Chapter 4

For the fifth time, I rolled on my bed and opened my eyes. The steady sound of water filled my ears. Charlie was still in the bathroom, been there since 4:59 am and now 5:25 and she's still scrubbing the flesh off her body.

It reminded me of Bea. When Bea takes over the bathroom how long do you wanna wait? 1 hour, a month, a year? You got it! 

Back at Lake George, we all shared one bathroom; mom, dad, Bea and I. The memories of 'those days' aren't worth keeping.

 Bea's habit of just randomly wasting time on anything then just always provides me with an excuse when I need one and I get someone to blame for it. For Instance, when mom asks why I still haven't had my bath, I could just easily say "Bea's been in the bathroom the whole day " That excuse has worked for years and it still works because Bea... she's just something else. Mom tries every time to talk to Bea about it but of course, a leopard doesn't change its skin neither would Charlie if she remains there scrubbing away. 

Day 2 at Edwin and Co as the good girl and I think I just might survive in this jungle enough to surprise mom with a clean sheet of no detentions and bad records. At least I saw some students who looked friendly, Charlie introduced me to a few of her friends and they were kinda cool.

"You awake now? ". Charlie's voice was dimmed because of the running water. 

"Since forever ", I mumbled, sat up on my bed and started undressing. 

Charlie turned off the water and came out of the bathroom completely naked and wet like an albino rat, not something new to me but rather strange since she's a stranger to me. " Lord, I just love the bathroom!". She shivered a little. 

"So hard to notice " I mumbled under my breath. 

"Yeah. My mom thinks I'm dirty though, I'll give her some credit though because I can be a bit disorganized sometimes," she shrugged "She just doesn't understand that I'm not just standing under the shower doing nothing, I'm like trying to get myself clean"

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. She didn't even know I was being sarcastic. 

I rolled over and got up to go to the bathroom. The bathroom floor was tiled and extremely cold. It kind of amazed me how hot it was yesterday and then I woke up this morning to an extremely cold room, I had to get up during the night to get some socks from my bag.

As I turned on the shower hot jets stung my skin, sending warmth to the frozen parts of my bones, thawing the stiff joints. I started humming a song, Blu. How I love that song even though I still don't know half the lyrics. At least it was able to drive off the worries of a new day in my new school where I will be taught new lessons. But as the thoughts of school fell to the back of my mind Mark filled the void space they left. 

Mark and our last time together, the day I promised mom to become a better person. Mark and I actually laughed about it but I knew he appreciated the change. He never came out to condemn me nor did he say anything about my life as the badass of school but I knew he would have wanted me to be more acceptable, especially to his parents, it's kind of rare to find guys who wouldn't want to change a thing about you. Not everyone tolerated me, even elderly people had little to no tolerance for me. Seriously, the only old people who ever liked me were grandma and grandpa and I don't even think they were really proud of me.

* * * *

"I love this skirt," I said as I pulled at the corners of the plaid-white skirt.

"You would hate it soon enough. Just wait till a strong wind blows and lifts it" Charlie said with a roll of her eyes. 

I tucked the shirt into the skirt and swung my blazer over it. It looked pretty smart... And sexy too. 

That's exactly why I love it because the skirt is short and exactly the kind of thing I would wear if I wanted to seduce Mark. 

"What are you thinking about? You've got this satisfied look on your face and I'm scared " Charlie commented studying my face. 

My face actually became hot with embarrassment. A rare character in me, I am starting to get the hang of the good girl shit. 

"Still loving the skirt " I lied. 

" Yeah, right. Whatever, we need to be in the dining for breakfast. I don't think I will be eating but I suppose you might want to." she lifted her black school bag on her shoulders and opened the door. 

The sound of Morning Morning rang throughout the hostel walls and students in identical uniforms greeted one another. 

"Don't be deceived not all the greetings are genuine " Charlie whispered. 

"How do you know that? " I asked. 

"Not only the seniors are bad you should see what some juniors do around here ". 

The doors opened as we reached them and the cold morning air that smelled of rain hit me right in the face. From afar off I could see curly-haired head flanked by her friends walking along the road to the school building. My first enemies in nothing less than 24 hours.

"You got your locker and keys? " Charlie asked. 

I dangled the keys in front of her "Got them"

From the side of my eyes in the dim lightening of the road I saw someone trying to catch up with us, a slender almost painfully thin girl with a mass of dark brown curls. I imagine a soft wind blowing her off.

 She smiled wide and waved, "Charlie, whose the new friend? " she asked in a high voice. 

"Jessica Underwood. Senior, Class 2". She glanced at me "Don't worry Zoe here is harmless, she was the constant butt of the Bad Boys Club "

"I'm more worried about blowing her away with my breath " I mumbled softly so that only Charlie could hear. She laughed and so did Zoe.

"You run your mouth a little too fast," Charlie laughed.

"Well, I can't help it. It's gotten me into trouble more times than I can count"

"Well, I hope you can use it well when trouble indeed comes knocking". 

The sky brightened as we walked and my eyes adjusted till I saw a group of people ahead. They were walking in groups of two's and three's, all bigger than the guys I saw during dinner yesterday.

"Who are those? " I asked pointing in their direction.

"Oh, those are the seniors in their final year. In a matter of months, they would have their valedictory and leave " Zoe answered.

"I didn't see any of them yesterday "

"That? Yeah, it's because they don't live in the same hostel quarters with us." Charlie answered this time "The reason being their years as animals are over and this time before their valedictory they want to become responsible. It was Mr. Edwin's idea to have the final year seniors in a different hostel so they can concentrate on their final exams. They live in apartments."

Nice piece of information. More senior privileges

We all trooped into the dining which smelled better than it did yesterday. The air conditioners were off. This time our food was already set on the tables in piles. There was bread and small tubes of butter and peanut butter. Everyone sat on their tables, acting mature and well mannered - a totally different thing from what happened yesterday. The girl who had been eating from her head was even on our table and she ate from the table with such great manners a queen would envy. The whole place was so freaking quiet. It was strange considering the noise throughout dinner yesterday, the noise in the hostel that almost didn't make me sleep.

"Why is everyone so quiet and good today? " I whispered almost afraid of breaking the peace. 

"Look over there " Charlie responded. I looked at where she was pointing at where a tall dark with a crew cut boy stood with a slim, short, elegant girl with short dark hair chin-length hair. Their eyes seemed to be moving from table to table as if to pick out the trouble makers should there be any trouble. They almost looked like teachers to me but their uniforms told me otherwise. 

"Who are those ?"

"Head boy Martin Sanchez and that's the head girl Annabel Reed "

"You had those and the whole place was in chaos yesterday? " I asked incredulously. In response, Charlie threw me a sidelong glance but turned back, pulled out her notes from her bag and began to write what I think was an assignment. 

I ate only a single piece of bread while some people on our table kindly stuffed their faces with the remaining bread. 

"Are you done eating? Let's go ".

Charlie pushed back her chair with a soft scrap and I did the same. The head prefects turned their attention to us and I almost had to walk in a single row of tiles to keep from stepping on my own feet. 

I tried to smile as we passed them, I don't know but something about them just screamed business. The head boy smiled back at me while the head girl barely nodded. 

"Welcome to school," the head boy said. 

At least someone noticed me. 

I hate to think how these seniors were able to control this mass of animals living under the guise of human flesh. 

"That's incredible," I said out loud. 

"What? That there is so much order this morning? You don't want to know what those seniors were in their second year. I experienced it and trust me they have come a long way. It comes with the territory, your first five years you're rowdy and free and wild but in your last year you suddenly become a different person "

"So we are going to have new prefects? "

"Everyone already seems to know who the next prefects would be. There's Tyler Edwin as head boy and Heather Greene as the head girl" Charlie clucked her tongue "I hate to think what those two would do as prefects! "

"You must hate them to say that" I mumbled. 

She rounded on me "Hate them?! I wish there was something stronger than the word hate! ". It actually looked funny that she was glaring at me, looking up into my face like a child. It never gets old when people have to tilt their chin to glare at me. I almost wanted to pat her head and shoo her off like a baby. 

She blinked, bit her lower lip then slumped her shoulders "Anyway have you decided what sports you would like to join? "

How the hell does she do it?! She just changes a topic with the snap of a finger-like the previous topic never existed, it was kind of unpleasant and scary! 

She was looking impatient and I got the feeling my thoughts were written all over my face. 

"I'm waiting! " 

"Uh...Is that necessary? "

"Yes, it is. It's a boarding school. Sometimes we have games on Saturday instead of just sitting in our rooms bored to death, everyone participates in something. We just finished with a game of volleyball when you came on Saturday "

"So like I HAVE to play a sport? ". 

Charlie shrugged, "A lot of people play more than one sport though while a few others make it to the cheerleading team. You can try out today during lunch, it's the only escape from sports "

"Are you a member of it then? " I asked wanting to know what I was putting myself into. 

"What do you think? "

"Ok, I'll think about my choices."

Suddenly a siren rang throughout the school, screaming inside my head like whoever pressed it had found a way through my head to installed it there. 

"What the fuck is that?! " I yelled trying to shout through the noise. Charlie didn't even act like she was bothered by the sound, she calmly turned around and started walking faster. 

"It's time for assembly ", she said over her shoulder. 

Sure enough, as soon as she said it the whole school emerged from the dining pouring out in groups, heading towards our direction. It almost looked like a group of soldiers marching into the battlefield.

But wait a minute! Assembly?!

I joined Charlie as she marched to the school quarters. She stepped into a huge building with rows and rows of chairs with seats covered with blue suede clothes, there was a high podium with a huge screen mounted on the wall. Doors were leading outside from each side of the building. Charlie moved to the second row and took a seat at the front and I sat on the one beside her. The rest of the students filed in later, filling every chair in the hall. They walked quietly but quickly, acting well mannered and responsible. The swish-swish of the uniforms was the only thing heard in the vast space of the assembly hall. 

The head boy and head girl mounted the podium while the other Class 3 seniors moved to the back of the hall, some of them stood beside rows of seats to watch the students. I really couldn't believe these were the same students acting wild just yesterday! A few teachers entered the hall and stood by the door. 

At the head boy's command, the school stood up and began to sing the national and school's anthem which was projected on the screen on the wall. 

"We promise to be faithful to our badge. 

We promise to be responsible students..... ", the school chorused. I almost had to bite my lips to keep from laughing out loud. Responsible?! '

"Schoolwork starts immediately after the assembly, " the head girl said in a no-nonsense voice after the anthems. "Students are expected to be responsible as promised by the school anthem. Any recalcitrant student would be severely punished" her cold eyes met mine and I shivered, they are that cold "We have a new student here with us, would Jessica Underwood come up here so the school can welcome her?".

I had a feeling it was a command. I had to try not to stumble on my own feet as I walked up to the podium. 

The whole school said a welcome to me which should have been truly welcoming but I felt invisible eyes watching me. Those eyes didn't feel nice, they made my skin crawl but I stood still till the head boy clapped my shoulder and asked that I step down. 

Whatever happened I was in for a long ride.