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“You’re sweet, Nadia, but like I said, I’m fine. I grew up with those four, you know?” Judith smiles widely. “They might act like brutes from time to time, but they’ll never hurt me.”
True enough.
Hurting me is another matter.
“You think we’ll have science together again?”
The reminder that I don’t have my schedule although class started over fifteen minutes ago makes me leap into action. “Shit! I need to go to the admin building. Catch you later?”
CHAPTER FOUR
I take the bus back. First thing in the morning and at three when school lets out, about ten buses run between the school and the dorms, but there’s a shuttle service running every half hour. I’m going to be so late to the first class, a few more minutes won’t hurt. My teacher’s likely to be more charitable than the headmaster would have been if I’d missed his rubbish assembly.
I’m alone in the bus, and the driver, Ivan, chats merrily about his summer, not discouraged by my monosyllabic answers. My mind’s still on the incident earlier. What are the chances of the four kings of this school giving me a pass? None, that’s what. I shoved my foot where it didn’t belong and I know there will be consequences unless I can defuse the situation.
I’m going to need to apologize. Part of me recoils at the idea. They were being asses. Who cares what she did—it wasn’t okay for four men built like tanks to intimidate one girl like that, in a dark corner.
When Ivan drops me off, I cross the courtyard and make my way through the lobby, inside Ms. Casey’s office. The admin assistant smiles kindly, showing perfectly straight pearly whites. “Nadia. Welcome back.”
I’m impressed that she remembers my name. I don’t often pop by the administrative building. “Thank you, Ms. Casey. I hope you had a great summer.” My customer service persona kicks in when I’m dealing with people I might eventually want something from. “I was running late this morning—car trouble.”
Her eyes widen. I suppose that’s one excuse she doesn’t hear often, around here. My fellow students mostly drive brand-new cars that cost the price of a reasonably situated two-bedroom apartment; their cars didn’t break down.
She recovers quickly and shuffles through her desk. “I wondered why you hadn’t come to pick up your details.” Having found what she was looking for, Ms. Casey hands me a leather-covered handbook with my name stamped in gold foil.
This school is ridiculous.
“There’s been an update to the school rules. We wouldn’t want last winter’s incident to happen again.”
I nod sagely, like I remember whatever she’s talking about. “Who’d want that?” It’s also fairly possible that no one thought to gossip with me about it at the time.
My cheeks heat, unbidden.
Suddenly I can remember one specific incident from last summer, right before school break. Four guys. One dark-haired girl between them. The memory often rises to the surface without my say-so.
My mind races, and I imagine the anonymous brunette being cornered and threatened too. Maybe it was their MO. Maybe that girl had been forced to do that with all of them because she crossed some arbitrary line with those self-centered pricks.
But I remember her moans, her pleas for more. At the time, I never would have thought that she could be screwing them for any other reason than her own pleasure. After this morning, my view of those guys has shifted.
They’re dangerous.
How dangerous, I’ll never find out.
“I see you’ve requested to drop the track team?” She brings me back to reality.
I nod, forcing the porn replaying in my brain out of my mind.
I like running well enough, but seniors take the sport seriously and that’s not my focus. “Is that a problem?”
“Not necessarily, but you’ll want your schedule as attractive as possible.” She doesn’t say the obvious: unlike most students here, I can’t rely on my parents’ wallet to open doors with a mediocre transcript. She might have had a point if I was interested in Harvard or Yale, but I’d like to think Tisch pays more attention to artistic abilities.
“I still have swimming,” I point out.
There were two swimming teams in Cross. Our varsity team does pretty well when we compete, and that makes them far too serious about it for my liking. I tried it in sophomore year, mostly to spend time with Sophia, but I don’t have a competitive nature; not when it comes to sports, in any case. I joined the regular swim team.
“I see.” She didn’t have to say much, her expression made it clear she didn’t think colleges would consider that enough. “Well, I suggest you discuss your schedule with the school advisor after school today, if you’d like to talk it though.”
I don’t, but her clear disapproval makes me doubt my decisions. I figured focusing on art made sense, but what if she is right?
