Entrance test ... test!

Things get that much harder, and stranger, for our heroine!

“Cumpleaños Feliz, Te deseamos a ti, Qué los cumplas en tu día, Qué los cumplas feliz”

The room Rosalie sat in was completely devoid of anything but the small chair which she sat on. She had been singing happy birthday to herself all morning in Italian just to feel the silence and because that was how her mother taught her. The chair was decorated with a pattern that she was sure must be called ‘dried body fluids’ which was not entirely re-assuring.

That morning her Father had rushed off to work before she was even awake as usual. Rosetta had however wished her the best of luck and seen her into the car with almost tears in her eyes. Rosalie found this slightly weird considering as far as Rosetta was concerned it was just your average boarding school that did not allow home visits. But then she had been crying on and off almost permanently since the trial was called off. It was playing havoc on her makeup, Rosetta wore a lot of makeup. Rosalie was always wondering what would happen if she was allowed to do Rosetta’s make up �" but she never offered.

Rosalie looked down at the outfit she had been given and was almost amused by the cliché of the choice and nothing she would wear normally. She had never worn a pair of boots that did not have a heel before and the ones she was now wearing felt very heavy. They also looked very odd compared to the black shorts and tight dark green top she was also wearing. She did not even want to go into the complicated braid her long hair was now in. She had nothing against having it up but the moment it was released it was going to double in size. She had been forced to cut her nails, remove her makeup, and take out her earrings and she had not even been here for half an hour yet. Anthony was lying in a car seat at her feet playing with his feet and trying to stick his rattle in his mouth.

The moment she arrived she was whisked unceremoniously through the halls and straight into this room. Mr Tarino had been standing in the corner looking out the small window. He had not given her much however. Merely requested she sit on the chair and wait for someone to come collect her when they were ready. Her luggage had been taken away to be placed in a place of safety and then taken onto her room if she passed the test. He had then returned to staring out the window and remained silent. Rosalie had been sitting here ever since. Just waiting and watching her son.

There was the sound of crashing and various obviously heavy things being moved aside from just outside the small door that led into the room. As though somebody had purposefully barricaded the door and was now undoing it. Rosalie pushed these thoughts side and focussed on who was revealed when the door finally swung open. She almost felt disappointment when she was in fact merely faced with Mrs Robins, Mr Tarino’s receptionist, who entered and walked over to Rosalie with a warm smile.

When she saw Mr Tarino she corrected her position and her smile disappeared as she became serious. Giving him a curtsey she brushed off her uniform and closed the door smartly behind her. She then moved forward towards Rosalie. Obviously in a hurry Mr Tarino let it slide and strode away after briefly introducing Rosalie. The second he was out of sight the smile was back and Miss Robins introduced herself, and insisted Rosalie call her Anya.

When the formalities had been dealt with Anya put her wallet back around her neck and then asked “you ready to go?”

“At last” Rosalie replied with a nod, letting the thoughts about this being a practical joke goes, with her eagerness to start. She followed Anya to the door, having picked up the car seat and brining Anthony with them, and once outside saw what all the crashing had been about. Outside in the hallway there now stood a climbing wall and beyond it the weirdest assault course Rosalie had ever seen.

“Well I shall say go, and you will go” Anya replied in such a casual voice it was almost as though she thought Rosalie was going shopping or to the beach. Not facing an entrance test to determine her future. She then moved over to the door and opened it so they could go outside and see the cause of all the noise.

The hallway had been transformed into what looked like Halloweens answer to an assault course. There were even fake cobwebs and spiders on some of the equipment. Rosalie raised one eyebrow as she surveyed it but did not comment. If they decided that scary was better than army then who was she to question. Even if it did make her feel like she was a child what did that matter. A climbing wall was a climbing wall whatever stickers it had on it after all. The stickers if anything looked harder as they prevented you being able to get any grip on the actual wall itself.

“I say go, you go. Does that make sense?” Anya asked with her cheery smile as she took up her position leaning against the wall and glanced at a rather flashy watch before looking back at Rosalie, the smile widening, as she continued “this is not a ‘normal’ assault course. It is super short but at the same time you have a super short time limit. Well you basically have just over a minuet for each part that means four minuets to complete the whole thing ... good luck!”

Rosalie was not entirely sure what just happened but she nodded and turned to face the wall. She was still not sure why she was even here. Her parents had pushed her into the car and really forced her into the interview. She told everyone she was jumping at the chance to get out of prison and having to wear a jumpsuit (that is what Rosetta had told her prisoners wear) but in reality she was actually looking forward to ditching her pretty girl image and making a difference in the world. She wanted Anthony to have a mother he could be proud of. So giving him a kiss on the cheek she let Emily take him away and turned to her assault course.

The climbing wall was easy enough. Just on jump, a lot of scrabbling in which she broke several nails, and a heave which hurt her shoulder and she was up. The climb down was not so nice. In fact it was not entirely a climb at all. She paused for a moment, lying on the top, and then simply rolled sideways and fell of the top of the wall. Hitting the floor with a small thump, that did not help the ache in her shoulder; she could not stop rolling and just kept going until she fell right into the pool that came next with a splash.

Rather than resurface, looking around and trying to climb out, Rosalie merely sorted herself out and started swimming forward towards the other side. She doubted she would have been able to swing across on the rope when she was soaking wet already anyway. She was glad that right now she could not see a mirror as she was pretty sure she would freak out if she had. She pulled herself out pool and came face to face with a cargo net. Menacing looking green netting with splashes of some dark liquid on it, like oil. Sighing heavily she glanced down at her nails and then began to climb.

Reaching the top of the net, with only a few words her mother never taught her, she took a moment to breath and then risking her bad shoulder she simply jumped of the top of the net. Just as she had done with the wall she rolled down but due to the slant of the net this roll was easier and came with a softer landing. She was half relieved and a tiny bit disappointed that it seemed it was over. Getting to her feet she walked over to join Anya who was standing leaning against the wall near to another door, ticking things off on her clipboard. Her wide smile was ever present and when Rosalie reached her, she announced “not bad!”

“So do I pass?” Rosalie asked having not even thought about the weird times Anya had given her before she started. She was too focussed on whether or not she had reached the end. Which she had done, and as far as she was concerned, that was it. Admittedly it would have been nicer to finish without twinges in her shoulder and being soaking wet. But a finish was a finish.

“Yeah, you pass” Anya informed her with a nod “and you have the cutest baby in the world! He is a doll! ... so let’s get you back to the office!”