Plain Jane

C6 - Class Jokester

Filipe helped Jane out of the window after he explained to her how to get into the girls boarding house.  Jane finally made it to her room and sneaked into her bed hoping that she didn’t wake up her roommate who she is yet to meet. 

The next morning it is a chaotic first morning for Jane that is not used to sharing bathroom space but she made it through.  At breakfast, Jane kept to herself and wondered who of these girls are her roommate because by the time she woke up her roommate already left. 

The first period was torture as Jane noticed Filipe's hostility towards her. ‘Is he mad about last night?’ Jane wondered, recking her brain throughout the whole class.

“Jane, care to answer,”  the teacher asked, but Jane is too deep in thought to hear the teacher.

“Jane?”  the teacher tries again.

It is only when Lilly kicks Jane’s chair from behind that Jane comes back to reality.  Jane jumps out of her chair, “yes mam?”

“Do you care to answer?”

“Um,”  Jane is not sure what the question is and looks at the board for some sort of clue as to what the teacher is talking about.

“No, not really,” Jane answers as she sits down again making the whole class laugh.

“I see we have a new class jokester,”  the teacher says as she walks to her desk to retrieve something.  Jane notices something that looks like clown hair and a clown nose.

“Here,”  the teachers put the clown hair and nose on Jane’s table.

Without objection, Jane puts on the rainbow-colored hair and red nose. 

“Now that I have everyone’s attention, can someone please tell me the current monarchies of the world?”

‘Seriously?’  Jane thought to herself.

No one puts up their hand and Jane feels since she already chose not to answer to just keep quiet even though she actually knows the answer.

“Filipe?”  the teacher tries.

After school at lunch, Lilly slams Jane’s food tray to the ground, “that is for getting Filipe into trouble!”

“What are you talking about?”  Jane asked confused.

“Because he helped you last night he got caught out of his room and now he has to clean the dining hall for a week!  Next week is exams and now instead of prepping for exams he has to waste his time cleaning up!”  Lilly says angrily but the fact that Filipe will be missing out on study time is not the real reason she is upset.  Lilly is upset as she won't be able to spend time with Filipe for a whole week.

“I am truly sorry,”  Jane pleads.

“Don’t tell me sorry,”  Lilly walks on to go sit next to Filipe.

“You shouldn’t have done that,”  Filipe tells Lilly in a hushed tone so that only she will hear him.

“That girl is here less than twenty-four hours and already she is making trouble,” Lilly says giving Jane a nasty look.

After lunch Jane waited for the dining hall to be cleared before approaching Filipe, “please let me clean for you, after all, it is my fault.”

Filipe don’t let her asked twice, “sure, I will be right outside looking out for the Controllers.”

Jane is shocked that he accepted her help so quickly but bit her lip and got to work.  After what seemed like two hours Filipe came in, “you work so slow, I would have been done by now.”

“I have never cleaned up before,”  Jane admits.

“Don’t worry, before I got here I also never cleaned up in my life,”  Filipe says taking a dishcloth and starts to dry some dishes.

“Why do we have to clean up after ourselves if we pay so much in school fees?”  Jane wants to know.

“We don’t pay, our parents pay,”  Filipe corrects her.

“You think our parents approve of this?”

“Yes, that is why they pay.  They believe that the school teaches us life skills that rich kids like us won't learn under our normal circumstances,” Filipe smiles at Jane’s ignorance.

“I didn’t see anything about cleaning up after ourselves on the online brochure,”  Jane says regretting her decision to come to this boarding school.

“Cleaning up after ourselves is the least of your worries.”

“What do you mean?”  Jane asked worriedly.

“Did you see the petting zoo and the fresh vegetable photos online?”  Filipe asked.

“I did, it is one of the things that made me choose this place.”

“What it does not say is that the students grow the vegetables and take care of the animals,”  Filipe laughs.

“Growing vegetables and taking care of animals must be better than cleaning up,”  Jane wonders.

“You obviously have never cleaned up after farm animals,”  Filipe says as he puts away the last plate.

“Sorry again for getting you into trouble,”  Jane says hanging her head.

“No worries, see you after dinner tonight,”  Filipe says as he shoves the dishcloth into her hands.

“Ok,” Jane says confused.

‘Wonder if I can still change schools, this place sucks!’ Jane thinks to herself as she walks over to the girls boarding house.

"Hi, I am Jane,"  Jane introduces herself as she walks into her room finding her roommate at her study desk with her back turned to her.

Lilly turns around, "hi, I am Lilly," Lilly says sarcastically, rolls her eyes at her, and turns back to her books in front of her.

'Great, roommate from hell,'  Jane thinks as she falls down onto her bed.