New chapter up. Thanks ChinaTown for the kind review. So please read and review. Thanks.
Green Leaf academy always held a beginning of the year party for all new students joining the esteemed institution, so they could get a taste of what life at this school was.
It was a good opportunity for Charlie and me to intimidate a bunch of prissy boys and make fun of the very mature and willing 15 year old girls who always had this fake nonchalance around them, but secretly hunted the people with the shiny credit cards.
It would be a boring little gathering this year, for me at least. Painful in its formalities and depressing in its check with reality, it reminded me I no longer had the power to give people crap. Not as much as I wished to anyway.
The beginning ceremony started in the chapel after which the official dinner would take place in the cafeteria and finally the students' main hall was improvised into a dancing ring and all students could finally interact. There was dull music, no alcohol, but we could smoke if we managed to get to the fire exit without being seen, but I preferred the spot behind the gym.
Charlie was such a nice, open guy sometimes that he easily made friends, even if his real intentions weren't as honourable. He always got a pathetic girlfriend from the new girls and only kept her for two weeks or so, enough to drive me crazy and to satisfy his curiosity.
And he picked some real study subjects, for sure. His tastes in women were appalling, but I was not the one to comment.
Early that day I had to talk to the administration office about my tuition and my current…financial situation. I was ready to apply for a scholarship and make it public, but of course formalities never ended. They actually thought I was trying to use the old trick and save my rich family some money, when other poverty-stricken gifted children had no means of ever enjoying the privilege of attending Green Leaf.
They wanted to check my family's account first, they would not believe me. My reputation indeed wasn't a thing to take into consideration when making this decision. They would tell me by the end of the week and until then I had to keep my frustrations all to myself.
That afternoon I was alone in the dorm when someone knocked at the door ostentatiously. I was reading and I hated being disturbed so I tried ignoring whoever it was, but the person persisted, probably knowing my habits.
I opened the door and there she was: Caroline.
'Wiiiiiill!' she meowed and let herself in pushing past me. 'Lovely of you to welcome me so eagerly.'
She was wearing her school uniform; white blouse, green skirt and high black heels. What am I saying? This was more like a striper's outfit. Not that there was much of a difference.
'You look well,' she said sitting down on my bed, legs crossed. 'I missed you this summer. We all did.'
'Well, I didn't Caroline,' I said walking past her and putting the book back in a drawer.
'Don't I look well too?' she said raising an eyebrow.
'If you came here to ask me something about your looks…' I started.
'You didn't even call or write. I must say I was disappointed,' she said faking distress as she placed her leg between mine.
'What do you want?'
She licked her lips and grinned innocently.
'You know, I heard about your tragic misfortune and…I just wanted you to know that my…admiration for you has not changed. With or without money you are still very interesting,' she said tracing her fingers on my shirt.
I removed her hands and raised an eyebrow annoyed.
'Get off my bed and scram Caroline, I'm busy.'
She frowned displeased and started playing with the hems of her skirt.
'Given your current situation, it would not be wise to reject me like this, would it?'
'Caroline darling, you know I've always appreciated the spoilt bitch in you. It is, after all, your only charm. But you don't need to beg.'
She got up and tried slapping me across the face but I caught her hand just in time.
She smiled and closed the distance between us, kissing me. I didn't respond at first, but she could be damn persuasive. We continued like this for a while, until Charlie interrupted us, bursting in the room. Caroline cursed under her breath, but quickly got herself together and rushed out of the room.
Charlie looked after her for a while, before turning to me.
'Are you screwing my sister?'
'Not a chance.'
'Thought so…'
No, I wouldn't screw around with her.
Charlie and I picked up some strategic seats in the hall so we could watch everybody but not be seen by many. The music was awful to say the least and the bar had the shittiest drinks. But we had Fred for these inconveniences. Fred was our senior friend and the basketball captain and he could usually get us what we needed, when we needed it.
He was famed for bringing alcohol in the school, in the form of harmless beverages, such as ice teas and coca colas. I was certain some of the teachers knew about it, but let it pass because he only did business with older students. His father was one of the biggest liquor producers in the country. Like father like son. He joined our table not before long.
'The white meat looks fresh,' he said giving us his flask of vodka. 'But they don't make'em like they used to.'
The freshmen were a sea of uninteresting, washed pale faces. Everybody was dancing and talking but you could only hear a depressive buzzing. All the tables were occupied by seniors or sophomores like us.
The headmaster of the school and the high chancellor were sitting at a festive table with some teachers at the top of the hall, under the portraits of famous students, teachers and investors. They all looked in pain at being there, in that badly lit hall, with too many people, too much noise, not to mention tedious and uninteresting conversation they had to share.
I saw Caroline dancing with a freshman and she waved at me when she caught me staring. I ignored her.
'Stop looking at Caroline. There are finer ladies,' Charlie commented laughing. After a couple of drinks he got tipsy enough to let himself go a bit.
So as usual he went in search of a partner to dance with. I decided to go out for a smoke.
When I came back I already found him wrapped around a tall blonde girl, fairly good looking.
'How does he do it? He goes out there and gets the best looking girl when he's just a stupid wanker?' Fred commented annoyed.
'Wealthy stupid wanker,' I added.
After he danced four times with her he didn't bother to come back, he just followed her to God knew where; probably to some insipid friends that he'd dance with as well.
After an hour or so I was getting pretty annoyed. I walked around the room looking at the people dancing. I loved watching people, observing them.
I noticed two girls dancing like wild around four guys who clearly felt uncomfortable. Another one came for them and dragged them out of there. I followed them amused and discovered they were sitting in a corner where Charlie was talking with that blonde girl.
I wanted to make my way back, but Charlie saw me and waved at me, expecting me to come there.
'Darcy! Come here old sport!'
Good God, he spilled out the most imbecilic things when he was drunk.
'Ladies, this is my good friend and best mate, Will Darcy,' he said introducing me to the four girls.
'This is Jane Bennet, the prettiest girl I've ever seen in my life,' he said kissing the blonde girl's hand. She blushed embarrassed.
'That's nonsense Charlie.'
'Even Will here, who's a bit picky, can agree. This is Jane's sister, Eliza and their two friends Kathy and Marianne…oh sorry, Mary,' he continued showing me each and every one of them.
I took a good look at them and summed up my impression; scholarship girls. All students coming from lower middle-class families that had got a scholarship knew each other and were friends. It was their own intellectual society.
'Blow me if I miss this song,' Charlie suddenly exclaimed and pulled Jane on the dance floor again. 'See you later Darcy.'
I looked around and saw that the other two girls had left again and that girl, Eliza I think, was still sitting there, watching me.
'Your friend is very… energetic,' she suddenly said.
'That's one way of putting it. He's slightly drunk.'
'Drunk? There's no alcohol served at the bar.'
I didn't reply.
'The school doesn't allow alcohol on its grounds,' she added. I rolled my eyes.
'I smell smoke…you smoke?' she asked.
'Yes.'
'That's not allowed either, supposedly.'
'Are you going to recite all the school rules or are you just doing this for fun?' I replied getting tired of her.
'For fun I guess. So do you smoke and drink to seem cooler and more mature?'
'Do you ask these stupid questions to seem intellectually misunderstood and interesting?'
She opened her mouth to reply but didn't say anything. She half-smiled and extended her hand.
'I'm Eliza.'
I nodded curtly. Seeing as I was not going to shake her hand or anything she smiled and turned away.
Good riddance. Bloody environmentalists are everywhere these days.
I went back to my seat and watched Charlie make a fool of himself with that Jane girl. Fred brought a couple of girls at our table and I started saying my stupid, dry jokes. The dumb tarts laughed at every one of them. One of them sat in my lap as we played cards. She always whispered daft things to me, but I ignored it.
At length, Charlie returned and most of the girls left. He was exhausted.
'You fuckwit. One fine arse and you forget all about us,' Fred spat out punching him.
We all went out for a smoke.
'She's so fucking beautiful, it's almost distracting. But before you say anything, cuz I know you want to, I'll have you know she's smart, kind, adorable and pretty much perfect,' Charlie told me.
'You mean that Jane girl? I have to give you credit for the looks.'
'Why didn't you take up her sister for a dance? She isn't half bad…she's that sort of brunette girl you're into. What was her name?'
'Eliza?' I asked chuckling. 'No thanks. She's a self-righteous brat. Not even if she was really good looking would she tempt me.'
'Well I'm not sharing Jane. She's the pearl in a sea of oysters,' he said smiling goofily.
'Save me the eulogy.'
'Good God, I might be in love.'
'It's just the vodka.'
As we turned the corner I saw two familiar faces and only afterwards I realized it was Eliza and one of her friends. They walked past us but I was pretty much convinced they had heard everything, judging from her not-so-friendly expression.
Well, so much for the better.
When we went back inside we found our table occupied and we couldn't spot Fred anywhere. He was supposed to save us seats. The bastard had deserted us.
Charlie found his Jane and I tried finding an empty seat. It was easier to find that blonde girl than a chair, honestly.
Caroline waved at me from her table but I quickly made a dash towards the opposite end of the room.
In the end, I sat by the bar, talking to one of the caterers there, a thirty something redhead. She was fairly interesting. She also gave me the name of the hotel she was staying at and the room number. I promised I'd come.
All the while I was looking towards the dance floor. I recognized Eliza dancing close by, but her partner shocked me. It was Fred of all people. They were laughing and talking and he was playing with her hair and the image quite annoyed me.
The night ended in me walking the thirty year old woman home. The hotel was shabby and the rooms were crammed and stuffy, but that didn't matter since I stopped thinking after a while. I left her room around five in the morning.
When I returned the courts and the dorms were eerily silent. The party always lasted until three so I supposed everyone was sleeping.
As I slipped into my dorm I saw someone sitting on the steps of the girls' dorm. She was holding a cup of coffee and she was still wearing her dress. It was Eliza.
In the morning light, she was pretty.
