Chapter 2: Kennel

"Quiet please and Camilo, I'll wait for you at the end of class in the punishment room."

Camilo rolls his eyes but does not respond.

"Miss Sofia, you will stand next to Aninka." he says and then walks away.

I looked to where the teacher was pointing, I saw a girl with pale skin, brown hair and light blue eyes looking at me happily.

'At least she doesn't look crazy or having rage episodes' I thought as I turned to her.

"Hi my name is Bogdanov Aninka, nice to meet you" She says as she shakes my hand, "Are you from the US or did you only live there?" she asks.

"I'm from Spain and I lived my last 3 years in the United States."

"Oh I see And have you lived in other countries?"

"Yes, "I answered "in Brazil, Canada, England, Portugal and Colombia.

"Oh that's great So you speak more than two languages?" she asks expectantly.

"Yes" I answer "Spanish, English, Portuguese, Thai and Korean."

"Wow that's great, do you love many languages?"

"Yes" I answer "I love the stories that each culture has and well obviously their languages to understand them."

"Ladies, pay attention" scolds us the teacher we hadn't noticed him before.

"Yes, sir." we respond in unison.

~~~~ hours later ~~~~~~

"Finally we get to go eat, I'm starving" Aninka comments.

I nod, Aninka takes my arm and we head to the cafeteria, like any high class cafeteria there is a sort of buffet with mouthwatering food, the best drinks, desserts, main and side dishes worthy of royalty.

We sat down to eat and began to talk for a while.

"You're new, so I imagine you have some questions don't you?"

"None in particular" I reply and with that all enthusiasm disappears from Aninka's face.

I clear my throat.

"Well, I'd like to know if there's anyone I shouldn't offend or not be somewhere in the school because it's a no-go zone or something like that."

Joy invades the girl's face. Apparently, she is easy to please.

"Well, there are no forbidden places. But excessive physical contact anywhere in school or outside of school if you're still in uniform is prohibited."

I nod. I knew that already. All the schools I've gone to are like that.

"But according to people you shouldn't offend, the thing is easy to know, but hard to avoid."

I look at her with confusion. The girl sighs deeply and then begin to speak.

"As you may know, this school is the number one in Russia. She features multiple clubs for singing, dancing, painting, photography, drawing, sports, reading and many more.

>> It also has high quality teachers, facilities, and services, which help you learn much more and in a more effective and efficient way. But not everything is rosy, this is not paradise and certainly far from it."

Few people can be admitted to the school, due to its high tuition and IQ requirements, which limits the population that can enter. Thus, making it a very exclusive school.

"And that makes it hell?" I ask in confusion.

She denies as she sighs.

"The hell of this school is thanks to two groups. One is the group led by Kuznetsov Daniel, which includes his two cousins Kuznetsov Luka and Vinogordov Viktor who are seniors.

>> And from the other is leader Bogdanov Esteban, Hernandez Camilo who was the chestnut who punished the teacher and Marshall Michael who are in the penultimate year and to be more specific, in our classroom."

I nod understanding what he says but confused because I still don't understand why those groups make school hell. In and of itself, any school is hell on its own. So what will they do to make it worse?

"Don't tell me they're bullies who do whatever they want without getting their punishment."

Nods

"But they just recently punished one of the untouchables."

He rolls his eyes.

"No doubt the punishment was to pick up his classmates' pledges and take them to the teachers' lounge for a day or two. Nothing more."

"But that was because he didn't do something serious wasn't it?"

He smiles ungraciously.

"Both groups are constantly fighting over who has the power. Therefore, every competition is a battlefield to prove which group is better. A war that has no end yet.

>> A war that hurts and damages when they feel like it, but what is the punishment? Reparations and 'social work', of which they seldom do themselves."

I nod, understanding the situation a little more. We both continue to eat amidst irrelevant comments, until we are seated by some boys at our table.

"Hi gorgeous, how are you?" speaks a boy.

"Don't you see the obvious? You must look great since you look the same" replies another.

"I used to hate the new ones. But with you, everything changes. Because thanks to that we now have a beauty in the school."

"Fresh, quality meat." replies another.

From one moment to the next Aninka bangs loudly on the table, startling us all.

"Why are the kids here such animals, ah?" complains Aninka "Tell me Are they such idiots that they don't realize that with every word home they sink or they had to be told to keep their mouths shut and get the hell out of here where they are welcome?"

Wow, what a character.

"We're not all like that" replies a guy who is approaching us.

Aninka rolls her eyes

"You're no exception" she replies with annoyance.

He places his hand on his chest, on the side of his heart and makes a show of pain.

"That hurt" he replies sitting down next to Aninka. The other two boys sit on the other side of Aninka.

As if seeing Lucifer himself, the boys who were disturbing our meal, leave at the speed of light.

After positioning themselves at our table, without asking permission, one of the three strangers turns to me.

"Hello princess," he said.

I roll my eyes.

"And here we go again" Aninka replies sighing.

"If you're going to talk about me being fresh, quality meat or something nice that came to school go back where you came from, my quota of listening to stupid has been saturated for a while now" I replied glaring at him.

"Well said Sofia, he's my brother, but that doesn't take away from how dumb he is" he said mocking him.

"Hey!" he shouts.

"Sofia! " they call out to me.

I turn without thinking and see my brother with some other guys next to him.

"Meet my new friends."

Typical David, he arrives and gets lots of friends.

He walks over to where I am

"Meet Daniel, Luka and Viktor."

Some friends. According to what Aninka told me, they are the senior members they are so afraid of.

Now all that's left is for the other little group to show up and form a battle to prevent me from continuing with my appetizing meal.

"Hello" is all I say.

It's not that I'm antisocial. It's just that I'm not interested in their friendships.

"Nice to meet you" replies the boy whose name is Daniel "According to what we have discussed with your brother you are good at music. That's why, I'm looking forward to your joining the club here."

I don't answer

"The clubs at school are very good and help you get out of the drudgery of being picked on for studying."

"Aha, are you bad at studying or do they pick on you just because?"

"I'm actually excellent but parents always demand more and more, that's why I hang around clubs more than I do at home" he said smiling.

I nodded.

I thought the same thing, sure, I had no one to bother me for studying since mom is almost never around, but it's better to be with others doing what you like than being at home bored.

"Hey idiot Can't you see she's with me?" said Aninka's brother, as he grabbed the hand I had on top of the table.

I pulled his hand away.

Aninka didn't say anything, she was gawking at the boy whose name is Viktor.

He told me about the leaders and their groups, but he didn't tell me that he was interested in one of them. Well, that's normal, he hardly knows me well enough to tell me everything.

"Would you like to have lunch with us?" asked Daniel, ignoring what Aninka's brother had said, "I would like to tell you about the clubs.

"No thanks," I replied.

Aninka's brother looked happy about my rejection of Daniel. But knowing how heavy my brother is I knew I had no choice; besides, it was either go with my brother and his new friends or stay with Aninka's brother and his friends.

Neither option made me ecstatic with happiness, but who cares? As the author of my favorite book, Under the Same Star, says, the world is not a wish-granting factory, especially not if we're talking about school.

"Sofia!" my inept brother scolds me.

"Ya, ya" I said rolling my eyes "Shall we?" I asked looking at Aninka.

"I?" she said looking at me, then looking at Viktor.

Could I be any less obvious?

"Hey, don't even think about it" Brother says to Aninka.

"Are you coming?" asks Daniel this time addressing Aninka.

She just nods. Aninka's brother is grabbing her hand.

And here I thought my brother is heavy.

I sigh and pull their hands apart to leave.

"Hey!" he yells angrily.

"Stop yelling Esteban, we're not leaving the country" Aninka scolds him.

Is he Esteban? Is he the supposed leader of the other group?

Well, whatever.

"Are they going to leave me eating alone to go with those?" he asks indignantly.

"Come on there they are..." I want to continue but now I don't remember their names.

"Camilo and Michael" Aninka tells me in a whisper.

I thunder my fingers.

"That's right, Camilo and Michael" I affirm "So you won't eat alone will you?" I ask Aninka who is red as a tomato and I know it's because of the closeness between her and Viktor.

"Y-yes" she answers tucking a strand of hair behind her ear "Let's go."

And so, we left leaving Esteban and his lapdogs there looking indignant.