Chapter 2

After we went down the stairs, up the hall, and up another pair of stairs that we didn't even need to go up because the door to the girls' dorm was just down the hall with a right turn to the boys', (Robyn grinned and said she wanted the exercise) Robyn opened a door to what looked like an office. It was small, had a desk, chair, small table with a plant on it, radio that played classical music, and a man sitting in the chair. Robyn showed a red slip of paper to the man, who had a nametag that said Peter. He motioned for her to go in, without saying a word. When we were going up yet another flight of stairs, I asked, "What was with the paper?"

"It gives me permission to be in the boys' dorm; says I need to pick up a guy and tell him I'm pregnant with his baby," Robyn said casually.

"And he let you go without ordering you to get down on your knees and start praying for the soul of your bastard baby?" I said sarcastically. There was no way Robyn would be a teenage mother, I was sure of it even though I just met her.

"Hey, I've got some friends from my other schools that were so-called 'bastards'," Robyn said. "Anyway, it's the mother's fault, not the baby's. She shouldn't be doing those kinds of things; the father isn't exactly an angel, either, though." Robyn opened the door to the boys' dorm.

"Whoa. You were right," I said. The dorm was a mess, with books, backpacks, magazines, and all kinds of sports balls lying around. Robyn led the way, carefully going through. She went to the first door and knocked on it.

"Justin? Jamie?" Robyn said as she knocked on the door. The door opened to reveal an Asian teen. "Is Aurora there, Justin?"

"Duh. If Jesse's here, she comes in the door a second after him." Justin said. He turned around and said, "Aurora, your date's here!"

"No, her date's already in there," Robyn muttered. Aurora stepped out, and slammed the door in Justin's face, rolling her eyes. "What's up, Aurrie?" Robyn said.

"Anything but my brothers," she replied, sighing. "Oh. Hi, I'm Aurora," she said to me. No 'who are you?' or awkward silence. Just a simple introduction—immediately I liked her.

"I'm Rusty," I said. She smiled, and so did Robyn.

"Awesome nickname. Let's go, before the Father catches us and makes us pray all day long." She led the way through to the door, and we went out. Aurora was Asian, with smooth black hair in a bun with hair sticking out in a messy-stylish way, dark tan skin, and small, dark purple-rimmed glasses. She was the same height as me, poor girl, but she had the advantage of actually being petite.

We were sitting down in the girls' dorm when I heard a loud, deep church bell ring. "What's that?" I asked.

"That's the school bell. Grab your bag and follow us, Rusty," Aurora said. I grabbed the blue bag and my jacket and followed them as I pulled my arms through the sleeves.

"Our first class is French. Some guys went in just to impress the girls, but you know, it won't work with me," Robyn said. I liked the way that she talked; first casual, then a whisper, and then a tough mutter as she looked away with raised eyebrows and her hands moving to express the words.

"But we go to the chapel before school Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays to listen to Father Martin preach and give us weekly news on Mondays. We'll have to go again tomorrow, and then have Saturday to do what we want, within limits, of course—like no bungee-jumping off the top of the church—and Sunday morning we need to go to church. We pray at breakfast and before bed, but lunch and dinner are less formal. Sometimes students are asked to say grace at breakfast, but usually Sister Lauren does it," Aurora informed me. Aurora seemed strong, but was skinny, unlike Robyn, whose muscles showed on her arms and legs.

"Hey, could you guys tell me people you know so I'm not totally clueless?" I asked.

"Sure," Robyn said. "That Asian guy with the gelled hair is Jesse, Aurora's love." Aurora shushed Robyn and glanced nervously at her wonder boy. I grinned and patted her shoulder consolingly. "That thing trying to flirt with him is a creature called Sierra Orchard, but its common name is Tiki. We had a rather...let's just say, unpleasant experience with her and have been enemies since. You know what, accidentally push her as you pass by."

"Yeah, I'd rather not," I said. What the heck did Tiki do?

"Okay, I'll do it," Robyn said, shoving her elbow into Tiki as she passed. "Sorry," she muttered roughly to Tiki, barely even looked at her. "Simple, elegant, classic," she said to me.

We went to the French class, where there were mostly girls, except for about a handful of boys sitting in a group in the back. Robyn, of course, went past the Royalty sitting in the front, and went all the way to the back where she sat down next to a Chinese boy, who had a small tuft of hair sticking up in the front.

"What's up, Nathaniel?" she said. She looked up at us. "Come on, sit down. Don't worry, they won't bite or be mean. They may share rather...unwanted news with you, though."

"Like what?" I said, sitting down.

"I have to fart," Nathaniel muttered to Robyn. Robyn held her hand out to him like the women in TV shows that just stand next to the prizes.

French class was a little awkward at first, since the teacher whose name I forgot made me come up and introduce myself. More than half the class was Royalty, and the Religious weren't exactly nice to me either when they learned that I was from a big city like Boston.

Great, I thought; one group thinks I'm lying and I'm a goody-goody, and the other group thinks I'm full of sins. I was grateful to sit back in my seat and draw on a piece of binder paper, since the teacher said that I wouldn't have to start until tomorrow. I drew a picture of Quasimodo in the bell tower, which I thought was very fitting.

After French class was a blur, because between the glares from the Religious and the sneers from Royalty and the things that Robyn muttered to them and the responses, I was still trying to memorize all the names of the teachers and my classmates. When we finally went to get some dinner, my head felt like someone had taken a fork and whisked my brain. One of Kendall's millions of BFFs, Olivia, who had wide blue eyes and light brown hair I was starting to recognize, bumped my shoulder. My bag fell to the floor, and the binders and books fell out onto the floor.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Let me help," she said, her voice getting soft and apologetic. I let her bend over on her knees and pick up the books, but Robyn didn't. She grabbed Olivia's shoulder, pulled her up, and pushed her away.

"You're not sorry," Robyn said. She bent over next to Aurora and helped me put my books away. "Don't let her do that again, or anyone else."

We headed to a table at the back, near the end. There were tables scattered around that seated four or five, and in the middle was a long one that seated around twenty or twenty-five. That's where Kendall sat, and all the other popular kids. We were allowed to sit with boys, but they had to be sitting opposite us, so there wasn't any messing around under the table. There still would be, but at least the Brothers and Sisters would be comforted to know that no one was groping around. (Robyn told me this, in the same way. It's her words, not mine.)

There was a counter that had a line of food, like at Fresh Choice. Plates were at the table as well as silverware and glasses, so we just had to get up and pick the food. I learned that Robyn and Aurora waited until most people were done picking food to get ours to avoid anyone accidentally throwing our tray out of our hands or something like that.

The dinner was simple, with rice, chicken, and beans. No ketchup or unhealthy food at all—it was organic food and the beans were grown at the school. Robyn also got some bread rolls from a small basket at the end, still hot. Some dainty perfect frou-frou girls like Kendall had measly salads that looked like they were five entire leaves dug out of the compost pile, because they were so worried about gaining an ounce of extra fat and immediately not be attractive to the boys, but that didn't make any sense to me. What's the use of eating food like that when we can have such delicious food instead?

After dinner, we went to the office, where Aurora asked if it was okay for us to go to the city tomorrow. Robyn would've asked, but she had gotten into some trouble with the aid, so Aurora was chosen to do it so we'd actually have some hope.

"What part will you be going to?" the aid asked, chewing gum like a bored cow.

"Just the piers," said Aurora. "We want to go see the ships and sea lions with Rust—I mean, Rebecca, and show her around a little." She changed it to my formal name because I gave her a nudge with my elbow. I didn't want everyone to call me by that, only my friends.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," the aid, Kayla, said in between chewing loudly.

Robyn rolled her eyes as she exhaled loudly and said, "Do you have to chew with your mouth wide open?"

"Why're you looking at my mouth?" Kayla demanded, suddenly wide awake.

"I can't really help it because you're so damn loud," Robyn said.

"I am not loud!" Kayla said, blinking her heavily mascara covered eyes.

"Uh-huh; then what are you right now?" Robyn said. Suddenly the door opened and a tall, skinny boy with long hair walked in.

"Kayla, I just got something in the mail for us," he said, waving a package. "Wanna go try it out?"

"Sure, Cash!" Kayla said perkily, jumping up from the table. She shoved past Robyn and me, and they were gone in two seconds.

Robyn shuddered. "Ugh!"

"Who was that?" I asked Aurora.

"That was Kayla's on-again-off-again boyfriend, Christian Cash. When they're out of here, she'll be his pimp," Aurora said. "She used to be so nice, but now all she cares about is making out with a guy two years older than her and getting piercings and tattoos."

"It's horrible," Robyn said. "Most of the friends we had in elementary school slowly drifted away in middle school. By the time we graduated, we were branded with the invisible mark of outcasts."