you, Peter speaks highly of both of you.’’ he says. He turns to his brother “It is nice that you decided to stay here, Brother.” Peter shrugs his shoulders “The army no longer needs me,so why not teach.”   

Leonardo turns back to the two men “I do hope you will enjoy it here at the academy, gentleman.” Benedict flashes him a smile “We indent to sir.” Beatrice squints her eyes at the man. There was something about his character that really ticked her off track. Leonardo, on the other hand, was all smiles “Brilliant! I’m sure you will be getting all the help you need, but if you do need anything, feel free to come to me, my wife, or my niece Beatrice and my daughter Hero.” Beatrice did a double take. Did she hear her uncle correctly? Or was she half-awake? She had to help those two new guys, including the guy that sent her that bad vibe?

Claudio glanced at Hero but turned away quickly because she saw him staring and began to blush. Hero smiled happily at his attention to her as she too began to blush. Beatrice scoffed at the sight of them. Hero was always a helpless romantic, falling for almost every guy she sees. She was a 19 year old stuck in the body of a 16 year old. But Beatrice stilled cared a lot about her cousin, and she wanted to protect her against any man that would treat her wrong.

The headmaster extended his arms toward the school to the men “Come, you must be so exhausted, we'll do the introductions at dinner." Peter nodded, “Of course, we will just grab our bags from the car before it departs.” 

“Let the staff get them for you, you and your friends most rest.” Leonardo insisted. Peter swatted his hand, “It will cause us no trouble to get them ourselves. The rest of you can go back inside.” Leonardo looked at Peter unsure but nodded, they hugged on last time, “Welcome to the Red Glass Academy.” He said one last time. He started to walk towards the school and like on command the rest of the group followed suit chattering to each other, the grass crinkled beneath their feet. The only ones left were Beatrice and Hero and Peter, Claudio and Benedict.

Hero turned to Beatrice, her face burning and her eyes in a dreamy gaze, “Did you see the Claudio fellow? Isn’t he so handsome.?”  Beatrice shrugged and did a “sort of” gesture with her hand “Meh.” she looked over at the group of men standing near the car. This was gonna be a long year.