2

"Monica Hall."

"Who?”

"The girl that tried to threaten you"

"Keyword: tried," I say and Rhea chuckles. "So what's she all about?"

"Well, you know the leader of those mean girls who are most likely cheerleaders and sluts in high school?"

Are you kidding me? I literally broke one's nose.

Story for another day though.

"Yeah?"

"Well, she's like the 2.0 version of 'em."

I can't say I'm shocked because I could already guess it.

But c'mon can't we just have a place without any egotistical bitches?

I probably won't be allowed to enter though.

I decide that she's not worthy of holding another thought in my mind and look around some more trying to rough count the amount of people here.

It was like a big space filled with workout equipment. Tables were also fixed at the back for whenever one was tired or they were on breaks, I guess.

There were at least a hundred people.

And they were sectioned.

“Wait a second…don’t tell me y’all do the high school-cliquey shit over here? Cuz I will walk out that damn door—”

“Like that’s possible.” She mutters.

A girl then walks over and tries to mask her fear but I see right through it.

“Hey Rhea, are…are you almost done with the treadmill?”

When she finally finds the courage to look at me, I bend my head a little downwards and give her a petrifying smile.

She immediately looks away.

“Yeah, I’m done.”

I stand up and follow Rhea to their table.

“And to answer your question, we’re humans. I don’t think it’s possible for us to not form cliques especially when thrown into a fucked up place like this.”

“At least it’s better than jail. All they have is a bed, a shitty toilet, and bars. Cold. menacing. tormenting. bars.” a black-haired girl with purple highlights adds.

“Well at least I can be left alone within those bars, and not subject to constant societal hate or pressures.” I shrug.

“Okay, I like her.” she points to me and looks at Rhea. “I’m Veronica by the way. Veronica Ryan. Grade B.”

“Grade?” I raise a brow, confused.

“A Grade basically tells how dangerous a person is. And before you ask, the difference between A’s and B’s is that A’s have committed murder.”

“But mine is asterisked?”

“It’s never been given before but I’m guessing it means numerous counts of murder.”

Yeah. That makes sense.

“So what are you in here for?” I ask Veronica.

“Setting my high school on fire.”

I raise both my eyebrows.

“What?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all.” The brown-haired guy sitting beside her says placing his two hands on both her shoulders.

“That’s Connor Lord. Age 21, Grade B. He’s in here for selling drugs. Like Lots of ‘em.”

“That's it? Just selling drugs?”

Do people go to behavioral management schools for that?

“And…maybe beating numerous guys half to death because they were late on payments.”

“Hey, in my defense, they were at least three weeks late and giving excuses upon excuses.” We both chuckle and fist bump.

“Next we have the biggest player in the school—-“

She gets cut off by a very hot black-haired guy.

“Rhea, I can introduce myself. I’m Caleb White. 22. Grade A.”

Damn, his voice is deep.

Wait, Grade A…

“So you’ve committed murder yeah?” I ask.

“Yes and did I hear a little bit of excitement under your voice just now?”

I run my hands through my long blood-red hair and give a small smile. “What excitement?”

“Nothing, never mind. It’s nice to meet you though.” He states and goes back to the pushups he was doing by the side of the table.

“And lastly, my boring ass brother Levi.”

“Who?”

There’s literally no one else at the table.

“Oh, he’s over there.” She points towards a very fit guy doing dumbbell exercises in a corner. His arm muscles were contracting and his blonde highlights were sticking to his forehead due to sweat.

Fuck. He looked insanely hot.

“He gets weird whenever someone interrupts his reps, You’ll meet him later.”

Veronica and Connor go back to their exercises and since I’m not dressed in workout gear, Rhea decides to show me around.

The school had a modern vibe to it. From the numerous aesthetics on the sky-blue walls to the present-day cafeteria. I hadn’t seen the dorms yet but I was sure it wouldn’t be too bad.

“And this is the administrative office where you can collect your schedule from Mr. Smith.” She nodded towards a man who looked like he was in his 50s. He didn’t look too bad except his choice of clothing was questionable.

“Hi. I’m Ava and—“

“Your identification card??” He demands with a scowl on his face cutting me off.

Rude much?

I give it to him and he types in the code on his computer immediately printing, and handing both the schedule and the card back to me.

He looks at me up and down, giving me a nasty look when he’s done.

“Shut the door on your way out.”

What the fuck?

“Is something wrong here? I mean you don’t even know me.”

“You have what you came in for, now get out of my office.” He continues typing on his computer.

“You know, just because you have a dick doesn’t mean you have to act like one,” I state and walk out.

Okay, this school is beginning to piss me off.

*

“And lastly, these are the dorms.”

Finally.

Rhea had now shown me the classes, numerous therapy rooms, the library, and the common room; when what I wanted to see the most were the dorms.

Plus wearing stiletto ankle boots was probably not the best idea.

I can see that now.

There were two separate long hallways with numerous doors that met at the center.

“I’m guessing that side is for the guys?” I point to the other hallway and she nods.

There were also numerous floors.

“Uh…where’s the elevator?” Rhea just laughs and starts leading me up the stairs.

So much for comfort, Ric.

*

“Hello Ava, I’m Hayley Sanders and I will

be your personal therapist pending your time of

stay at RBMS.” a beautiful woman with blonde hair who looked in her late 30’s said.

“Hi. You look insanely pretty for a therapist.”

“Would you rather I look like the woman up front?” she muttered under her breath but I still caught it.

Maybe this wouldn’t be too bad.

After Rhea showed me to my room, I immediately laid on the bed thinking I wouldn’t have classes because it was my first day.

Which she said was true, except therapy was non-negotiable. So when I bumped into Ric on the way, he immediately assigned me a therapist.

“So, Ava, tell me what’s your biggest concern right now?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?” I raise a brow.

“Go ahead, this is a safe space.” I chuckle.

“Nowhere is a safe space but I’ll answer your question. My biggest concern would have to be being stuck in this shitty ass building with nothing to sustain myself.”

“And by sustainment, you mean…?” she drags as if expecting an answer.

“Yes Hayley, I mean alcohol, cigarettes, weed, the likes.” Is she dumb?

“Why do you feel like you need it?”

“For…sustainment obviously.” I shrug and she gives me a look telling me I would have to explain further.

“They help keep my emotions in check and help me sleep better.”

“Okay.. and why do you have trouble sleeping?”

As she asks the question and I look back for the answer, I feel the smile on my face being replaced by a deep frown as the memories I’ve tried so hard to bury start trying to make their way up again.

“Ava?”

I couldn’t answer the question or any other, for that matter. She tried again and again, asking me other questions but gave up later on to let me “process my thoughts” as she had put it.

Before I knew it, the timer on her table was ringing signaling the end of the session and I got up.

“Hopefully, you’ll be more open during our next meeting,” she said with no bad tone in her voice.

I just chuckled and left.

*

Picking up my dinner which consisted of a fried chicken and vegetables, I made my way over to the corner where our table sat.

After my therapy session crashed and burned, I took a shower and cleared my head, burying the memories once again.

“So Ava, how was your first day in RBMS?” Veronica asks picking on her burger and fries.

“Eh, nothing much. Just a therapy session.”

“Who’d you get as your therapist?” Connor asks with his arm over Veronica’s shoulder.

“Hayley…something…” I forgot her surname.

“Seriously!” Caleb exclaims and I give Rhea a look asking her to explain.

“Caleb wanted Miss Hayley but got stuck with Mr George.”

“Hey, in my defense, Hayley’s fucking stunning and I will have her.” he shrugs like it’s no big deal.

“She’s a little old for you, don’t you think?” I turn to him.

“An 8-year difference isn’t too bad, plus age is just a number.” Everyone just chuckles at him like it’s normal for him to be in over his head while I am staring at Levi wondering why he hadn’t said a word this entire time.

“I’m insanely bored, what do you guys do for fun around here?” I ask.

“Well, did you guys hear about the party on 5th Avenue tonight?” Everyone nods. “We should hit it up.”

“Ava, are you in?” Rhea asks me and they all turn their heads awaiting my reply.

“Definitely.”