The Bully's Princess

CHAPTER THREE - First shock at School

Wishes do not have horses, Dahlia soon realized the following week when she was to resume school. She sat quietly in the car, knowing her mother was about to commit a horrendous crime to her non-existent reputation at the new school. Twisting her lip in various levels of boredom, Dahlia repeated that action for the umpteenth time, her lips red from the several biting she had given it. She had the premonition that the day was going to end badly for her.

She watched as her mom drove carefully through the streets. The sight of the neighbourhood they turned in struck Dahlia, there were poor houses all over, Dahlia gasped as she watched small children run up and down. She wondered what their living conditions would be.

Marilyn hearing her daughter gasp, rolled up the car windows, Dalia looked at her in question

“Why did you do that? I was enjoying the view. You don’t even allow me to see something new,” Dahlia pouted, her pale face growing red with anger. She held the seat belt tighter to her with shaking fingers.

“For your safety. That sort of view will only make you more anxious Dahlia. Have it in mind that I want the best for you always and I do not appreciate you arguing with me Dahlia. “Marilyn said quietly, wiping her brow.

“But Mom…..you are silencing me…“ Dahlia started,

“Dahlia” Marilyn called gently. The topic was off debate. Dahlia grumbled to herself and laid her head against the headrest in dissatisfaction.

She only got up when her mother packed into the school parking lot. Her eyes glowed with surprise at the huge structures before her. The school ran for miles, she was amazed, and she wondered just how many students stayed in it. There were several buildings in the school. She had been homeschooled, with a private tutor coming in every day to take her lessons. And on days when she has her episodes, the lessons are skipped. Being allowed to go to a normal school was lit. She looked at her mother, for the first time since they got to Western Side, she saw her smile. She was about to engage her in a conversation when she heard her comment

“I appreciate this school’s structure. The school map your father gave me did not do justice to the real thing. This is amazing. The school has all the medical facilities you will need in case anything ever happens. I am sure of that. They are well equipped.” She said smiling.

Dahlia did not bother saying anything to her mother’s comment. She just wanted to have a happy school experience. She was removed from school at a very young age when her parents discovered it was not working in her favor; she skipped school two to three times a week, making her performance level drop.

Dahlia walked admiringly through the roles of blocks leading to the administrative blocks, her mother held her hands firmly. The classrooms were large and she could see peeping students glare at her as she walked past, pointing at her as she walked with her mother.

Dahlia tried to tug her hands out of her mother’s strong hold, but Marilyn resisted the action and only pulled Dahlia closer to her. Dahlia bent her head instead, allowing her hair to cover her up.

The Principal of the school was a nice looking middle-aged man in his late fifties. He was up to welcome them hands stretched.

“It is our pleasure to engage in this student exchange program with a student such as Dahlia and I say that I am indeed happy to have her here at Edron Academy. You do not have to worry about her being stressed. The company your husband works for built this school, most children in this community attend Edron Academy and it is very affordable. Since it is a small community, you do not have to worry about Dahlia facing any trouble. Everyone here knows each other and we will take special care to keep her away from bad students“

Dahlia watched her mom’s smile spread across her lips. She stayed silent as was expected of her.

“We will be glad. But I think I have a special request to make of you. Mr. Lancester Marilyn asked

The Principal flashed a smile at Dahlia before turning to her mother

“Please go on, we are at your disposal”

“As you are well aware of my Dahlia’s condition, I will ask that you please allow me to inform all the school teachers of her condition so as not to….”

Dahlia was embarrassed, flushed red. She plucked her headset in her ears immediately blocking their interactions from her head. Her parents were over the top, especially her mom, who wanted to keep her safe at all costs. The principal stole several glances at her face, her mom even took her hand and showed the principal where she took her last injection shot.

Dahlia was horrified, but she let her mother have her way. Well, it is not like she ever fought all the attention she received anyway. These days, she just goes along with whatever her parents say. She did it to make them happy.

After her mother left, Dahlia was taken to her new class by the principal. Kids in the hallway all stared down at her. As if they thought it unfathomable that such could happen.

Soon they began climbing a staircase. Dahlia paused and looked up at the series of stairs she would have to climb. Mr Lancester noticed her pause and turned to her

“We are so sorry about this, the school does not have an elevator, and all students use the stairs. But you do not have to worry. It is just one stair.”

Dahlia nodded absentmindedly. It took all of her reserved strength to climb the staircase, holding onto the railing as she took each step.

"Oh, sorry about that, I will suggest you only do this twice a day. Every floor has its own canteen, so you do not have to climb down when it is break time, okay?”

“Yes sir” Dahlia nodded without protest, she would gladly take that advice.

They continued their walk down the roles of classes; each class became silent as they each caught a glimpse of their principal.

* * *

Walking into the last class in the hall. Dahlia’s breath caught as the whole class became hushed and diverted their gaze at the foreign student in their midst. The teacher in charge came forward to greet Mr Lancester

“You do not have to personally bring her in, I could have done that Sir,” The teacher said with all smiles, she took Dahlia’s hands bringing her to stand by her side

“I wanted to do the honours myself; she is quite a special student of ours. And I felt I needed to do the introduction to the class myself” Mr Lancester said gently, facing the class now

The students all hushed, concentrating their gaze on Dahlia who remained stoic.

“Dahlia Golden is a new student that will be joining this class today, and I want you all to take special care in interacting with her. I do not want any quarrels and most definitely I want you all to make your classmate as comfortable as possible and bear in mind that I will not take it lightly if she is disturbed.”

The class began murmuring; the girls looked at her with disdain whispering among themselves, jealousy written plainly on their faces.

“Enough” The principal commanded.

The whole class became quiet,

“You have been warned and I will appreciate it if you conform to it. Whoever does not, will be given detention and worse suspension. She is not to be bothered. Am I understood?” The Principal commanded looking sternly at them all.

“Yes sir” The whole class murmured tightly despite themselves.

Various envious eyes followed Dahlia as she made her way to an empty seat, the other seat was vacant as well. Since no one spoke to her, she sat down gently, letting her golden curls fall to her shoulders. Her fingers shivered as she arranged her writing materials on the table. She felt embarrassed to the lowest degree, she had hoped to get to know her classmates more, and she had hoped to gain new friends but she was sure that won’t be happening now. They all stared at her coldly, most likely wondering what to do with her.

“Mrs Henrietta, Please come with me. I have a few briefings to give to the teachers in the staff room for five minutes. Would be so kind as to make the announcement to the other teachers? Everyone meets me in the meeting room two minutes from now. “

“Yes sir. “ The teacher answered obediently, she motioned for the class to remain quiet in her absence as she followed the Principal out.

A heavy silence descended upon the class as they left. All eyes descended on Dahlia, who kept her eyes trained on her books and bit her fingers.

A beautiful girl suddenly stood up from her seat alongside her friends. She bounced gracefully, swinging every bit of her body as she walked, her massive breast her centre of advertisement, she opened her shirt a little bit more enjoying the gawking looks she got from her classmates as she walked closer to Dahlia.

Sitting down noisily beside Dahlia, She scanned her up and down with her curious eyes

Raising up Dahlia’s chin” She is so pale, everyone come look at her eyes, she looks sick” The girl commented with disdain

Dahlia removed herself from her grip. The girl scoffed at the action and grabbed her again

Though this time, the Class leader walked up to them, a bookish boy in nerd classes, he might be a nerd but he was muscular and he carried himself with an air of respect. Dahlia was grateful for any kind of help.

“Anna, you heard Mr Lancester. She is not to be disturbed, and your actions currently do not obey that directive.” He said

“And are you going to report me, Daniel?” She sugarcoated, looking at him leeringly

Daniel ignored the look she gave him “Leave her alone or I shall be forced to report to Mr Lancester.”

“Whatever” Anna said, “I don’t have to do anything to her anyway. She picked her own nemesis herself. I can’t believe, she is seated next to Peter, He is going to handle her just the way she should be dealt with. This is not some Cinderella castle, and we are not her maids how dare she thinks we are her watchdogs?”

Peter that name rang a bell in Dahlia’s ears. That name was associated with a broad shouldered boy that happened to live next door to her.

“Whatever, Anna. Just leave the girl alone” Another girl interfered, she was the assistant Class leader, Maria, A fellow bookish girl who still had her nose stuck in her book, she used a hand to push up her eyeglasses up the ridge of her nose. “I will not get into trouble because of you, so leave the poor girl alone. If you want to be specially treated like she is. All you have to do is to be wealthy enough like her father or have the brains. “

Anna’s mouth fell open at the insult” You worm, “She shouted at Maria and made to advance upon the other girl but Mrs Henrietta’s re-entrance into the room cut her off.

“Anna, do we have a problem? “

“No ma,” Anna replied forcefully

“Then return to your seat” Mrs Henrietta instructed, before turning to pay attention to Dahlia ”Dahlia dear, please open your English textbooks, and follow the lesson” Every student in the classroom turned to stare in disbelief at their class teacher. Mrs Henrietta was one of the most impartial teachers they had in the school and she was equally as strict. However, seeing her being attentive to Dahlia had them all being sceptical even Daniel stole a second glance at the pale, silent girl who lowered her head in class.

“Yes ma” Dahlia replied thinly, it almost came out as a whisper

“I want you all to attempt the questions on that page, Daniel makes sure you get the notes to my table at the appropriate time and do not give extra time to slackers. Alright?”

“Yes ma” Daniel answered

“Yes, speaking of Slackers, why is Peter Blythe not in the class?” Mrs Henrietta asked perplexed looking around.

“He was in class ma. He ….” As if, on cue, the object of question walked into the room through the back door. He walked in slowly, dragging his feet after him. His ruffled hair did him no justice as he took his place beside Dahlia. Dahlia opened her mouth shocked; they stayed open as Peter’s lazy gaze slid all over her features, his face curling into a smirk.

“How kind of you to join us, Mr Blythe. Your presence I believe is long overdue,” Mrs Henrietta muttered sarcastically.

“Sorry about that Ma’am, I was caught up in the restroom” came Peter’s nonchalant answer as he settled into the seat beside Dahlia.

“Caught up doing what, Peter?”

“Ma, you don’t want to know what a boy is doing in the restroom” He grinned. The rest of the class burst into laughter. Anna's voice was the loudest.

Mrs Henrietta's stoic look soon had the class silent” Thinking about it now, I think I ought to allow you to sit next to Dahlia. Such an unserious student like you should not be allowed to sit next to such a study genius”

“But I think I should? I believe I will learn exceptionally from her.”

“No Peter I do not think so. I will have to change your seat. You are not to be trusted and who knows when you will get into one of your series of nasty fights in the class endangering Dahlia in the process.”

Peter was astonished” Is she some egg. She will not break just from some extra shoving” to test his words he gave her shoulder a touch with his hands. Dahlia’s body shivered in response. Mrs Henrietta gave him a steady glare forcing him to take away his hands from Dahlia’s shoulders.

“That settles it. Get your bag, and go seat at the back. Daniel come sit with Dahlia for a while. Until I can decide who is calm enough to sit there” Mrs Henrietta commanded. Peter hesitated, casting a pissed off look at Dahlia. Daniel stood up at once and came to stand in front of Peter

Anna whistled softly as Peter remained seated.

Dahlia raised her head shyly” Ma, he can stay. I have no problem with it”

“See she says she has no problem” Anna bristled in annoyance. it was obvious to Dahlia, that Anna hated someone else being the centre of attention apart from herself. Mrs Henrietta maintained her stance.

Peter gave Dahlia a look” You are saying it as if I am truly going to do something to you. I think I have seen a fair share of your mother for me to stay clear of you. “He spat out annoyed. He took his school bag slung over his chair’s shoulder. He went one row behind Dahlia and sat down with a huff, his face grim.

Mrs Henrietta smiled contented. She turned and concentrated on the class’s lessons she was busy with on the marker board before the Principal walked in.

Dahlia gently turned to see Peter glaring at her. She turned away immediately. This was not the reaction she had hoped to spark on the first day of class. She looked all around the class, startled by the unfriendly reactions she was garnering especially from Anna and her crew.

“Hi” Daniel's soft voice startled her,

“Hi” she smiled wearingly in return

“You can ask me about the lessons, I will be glad to help. You can sit with me at lunch. Edron can be quite tough. You will need the comforting shoulder”

“Tough… Comfort…?” Dahlia asked perplexed.

Daniel smiled and turned to listen to the lessons being taught. Dahlia felt sick all of a sudden, perhaps she had been too hopeful of a new environment, and perhaps her mother was right after all.

A tap on her shoulder brought her out of her reverie, she turned but a folded piece of paper was shoved in her hands instead.

‘Meet me on the rooftop,

Yours Always. Peter Blythe’

Dahlia’s eyes widened in shock. She was about to turn to meet him when the bell rang. Mrs Henrietta looked up with an exasperated face, clearly not satisfied.

She however saved a sweet smile for Dahlia as she left the class. She watched as Peter sauntered out of the class right after their teacher.

Anna’s evil laughter rang in her ear just moments later as she gave Dahlia jealous glances. Her friends surrounded her, sharing whatever gossip bites they knew about her.

Panicked into submission, Dahlia reached into her back and pop in two of her anxiety pills into her mouth. She could feel the intense pain aching in her joints. She looked on helplessly as another paper got thrown at her.

Anna and her friends burst into laughter while Daniel looked at them seething.

“Are you sure you are strong enough to stay at Edron? It is supposed to be peaceful but ever since they started, allowing students like Peter to attend made the school degenerate into chaos and fights. Maybe you should report this to your parents; they should get you a private tutor or something. “Daniel said gently.

“Am good,” Dahlia said, though she was far from good, the contents of the letter bothered her to no end. This was just her first day. Her mother must not get wind of this, if she did, she could kiss her hope of attending a normal school goodbye.

“That’s okay then. Maybe you will like to come with me to the cafeteria. “He suggested shyly. Dahlia smiled back in return a little uneasy. She kept the letter under her desk and followed Daniel in a hurry.

“Hey, princess” One of Dahlia’s nasty princesses called as they walked past.

“Daniel, you like the princess girl, I thought you were a nerd”

“The nerd loves another nerd.”

They cooed in great annoying voices, making Daniel clutch his fist as they left the class, Dahlia hurried after him.

“Are they always like that? “

“You have no idea. She is like that to those she does not like though. The uncrowned queen bee of Edron. Just keep away from her and do not return any of her taunts and I believe you will be fine”

Dahlia nodded dutifully, though she was not sure she would be fine. There was a certain letter burning a hole in the bottom of her school shirt. She had no idea Peter’s patience and attitude, and judging by what she had heard, it was not so good. However, she could not bring her legs to walk towards the fire herself. The admiration she felt for him, was slowly turning to dread as each second passed by.

She and Daniel joined the queue, they settled at Maria’s table, and they all ate in silence, a soft clam descending on them only Dahlia knew the fire erupting in her heart as she painfully defiled Peter’s request on the first day of school. He could not be so bad, he will not hurt her anyway. All he had would be bark and no bites. She hoped.

She was slow with her eating making Maria hurry her up

“Lunchtime will soon be over, you eat ever so slowly. You need to eat fast here. Princess” Maria stuffed pieces of vegetables on her tray in her mouth.

“Don’t call her that” Daniel interjected.

“Everyone calls her that. It does not matter whether I say it in our circle or not, she would always be called that after Principal Lancester’s announcement.” Maria argued unfazed by Daniel’s glare. She dropped the book she was reading and pressed her fork into an unfinished steak

“Why did the principal come to make that announcement really? Are your parents super rich?”

“What sort of a question is that? You know we are all on the same social standing on the Western side.” Daniel tackled her.

“Yes, but ….

The sound of the bell being rung saved Dahlia from answering the question. The students all stood and left their food. Dahlia tried to rush her food but she stopped, she knew better than to do that.

She stood up and followed Daniel and Maria out of the Cafeteria. Entering the classroom, she saw Peter seated in her seat.

His face was plastered with a nasty frown. She wondered how disgruntled his life must be for him to be ever unsmiling.

Daniel did not bother to argue with him. They understood it without sharing words, the earlier seating arrangement only worked during Mrs Henrietta’s class.

Dahlia settled tentatively in her seat, not daring to cast a sideways glance at her seat partner.

“It seems you are ready to take on Edron on your own. Enjoy yourself then,” he whispered in her ear, coming too close for comfort.

“What do you mean by that?” Dahlia gathered the courage to ask very uncomfortably. The earlier she erased all thoughts of Peter being a prince charming, the earlier for her senses. He was dangerous. She was slowly coming to grasp why her mother always kept her close.

Peter smirked at her, nodding towards her locker. Dahlia froze as the stench from the locker hit her. She raised the desk up gently

She screamed at the amount of dirt and debris in it. The whole class burst into laughter at her shrill voice. She pushed the table away irritated. Peter sat beside her unperturbed; she was irked as Anna blew her a Kiss across the class

“Welcome to Edron Academy Princess”.