I am the queen of Bullworth Academy. And this is a story depicting of my rise to power.
My name is Aurora Marie Snow. Although, my father told me that he and my mother were contemplating on naming me Snow White because of my appearance; skin white as snow, hair black as night, lips red as blood. I was relieved they didn't do so. It would have been so humiliating to have "Snow White Snow" as my full name. They named me after my great grandmother because she was the one that got the family rich. She outlived her rich as hell spouse (but no surprise there seeing he was about twenty years older than her).
I was born in Paris, but my parents were American. My parents and I stayed there until my middle school years, so from pre-k to 5th grade, I went to a private school there.
After I graduated 5th grade, my family moved back to America. California to be exact. I spent my middle school days there, in a public school instead so I could learn the English language. I finally got the hang of it in 7th grade. I thought that I would stay there forever, but no. My father told me of how my great grandfather, coaxed by my great grandmother, invested in a school that their children and their children's children and vice versa would attend. So my grandfather and my father spent their entire school years in Bullworth and grew up to be two well respectable men.
They dropped me off at the entrance of Bullworth Academy. I was greeted by a man who seemed to be in his 50's. He had graying hair, a cleft chin, and a 5 o'clock shadow.
"Ah, well. You must be Miss Aurora Snow. I am Mr. Cornelius Crabblesnitch, the Headmaster of this educational facility. You will address me as Mr. Crabblesnitch. I know a lot of things about your family, but we will discuss more in my office. Now come along. It will not do well for you to get lost on the first day, now will it?"
Mr. Crabblesnitch led me to the school that was straight ahead. I glanced around, eyeing the buildings and the students. The students were outright staring at me and the Headmaster, but mostly me. I guess they were too scared to meet his gaze. We reached the Headmaster's office inside the main building. He sat me down and sat in his own chair behind his desk. He took out a neat looking folder and said it was my file.
"Aurora, you've been a good girl. Very good indeed. Nearly perfect grades. Perfect attendance. No bad behavior marks. I'm very pleased with you. Now Aurora, let me tell you a little something about your family and this school. I am grateful to your great grandfather for funding this academy when it was first built. And did you also know that your grandfather elected me Headmaster? However, I cannot give special treatment to any one student. Although, I will make sure that no ruffian in this school mistreats you. Ms. Danvers!"
A woman with an obviously outdated fashion style, like Mr. Crabblesnitch, came in immediately after Crabblesnitch yelled her name.
"Yes, Mr. Crabblesnitch? What can I do for you?"
It only took one glance at the woman for Aurora to know she was in love with Mr. Crabblesnitch.
Gross... Old people love.
"Won't you show Miss Snow here to the Girls' Dorm?"
" Why of course. Please follow me."
Ms. Danvers gave me a feigned smile. I could tell she was forcing a smile because her mouth didn't look like smiling was its most favorite thing to do.
Ms. Danvers was kind to me. She showed me around the school a little that was on our way and even opened doors for me. The students around me staring at me again, but weren't as stiff when the Headmaster was around.
We stood in front of a building that had a sign saying, "Girls' Dorm."
"This is the girls' dorm building."
She opened the doors for me again, walked up to a woman, and started chatting. While they were conversing, I took in the appearance of the inside of the building. The pink walls and floors made me wrinkle my nose in distaste. After their idle chat, Ms. Danvers walked back to me.
"Mrs. Peabody will show you your room."
The woman who Ms. Danvers had spoken to introduced herself.
"Hello. I am Mrs. Peabody, the dorm monitor. I'll show you to your dorm. There is a school uniform in your side of the closet. "
I followed her to a room near the entrance. I saw a girl in my dorm room. She had dark brown hair that was cut rather short and was wearing a uniform and gold jewelry. She turned and waved at me.
"This is your dorm room. Your roommate is Pinky Gauthier." The lady left after showing me my room.
"Hi there. I'm your roommate. Like Peabody said, I'm Pinky. Nice to meet you..."
"Aurora."
"Aurora. Really? You look more like Snow White than Sleeping Beauty." I giggled at her comment.
"My parents say that too. Almost named me Snow White if my last name wasn't Snow." Pinky giggled.
"Well, you better put on your uniform, Snow, or else you'll get in trouble. Can I call you Snow? It is your last name after all."
"Go ahead. It's better than 'Aurora.'"
She turned back around to put on golden earrings while I changed out of my blue and black laced dress and into a uniform that looked exactly like my roommate's. When I took it out and Pinky turned around to leave, she stopped.
"Is that your uniform?" She probably thought that I stole one of her uniforms.
"It must be. It's on my side of the closet."
"Snow, that's an Aquaberry uniform. Only the preps, like me, wear them. Normal students usually start off with a regular boring uniform. You must be rich. Question is, 'How rich are you?'"
"I'm the single heir of my father's multimillion business. Is that rich enough?"
"Of course it is! You can hang around with my group at lunch. I'll tell them to get something for you. No one except new kids dare eat the lunch lady's horrific meals. I heard she sneezes on them and adds expired meat. So just after the next class, then it'll be lunch. The cafeteria is on the left, behind the stairs. I'll meet you at the prep's table in the cafeteria. It's at the far right. Well, I've got to go. Need to meet Derby. Bye for now!"
Pinky left me to put my new Aquaberry uniform on. Once the uniform was on, I raced to the school, fearing that I'd be late. My first class was Geometry. My assignment was to name some countries in Europe. It was easy, seeing as I spent 6 years in France. I finished early and got to leave class early.
I wondered what I was going to do for the remainder of the time until I could go to the cafeteria and meet up with Pinky and her friends. I decided to walk around the school and see what my mother and father got me into. Right when I left the building, I spotted a nerdy looking overweight guy who, very disturbingly, left his pants unzipped, which was disgusting, who was being bullied by three male students. It was an unfair match. Three of them and only one of him. Luckily for him, my parents had me learn all types of ways to defend myself.
I ran over to them and defiantly said, "Leave him alone!"
They turned around and surrounded me in a circle. "Who's gonna make us? You? Yeah right!" They shoved me hard, but I didn't falter. I stood my ground.
Arrogant little pricks who desperately need to be taught a lesson or two.
"That's right." I kicked two of them in the shin. The other one put his fists up, ready to punch me when I heard,
"Hey! Break it up!"
It was two prefects. They ran over to us and defended me. The three bullies ran away and the prefects went and gave chase.
When me and the nerdy guy were left alone, a bunch of other nerdy looking people walked up to us. I assumed they were his friends.
The nerd I saved was looking up at me in awe. "Oh, wow! You… You saved me!"
I was afraid that I was going to get penalized by the preps for helping a nerd, so I replied, "Don't mention it." I wasn't kidding.
I fled to the girls dorm without asking his name or giving mine in return. Hopefully no preps had seen me.
I still had ten minutes to go. I went over to my dorm room. I decided to go into the boys' dorm building just to explore. I wanted to see what it looked like and my eyes wanted to take a break from all the pink.
I put my hair in a ponytail to make it less noticable. I looked down the entire time I was walking over to the boys' dorm building so to conceal my face. I actually got in. Once I got inside, I lifted my head up and acted like I was lost and had no clue where I was. I explored the halls and snuck a peek at some rooms.
As I was tilting my head to peek inside, someone called out to me.
"Hey you! What're you doing' in the boys' dorm?"
I turned around to find two guys. One with a teal school shirt and slacks and a scar over his right eye with brown hair who was slightly taller than me. The other one looked tiny compared to his companion and wore a pink shirt under his uniform.
"What's it matter to you?"
"It matters to me because I'm a boy in the boys' dorm and you're a girl in the boys' dorm. Answer my question. What is a girl doing in the boys' dorm? Trying to catch a little peek?" I got offended that he would even think that a girl of my status would need to peek at boys when, obviously, I looked like I could get any boy I wanted.
"I'm new."
"Let me guess. You can't read too? There are two signs outside stating that this is a dorm for boys."
"I was asking for directions and this boy said to come here. That's all."
"Right... I believe you."
What an absolute dick. One I had the displeasure of meeting.
The bell rang for lunch. I almost forgot about the preps.
"Lunchtime. I gotta go. Smell you two later!" Hopefully not. I ran to the exit, but not before Gary remarked,
"Anytime, princess!" He really gets under my skin. I sprinted out of the boys' dorm. Every boy I passed looked at me with confusion or lust or a combination of both.
I walked back to the school building. The cafeteria was easy to spot. I saw the preps immediately. They were the only ones wearing Aquaberry uniforms. I walked up to their table. Pinky was already there and she was clearly being hit on by a blonde prep. I tapped her on the shoulder and she spun around.
"Hey there, Snow. Let me introduce you to the preps." She turned back to the blonde guy who was flirting with her before. He wrapped his arm around her waist.
"This is Derby. My boyfriend." The blonde prep now known as Derby held his hand out. I smiled and shook it.
"Derby, this is Aurora, my roommate. Hey, Snow, is it alright if we all call you Snow?"
"Fine with me. I like the name actually, just don't make them think my full name is Snow Snow." Derby and Pinky chuckled.
"Of course not."
The couple introduced me to everyone else at the table while we all sat down and ate. The lunch that they had gotten me looked way better than what I saw everyone else eat and certainly tasted better. We spoke about money, made fun of the Greasers (their rivals), asked about me, and learned how rich I was.
"So, Snow, do you have any male cousins or siblings?" asked a prep named Bryce Montrose. I have no idea why he asked me that and why the rest of the preps seemed interested, but I answered anyway.
I shook my head and replied, "No. I'm an only child. My older brother was a stillborn. I do have one male cousin though. He's my first cousin on my father's side."
"Are you planning to be betrothed to him?" Tad inquired.
The hell...
"No... He is... unavailable."
I heard many murmurs around the prep table. I looked over to the nerd table and saw the boy I saved. He looked like he wanted to talk, but it appeared he was too scared to do so. I heard that most of the preps were professional boxers. Must've been why.
My next class was biology. Biology was okay, but the best part was dissection. I cheered mentally when I found out that that was exactly the thing we were going to do today. I sat down at a table and saw the prick from earlier enter the classroom
"Now children, we will be dissecting today. You may dissect by yourself or you may work with a partner." said the teacher, appropriately named Mr. Slawter.
Gary walked over to my table and waved hello. He stood near the empty chair near me.
"Hey there, princess. I hope you won't mind me sitting here."
I groaned mentally because I didn't want to give the creep the satisfaction of making me frustrated.
Mr. Slawter must have thought I was actually partners with this prick because he put only one frog on our table. He walked away before I got a chance to complain.
"Guess we're doing this together then, princess."
"To my dismay." Gary laughed at my misery.
I took four pins and pinned down each of the frog's limbs. I handed the scalpel to Gary hesitantly. Gary cut into the frog very cleanly. I wasn't surprised when he seemed like he was into this sort of thing. He took two pins and pinned down the frog's skin flaps. I was about to take the scalpel from him, but he didn't let me.
"No, no, princess. You shouldn't get blood on your dress."
"Give me that!" I yanked the scalpel out of his hand.
I cut out the poor frog's heart carefully, wanting to prove to this pricked how better I am than him with dissection. The cut was clean. I took the forceps and put the heart on a metal tray.
"Your turn." My voice was a little cocky.
"Nice job... for a princess."
Through the whole class, we were competing with each other. Both of us finished and the frog was cleanly gutted. I thoroughly washed my hands and left the class.
After class was over, I went to the gymnasium. Pinky wanted me to tryout for the cheerleading squad. I didn't know where the gym was and had to ask Bif, the boxing champion. I still wasn't used to his size. He was buff and tall with big muscles. He led me to the gym and even showed me to Harrington House, the preps' safe house of some sort. I waited for Pinky outside the gym. She had finally showed in her cheerleader uniform after I waited for six minutes. She waved and ran over to me.
"Hey Snow! Cheerleader tryouts have already begun, but I pulled some strings. Just come in!"
Pinky and I walked into the gym and I saw four cheerleaders in collapsible metal chairs behind a table with blue tablecloth spread. There was an empty chair for Pinky, I assumed. Someone was already trying out. Pinky told me which was which from the cheerleaders while we waited for my turn.
"The one with black hair is Angie Ng. She's in 8th grade. The redhead is Christy Martin. She's a freshman too. Mandy Wiles's the brunette. She's a sophomore. The head cheerleader with the blonde hair is Rina Remington. She's a senior. I secretly can't wait until the head cheerleader spot is open next year. I need to join the others, so just sit on the bleachers until we call you up, okay?" I nodded and smiled. I really appreciated Pinky's friendship. I'm glad I got her as a roommate. She did so many things for me. She inducted me into the prep clique, got me something to eat other than the lunch lady's gruel, and now she wasn't even going to let me wait to tryout for cheerleading.
I went up to the fourth row of the bleachers and sat in the middle and waited for my turn like Pinky said.
An overweight girl with short brown hair was currently trying out. And failing badly. She spoke in an unusually deep voice that wasn't normal for most female teenagers.
"So am I a cheerleader yet?"
All of the cheerleaders seemed disgusted by her and looked down on her mockingly. Rina sat up in her chair and replied,
"You'll know soon enough, Eunice."
The head cheerleader looked on a clipboard and had opened her mouth to announce something, but Pinky was conversing with her and Rina suddenly looked around the place. She spotted me and motioned me to come down and tryout.
"It's your turn, Snow."
I stood up from my place in the bleachers and walked down in front of the five girls.
"Tell us your name, girl, and something about you." said the head cheerleader.
"Hello. I'm a new student. My name is Aurora Marie Snow. I was a cheerleader too in Napa, California."
"Oh, interesting. There's a basket of pom-poms over here. Get two of them."
I nodded and looked to my right. There was a metal basket full of pom-poms. I grabbed two like she said and came back.
"Show us your stuff. Show us why you should be a part of the squad."
I started off with a couple of regular and vigourous cheers and backed all the way up until I was several feet away from the girls. I did a perfect tumble roll and landed gracefully near my original spot. The squad was applauding.
"Wonderful! We're definitely getting you on the squad. We'll try to get your uniform in at least by the day after tomorrow. You're dismissed. Great job, Snow."
They all gave me celebratory high fives and went back to the table except Pinky. We went outside to have a private chat.
"When we're done, do you want to go shopping? That uniform and the dress you have are the only two pieces of clothing you have if I'm not mistaken and someone like you should have more. Do you have any money on you?"
"I have 100 dollars." Only 100 dollars. 100 dollars was my starting money, my father said. He told me the best way to get money was to do favors for people and have them pay you back in cash.
"Great. I'll ask if the other girls want to come. That is okay with you right?"
"Of course."
"Okay, good. Just meet me in our room. I'll come around in ten minutes with the other girls that want to go. I'll loan you my clothes. As fashionable as the Aquaberry uniform is, you can't be in that all the time. You're not wearing that cute dress you showed up in either if that's what you're thinking. You already wore that. It's dirty. I have to go back now. See you in ten!"
Pinky went back in the gym and I walked to the girls' dorm building. I was stopped by the nerd I saved earlier today in the middle of the two dorm buildings.
"Who? Oh. You're the guy from earlier."
"Yeah. My name's Algernon Papadopoulos. I want to thank you for saving me from those bullies earlier. I couldn't thank you during lunch because I was scared. You're the new girl right?"
"Yeah. I'm Aurora. Nice to meet you."
"Really? I thought I heard the preps calling you Snow."
"Oh that. It's my last name and I like being called Snow."
"Okay. My friend, Beatrice, saw you in biology class today. She said you were partnered up with Gary. Are you friends with him?"
"No, no. He's just someone who likes to annoy me… way too much."
"Oh good. You shouldn't be friends with that sociopath."
"Sociopath? What are you talking about?"
"His full name is Gary Smith. I heard that he has ADD and has to drink medication everyday in order to stay sane. I also heard that he almost got admitted to Happy Volts." I knew the guy was super annoying, but a sociopath?
"Happy Volts?"
"Haven't you heard? Happy Volts is that asylum near the meadows behind the school. Rumor has it that they're harboring aliens and werewolves. You don't wanna go there, Snow. It's a bad place! I also heard that they treat really insane people with electroshock and that's how it got its name."
"Well, thanks for the information, Algernon."
"No need to be formal, my lady. My mom might call me a prince, but you can just call me Algie."
"Thanks again, Algie, but I've got to get going. I'm going to meet the cheerleaders after they're finished with the tryouts today."
"You're friends with the cheerleaders?"
"I am one now. They accepted me into the squad."
"I'm not surprised. You're a really pretty girl. Even pretty on the inside unlike some of the girls here."
"Thanks Algie. See you."
"Goodbye!"
I strolled past Algie into the girls' dorm. To pass the time, I read a novel that I brought with me. The Silence of the Lambs. It was one of my favorites along with Psycho, the Dexter series, Where Serpents Lie, and a few more.
When reading a great book, time passed by quicker, so ten minutes seemed even less.
In no time, Pinky walked into our room. I quickly hid the novel under my pillow in panic. I didn't want my friend thinking I was like Gary.
"I talked to the others and Mandy and Christy said they'd come."
She walked over to the shared closet and took out a pink argyle top, a short gray skirt, and pink Mary Janes. Pinky motioned me to come over before laying her clothes on her bed.
"Go ahead and pick whichever you want."
"Thanks, Pinky."
"No. It's whatever. I have money to buy new clothes."
She began to undress. I picked out a white tank top with a black heart printed out on it, short shorts, and beaded flip flops.
I put them over to my bed and undressed as well.
Fully clothed, Pinky and I met up with Mandy and Christy and left the school campus, heading to Old Bullworth Vale first.
"How come Rina and Angie couldn't come?" I asked.
"Rina had to go on a date with her boyfriend and Angie has a project to work on. Lame."
We stopped by the Aquaberry store. I got carried away and blew forty dollars on clothes. We also stopped by Yum Yum Market.
Since it was two hours till curfew, we went to the carnival to play around. We rode on a few rides and played some of the games.
It was a great first night. We returned before curfew. I thought about everything that had happened since my parents dropped me off. I met a new best friend, joined a cool clique, saw the boys' dorm, and had a fabulous night with cheerleaders, and became one myself. I also met a sociopath. Gary. What a fool he is. I mean, if you're gonna be a mental patient, you should be cunning and hide it well. ...Like me.