Westridge Academy, Part Seven

After the brief conversation with Ashley, where the dark haired girl asserted that her ‘little cousin’ needed to do keep retaking the aptitude test until Ms. Song was satisfied with the results, Amelia was surprised at how quickly she fell back into the rhythm of the school day.

Instead of freaking out, or brainstorming new escape ideas, or even being overly frustrated about the girl who had started all of this, her thoughts mostly revolved around how she needed to be a better student. She was still struggling in every class; playing catch-up in so many subjects at once was already a lot, and she was also expected to do well on every assignment and quiz for the current material.

Amelia was a good student. Or she had been, before graduating. Years of forming good habits made it natural to fall back on them now that she was back in school. On top of that, she was gradually being conditioned by authority figures at Westridge to behave like a proper young lady. So, after lunch, she just didn’t have the mental bandwidth to dwell on Ashley or the fact that she wasn’t actually supposed to be there. Amelia had to get to class, brush up on her notes one last time before the upcoming quiz, and prepare herself for a long afternoon. Like many of her current classmates, focusing on a Friday was always a little difficult after a long week.

At the end of the day, Amelia wasn’t sure what to do. As she had learned over the last week, the boarding school offered more to its students than challenging classes designed to prepare them for higher education in a way that other schools fell short on. There were a couple events scheduled for the weekend, though Amelia was still aware that she wasn’t actually a student, despite how the role came more naturally to her with every passing day. It would feel a little weird attending something that wasn’t required of her, plus she was getting a little obsessed with studying from both the disappointing test results as well as Ashley’s thing about how she needed to ‘develop intellectually.’

When dinner was over, she decided to brave another interaction with Summer. After last Saturday, the young blonde probably assumed that she had scared Amelia off. Since then, Amelia had kept her distance, ate meals with Piper and one or two other more quiet/friendly girls she had met, and generally kept her head down. Not just because of the advice she had been given after the mortifying experience of being caught streaking just off campus; it also made sense to her as the ‘new girl’ who was only there to prove that she could handle the academic intensity the students were expected to.

Now that it was the weekend, Amelia could finally start thinking about her real life again. The school day routine was the biggest factor in making her temporarily settle into her existence as a student. Classes were over for the week, and Amelia could at least give herself a small breather before getting back to her studies. Determined as she was to prove that she was capable of keeping up with girls who were years younger than her, her own teenage years hadn’t been just about homework and studying.

Summer and her little clique of girls were already on their way out of the dining hall. With a brief goodbye to her table, Amelia hastily brought her tray to the conveyor belt then fast-walked towards the courtyard outside. There was a good chance the group of popular girls was just heading back towards the same dorm building where she was staying, though she had also already experienced how they liked to do other activities on the weekends.

The daunting part about approaching the girls, aside from the memory of the previous weekend, was that Amelia was outnumbered. And she had been a ‘transfer student’ long enough to feel self conscious about walking up to a whole group of popular girls and drawing attention to herself, especially when Amelia had already tried and thoroughly failed at standing up to Summer on her first day.

Taking a big breath for courage as she caught up to the group, Amelia called out, “Hey, Summer!”

The blonde ringleader broke her stride and turned around, taking a moment to see who had just said her name. Pursing her lips in amusement, she said, “Took you long enough.” Glancing around to make sure there wasn’t a prefect in the vicinity, Summer went on, “What happened, Millie? You were all excited to be my bitch, and then you disappeared on me.”

For whatever reason, Amelia had been hoping the whole bitch thing would be isolated to the previous weekend. As for the rest, she and Summer had a number of the same classes. If anything, it was more like Summer was ignoring her and waiting to see if she’d try to come back like she was doing now. Either way, she had accomplished teaching ‘Millie’ to be nervous around her.

“Umm, sorry,” Amelia mumbled. ‘Can I be part of your group and get one of those burner phones you were talking about?’ She couldn’t just outright say what she wanted, and she was already on the back foot from how Summer was talking to her, as well as how all the other girls were staring at her and watching the exchange. “Can I hang out with you tonight?” It was so awkward. But was there a good way for a girl to invite herself along to whatever another group was going to be doing?

While one or two of the more bold girls flanking Summer scoffed, their leader just crossed her arms and decided to grant the request. With terms. “Hmm, okay. But first, tell me what you are. And address me properly.”

Right. Amelia remembered the other part of how Summer treated her before. With slightly flushed cheeks, Amelia lowered her voice and said, “I’m your bitch, Ms. Summer . . . ”