Having Taylor in most of my classes helped, as I didn’t have to be the weird new girl that people looked at with either animosity or curiosity. I could concentrate on her and her happy chatter.
“I thought you didn’t do Politics?” I asked as she waited for me before the morning’s last period. Just thinking about getting to class without her caused a weight of apprehension in my stomach.
“No I’m not, but I thought I would show you where it is.”
“Thank you!” I replied gratefully.
She nodded. “So I was thinking about your plans this weekend? You’re new in town and I’m sure brother dearest was not forthcoming with offers to take you out, so I thought that maybe I could show you around town and we could go for a spa day.”
I smiled at her, I loved the idea, it would be a dream to get out of the house but I knew it was not going to happen - not for a while, anyway. My father was monitoring everything I did, and I was not allowed out of the house outside of school hours - he expected me home right after classes and no access to any communication – any field day would be out of the question. “I’m not sure it’s doable right now. My father thinks it would be better if I concentrate on the family right now, to settle faster.”
She threw me a look showing me clearly she didn’t buy it, but she dropped the subject, which I was grateful for.
She stopped, pointing to a door at the end of the corridor. “This is Politics, Mr Fredburg’s nice enough - I had him in European History last year for a few sessions. He likes when you ask his opinion even if you don’t care,” she chuckled. “Go see him a couple of times at the end of class and ask him his opinion on something, you’ll become a favorite in no time… he’s an easy win.”
I nodded, somehow impressed by the tip – I needed to have allies here, I needed references for university, so why not start with him?
I felt grateful that the classroom was still quite empty when I walked in, there were only a few students who looked at me with careful interest, it was always better than the blatant animosity shown by my brother and his friends.
As if on cue Caleb Astor entered the room, and I was surprised not to see his two co-dependent boyfriends but at least he had a couple of glaring cheerleaders with him.
I rolled my eyes and picked a seat in the front, I at least I wouldn’t have to look at him from this seat because, no matter how it angered me, it seemed like my eyes being drawn to him, as if he was a magnet – except he was the bad kind, the one that destroys the particles of your body and soul until there was nothing left.
“You can’t sit here!” he commanded with a low voice, coming to stand in front of my desk.
“Why? Is that your seat?”
He shook his head, I hated the gleam in his eyes, he was going for the kill, I could see that.
“No, that’s my seat.” he replied, pointing to the desk beside mine.
“Okay…” I trailed off as a few people gathered around waiting for the drama to unfold.
“I can’t have you sit beside me,” he scoffed as if the mere thought was preposterous. He pointed at himself. “I’m Caleb Astor,” he arched his eyebrows before pointing at me, his mouth dipping down in a blatant show of disgust. “And what are you, honestly? You’re not Esmeralda Forbes, you’re just a wannabe gold-digger with no class or manners. You are and always will be Esme Danvers, from Trailer Park City, raised by a clinically depressed alcoholic and working part-time scrubbing toilets in a third-class hotel.”
I looked at him silently, expecting shame, anger or sadness to get to me but I felt nothing other than surprise at his knowledge of my life. Did Archie give him the breakdown of my upbringing? An upbringing I was nothing but proud of?
All the things he said weren’t bad things, they were challenges I had faced head-on, challenges from real life that he had never known and never would, but somehow, I knew it made me braver, stronger than any of them. They did have this sense of superiority that society granted them but somehow I felt like the superior one – I was the superior one.
I only had nine months of this life and I was quite surprised by my own disinterest at his words.
“You need to move,” he continued, and the mockery was turning to anger. Was he getting worked up at my lack of reaction? “I can’t have the likes of you sat next to me.” He shook his head. “Not sure what I could catch, unsure where you’ve been.” He pointed at the back of the classroom. “Move to the back, impostor, it’s where you belong.”
This earned a few snickers, and I saw triumph flash in his eyes. Caleb the destroyer was in action.
I nodded. Take this victory, you clearly need it way more than I do. “Okay,” I stood up, picking up my things and walked to the back, taking the last seat in the corner.
I only looked up once I’d set everything on the table. He was still standing in front of the desk looking at me with disbelief.
The others had lost interest and were now taking their respective seats as the teacher walked into the room.
“Can I help you with something, Mr Astor?” the greying professor with thick glasses asked, resting his leather satchel on the desk.
Caleb glared at me, lips pursed. “No sir,” he replied before sitting at his desk.
At the end of the class, I went to the teacher, and he seemed both surprised and pleased by my initiative.
“Excuse me for bothering you,” I offered my most genuine smile as I stood in front of his desk, I could feel Caleb’s eyes on my neck as he was overly slow at putting his stuff away. I knew he wanted to listen, to see how he could mess with me in new and original ways.
“A student is never a bother,” he affirmed, looking at me with kind brown eyes which reminded so much of Luke it hurt my heart. “How can I help you, Ms Forbes?”
“Ah, well you see –” Leave, just leave. I willed to Caleb
Mr Fredburg stopped me with a hand gesture. “Could you please leave us, Mr Astor?”
Caleb glared at the teacher, I was sure he was not used to getting dismissed and this made me like this teacher even more.
He threw me a warning glance and left the room. As soon as he left, I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding.
“Is everything alright, Ms Forbes?” He asked.
I nodded, “Yes, of course,” What could I even answer to that? It’s not like a teacher could do anything against an Astor. I shook my head. “So, anyway I am doing Independent Studies.”
He leaned back in his chair. “I’m surprised you chose this option.”
I shrugged. “I was lucky to be accepted here.” I repeated my much-rehearsed speech. “My father only applied a week before the start of the year.”
Mr Fredburg laughed. “You’re not lucky, Ms Forbes, your family owns this school. If you wanted an option they would give it to you, no matter how full the class is.”
I shrugged quite uncomfortably at the thought of what my name could get me. I‘d always been against double standards and privilege, and now I was part of it all. “I’m fine with that. Anyway, I'm thinking about doing a Sociology paper and I’m planning to go back in time and was wondering if you could assist me with the historical part.”