A/N: Hello all! How are you guys doing? Hopefully well…as the summer winds down (I know it sucks), I'm going to try to post as much as I can because once school starts again I won't be around as often. I'm going to be a freshman, so I have no idea what to expect. Sorry for the cliffhanger last chapter, but I needed to save the new character for this chapter. Anyway, were you wondering who the new girl is? Well, I'm picking up right where I left off! Hope you enjoy this one. As always, please review.
Disclaimer: Yep…still don't own anything…Do you have to rub it in? Geezit!
Ruby Gillis: First off, no Aunt Josie is definitely not Josie Pye. I know it's getting hard to remember who all these people are. I'm trying to focus just on Emily. I'm glad you like Una. Claire might be related to Phil, but you won't find out for sure until later. And I've never really thought about Emily's name. I just love the name. But I like your theory better. Anyway, thanks for all your insight. I really love your reviews.
Terreis: Well, you get to find out who this girl is right away. Warning: She's probably a lot different from what you expect her to be. I like Sarah. She is sweet. It's funny you should mention how Mary will fit in with the meaner girls; well you are just reading my mind here! :) I guess you'll find out soon enough. :) Thanks for reviewing. Tell me what you think of this one.
KarismaJulian4Ever: Aww…I'm glad you find my story interesting. The new girl is going to be introduced this chapter. Thanks so much for reviewing. :-)
Stella Maynard: Can I just say how much I hate you for living in New York? It is like my dream to live up there. I would love to live on the east coast. People just seem different than what they are down here. And you have a foreign exchange student from France living with you? Now I really hate you. My life is so boring. There is nothing ever going on here. I long for the day when I can finally spread my wings and fly far, far away. I have so many dreams and ambitions, but I feel so limited where I am. Do you ever feel that way? Chad Michael Murray is eye-candy! He is gorgeous! Did you see the Teen Choice Awards? James and Chad came out to present an award. I know that Dan should live because he is vital to the storyline, but still. He is really mean. Yes, they will keep the old characters, but I can't wait to see what comes with the new ones. The finale of Gilmore Girls was so awesome. Luke and Lorelei finally got together. Rory and Dean—wait, breathe here—had sex together. Can you believe that?!?! Dean is married!!! Oh my gosh! Big shocker! The season finale of the O.C. was good too. Ryan moved back to Chino because Teresa is having "his" baby (I don't believe it's his). Julie Cooper and Caleb got married. They forced Marissa to move in with them. Sandy figured out that Caleb is almost bankrupt and he says to be careful with Julie because the only reason she married him was for his money anyway. Seth was so distraught about Ryan leaving, because Ryan is like the only friend he's ever had, that he left on his sailboat and sailed off into the ocean. It was so perfect. I cried and cried. Anyway, I'm getting off topic again! I love the finale of Everwood. I'm so glad Amy and Ephram are getting together, but I can't believe Madison is pregnant. Megan is the only nice one of the Hughes. That's why Emily and Sarah set her up with Alex. Mrs. Moore is middle-aged. You will also find out who this new girl is. Yes, poor boys. Who would ever want girls chasing them everywhere? Falling at their feet? Swooning over them day and night? ;) BTW, are you excited about the 6th Harry Potter book title? I think the Half Blood Prince is Hagrid. AU stands for alternate universe. Can you tell I looked at your profile? We have A LOT in common. I love Maroon 5! My best friend got free tickets to their concert with John Mayer, but, of course, parents are mean and don't want you to be happy. So, I didn't go. :( I'm very glad I finished my work too. Thanks for reviewing. My god, look at that long response! :)
Emily stopped to look behind her. The 'new girl' had just walked in. She was very pretty, there was no doubting that. But the way she carried herself made her seem a little aloof to Emily, but then again you can never judge a book by its cover. She walked around as if she knew she was gorgeous, flaunting all of her features. Her platinum blonde hair framed her delicate face nicely. She had grey-blue eyes and a softly curved mouth. She was very petite and dressed very elegantly and extravagantly. It was obvious she knew fashion.
"And you three must be my housemates. It's wonderful to meet you. I'm Kimberly Eileen Andrews from Toronto," she announced in between kisses.
"Why hello, Kimberly Eileen Andrews from Toronto. I'm Claire Gordon from Meadowcrest," said Claire, a little coldly. It was already apparent that Kimberly certainly put on airs.
"You silly goose. You can just call me Kimmy. And who are you?" Kimmy asked, as she turned her attention onto Mary. Poor Mary was so intimidated by Kimmy, she didn't dare look up from her knitting. She just mumbled under her breath. "I'm Mary Evans from—"
"—let me guess, Stovepipe Town? My mother says only poor people live there," said Kimmy, looking Mary up and down. Mary didn't even try to protest, she just continued knitting. Emily, on the other hand, was outraged.
"How dare you say something so insensitive? You don't even know her. Mary is from Emery Bay."
"Well, that's worse. And who are you? Aren't you a little young?"
"I'm Emily Meredith and my age is no concern to you. If you aren't willing to be kind to Mary or Claire or me, then you certainly aren't welcome here," cried Emily, who was now in a fit of rage. In the corner of her eye, she could see Claire trying to console Mary, who was silently crying.
"Well, Emily, I was only trying to get acquainted, but obviously since you had to jump down my throat…" Kimmy was breaking into absurdly fake sobs.
"If 'getting acquainted' means insulting others, you really ought to work on your social skills. Come on Mary, Claire. Let's go upstairs," concluded Emily, as she led the other two to her room.
"Mary, darling, don't worry about what Kimmy said. You needn't cry over something she said." Claire was trying to comfort Mary, while Emily paced back and forth.
"Who does she think she is? This is going to ruin the entire year. I rather live with my sisters and that's saying something. How dare she say that to Mary? Oh Mary, Claire's right. Don't listen to that bag."
"It's just…she was right…I am poor. I shouldn't be here. How did I believe I could fit in with rich girls like Kimmy?"
"No, no, no. Mary, you've fit in perfectly. Kimmy is the problem. Not you, definitely not you. Don't even think for a second that you shouldn't be here. Claire and I love you Mary. You're wonderful."
"Emily's right. Don't listen to Kimmy."
"I'm so happy I get to live with you two. You're positively lovely, girls. I think I'm just going to get some rest. Good night." Mary went across to her room and quietly shut the door. Claire stood up and was about to leave, but came back to talk to Emily.
"Emily, I just want you to know that you're a really good friend. I'm glad I'm going to get to know you this year."
"I really like you too, Claire. It was really sweet of you to comfort Mary."
"Thanks. Good night." Emily quickly climbed into bed. She hadn't realized that tomorrow was going to be filled with errands to run and people to get acquainted with. And then, the next day, which was approaching rapidly, would be her first day at Queen's Academy. All the nerves and emotions came rushing back again, but this time Emily was much too tired to stay awake all night pondering over it. She quickly drifted off into sleep.
The sun shone brightly through the windows in Emily's cozy room. Light flooded into the home and gave the space an almost brilliant, warm feel. Emily could already hear somebody rummaging around in the kitchen downstairs. It was, as Emily expected, Mary cooking breakfast. The table was already set and she was putting a fresh batch of food onto the table when Emily came down."Mary! You don't have to make breakfast every morning. You'll spoil us rotten." Emily was divulging herself into the pancakes before Mary could say anything. "Mmm…this reminds me of all the mornings my grandmother would make breakfast for us at Ingleside. The fresh smell of—"
"—pancakes! Oh, Mary! This is amazing. My grandmother is hardly a cook. So, where's Kimmy? I haven't heard from the witch all morning."
"Who knows, but she better not come around while I'm here. I still can't believe she snubbed Mary last night. And she knew her for what? Two minutes?"
"Mmm…" Claire, like Emily was also engulfed in her pancakes. Mary sat down to eat also, when Kimmy came down to the kitchen. She seemed a bit more tentative than she did last night, but the trio ignored her.
"Good morning. Wow! These pancakes look positively delicious," said Kimmy, as she reached for the last one. Claire stuck her fork in it before Kimmy could get it, leaving no more food on the table. "About last night…I'm really sorry. I don't make great first impressions. It's just so hard to make the right friends these days. And I had an awfully long journey here." The other girls continued to eat. "I don't know anyone on the island, except for my aunt, but she isn't close to my family. I'm terribly sorry, Mary. I didn't mean to insult you so."
Mary smiled back. She was so forgiving. "That's quite alright. Here, I'll get some more breakfast for you."
Claire and Emily were a bit more stubborn. "And I'm sorry to you two as well. Emily, I think you were brave to stand up for your friend and loyal too. I wish I had someone to do that for me. Claire, I think you are darling. I didn't mean to be so inconsiderate to you."
"Fine, but we expect you to be a tad more respectful from now on," replied Claire, a little hesitantly.
"Hmm…welcome to Summer's Landing, Kimmy." Kimmy could tell it was going to take some extra effort to get Emily to fully trust her. The girls finished off the rest of the day by running errands and decorating their new home. Emily found Kimmy to be better than expected, while Claire was still a little uneasy around her. Mary was still sweet and kind to anyone. Each girl was very diverse from the others, but that night every girl had the same thing on their minds—tomorrow was their first day at Queen's Academy.
"Claire! Claire! Wake up! You're going to be late for class! Claire!" Kimmy was desperately trying to wake Claire up, for she was almost late to her first class.
"Huh? Emily? What now?"
"She left an hour ago. She said something about finding her classes early—a concept you are clearly not familiar with," sighed Kimmy, as she picked out Claire's clothes. Claire jumped out of bed to stop her after realizing that Kimmy was in her room.
"I'll pick my own clothes, thanks. Where's Mary then?"
"She left with Emily. Mary wanted to go down to the dining hall, and Emily knew where it was. So, I'm going to go. Make sure you get to class on time. You don't want to start a bad year with the professors by being late," said Kimmy in a matter-of-fact tone.
Claire got dressed once Kimmy left the room. She put on her simple navy blue dress and grabbed her satchel before leaving the home. It took quite a while to find her class and she was too embarrassed to walk into a classroom to ask for help.
Mrs. Moore—oh no—where is this room? You'd think they'd have signs or something. Should I take a left or right? Oh wait! There it is. Oh my! I'm so late!
Claire burst into the room and ran straight into Mrs. Moore. "Sorry. I got…lost." The class burst into laughter as Claire struggled back onto her feet.
Mrs. Moore sniffed. "It took you twenty minutes to find your way around? Were you not at orientation on Saturday? No, you may not sit with Miss Meredith. Take a seat next to Mr. McCallister, please." Claire sighed and sat in the empty seat next to a very handsome young man. He had shaggy blonde hair and sparkling grey-blue eyes. Somehow, Claire thought, her Grandmother would have disapproved of his hair, but it suited him. She caught Emily's eyes, which were clearly saying how much she disapproved of her tardiness. "Now, for those of you who don't know already, Queen's Academy is a very prestigious school. We uphold the utmost dignity and have an unvarnished reputation. While here, you, as students, are expected to follow the rules and keep the Academy's name one we would like to keep. You must learn the lesson of teamwork; therefore, since Miss Gordon was so kindly tardy, the entire class owes me a 3-page essay on the difference between artistic styles of the Renaissance and Medieval architecture to modern day times. The assignment will be due tomorrow."
The class let out a large moan. Mrs. Moore lectured for the next hour on various subjects they would be studying in the humanities course this year. Emily felt extremely sad for Claire, who was being picked on mercilessly by the teacher and snickered at by the students, but Emily was also being humiliated in front of the class. Mrs. Moore had apparently had all of her brothers and sisters before, hence her comments about how Emily wasn't as bright or was dull compared to them. Emily thought this was ridiculous because she was clearly much more intelligent than Melanie and Madison combined! It was obvious that this was going to be a long, strenuous year. Class was finally dismissed. Emily walked with Claire in between their classes.
"Mrs. Moore is an old bag. She must hate children. Was she ever young?" cried Claire.
"Well, you were late, but she should have given you some sympathy. After all, it is our first day. Harry and Matt said she was evil, but did you see how she was ridiculing me the whole time? Every comment seemed to have been sneered at me."
"I know. What do you have next? I have "Basic Language Arts". Why do they have to make such a fancy name for something so horrible? I can't wait to sit and learn about the 'proper use of commas'."
"I have "Advanced English Literature". Don't worry as long as you 'Dot your i's, and cross you t's', you should pass with flying colors," joked Emily. They both sighed. "Well, I go this way. I'll see you in the Dining Hall for lunch. Save me a seat?"
"Of course. Have fun in "Advanced English Literature"."
"Have fun learning the proper use of commas."
Emily turned the corner into a very large hallway. The upperclassmen were lined all along. They were talking and relaxing like school was no big deal, while Emily tried to balance her books that wouldn't fit into the already-filled book bag. Her next class was very large. The room was magnificent. Melanie and Madison were sitting in the middle of their circle of admirers. Harry was also in the classroom with his football friends. Emily noticed that the boy Claire was forced to sit next to was in this class also. He was talking to Matt and his group of friends. He looked very popular. Some of the girls went over there to swoon over him. Of course, he flirted with them and was showing off in front of the boys. Emily had been so busy looking at him that she hardly noticed Melanie sticking out her leg to trip her. She plunged downwards dropping most of her books. Everyone roared into laughter.
This is so embarrassing. Why me? Did I do something wrong to deserve this? I rather be learning about punctuation right now.
"Settle down class!" The professor bent down to help Emily pick up her books. "You can sit in front, Emily."
"How do you know my name?" Emily whispered back, but the teacher was already at the head of the room. Emily quickly took a seat in the front row. The blonde boy left his pack to sit behind her.
"Hey sweetheart. Are you sure you're taking enough notes? I could help you," he whispered behind her.
"My name is Emily, and why are you looking anyway?"
"Oh, touché." The girls next to him giggled at this.
"Alright! Welcome to you Advanced English Literature class. My name is Professor Grant expect all of you to behave and treat each other nicely while in this room. We will delve straight into Chaucer's Canterbury Tales today. Open your books to page 32. I would like you all to take detailed notes each day in class, for your examinations will be much easier if you do, but don't worry too much if you can't write everything down. I am certainly not Mrs. Moore." The class laughed. Emily felt a bit more at ease with Professor Grant. He seemed very nice, not too old, and extremely relaxed. But how did he know her name? Emily had a feeling she was going to enjoy this course more than the others. After all, it was her favorite subject and the professor was just jolly. The lesson went by much quicker than expected. Emily wanted it to last longer because she was enjoying the riveting discussions. She could hear the other students whisper to each other every time she answered a question, but that didn't matter.
After class, Professor Grant asked Emily to stay after class. "Emily, how are you doing? I know you're an advanced student, but I never expected you to be my top student. Do you have any questions about previous materials we've covered?"
"No. The curriculum is wonderful. I love literature. It's just the…class. My sisters are here and so is my brother, including all of their friends, but I'm sure I just need time to adjust. If you don't mind me asking, Professor, I was wondering how you knew who I was."
"Why, Emily, don't you know of your Grandmother Anne's friend, Priscilla Grant?" Emily's face brightened up. "I'm her son. My father died when I was young, and my mother gave me her maiden name instead. I'm afraid we don't 'get along' well with his side of the family, if you know what I mean. Anyway, your mother and I used to be chums—or pen-pals, actually."
"Really? Did you know Uncle Jem? Uncle Shirley? Aunt Di? Aunt Rilla?"
"Of course. We wrote letters back and forth. I even visited Ingleside a few times. Your father had contacted me before you came here. He said you would be in my class and everything. Your brothers and sisters aren't as interested as you are, I'm afraid."
"Well, no, but you weren't really expecting them to be interested, were you? Why didn't my parents mention you before? Do my brothers or sisters know you?"
"Your father and mother didn't want to make it seem like I was 'watching over' you or anything. They were afraid you might feel intimidated because I knew you already. I am simply here if you need help with your lessons or if you need some advice about classes or something of that nature. And, of course, moral support. Your Uncle Carl is also here, so, Emily, you have nothing to worry about. Try to get involved in social activities, which might help you get along better. But don't fret, dear, it's only your first day. Well, I've taken enough of your time. Run along to lunch now."
"Erm…right. Thank you, Professor. See you tomorrow," said Emily, quietly. She liked Professor Grant. He seemed jolly and he was a kindred spirit. Obviously, since her parents were friends with him. She had a feeling she was going to like this class.
On her way towards the Dining Hall, Emily passed by many classrooms. She happened to see Mary sitting in "Home Economics". The Dining Hall was a great room. Everything in this hall was of large proportions. There were four long tables that ran from the front of the room to the very end. They were spaced from each other proportionally. Each table had two long benches underneath it, where the students would sit. On each side of the wall were the lines for food. After receiving their meal, the students would then sit down at a table to eat. At the head of the room, sat the teachers. They had a much shorter table, and in the middle sat the school headmaster.
Emily spotted Claire sitting at the second table from the left. She looked exhausted and miserable.
"Was it really that bad?" asked Emily. Claire nodded and motioned for Emily to sit next to her.
"The teacher was horrible. Not as bad as Mrs. Moore, of course, but still quite dreadful. Here, I got your food for you. We didn't really have a choice on what to eat. Tell me about your class," said Claire, as she pushed a tray over to Emily. There was a tuna sandwich, apple, apple juice, and some crackers.
"Well, it was probably as bad as yours. My sisters were in the same room as me, so that just sums it up. I got…distracted when I came in and my wonderful sister, Melanie, tripped me, so I fell in front of all the upperclassmen. It was dreadful."
"You tripped? Wow, that is bad. How was your Professor? I heard he's nice."
"He is. Professor Grant actually knows my parents. The class isn't bad either. We started covering Chaucer today."
"We started with the different styles of journalism. She explained how we are going to write reports. I was bored out of my mind. Ms. Thompson was just as evil as Mrs. Moore. Can you believe she forced me to sit next to that boy?"
"By the way, he was in my English class. I don't like him very much. How rude is it to call a strange girl 'sweetheart'?"
"He called you sweetheart? I heard some girls talking about him after class. His name is Jeffrey McCallister, but everyone calls him Jeff. He's quite the ladies' man. Always, flirting and encouraging girls," informed Claire, who was staring at Emily's apple. "Are you going to eat that?" Emily gave her the apple.
"He seems like an egotistical jerk to me."
"Yes, but you have to admit he is handsome."
"Who's handsome?" interrupted Kimmy.
"Oh, Kimmy. You gave me a fright. We were talking about one of our classmates. His name is Jeff McCallister."
"Oooh…he's supposed to be quite the ladies' man."
"Mmm…I think he is just attention-starved. That's why he shows off so much," snapped Emily.
"Are you jealous, Emily?"
"Of course not. What's there to be jealous of?" said Emily, in a scandalized tone.
"Has anyone seen Mary?" Emily was very grateful to Claire for changing the subject.
"I saw her in a class on the way here. It was "Home Economics", so no doubt their baking cookies for lunch."
"Ha! As if Mary needs to know more about 'home economics'.
At this moment, Mary approached the table and coughed. "It is a very sensible course to take, Claire. After all, I do need to take of you three. And we do not bake cookies for lunch," shuddered Mary, who was probably thinking cookies were unhealthy.
"We were just teasing you, Mary. How have your classes been? Claire and Emily are already bogged down with homework," said Kimmy, who was now very civil to Mary.
"Oh, just wonderful! The classes and teachers are great! I've learned so much already!"
"Glad to see you're excited."
"Claire, it can't be that bad."
"You have no idea, Mary. My teachers are horrible."
"I'm sure it'll get better."
"Well, let's get to class before we're late. I don't need any additional assignments tonight," teased Emily. Claire put on a bit of mock concern.
"That was very funny, Emily. Very funny…"
A/N: Sorry this chapter took forever to write, but I've been so busy. Orchestra camp, freshman orientation, etc. So, I'll try to get a new chapter up before I start school, which is on August 24th. Wish me luck! I'm going to be a fish…so, drop a note and tell me what you think of this chapter.