A/N – I couldn't wait to update again. I'm kinda sad I have no reviews, but that's okay. It's not like I wrote this to get reviews. I edited the first two chapters, but it's not nessesary to reread them, it was only some little things. Just FYI. haha. For anyone that speaks French, I'm so sorry if I got the translation wrong. I used Google Translate.
"Bedtime girls" Matron said, walking through the room. "Night" the other girls cried as they tucked themselves into bed. "Good night Matron" Dani called, setting her glasses onto her nightstand, on top of the door she had been reading.
Matron handed a stack of clothes to Poppy. "The correct school uniform. Wear it. Bed" Matron ordered. Dani internally groaned, knowing this was going to be another battle.
Or not. "Poppy Moore, bed, now!" Matron cried as she walked away, knowing Poppy wouldn't listen. Surprisingly, Poppy complied.
"Bonjour" the man greeted walking down the aisle of his French class. "Sir, I think there was a mistake. I do not belong in this class" Dani said to the man as he passed her. "Nonsense, every girl needs to know French" he dismissed her protest. "Sir" she tried again, but he waved her off.
Because Dani really didn't want to waste an hour or more a day learning what she already know, she stood and proclaimed "Monsieur, je suis à l'aise en français. Je connais la langue depuis que j'étais jeune, c'était ma deuxième langue. Je peux tenir une conversation et de parler si vite et de façon cohérente que la plupart des orateurs anglais ne me comprenez, Monsieur."
Sir, I am fluent in French. I have known the language since I was young, it was my second language. I can hold a conversation and speak so quickly and coherently that most English speakers would not understand me, Sir.
Mr. Nellist looked at her in surprise. "All right then. I'll talk to the headmistress tonight and we'll see what to do, for now, I hope you don't mind going through today's classwork anyway" he said, stammering slightly. "Yes, Sir" Dani sat back down.
"All right. Translations today, everyone. So, PDF, pretty damn straightforward. Ergo... which means? Anyone? Ergo?" Dani didn't want to draw attention to herself again, so she chose to let someone else take the spotlight.
"Oh, Mr. Nellist" Drippy called, raising her hand. "Yes, Drippy" Dani snorted. She couldn't believe the teachers actually called her Drippy. "'Er, leave'?" she guessed, making everyone laugh.
"Luddite. No, it means therefore, Drippy. Therefore, you'll probably finish early, which means that you'll have lots of time to ask me questions about my trip to Champagne with my girlfriend. Now, sadly, my ex-girlfriend, though she was my girlfriend at the time" he added as we giggled.
Mr. Nellist seemed to realize he was rambling. "Put your headphones on, please"
Dani sat on her bed reading while Kate was dying Drippy's eyebrows and Josie and Kiki were sitting on Josie's bed. Poppy was using her LED light pads to tan herself, or something. "Apparently, California girls wax their bums"
"What?" Kate asked. "Why?"
"To look Brazilian. Makes it more attractive" Drippy said.
"Not all of them. In fact, it's only the girls that plan on wearing really skimpy clothes so guys can see their…never mind, you're right, majority does" Dani said quietly, setting down her book and moving to sit at Drippy's feet, the chocolate she had given her the day before in her hand.
"Do you think she's done it?" Kate asked, looking at Poppy. "Hundred percent" Drippy said, looking up.
"She hasn't" they all looked at Dani. "Neither of us has. That's why her so-called boyfriend is a cheating scum ball. She won't sleep with him" Dani said.
"is there a problem?" Poppy snapped, turning off the lights and pulled out an ear bud. "How many boys have you shagged?" Drippy asked point-blank, wanting to be sure.
"Well" Poppy said cockily. "There was Brandon, eight pack. Chase, jock. Tyler, bajillionare. Derek. He was Kelly Slater's cousin. And, oh, Jack. He was all-around sick"
Dani shook her head, disapointed. Drippy grabbed the mirror and cried "Shit! Kate!" at the sight of her dark eyebrows. "Sorry, Drip. It looked lighter on the box" Dippy groaned and stalked over to her bed with the mirror.
"That is butters. Better not stop me pulling at the social" Drippy muttered. "Honey, eyebrows are the least of your worries" Poppy said.
Matron opened the door. "Lights out girls. Everyone into bed"
"Good night Matron" we call said, turning off our lights. Poppy opened her laptop, the light shining throughout the room. "Hey, switch that off!" Kate hissed.
"No wireless. Should have known" Poppy cried loudly.
"Internet is only allowed in the computer room" Kiki reminded Poppy. Poppy stood and started walking towards the door. "Whoa. We are not allowed out of bed after lights out!" Kiki cried. Poppy switched on their lights. "Oh look, they're not out"
"Poppy!"
"What are you doing?"
"Come back!"
"Get back into bed!"
Poppy ignored them all and headed for the computer room. Dani groaned and flopped back in her bed. "I'm sorry" she called to the other girls.
"Why? It's not your fault" Josie said. Dani froze for a moment.
"It's been a long time since something Poppy's done hasn't been my fault" she said quietly. The other girls felt bad for her. "I don't think I can handle being her slave, not here. This is home. In Malibu, I had no one, and everything was so strange. But here, this is my home, this is where I really belong. And I don't think I can play the complacent door mat here" she ranted.
"Then don't" Kate said simply. Dani sat up and looked at her. "Don't let Poppy boss you around, and don't let the things she does effect you. Be free and have fun. Enjoy being home" she continued. Dani swallowed hard.
"Will…will you guys help me? I think I'll need help adjusting" she asked hesitatntly.
The four girls shared glances. "Of course. You're one of us" Kiki voiced the popular opinion. Dani smiled. "Thank you"
With that, they all fell asleep, praying to God Poppy didn't get caught and get them all into trouble.
Suddenly, the fire alarm started ringing. Matron woke everyone up, room by room, and shuffled everyone out. Dani went out with everyone else, but Poppy couldn't. Matron was in front of her. If she followed, she would surely be caught out of bed.
At least, she had thought Dani had been with the other girls. "Come on" Poppy turned to see Dani pulled her away from Matron. "Just because I hate that you use me and get me into trouble, doesn't mean I'll let you get caught by the Matron" she hissed, pulling Poppy along.
Dani led Poppy outside, onto the roof. There was a ladder outside. "Come on" this time, Poppy pulled Dani into a room. Dani hug back by the window, knowing this was a bad idea, but Poppy tried to run through.
"Hey, who's there" both girls froze.
There was the sound of water…crap! They just caught some guy in the middle of his shower! Dani debated her chances of getting out of the room without getting caught while Poppy told the random dude her name.
Then Dani realized. The voice was too young to be one of the teachers, so it must be…Freddie! Dani's expression morphed to one of horror at the realization. Poppy grabbed Dani's hand and dragged her out the door as she got directions from Freddie. Dani tried very hard not to listen, singing in her head to drown the conversation out.
They didn't see Freddie peeking out of his shower curtain, just in time to see the blond running out of the room, the red-head behind her. All he saw of the second girl was bright, flaming red hair, pale skin, and a mid-thigh length black nightgown. Poor girl was barefoot.
Poppy and Dani were standing beside the coach, observing the class, just for today. The other girls were running, rather poorly, with lacrosse sticks. Dani smiled as Poppy freaked out over some mud splashing onto her face.
"Crack on, team. Lovely stick work, Harriet" the girls all gathered around, sitting down, panting. "Well, super, super effort. We may not win the championship, but we'll win a lot of friends, yeah?" Even Dani had to agree with Poppy, that was a rubbish attitude.
"So bloody English" Poppy scoffed.
Harriet laughed. "Really? And you could do better?" Dani didn't want to try, Lacrosse wasn't her thing. Well, not anymore.
"Laugh it up, I could whip all of your asses blindfolded" Poppy bragged. Miss Rees-Withers looked nervous by the comment, but didn't say anything. Dani hated to admit it, but she was a rather weak-minded teacher.
"This, I'd love to see" Harriet said.
Poppy picked up her lacrosse stick. "Oh, it's on like Donkey Kong. Do your worst, horse face"
Instead of going for the ball, both girls started hitting each other. "Foul! Body check!" Miss Rees-Withers blew her whistle, but the girls ignored her. Just as Dani heard a car horn honk she stood up, walked forward, and grabbed both girl by the collars, not even flinching as she got beat with the lacrosse sticks.
"Will you two stop fighting like children and start acting your age!" Dani snarled, tossing them away from each other as the horn honked again. All attention turned towards the convertible car. Driving it, just happened to be Freddie.
He thought it was funny, watching the small girl man-handle the fighting females as if they were no more than squabbling toddles and break up the fight, even though both girls were bigger, Harriet very much so. He noticed her thick glasses were perfectly straight, but a few locks of bright red hair had fallen out of the tight bun and into her face.
Bright red, flaming hair…
"Shouldn't you guys be in bikinis for that?" he asked the girls.
"Mud wrestling in bikinis is so over rated. Apparently, smacking each other with stick while completely ignoring the ball is in fashion" Dani teased, panting slightly while still standing perfectly straight. Her strict posture made the heaving of her chest all the more defined.
"Hello, Fredster. Dig the car" Harriet flirted. Freddie laughed at her before turning his attention to the other blond. "Hello Moore, Poppy Moore. Who's your friend?"
"Daniella Brown" Dani cried, bowing dramatically, "But call me that and I'll have to run you over with your own car, and those are very pretty wheels. Call me Dani" If anyone asked why she was flirting with him, even while knowing it would cause nothing but trouble, Dani wouldn't have an answer. It was simply too tempting to tease him and flirt with him. It was…fun.
As Freddie sped away, Poppy turned to Harriet. "Ooh, do you love Fredster? Do you want to kiss Fredster on the lips?"
"Don't be so immature" Harriet snapped.
"Don't try and hide it, honey. We've got ourselves a SULA. Sweaty Upper Lip Alert" the girls giggled as Harriet huffed and stormed away. Poppy turned on Dani. "I thought you said he was nothing but trouble? And how the heck to you catch his eye?" Poppy asked.
Dani shrugged. "On the second, no clue. On the first…" Dani grinned. "It was too good an opportunity too miss. Besides, I've decided I was going to enjoy my time here. Might as well have some fun"
Poppy was called to talk to the headmistress. Dani hung back with the other girls while Poppy skipped class. "Why do you wear your hair like that, Dani?" Josie asked, lightly touching Dani's tight bun. Dani looked at her.
"This. Oh, it used to be because, with all the work I had to do, my hair got in my face all the time. As my hair got longer, the bun got tighter. It's just…easier that way" Dani explained.
"It looked gorgeous down" Kate told her.
"Yeah, Lots of girl would kill for your color" Drippy told her.
"And what about contacts, do you have any?" Kiki asked. Dani nodded. "I had a set of contacts with me, but I only use them for emergencies"
The girls looked at each other; something they seem to do a lot when Dani was involved. "The night of the formal, we are giving you a makeover" Kate decided. Dani smiled. "Sure, whatever you want"
