Chapter three

Ashley yawned and stretched her arms. She glanced at her watch. "It's time for history" She thought. She packed her books and headed back to her class. 

She pushed the door open and strolled into the class. Everywhere suddenly went silent and Ashley started to wonder why they all went silent. 

She made her way to her locker, dropped her books and picked up the necessary materials for her history class. 

Mr Brown, their history teacher strolled in with a smile plastered on his face.

"No need to greet, where did we stop?" He asked, dropping some textbooks on the table. To Ashley, he seemed kind of friendly. 

"World War II" Annabelle, the girl Ashley helped earlier answered. Mr Brown turned on the projector. 

***

After an hour, the siren rang out indicating the end of the lesson.

"I don't have any assignment for you guys today, but your next assignment is going to be a group work so be prepared" Mr Brown informed the students before leaving the class. 

Ashley breathed a sigh of relief. She was glad school was finally over. She moved to her locker. Picking out some books, she put them in her backpack and zipped it. She tossed the key into her backpack and slung it across her shoulders. 

She was about to step out of the class when the girl she helped earlier called her. 

"Ashley" Annabelle called and Ashley turned back. 

"Thanks……I mean, for what you did earlier" She smiled. 

"It's okay.... How many times do you wanna say that huh?" Ashley teased. She turned to leave, but Annabelle stopped her again. Now, she was getting on Ashley's nerves. 

"Can we be friends?" She asked, avoiding Ashley's gaze. Ashley was caught unaware. She wasn't sure if she was prepared to make new friends, she wasn't sure if she was ready to adapt to the life at Lac international school so the question made her speechless. 

"Say something" Annabelle urged, waiting anxiously. 

"No!" Ashley replied with a hint of uncertainty in her voice. 

"No? Why?" Annabelle questioned, rendering Ashley speechless again. 

"No reason means yes to me, so I'll be your friend" Annabelle concluded. Ashley rolled her eyes and walked ahead. 

"Hey! Wait up" Annabelle increased her pace to catch up with her. 

"Where's your dormitory?" Annabelle asked, trying to bring up a conversation with Ashley. 

Still uncertain about the whole friendship thing, Ashley replied, "Dorm G". Annabelle's mouth curved into a smile. 

"We're in the same dormitory" She squealed. 

"I hope we are in the same room" She added. 

As they walked down the stairs, they ran into the robust guy Ashley met earlier at the park. 

"Hey get going, I wanna talk to your friend" He said with so much authority in his voice. A look of fear stole across Annabelle's face. Ashley shot him a deadly glare. His presence alone disgusted her. 

"Let's go" She pulled Annabelle's hand.

"You were going to ditch me, weren't you huh?" 

"He's a prefect and you know, I have to obey whatever he says……..School rules"

"Prefect my feet! He's nothing but a pervert that deserves no respect at all"

They walked together to the dormitory and Annabelle's joy knew no bound when she  realized they were in the same room. Annabelle was a timid and quiet girl and she was often bullied a lot by her roommates.

Annabelle's bed was right next to Ashley's own while the other two beds were opposite theirs.

"By the way, my name is Annabelle" She said, dropping her backpack on her reading table. 

Ashley dropped her backpack on the floor beside her bed. Without pulling off her shoes, she slumped heavily against her bed. 

"I'm so tired!" she exclaimed and Annabelle smiled. 

"What? Why are you smiling?" Ashley asked. She sat upright and pulled off her shoes.

"I'm happy" Annabelle's smile widened.

"Happy about what?" Asked Ashley as she arranged her shoes on the shoe rack. 

"Because.... I found myself a friend" She replied sincerely. Ashley was kinda taken aback by her answer. 

"Are you kidding me? You don't have friends.... I mean not even a friend?" Her eyes almost popped of their sockets in surprise. 

"Nobody wants to be friends with me..... Maybe it's because I'm a nerd or maybe because I'm an orphan, or maybe because I'm here on a scholarship, or..... I don't just know why exactly" She faked a smile. 

Ashley noticed the look of pain on Annabelle's face as she spoke. 

"Hey cheer up okay, I'm your friend now anyways" Ashley tried to cheer her up. Her face lit up and the corners of her mouth curved into a smile again. 

Annabelle wrapped her towel around her body, ready to walk into the bathroom to take a shower. 

"Do you know our roommates?" Annabelle asked before walking into the bathroom. 

"No" Ashely shrugged. She laid down flat on the bed.

"Claire and her best friend Monica..... You know Claire right, the one that bullied me earlier, Alex's girlfriend" She said. 

"That bitch" Ashley muttered. 

Annabelle plodded into the bathroom to take a shower while Ashley picked up her phone to call her friends. 

"Hi Dan" She squealed over the phone excitedly. 

"Ashley! How are you?" 

"Not good, I hate this place"

"Get used to it..... You've got no choice"

"You are still at school right?"

"Yeah.... Studying as usual"

"Great! Is phoebe there with you?"

"Hm No, her driver picked her up already"

"Oh! I guess I'll have to call her later"

"Yeah, please do... She misses you a lot"

Annabelle strolled out of the bathroom, Water dripped down her body.

"I'm done, you can go take a shower now" She said to Ashley. 

"I'm gonna have to call you later, see yah" She said to Dan over the phone and disconnected the call. She sprang up to her feet, pulled off her clothes and moved into the bathroom. 

***

"Swears, she's one annoying little bitch" Alex said, his face wrinkled in annoyance. 

"So what are you gonna do?" Asked Sam, who was busy flipping through the pages of the textbook in his hand. 

"Watch and learn, but you must come along" Alex fell flat on his bed. 

Henry, Alex's ex-bestfriend plodded out of the bathroom. His eyes landed on some of Alex's clothes lying on the floor and it pissed him off. 

Angrily, he picked them up and threw it to Alex face. 

"Hey!" Alex said in a protesting tone as he moved the clothes off his face. He jerked to his feet angrily and pushed Henry.

"Do you have a death wish" He growled.

"Watch it dude, how can you just litter the floor with your clothes? Does that make any sense?" Henry fired. Flames of anger burned in their eyes as they glared at each other. 

"That's enough" Sam intervened. He dropped the book in his hand and moved in between them. 

****

"Oh my God!" A voice exclaimed. Ashley opened her eyes slowly, cursing the person that spoke silently. She had fallen asleep while pressing her phone after taking a shower and she had not even slept for long. 

Her blood boiled as soon as her eyes landed on the person that spoke. It was Claire. 

"Unbelievable! Don't tell me she's our roommate" Claire's eyes almost popped out in shock. A look of anger stole across her face as she recalled how Ashley embarrassed her in front of the whole class. 

Adjusting her body to a sitting position, Ashley replied her. 

"I am... So what are you gonna do? Kick me out of the room? Beat me up?"

"I hate your guts, it pisses me off" Claire spat and Ashley rolled her eyes. 

"She doesn't even know who she's dealing with. Let me tell her first hand" Monica chipped in, dropping her backpack on her bed. 

"Claire is the most popular and hottest girl in our class. Her boyfriend is Alex and he's the most popular and handsome guy in the whole school. His parents are rich, I mean damn rich. If you cross their part, they'll crush you" She ranted. 

"Maybe in a fairy tale" Ashley scoffed. 

"Cross my path and you'll taste hell on earth" She threatened, her voice, very intimidating. Claire scoffed and went about her business. 

Ashley got out of bed and moved to her reading table. She brought out her books from her backpack. The door creaked and Annabelle strolled in. She had gone to the library to study. 

"Just in time" Claire thought. 

"Hey Anna, pull of my shoes" She ordered. 

"Seriously!" Ashley thought. 

"You're a dead meat if you pull off her shoes Anna" Ashley fired. Anna stood still like she was rooted to the floor. She moved her gaze from Ashley to Claire and Claire back to Ashley. She was confused. She knew if she didn't pull off Claire's shoes, it'll lead to more trouble. She also didn't want to upset her new friend. 

Caught between the anvil and the hammer, she dropped her books on her reading table, pretending not to hear what Clarie said. 

"Are you deaf?" Claire shot Anna a glare. 

"Can you shut it, I'm trying to study here" Ashley banged her hand on the table. Silence engulfed the air. Claire couldn't believe that Annabelle just ignored her. She clenched her fist. 

Deep down, Annabelle was trembling, for fear of what Claire might too.