Chapter 3

Max POV

"Uh. . . Yeah." I wave at the girls in the room goodbye. "Aya?"

Aya taps her foot impatiently. "What is it?" I leave the room with her and we turn right.

"Who's Ariel?" I shift my sling bag behind my back.

Aya's face lights up. "Ariel is the girl with the short curly red hair and jade-green eyes."

"I'm guessing that's her alias. Can you tell me her real name? I mean, I wanna know the names of the girls in the student council."

Aya chuckles. "You are the only one who will know their name. Except for Larenston's student council."

I'm gonna ask her what that is later. "So?

"There are five members in the council. Ariel is Lissa and she's the secretary. The girl who was polishing the vases and with the long straight red hair and sky-blue eyes is Brigid and her alias is Elira and she's the treasurer. The girl who was reading Ransom is Tessa and hers is Poppy and she's the business manager."

"And you. But, there were only four people in there. Who is the last one?"

Aya grins at me. "You already met her."

I raise my eyebrows. "I did?"

"Yeah. J.J. Can't remember her?" Her dark eyes sparkling in amusement.

I shake my head. "If I did remember her, I wouldn't be asking you, right?"

Aya sighs. "J.J. is the girl in your Honors English class. The girl who asked you how you liked your day so far. The girl with jet-black hair and light-blue eyes." How does she know about that?

It was like a switch in my brain. "Oh. Oh! Her! Now I remember! What's her alias?"

"Dee Dee." Aya laughs at my expression. "I know. It didn't make much sense either, when she told us what her alias is. I mean, her name is J.J. And her alias is Dee Dee. She's the vice-president, by the way." Aya shakes her head.

I laugh. "Tell me more about the school."

Aya's face turned serious. "We just passed the Science classrooms. This floor contains the English and Science classrooms. You already know that the ground floor is the Gym. It's pretty big, right?"

"Are you serious? It was like a football field!"

"That's because it is a football field."

"It's an all-girls school! How can you have a football field? Don't tell me you have a football team?" I look so horrified that Aya doubles over in laughter.

Aya shakes her hand at me. "We don't have a football team! No one wants to be tackled by a two-thousand-pound Mongoloid in mud."

"Right. So why do you have a football field?" I help Aya straighten up.

She takes deep breaths. "Because Larenston's football team are a bunch of lazy arrogant dudes."

"Huh?" What the hell is Larenston?

"They don't want to do the hassles involving the football field. Like trimming and watering the grass."

I nod.

"Anyway, where was I?"

"Uh. . . The Science classrooms?"

"Right! OK. The next floor has the Music/Arts and Social Studies classrooms. The fourth floor has the Foreign Language and Family and Consumer Sciences classrooms."

"Where are the Math classrooms?"

"The rooms are in the same building as the Faculty Room."

"And that's where?" I ask obviously. We are already outside the building and walking towards another building that is two stories high.

Aya points to the building we are headed. "The Math and Technology classrooms are in the second floor. Any questions?"

"What's Larenston?" We sit side by side on a bench.

Aya crosses her legs. "Larenston Institute is the brother school of Deveraux Academy."

"Really? Where is it?"

"Just across the street."

I snap my head at her. "What? Just across the street? You mean-"

Aya nods. "Yeah. Larenston is much, much bigger than Deveraux. And it's dominated by boys whose age ranges from 12 years to 18 years old."

"Is it the same for Deveraux?"

"Yep. Seventh to twelfth grade. That's why this school is really big. This school has 926 students. Eighty-six percent are rich heiresses. A puny twelve percent are exchange students. And last, point six percent are us transfer students." The distance can be barely seen between the thumb and point finger that she held up.

My eyes widen. Eighty-six percent are rich heiresses? "Wow. That's. . . Why are there more exchange students than transfer students?"

Aya shrugs. "The exchange student entrance exam is way easier than the transfer student entrance exam. I've seen the exam and it's just bogus."

"When have you been here?" I cross my arms. Aya stands up so I did too. We walk past the Faculty building and to the Cafeteria.

"Since seventh grade. So did the others too." By "others" she meant the other members of the student council.

"What you're saying is that it's impossible to get in this school."

Aya sighs. She turns around and walks backwards. "Not impossible. . . Just. . . difficult. Because Deveraux is an elite school, it just makes sense to make the entrance exams hard. . ."

"And a lot of people will fail. . . That makes sense. But why is the entrance exam for exchange students easier?"

"It's kinda like advertising the school. The founders want the whole world to know about Deveraux."

I nod. "Is it the same for Larenston?"

Aya nods. She pushes the glass door open and the enticing scent of roast chicken punches me in the face. Oh, damn. . .

"You said the Larenston Student Council knows the real names of the members of Deveraux Student Council. How do they know?"

We join the group of babbling girls as they wait for their lunches. I take a tray like Aya. I scan at the food display behind the glass windows. They're all gourmet. I take a plate of grilled shrimp scampi and a glass of sparkling water.

As soon as we are seated, Aya answers my question.

"I already mentioned that Larenston is the brother school of Deveraux, right?" I nod. "It's tradition that the student council of Larenston to work with Deveraux Student Council."

I nod. I fork a shrimp and bring it up to my mouth. The shrimp just melts inside my mouth and the different tastes dances on my tongue. I close my eyes and further savor the shrimp.

"Ah. So, when do you guys meet?" I fork another shrimp.

"Every weekend. See, in this school, you can go home every weekend. And all the rich heiresses go home to their mansions. Some exchange students can't come home because their homes are in different countries. The student council rarely comes home except for the holidays."

"That means I can go home this weekend?" I so miss Mom's cookies.

Aya shakes her head. "Nope. I have work for you." What does that mean?

She twirls pasta around her fork and shoves it in her mouth. Soon, the rest of the student council joins us.

J. J. - the girl who asked me how I like my day - sits next to me. She smiles at me brightly. "Hi, Max!" The two redheads sit on either side of Kaichou. Tessa settles to my right.

"Wait, how did you know-" I start to ask.

Aya just grins. "We're the student council. We know everything." They all nod.

Oh, so that's how she knew about J.J.'s asking. "What is this 'work' you want me to do?" I sip my sparkling water slowly.

The other four girls stare abruptly at Kaichou.

"Kaichou! Don't do this now!" Lissa cries out. Her curly red hair bobs.

Tessa and Brigid nod in agreement with her.

J.J. - who for the first time lost her smile - frowns.

Kaichou just shrugs.

"What? What is it?" I have a feeling this is gonna be bad.

Kaichou's dark eyes turn black as the night.

"Max, do you know what the disciplinary committee is?"

How should I know?

I shake my head.

Aya nods.

My heart is threatening to break out of my chest.

"The disciplinary committee is a group of people who make sure that there is discipline in the academy."

"And?" I urge Aya to continue.

"For the last fifty years, no one has joined the disciplinary committee."

"And?" I'm getting impatient here!

"Will you join the committee?"

The other girls are starting at me intently. My heart rate is back to normal.

"Sure."

They gasp. Even Aya did.

"Are you sure?" Lissa and Brigid ask in unison.

I nod.

Tessa looks worried. "It's a tough job." J.J. agrees with her.

"What do I have to?" I ask Aya.

"You're like our personal bodyguard. You maintain discipline in Deveraux as well as in Larenston." Aya grins.

Now I gasp.

"WHAT?"

"Quiet down! You'll attract attention. No one has joined the disciplinary committee in fifty years because it's a hard job. Even the guys in Larenston can't take it." Aya leans back her chair.

"What do I exactly do?" I push my food away from me because I suddenly lost my appetite.

Lissa answers me. "You make rounds around the school everyday and look for anything suspicious."

"Like?"

Tessa replies. "Like hooking up in school."

"That's illegal?" I arch a brow.

Aya nods. "You can't fraternize with any student - especially Larenston students - during school days. And you can't let Larenston students enter this school."

I nod. "What do I do if I caught someone?"

J.J. wraps her arm around my shoulders. "What you always do. Bury your fist on their face." She forms a fist and pretends to punch an imaginary Larenston student.

I want to laugh, but the others look so serious. But their eyes give them away. Their beautiful eyes are full of humor.

Brigid looks at me. "You write them detention. That's it. You don't punch them in the face." Her eyes are fix on J.J. She blushes in shame.

"What else do I have to do?"

Aya grins evilly.

"You have to remember every student's name."

"Every?"

Aya nods. "Every."

"Also Larenston students?"

Aya nods. "Every."

I groan.

A/N: RnR?