New friendships were formed that day on the left side of the room.
Amy Claire could clearly see it, the warmth of goodwill oozing from the group, sticking out its tongue almost as if to mock her.
She felt pressured.
The left side of the room was pretty cold in comparison. Belle Helenia would stare off to space with a gloomy expression wincing whenever Amy Claire
so much as even looked at her, and Capucine who seemed incredibly talkative earlier suddenly became interested in her book she borrowed from the library
upon remembering that it was due.
She could understand if it was a novel but it was a book on flowers, of all things and she couldn’t help wondering if she was just as affected as the
other girls when she brought up Penny Village and was simply pretending not to care.
It wasn’t her first day but she felt like a transfer student all over again. As a transfer student it was absolutely vital to secure friends within the first week of school. Otherwise if she couldn’t make friends then,
she wouldn’t be able to make them until next semester and by then be branded as loner.
Loners were susceptible to be misunderstood as snobbish and undesirable, and often the targets of bullying. The girls in her first period may seem civil but
what about her next period?
She needed to make friends and fast.
So she tried with Belle.
“Hey-
Belle Helenia shifted her gaze elsewhere. “Sorry, could you not talk to me?”
“Uh…”
“Like ever.”
“O-oh, okay?”
“Bahahaha!”
Amy Claire wasn’t so sure what was suddenly so funny to Capucine, she doubted it could be the flowers.
Capucine put down the book grinning at her.
“Don’t mind them. They’re new and easily impressionable by the rumors.”
“Rumors?” Amy Claire raised a brow. “What-
DIIIIING!
The bell off all things, was hair-raising. An ominous dooming sound that made Amy Claire flinch hearing it.
She looked around worriedly half expecting a choir of people wearing hoods to come out and start singing ominously in Latin holding candles.
Everyone surged towards the door then, and when she blinked Capucine had already vacated her spot.
Her voice came from the door, her short stature hidden by the taller girls. “It was nice meeting you Amy Claire, see you later!”
Amy Claire remembered her question then. “Wait!”
But Capucine was swallowed into the hall’s sea of darkness.
Amy Claire ran out to catch her. She looked right only to see nothing and then, left only to see-
“Hey.”
“Ack!” Her heart nearly sprang out of her chest at the sight of Zoeira. Who had probably been patiently waiting there all along.
She wasted no time getting straight to the point. “So, for your next class, your classroom is right there.” She gestured towards her left side.
But Amy wasn’t looking in the direction she pointed but at her fingers.
“You heard me right? It’s right there. Literally the door where those kids are forming a line.”
Amy Claire kept twiddling with her fingers.
Zoeira blinked, a flicker of impatience living and dying in two seconds.
“Alright then. I gotta go.”
“Wait!” Amy Claire called after her as she turned to leave.
Zoeira slowly turned around, her brow raising.
“What?”
“Is there something you’re not telling me?”
She blinked.
“Yah. There’s a lot I haven’t told you.”
Amy Claire knitted her brows.
“Why not?”
“Firstly, your group came late. Secondly, you woke up late. And thirdly you seem to be pretty in the dark about this place’s history which isn’t for the faint of heart.”
She blinked. “And I’m afraid you seem to be either both faint of heart, guts and brain. Being faint of brain actually is a good thing.”
“Are you calling me stupid?”
“That too.”
“Why are you so mean to me?”
“Surely you didn’t expect this place to have nice people. You should know by now there’s never any such thing as a nice person. No one can ever truly be nice,
they’re only trying.”
“My classmates were…well some of them.”
“Mmmhm. But you see this is a school for misfits. They’re nice now but you haven’t seen them snap yet. Hopefully you never will. Some people are only like that because of the environments they were raised in, didn’t get enough love and attention or they got TOO much- every misfit’s universal truth. You will find mostly everyone here to be civil, but still obnoxious in some way or another, get used to it.”
“Is it because of our village?”
“I told you didn’t I? People are superstitious here.”
“But that’s so stupid, even the new students that came in with me yesterday were acting all iffy.”
“I’m sure they’ve been told stories.”
“What, about ghosts?”
“About history. You clearly never researched this place have you? Most kids do when they hear they’re being sent here.”
Amy Claire never had such curiosities, she never believed her Father would send her here. Leave her alone. Even as much as he preferred his new family, she always believed she was his family too. When her mother left her behind, she thought it was because her Father wanted her, that he wouldn’t give her up even if her Mother came back from the icy waters her car dove off of demanding her back.
“How unfortunate. But see I don’t like talking to ignorant folks. So your homework for the day is gathering information. Tomorrow, and hopefully you DO wake up TO-morrow…” she paused for emphasis. “We can have a nice little chat then.” Having said that Zoeira turned and left.
Amy Claire watched her go before turning to the right. Which way was her class again?
She stared at the line Zoeira once mentioned that became more of a crowd now.
She entered it, replaying their conversation.
No matter the history or stories isn’t it just odd to judge others off of a room they sleep in?
It can’t be justified.
As she stood there moping about being in a school surrounded by narrow minded people, the crowd around her began to grow and she came out of her thoughts
as a beacon of light rounded the corner blinding everyone. It swept across the walls.
“Ow!” The student before her cried out, having bumped in with the beacon.
The light flicked down the hall and as it pointed towards them, Amy Claire could make out a tall dark indian woman frowning deeply.
“What-What the bloody hell are you all standing in the darkness like roaches for?”
“The door is locked…” The girl in the front responded somewhat nervously even though from what Amy Claire could barely see she was taller than the woman. Wasn’t this a delinquent school? She expected her to have more backbone…
The woman huffed. “Don’t you have PHONES, and doesn’t your PHONES have something called FLASHLIGHTS?”
The girl in front proceeded to timidly answer. “I… left it in my locker.”
“Didn’t you read the syllabus? Do you even know what class this is? Video Production, you will definitely need your phone, laptop, any personal electronic
to help you in this class. If it’s in your locker go get it before I call attendance! I will wait, if you aren’t back in ten minutes I’ll mark you absent.”
The girl, and a bunch of others broke off from the crowd meandering back down the hallway with their arms stretched out. God bless anyone with lockers down here.
“Um, I forgot my phone…” Amy Claire spoke up as the woman neared.
A deep guttural grown was released from the woman. She began to mutter, something about the new generation not reading anything and having no common sense or sense of resourcefulness before furiously opening the door, shoving it open with her bust and pelvis as if it was in her way.
“Come, come, come!” She called from within impatiently.
The students hesitantly flowed into a room with six white tables, make up chairs and mirrors sat on the far left partitioned off by curtains, on the far right of the room was a snack bar. There was an assortment of tumblers, a display case of cookies on top of a microwave, a tin of coffee, the coffee maker, a donut warmer and sandwich shelf.
“This is a three hour period, which means you will be down here for a while. Feel free to help yourself to the energy station. You will not have a lunch period because of it’s existence.
Make sure you eat everything here. You don’t have to worry about the next class as the items will be restocked. You can eat and drink in this class but be sure to clean up after yourself otherwise I will be on your ass.” She warned.
Was she allowed to curse? Amy wondered in awe.
The teacher proceeded to say. “Do NOT make me angry.” As if she wasn’t already.
No lunch? Amy Claire pulled out her folder given to her and filed through. Her eyebrow twitching. Zoeira didn’t mention this.
School here apparently had A days and B days as well as something called Morning and Night class.
This class took up three periods, afterwards she would have Swimming class.
Someone who knew her and her interests clearly picked out her schedule and she couldn’t help wondering if it was her Father or his ex-secretary, her step-mother. She had mixed feelings about it that were hard to put into words but she tried.
A tea leaf of relief floating in a mug of bitterness and resentment.
Amy Claire’s mind
“Now, I give out tablets to every student at the start of the school year. These are yours forever, just keep in mind the school is watching you, and our school Wi-Fi does restrict access to certain websites. Sign this clipboard and take one.”
“Oooh! There’s a blue one!” A student closest to it hurried over.
The other students returned around then and the teacher repeated herself starting from the snack bar and ending on the same note about the tablets.
Amy Claire, being one of the few left behind in the classroom first, got to sign up for hers earlier and turned on the tablet flicking through it.
The teacher who had been waiting finally introduced herself.
“My name is Anaya Burman. That’s Mrs. Burman to you young ladies.”
PB CONVENIENCE 