Welcome to Gaia! ::

((I hope to publish this story when it is finished.
Also, I fixed it up a bit (Thank you Atra, Maiden), though I think I didn't fixe the showing-and-telling thing all too well. Anyway, tell me what you think!))

Chapter 1: The College

The plane started to rumble as it stirred to life. The flight attendants were helping others put their stuff away for the flight. The what-to-do-and-not-do video was playing on the screens, but no one was really paying attention to it. Most knew it by heart. The sun was coming over the horizon, colouring the clouds in a soft shade of red and dyeing the inside of the plane orange. Soon, the aircraft started to move onto the runway as it prepared to take off.
“Here it comes,” Emma thought as she tightened her grip on her chair. She really hated this part.
The plane lunged forward as it picked up speed at an incredible paste. The aircraft then started to lift into the air. Emma tried to restrain as best as she could what little disaster could happen. The ground-to-air part always made her stomach do acrobatic stunts.
“Urg...” she thought as she re-swallowed the little bits of her morning meal. The plane eventually steady and the queasiness faded. The feeling would come back though, when they would reach New York. That was her destination. The big apple. Everyone has been there once in their lifetime, so it wouldn’t be strange for an 18 year old girl to go by herself. But Emma was going somewhere special. She was going to the God’s Knowledge College. That place was invitation-only, so it was hard to get in. In fact, when she received the letter of acceptance, Emma thought it was for her older, smarter, cooler sister. But it wasn’t. Her name was clearly written in big red letters on the back of the envelope.
But why would they choose to let her in when she had moderate grades and little talent except in arts? No one knew the answer; they just said she was lucky. Yet, Emma had this odd feeling in the pits of her stomach.
To avoid thinking about it, Emma contemplated on watching the clouds pass by. They were quite fluffy today and the sun was high in the sky by now. It looked like a long field of pure, un-touched snow. “Reminds me of home...” Emma trialed as her mind drifted into forgotten memories. Her heart at peace, she allowed herself to fall asleep and let her body get the rest she neglected to give it the night before.

---&---

When she woke up again, the plane had already landed, even though there was still a bunch of people left on board.
“What? Where am I?” she mumbled, trying to get the blood flowing again. “Don’t tell me we’re already at New York.”
“Don’t worry, we’re not.” Emma thought she was hearing things. She quickly rubbed her eyes to disperse the last of her drossiness.
“Err...Who said that?” she asked, looking around. A red-headed boy popped his head in the space between the chairs. Emma nearly screamed when he did so.
“Sorry about that, but you did ask,” he said with a small smile.
“Right...so, can you tell me where we are?” Emma asked after calming herself down.
“We’re in Chicago,” he answered.
“Chicago!? But this plane was suppose to-”
“Don’t worry; we’re heading for New York in a few minutes. I guess you didn’t read the entire flight plan.”
“Apparently not.” The boy returned back to his seat as the plane came back to life so that it may, once again, fly in the sky.
It took only around 20 minutes to get to the infamous city. Emma had forgotten how close Chicago was to New York. She even wondered why someone would take the plane when they weren’t very far apart.
The boy from earlier had high-tailed it out of there as soon as the plane had docked. Emma went to do the same thing only to be run over by a stampede of people. This was the most crowded airport she had ever seen. Heck, this was the biggest crowd she had ever been a part of. People were rushing everywhere, some not even looking where they were going and bumping into others. Was New York really like what she had thought it had been?
After finding some way of making it threw the ever-busy airport, Emma now needed to find her ride. If she remembered correctly, the letter had told her that she would be picked up at the entrance of the airport. To find the car, she had to look for a man holding a sigh with the school’s name on it.
Surprisingly, it was easier to find then she thought. In fact, the whole area around the old man was bare. People were avoiding him...or knew not to get close.
“Um...you’re the driver who will take me to God’s Knowledge?” Emma asked, walking up to the man. He was very old and looked as if he should have retired years ago. His white hair, glistening like the northern snow, was neatly placed and matched perfectly with his black tuxedo.
“Yes, and who may you be?” He asked in a really sophisticated voice. He sounded like the butler from Batman. What was his name...? Ah, it didn’t matter. Emma wasn’t into those kinds of movies.
“I’m Emma Allen. I received a letter of acceptance from the college,” she answered. The old man looked at her from head to toe (Emma had rushed that morning, so she was worried as to what she looked like right now.), then at a list that was strapped to the back of the sigh.
“Ah, yes, Miss Allen. Welcome to New York. I do hope you enjoy your stay,” he replied, bowing and gesturing the way to the...car? That was no car that stood two feet away from Emma. That was a slick, high-class black limo. The kind movies stars rode in. She stood there, eyes wide and mouth opened.
“Ahem,” the man signalled, snapping Emma out of her trance. She quickly walked up to the limo and got in. There were 14 other people in the car, including the boy from before. She sat down beside him quietly. No one dared to talk. A few more joined them in the limo after a few minutes. Some looked like they came from another continent. The limo started up and they were off into the wild concrete jungle known as New York City. Emma simply looked out the window; the eerie silence was too much for her. Thank god it wasn’t rush hour.

---&---

The college wasn’t as big as it looked on the brochure. It was squished in between two larger buildings and didn’t stand out at all. However, the inside was a completely different story.
It was larger inside and more...sophisticated, you could say. It looked like they entered a completely different world...or time. The inside was decorated like a castle from the 1700’s. Everything was neatly placed; from the amazingly-carved statues, to the large, red carpet, they were completely spotless. Emma could only stand in awe at the beauty. Was she really going to spend 3 years in this place?
“Please, this way to the lounge,” the old man, the same one from before, said, designating the way.

The lounge was already occupied by other people; most likely those who had arrived earlier. In all, the room had over 100 people in it, not including the numerous maids and butlers, but it seemed like it could hold much more.
Emma had to stop and stare at the room; once again, she couldn’t believe where she was. There was a multitude of black and white couches. Each two pairs had their own coffee table. The walls were covered in breath-taking paintings or exotic masks. The large chandeliers sparkled brightly, even if they weren’t on. Nah, instead, they shun in the sun’s rays that came in through the window, which gave view on the magnificent courtyard.
“Oh god, this is too much. Can I really get used to all this stuff,” Emma thought as she sat down on a couch, feeling woozy. She noticed her unwashed clothes and immediately felt underdressed.
“May I have your attention please?” Everyone stopped their chatter and looked to where the voice had come from. A tall man was standing up on a small stage at the far end of the room, teachers at both his sides. Emma couldn’t get a good view of his face. From where she was, the sunshine blocked out her sight.
"I would like to thank all of you for accepting our invitations and coming to our college. You have been specially chosen among million, and know this, you will leave here with more then you bargained for. We wouldn’t be called God’s Knowledge for no good reason.” Everyone seemed to chuckle, but Emma didn’t see what was so funny. “Now, I hope you all have a pleasant time here and learn everything you need to live the rest of your lives. And maybe, you may just learn a little more the life is worth living.” Emma stared puzzled at the last sentence. What did he mean by gaining knowledge beyond our life expectancy? There was nothing like that in this world.
The man stepped down from the stage to give room to the teachers, who started talking about their classes. But Emma was too busy trying to see the man’s face to listen to what they were saying. Unfortunately, the man had exited threw a backdoor as soon as he was out of the way.
“What are you looking at?” It was the boy from the airplane. He had sat down on the couch in front of her’s, trying to find what she was gazing at.
“Ah, nothing. I was just trying to figure out who that guy was, or at least see his face,” Emma answered.
“I think that was the principal. Mr...Conwell, I think,” he replied.
“Speaking of names, what’s yours?” Emma asked, turning her attention to the red-haired boy.
“Ryan. My name is Ryan. And you?”
“It’s Emma.” Strange, she hadn’t notice before but this boy, Ryan, had baby-blue eyes. She always thought people with red/orange hair had green eyes. It was very calming looking into them.
“Emma, that’s a nice name,” he said, lost in thoughts. She went to ask him what he was thinking when suddenly someone sat down next to her. It was a guy with dirty-blond hair that seemed strangely soft and skin that seemed paler than hers. He put one arm around Emma's shoulder and looked at her with his forest-green eyes.
“Hello there. What’s a pretty girl like you sitting here all alone?” the boy asked. There was a strange accent in the blonde’s voice. French, maybe?
“Hey buddy, what do you think you’re doing barging in like that,” Ryan snarled. Ah oh, were boys already fighting over her? And here she thought she wasn’t that attractive.
“Jealous, are we? Well you should have made your move first, petit garçon,” the blond shot back. Yep, she was right, this guy was French.
“Oh? Want to take this outside, French-fry?” Ryan asked, standing up.
“Wouldn’t have it any other way!” the boy responded, getting up as well.
“Would you two stop it?! This isn’t the place or time for your bickering!” Emma said, trying to calm them down. They weren’t listening. They continued to glare at each other; a burning desire to beat the other could be seen in their eyes.
“Stop now, Axel.” The blond was smacked in the back of the head by a black girl.
“Ow, that hurt, Keeya!” the blond said, turning to face her.
Emma couldn’t stop staring. Her chocolate-brown skin glistened in the light, which was amplified by her coal-black hair. Her eyes were a shade darker than her skin, and yet, they seemed to have seen things before their time. Emma had never seen anyone like her. She must have also come from outside the country.
“Je suis désolé. I am sorry,” she said, facing Emma with her head hung low.
“Ah, no! You don’t have to apologize! It wasn’t your fault!” Emma spitted out, waving frantically. The girl smiled; a smile that reached all the way to her deep-brown eyes. Emma was caught off guard again by her beauty.
“My name is Keeya. I am from Guinea, Africa. It is nice to meet you,” she said, handing out her hand. “Friend?” Emma watched the hand for a moment before realizing it was addressed to her. She took the hand and they shook.
“Friends,” Emma replied. “I’m Emma. I’m from Nova Scotia, Canada.” The blond from before interrupted the hand shake to place his hand on her’s.
“Well then, you don’t mind becoming my friend too? My name is Axel. I come from France,” he said, putting on his best smile.
“N-No, I don’t mind,” Emma answered, blushing. “What about you?” Ryan looked surprised when she addressed herself to him. He even looked behind himself to make sure she wasn’t talking to someone else.
“Ryan’s the name. I live in Chicago, USA.” Emma slumped back down on the couch and sighed.
“I never thought it would be this easy to make friends,” she said, placing her hand on her head.
“You’d be surprised at how many things are easy in life,” Ryan replied, sitting back in his spot.
“That’s what you think,” Axel murmured. Just then, the teachers who were talking the entire time closed up their speech. The butler-driver then took the stage, directing the new students to where they could get their room number and other accessories.
“Well, I guess will be separated for a while... Do you know when classes start?” Emma asked.
“They won’t start until Monday. We still have the week-end to go. I’m sure we can see each other sometimes then,” Ryan answered, getting up and walking over to the forming line.
“Ya, pas de problème!” Axel added.
“Um...What about the girl and boy rooms?” Keeya asked, even though the question wasn’t clear.
“What about the rooms?” Axel asked. She whispered something in French into his ear. “Oh! You mean the girl’s and boy’s dorms are on different sides of the campus. Don’t worry; we can meet together in the courtyard.”
It didn’t take long for the line to move forward and soon it was their turn. Keeya was three rooms down from Emma, while Ryan and Axel had the pleasure of being together.
“What?! I’m stuck with you?! For 3 whole years?!” Axel shouted when he finished reading his paper.
“Oh don’t worry. You’ll eventually get used to me ignoring you,” Ryan replied with a big smile on his face. They continued to ramble on like that until the four friends split to go to their dorms.
“See you later, Keeya,” Emma said as she waved good-bye to her friend. She entered her room and was once again blown away by the beautiful architecture of the school. Her room looked more like a queen’s chamber then a college dorm. Where on earth were these people getting the money to do this sort of stuff?!
Emma’s room, along with every other room in the dorm, was the size of a tennis court. The two beds were queen sized and even looked like something pulled out of an old medieval book. There were floral paintings hung on the wooden wall, and a finely done, red carpet laid across the floor. Large green curtains hung at the window, which had a built in seat. Emma would have fainted on the spot if her roommate hadn’t roughly made her entrance at that moment.
“I’ll make this clear,” she started. “Don’t talk to me, don’t touch my stuff and, whatever you do, stay on your side of the room.” Emma stood there, mouth opened.
“Great, I have the most annoying Barbie doll for a roommate,” Emma thought as she moved towards her bed where her stuff waited to be unpacked. The girl wasn’t exactly pretty. She had bleached-blond hair and skin so tanned, it looked like bronze. She dressed like someone from Hawaii or Miami and wore too much make-up. Emma kind of wondered how this girl would make it through the winter. “God, if you exist, please make the scary girl go away!”
Life, however, wasn’t going to pay her a favour and Emma knew she was stuck with this girl for a roommate. Heck, for the three years these two were going to be together, she would probably never even get to know her name!

---&---

Later that night, after everything was unpacked and supper was eaten, Emma fell on top of her bed, noticing just how comfortable her bed was. Most likely a feathered mattress. These people seriously made everything as perfect as possible. It didn’t take long before Emma drifted off to dreamland. Even if she had to sleep on the cold floor, she would have been out like a light. Today was exhausting with everything that went on. And don’t forget that she didn’t get much sleep the night before.
Somehow, Emma kept tossing and turning. Something was bugging her. It felt like there was a bump in the mattress. Most likely a feather clump. But no matter what she did, that clump didn’t go away. Eventually, Emma got up, sometime around 2 am, to see just what could cause so many disturbances.
The first thing Emma examined was the mattress itself. There was nothing wrong with it. Just a bump in the middle that seemed to be coming from under it. So the next thing she did was stick her hand between the two mattresses. She moved her hand around, looking for something hard or pointy and finally found what she was looking for. She pulled it out to reveal a...necklace?
The necklace was composed of a small but durable wire and a black stone in the shape of a diamond. What was something like that doing in between the mattress? Maybe somebody had put it there for safe keeping and forgot about it. Whatever was the case, Emma was going to kept it anyway. She felt like she had to keep it, like it was destined for her alone.

Ah, thank you. I'll think about the starting inside the plane thing. Can't skip it though; Ryan is one of the main characters.

As for the showing and telling, well...I'm not excalty sure how to do so sweatdrop I kinda changed schools before I could learn and I don't think they'll teach me.

Yes, I noticed that I do make a lot of mistakes. But that's what happens when you learn how to write in French before english. I'll try to fix them when I can.

I can see how it makes you think of Ouran High School Host Club, with the whole fancy school and stuff, but this is only chapter one. Not much stuff happen, only the introductions.

Again, thanks for the critasim(I know I spelt that wrong XD )

The plot line is original in its own way. Can't tell you anymore than that cause that would be a spoiler.

Sure, I'd love some examples.

All right, check this out. This is a purely description piece; and for the sake of displaying what 'showing' means, it isn't going to be a story or anything like that, just an excerpt to explain 'showing'.

**An aggressive current threw his loose-fitting uniform around his rigid frame, consisting of attire painstakingly similar to that of a black suit. The black jacket, completely unbuttoned, flew from his broad chest and lean torso as a bullet of wind slammed mercilessly against him. The collar of his crimson shirt, untucked and not entirely buttoned, flared away from his throat and collar bone in the same manner his shirt tails scattered from the front of his black trousers. His pant legs appeared possessed in the aggressive currents; they whipped around him as if aflame. Even the sheathe of his sword, strapped to his belt, rattled against the howling wind.

His thick mass of attractively unkempt golden hair soared from his head and away from his face, leaving the full force of his expression exposed to outside eyes. Those eyes, a gorgeous galaxy of grey, housing an emerald starburst from the pupils, beheld in them an amazing paradox. Their surface was a phlegmatic, deadly calm that was, at the same time, an intense nadir of nameless oceans. The enigma that came with this stunning display of self-control was unprecedented, and horrifically intimidating. This aura radiated from him with a sensual warmth, giving his icy manifestation an undeniably seductive taint, adding to the contradictions that dominated his persona. Whether he realized it or not, those startling grey-green eyes carried, along with the rest of him, a powerful sex appeal.

The amazing spectrum of display offered through those eyes was breathtaking. He looked as if he could be a king of kings, but at the same time be nothing more than a bestial creature born to blood and fangs. Their sublime intelligence and unparalleled scrutiny compared to nothing else; and would be proven in this one final act he would be required to perform here on this expanse of rolling hills and granite sky. He had been born to do exactly what he would die doing now: taking life.**

All right, as you can see, it's chocked full of description, almost to the point of being ridiculous (I dramatized for the sake of clarification), you're supposed to be able to see what the writer is showing you, versus 'telling', which is displayed in this paragraph:

** I cannot forget the way his presence so engrossed me. I walked into the Wendy’s in which I was employed that evening expecting a reunion with the familiar faces of the people I worked with. That Saturday night was one I had scarcely expected anything interesting to occur; I had been invited by a few friends of mine to go bowling, and was simply meeting in this place to carpool to our destination. I recognized nearly every face going: my closest friend since high school, Jessica, and two fellow co-workers: Trevor and Josh.
The only person I didn’t recognize was a man I had trouble taking my gaze from. I was immediately drawn to him as I beheld his manifestation. He didn’t look to belong with us at all, and at first, I believed that he wasn’t. He was of a completely different alignment; we were bright, optimistic, ever eager to engage in life’s activities and opportunities. This man, however, not only looked to have experienced and engaged in life’s events, but looked to have endured enough of these experiences to fill the lives of two men. Experience radiated off of him like heat, coursing through the irises of his breathlessly captivating eyes. The casual indifference and somehow painfully seductive composure he emitted from his person was so unlike anything I had ever seen that I dared not look him directly in the eye.**

Voila, in this excerpt, I'm telling you the story, rather than showing it to you. Do you understand the difference? Showing is the difference between sitting down and telling you what happened.

If I didn't manage to explain it properly, just let me know, I think I can scrounge up another example/explanation.

heart

I'm glad I could help, I wasn't sure if those paragraphs would do what I hoped they would, but it's good that they seemed to.

Wow. I like it. It reminds me of anime that's why. ^^

What you and Maiden were talking before about Ouran High School Host Club, I thought the girl enters a rich school as a girl but the guys think she's a guy until she tells them that she's a girl, so they tell her to dress like a guy in order to be a host and pay off her debts for breaking the expensive vase. : D I love that show...Kiss kiss fall in love! xD

Anyways, yeah....well....er, all the mistakes were already given so...um...compliments! Yes, I shall give more compliments! Okay, um...so far my fav character is Axel cause he seems like a womanizer and those perverts are hilarious. Also the way you write seems so easy going (If that's the right term for it.) Like, other people would make SO MANY metaphors and they would write about the scenes and emotions A LOT for their introduction and all I want to read is what is happening, you know? Sure, I like reading stuff that seems like it could be made into a poem but sometimes people just over do it. You don't over do it so thank you kami-sama!

Keep up the good work! *Cheesy pose of doom!*