I stood outside the dormitory with a new garment bag hung over my bent arm. Inside were my three Ashford uniforms and a new pair of shoes, free of charge. Behind me the night maintenance man stood quietly with my suitcases in his hand. Mr. Donaldsen stood to my right and rang the doorbell. While we waited, I looked above the thick ornamental wood door and read the words, Covington House, carved in stone above the door. An older woman answered. She appeared to be in her sixties with a decade old hairdo and she was dressed in a pale flower dress.
"Good evening, Miss Lemon." Mr. Donaldsen greeted her. "This is your new Covington House resident we spoke about, Scout Curtis."
"Good evening, Miss Curtis, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am Miss Lemon, the house mother for Covington House." The older woman waved us inside and walked over to a thick rope hanging from the ceiling near the staircase. She gave it a strong tug, which in turn led to the deep ringing of bells throughout the house. From the upper floor I heard the voices of young girls warning others that there was a man in the house. Miss Lemon turned to me. "Whenever you hear the bells ring you will know there is a man entering Convington House. Men are not allowed into the house unannounced. All young ladies must return to their rooms and remain there until the bells are rung a second time. Do you understand?"
"Yes ma'am." I responded.
"Miss Lemon will get you settled in," Mr. Donaldsen said, "I am going to leave you two to get things in order. Miss Lemon, as always, thank you for all you do here at Ashford." Mr. Donaldsen patted the woman on the shoulder.
"My pleasure Sir," Miss Lemon beamed at the man. "It is my honor to have a hand in raising the finest young women in Oklahoma." She bid the man goodbye and I did the same. Mr. Donaldsen closed the front door behind him as he left. The wooden door made a loud echoing sound through the hallway as Miss Lemon, the quiet maintenance man, and I ascended up the first flight of wooden stairs.
"I want you to know ahead of time who your roommate will be." Miss Lemon alerted me as we climbed the second set of stairs. "Lacey McGovern, heiress to the McGovern Motor Parts Company. You need to know that she can be a bit harsh towards her roommates, but considering the side of Tulsa you are from you should do just fine with her."
I looked at the woman as I processed in my mind what she meant by her comment, 'considering the side of Tulsa you are from'. I sought to question what she meant, but decided against it. I didn't want to know what preconceived notions Ashford had about me.
"If you ever have problems with your roommate, and I am sure you will." Miss Lemon clarified for me. "Miss McGovern has a habit of going through a lot of roommates; she doesn't like to share much. You will need to report the problem to the Covington housing committee."
"Who is the Covington Housing committee?" I asked.
"Your peers," Miss Lemon simply said as we reached the third floor and turned to our right to head down the hall.
We walked past a dozen doors. Some were closed and others were barely open with girls peering out of them to see what was happening. I smiled at the girls I saw to hide the fact that I was anxious about my new living arrangement. We walked to the room at the end of the hall and Miss Lemon knocked twice on the door then opened it and greeted the girl inside. "Miss McGovern, your new roommate has arrived."
The girl in the room had long amber colored hair that cascaded off her slender shoulders to the small of her back. Her face was as beautiful as the girls you find in the JC Penny catalog. I couldn't help but stare as she stared back at me and crossed her arms across her chest. "Miss Lemon! I told you that I did not want another roommate!"
Miss Lemon took on an authoritative tone. "Miss McGovern, whom rooms with whom is not your choice, and may I remind you, your own parents require you to have a roommate whenever possible. It's possible now and it is for your own good."
Lacey gave a snarled look to Miss Lemon.
Wanting to be polite and use my manners I stepped forward to introduce myself. "I'm Scout Curtis." I said as the maintenance man walked in behind me, set the suitcases down by the unmade bed and left the room.
Lacey curled her lip in repulsion. "Scout? You're name is Scout?"
"Yes." I answered and looked down to the floor and wished I was back in the infirmary.
"Better you than me." Lacey mumbled under her breath then grabbed a book off of her desk and flopped onto her bed to pretend to read.
Miss Lemon looked down at my two old suitcases and concern spread across her face. "Miss Curtis, will you be needing bed linens, or did you bring a set with you?"
I looked at the beautiful bed Miss McGovern had made up. Her bed was turned down and it showed pink satin sheets underneath a white fluffy down comforter with pink piping for trim. I frowned a little and looked at Miss Lemon. I spoke just loud enough for the older lady to hear me. "No maam, I did not bring a set of linens with me."
"Then I will go and fetch you some." The lady said and she disappeared from the room.
I stood quietly by my bed. There was no exchange of conversation between Lacey and I. Nervously, I looked around the room. Her side was filled with framed photos of family members and posters of famous people. My side had a plain wall and an empty bulletin board.
Miss Lemon came back into the room and set a pile of linens down on my bare mattress. "Here are your bed clothes. The lavatory is down the hall near the staircase. If you need me, my room is on first floor right at the bottom of the stairs. Just look for the placard on the door. Have a good evening girls." With that, Miss Lemon walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.
I turned to my new roommate and attempted to start a conversation. "So…how many years have you attended Ashford?"
Lacey looked over at me, and her straight hair flipped behind her shoulder. "Listen, I don't want a roommate and I'm not looking for any new friends. I don't care who you are, and judging by your first name and ratty suitcases, I don't need to."
The beautiful girl's nastiness stunned me. She was horribly rude for a girl of her supposed stature, and certainly not how I had envisioned a debutant to be. I turned back to my bed to avoid conflict. I thought about Miss. Lemon's words on the way up the stairs. I was going to have to be tuff to tolerate this girl. I decided to keep quiet and make up my bed up. Miss Lemon had given me plain white sheets and an old blue and white patchwork quilt. I assumed a past debutante who didn't appreciate the amount of work that went into the hand made item had left it behind. Looking at the quilt, I was impressed with the craftsmanship and happy to have it.
Down the hall I heard the bells ring as I pulled my suitcases up on my bed and opened the lids. I grabbed a handful of clothes and walked over to the dresser on my side of the room. I pulled open the top drawer and filled it with the few clothes I had decided to bring. I finished with one suitcase, but left my letters, and pictures from home safely hidden inside because I didn't have any wallboard tacks and wasn't ready for my roommate to notice either of my brother's names.
I opened the second suitcase and pulled out the long, light blue gown I wore to the Winter Formal at the Tulsa Country Club. I hung the gown in the closet and lined my shoes up on the floor. I walked back to the case and grabbed an armful of undergarments to put in my dresser drawers. Behind me the door opened, and a gaggle of girls strolled in. I turned around to smile at the girls. I hoped they had come to welcome me and I would be able to make a new friend or two. The girls all gathered on and near Lacey's bed. Softly, I said hi.
"Lacey," one girl sang out, "aren't you going to introduce us to your new roommate?"
"Ladies, this is SCOUT Curtis," Lacey announced with arrogance in her voice, "don't get used to her, though. If I have my way I will have my own room again in a week."
One girl with a curly blond ponytail laughed out loud then spoke up. "Your name is Scout? Your parents must really have hated you."
I scowled at the girl and one of her friends with dark brown eyes and hair took notice. She confronted my expression. "Come on, it's no secret that parents who didn't really ever want kids end up with the worst names. Tucker knows all about it, don't ya Tuck?"
The same curly haired blond spoke up again. "Don't I ever. My dad named me after a car of all things, and I've been in boarding school since I was six years old. The last thing my folks want around is me."
Wounded again by my name, I stood up for myself. "My parents liked me fine."
"Yeah, right." Tucker said. "If they did you probably wouldn't be here."
"It wasn't their choice to send me here."
The brown-eyed girl spoke up again, "what do you mean? If they didn't send you here, who did?"
"Oh No!" Lacey eyes lit up with realization and she yelled out and stood up from her bed. "Oh no, no, no!"
"What?" Tucker asked and stood up with her friend and looked at me.
Lacey pointed at me with her long slender finger. "You're the girl."
I gave Lacey a confused look. My heart rate began to beat faster as nervousness took a hold of me. What did she mean I am 'the girl'? The girl who was attacked, the girl who was shot, the girl whose parents were killed? I swallowed hard.
Lacey looked at me in disgust. "You're Ashford Academy's first charity case! I should have known when I saw those crappy suitcases. Argh!"
I was the girl with no money. That's who I was to her.
"Charity case?" A second blond girl asked, "Do you mean she's the girl who received the academic scholarship the board of directors decided to give out."
Lacey began to rant. "No way! I am not rooming with some…some… scourge of the earth poverty girl!"
Tucker laughed out loud. "See Lacey, I told you to stick with your last roommate. She may have been annoying, but at least her family had money. This is down right pathetic." Tucker looked over her shoulder at me.
Lacey looked at me again and pointed to my half unpacked suitcase. "Don't bother unpacking anymore. You're not staying here! Come on girls, we are going to talk to Miss Lemon. Covington House is no place for a charity case." Lacey stormed out of the room and her friends followed.
The door swung shut and I stood in my new room alone again. My heart sank. I didn't want to cry, but I knew I was going to. I turned and dove into my newly made bed. I buried my head into the pillow and bawled. For the first time in a long time I fell into self-pity as I whimpered. "Why me? Why is my life so hard all of the time?"
A good while later, when my eyes were dry, the door to my room opened again. This time Lacey walked in with an indignant look on her face. Miss Lemon followed behind her with a girl I hadn't yet met. I sat up on my bed and looked at the group.
Lacey threw herself onto her bed in a pout. Miss Lemon stood between our beds and spoke with authority. "Ladies, I want you both to know I will have no fighting from either of you throughout your time here at Ashford. That kind of behavior is unbecoming of a young lady."
"Yes, ma'am." I said softly. Lacey didn't reply.
Miss Lemon looked to me and continued. "Miss McGovern has been informed that Due to past incidents of representing a lack of candor on her part it is the wish of the President of the Board of Directors here at Ashford that she receive a roommate from whom she can learn diversity and appreciation. Miss Curtis, you have been selected by the President to be that roommate. There will be no changing that, so I don't want to hear another peep from either of you concerning this arrangement. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am." I said softly again but wished I had the courage to scream instead. There was no doubt that Lacey and I already had one thing in common, we both wanted a new roommate.
Miss McGovern did not speak until Miss Lemon gave her a stern look and with her silence she demanded an answer. Lacey then groaned, "Yes."
"Good." Miss Lemon said with satisfaction. "Miss Curtis, I want you to meet Miss Maria Kinsley. Miss Kinsley is the Lady Representative for Covington House and an accomplished student in demeanor and academics. Please note the four gold star pins she has on her uniform lapel. These pins are earned through grades, grace and service to the school. I highly recommend you strive to work towards earning a pin in the coming weeks."
The short girl with her brunette hair pulled into a barrette stepped forward to greet me. "On behalf of Covington House I want to welcome you to our school. It is our honor to be able to give you a real chance at a successful life." The girl then offered me a genuine smile.
My smile was forced as I began to boil with anger on the inside about being the only scholarship student at Ashford. With false enthusiasm I returned the greeting. "Thank you."
Miss Lemon took a step back and spoke to the two veteran Academy girls. "As you two know, Covington House has always been the home to the older girls here at Ashford Academy, but Miss Curtis is our first exception to this rule. While the rest of you are required to be at least sixteen years of age to pledge to room in Covington, Scout is not. She is younger than you, so I expect you to take care of her. She has been placed here due to her outstanding academic achievements, which greatly exceed those of other girls her own age. Mr. Donaldsen and the Board of Directors felt it would be best for her to be with students who will most likely be in her upper academic classes."
"Congratulations, Scout. That is a wonderful accomplishment," Maria complimented me.
"Thank you," I said as Lacey rolled her eyes.
"So, with that said, I expect the riff here to mend itself quickly and quietly. It's mighty close to lights out, so be sure to finish your studies and wash up for bed." Miss Lemon stated then turned and left the room with Miss Kinsley in tow.
I sat on my bed in the silence and stared at the wooden floor. Both my roommate and I were stuck at Ashford whether we liked it or not, so I took a chance at starting over. I looked over at my roommate. "Lacey, if you ever need help I want you to know that I'd be happy to help you with your homework."
Lacey looked back at me with a curled lip and a snarl. "Charity, I let you in on a little secret. Women of wealth and beauty, like myself, don't need good grades. We have everything you could ever dream of just by virtue of being born to it."