I snorted, looking away. There was nothing left to take from me, or so I thought.
True to his word, Archie left me behind and I had to manoeuvre between the sea of students eyeing me with a significant level of curiosity on my way to the office.
I hated my brother right now, for making this whole experience so much more difficult that it ought to be. I didn’t want to be here, I never asked for this and he was punishing me for invading his universe. If only he knew how much I’d give to escape it.
“I’m Esme Dan –” I shook my head. No, you’re not. “I’m Esmeralda Forbes.” My voice cracked under the force of the unshed tears I was fighting back.
The woman looked up and her features softened, probably seeing the distress I was trying so hard to hide. “Hello Esmeralda. Welcome to Brentwood Academy.”
She retrieved a blue folder from her desk and came to me. “This contains your locker number, your code, your schedule and a map of the campus.”
I nodded mutely, not trusting my own voice anymore.
“Taylor Oppenheimer offered to show you around the school but she was delayed this morning and won’t be here before the afternoon. I can ask Principal Webber to assign another-”
“No, it’s alright Irene, I’ll do it.”
I turned toward a petite woman with thick, curly brown hair and thick-rimmed glasses. She was dressed in a long khaki skirt and a beige cardigan, she was the epitome of unremarkable and just that made me like her.
“Are you sure?”
The woman nodded, giving me a kind smile. “Of course. I’m not expecting any students in the library now – they barely come at all,” she jested, but it was obvious she meant it.
“Thank you,” I breathed with relief at not having to face the sea of students by myself.
Her smile brightened. “I'm thrilled to help, Esmeralda.”
I was about to ask how she knew my name but she must have heard me say it, plus I was probably prime news today – William Forbes’s long lost daughter – former trailer trash promoted to Stonewood princess overnight.
She took the folder and scanned it before taking me in the direction of the lockers.
“My name is Anne White and I've been the librarian of this fine school for eight years now,” she chuckled to herself. “Time goes by so fast when you have fun.”
She stopped in front of the blue locker by the girls’ toilet. “Not a bad location,” she confirmed my own assessment. “You can’t make a mistake, lockers in every corridor are a different color. Just remember blue by the toilet and you’ll be fine.”
She turned the schedule toward me. “It’s quite easy, really. All the rooms starting with 1 are on this floor, rooms starting with 2 are upstairs.”
“Okay…”
“The letter following the number will tell you which side to take. So for 2R12,” She pointed at my first class of the day, “you need to go upstairs on your right and just follow the numbering. When it’s L, it’s left. Anything with a S, is straight ahead.”
I smiled at her. “Clear enough.”
She patted my arm. “I think you will get your manual in each class but if you need any help, you can find me in the library,” she pointed at the brown door close to the main entrance.
My morning classes went by uneventfully. At least the teachers didn’t make me go to the front of the room to introduce myself.
When lunch hit, nerves began to spread as I stood in from the double doors leading to the cafeteria, my hands clammy with apprehension – Archie and his gang of rich assholes ignored me completely this morning, only looking at me with the same kind of disgusted rictus on their faces that somehow cut me deep. Didn’t he understand I didn’t want to be here just as much as he didn’t want me?
I wiped my hand against the red pleated skirt I was wearing, straightening my back. I would not show him how it affected me. I was not here forever, I’d find a way out soon enough.
As soon as I walked in, the conversations stopped. I sighed. So much for inconspicuous.
I glanced around the room, stopping at my brother’s table. He was sitting there with his little band of merry assholes and their groupies. I held his glare for a few seconds, head high, chin up.
I wasn’t scared, I had the kind of life that gave me an advantage Although it hurt that my own brother hated me, I knew it was a phase, just a blip in my life. I would be 18 soon enough and the reputation of this school would help me get a scholarship somewhere. This was just my senior year, not a life sentence.
I took a plate and some cutlery, and it was enough to show the difference between my former public school and the American Elites-enabler establishment that was Brentwood Academy. The glasses were actual glass, the plates porcelain, and the cutlery? I was pretty sure it was silverware.
Even the food was a whole other quality and smell. No sign of the undescriptive ragout, hard mash, cold pizza or chicken nuggets that were not even 1% chicken – here, it was smoked salmon tagliatelle, coq au vin, whatever that was, and vegetables cooked to perfection.
I settled for the pasta and strolled to an empty table for two, avoiding my brother and his mates altogether.
After sitting down, I picked up the novel I’d taken from my stepmother’s collection. I had barely started to read when a plate clattered onto the other side of the table.
I looked up and arched an eyebrow at the girl grinning at me as she sat down in the chair facing mine.
“Hi, I’m Taylor but you can call me Tay!” she beamed.
“Hi Taylor – I’m Esme” I replied, somehow confused by her cheerfulness. Didn’t she know I was ‘persona non grata’, as I imagine they say here?
She chuckled, shaking her head. “Oh believe me I know everything about you, Esmeralda Forbes – This school is gossip central!” she snorted, popping a French fry in her mouth. “It’s the good thing about being an outsider, you hear everything.”
I detailed her as she kept eating her fries. She was way too cheery to be an outcast and way too pretty. She had long black hair, hazel eyes, the slight olive hue of her skin and slanted eyes led me to think she was mixed raced. She was absolutely beautiful, and the fact she was attending this school, along with her Louis Vuitton school bag and jewellery, proved she was just as rich as the other students were.
YOU’RE just as rich now, Esme, I thought, still unable to grasp the truth of this statement.
The only reason for her outsider status that I could see was that she was plump, all curves which suited her perfectly. I hoped I was wrong because I didn’t think I could dislike them anymore than I already did.
“You’re wondering why I’m an outcast?” she asked, her humour never leaving her.
I chuckled. “Yeah…” Her positive energy was contagious.
“I’m a muggleblood!” She staged whispered
I gasped in fake shock, resting my hand on my chest. “No!”
We both laughed and I couldn’t help but look at my brother’s table, both him and his blond friend were glaring in our direction.
“Maybe you shouldn’t stay here,” I offered reluctantly, jerking my head toward my brother.
She glanced back, flipping them the bird. “Ah, the self-proclaimed Kings of Brentwood Academy?” She snorted. “Please, if it wasn’t for their legacy and this microcosm – they’d be nothing.”