Wintercrest Academy

Hashtag I've Got You

Wait for me at the school entrance. Don’t come in without me. Kaia rereads Adan’s rather strange text. She saw it while getting on the bus earlier and wondered why Adan would all of a sudden want her to go into school with him. Now, she’s standing at the school’s carpark not minding the belittling stares she’s getting. Her early morning podcast reverberates in her ears, so whatever they’re saying isn’t exactly her problem. She dials Adan.

           “I’d be right there.” He answers on the first ring. And so she waits, letting the soothing voice of Marie Kennedy from the ‘Early Risers’ podcast fill her ears and her mind. Adan soon comes out of the main doors, wearing a sand coloured sweater that hugs him just right and starts to jog towards her. The curls of his hair bounce in their fluffiness as his long legs help him get to her quickly. Kaia automatically starts smiling, dimples and all.

           “Hey. How badly did you miss me that you couldn’t wait till lunch to see me?”

           She catches a bit of hesitation in Adan’s usually confident smile. “I want you to stick with me today. For as much as possible.”

           Kaia’s smile fades. Oh no. “Why?”

           “Because I enjoy your company so much, I could do junior year over again just to be close to you.” He grabs her hand, his hold gentle but firm and they start walking into school. so cheesy. Kaia rolls her eyes.

           The entire school is goggling at them with full on amusement and some disgust. But Adan doesn’t seem fazed about it. He holds her hand and walks her all the way to her classroom and waits till Miss Celine comes in.

           “Your last class is American Lit, right?” Adan asks and Kaia nods her response. “I’d be there before it ends.”

           “Adan, wait.” Kaia grasps his wrist as he turns to leave. “Is something wrong? I mean . . . something else. The stares are weirder today. Is my head shaven?”

           Adan chuckles and shakes his head. “No, your head is perfect.”

           “Nothing is perfect.” Typical Kaia.

           “Just, enjoy class, okay?” He waves and disappears out of the door frame. Kaia jerks in shock as Rosco kicks her seat hard from behind. When she turns though, she meets the sneering eyes of some kid whose name she doesn’t know relaxing in Rosco’s chair.

           “Get lost,” Rosco says when he approaches and the boy gets up and eases into his own seat at the other side of the classroom.  “What exactly are you?” Rosco asks Kaia and before she can process or answer the question, he breaks off their eye contact. What is going on?

           Sometime during Algebra class, someone passes her a sticky note. She opens it and the content reads How did an ordinary delivery girl end up in WA? You’re hot though I’d give you $20 to deliver yourself to my bedroom. The person adds their address and it’s in one of the most expensive streets in town.

           Kaia crumples the paper, her chest rising heavily and her breathing deepening. What the heck is going on?! She remains absentminded, unable to answer any question for the rest of the class. Bren does all of the answering.

                                                                      ****

callme_rose: Oh my gosh, the scholarship student is a delivery girl?! I didn’t know she was that broke.

abcdellen: why in the world Wintercrest admit a pauper? we’re exposed to poverty every day. That’s not safe. #kickthepeasantout

marcusthegreat: #deliverygirlatWA. What’s her handle. I gotta tag her. lol.

           A video of her from yesterday’s delivery was replaying on her phone. Kaia stares at the video again and again. The post has 800 retweets, 1.5k likes and it was uploaded early this morning. #deliverygirlatWA was blowing up really fast and students from other elite schools were retweeting it with the most brutal and insulting GIFS. She tries to check the twitter profile, but she’s unable to trace it to any individual. The handle is @richkidsofWA. That’s all. Nothing to trace, nobody to blame or hold accountable. Except the Marcus person who somehow found her handle and tagged her to the post.

           “This is it. They’re looking at me weird because of this.” Kaia gets off the toilet seat and barges out of the stall. Angry. She’s not a pauper. She’s not a peasant. Why does everyone keep calling her that? Why are they dragging her Dad’s business into this? She loves what he does, and he loves it too. She loves helping him run the restaurant in any way she can. What is wrong with these people?!

           She storms out of the ladies’ bathroom and down the halls, her head whirling like a speedy rollercoaster. It’s already lunch time and students are everywhere. She pushes past their stupid murmurings and sneers, and when someone says “Hey delivery girl, Homecoming is in two weeks. You should deliver food to us,” Kaia’s legs stop working. The students burst into fits of giggles and laughter.

           “I’m taking you a picture now. Say cheese! Get it?” someone else offers and the laughter doubles its volume.

           “Stop. You’re invading my privacy by recording me without permission.” Kaia turns to the boy recording but he doesn’t put his phone away. “Stop recording now. Or I’d go straight to Principal Jan.”

           “Shut up,” he snickers.

           “James. Put that phone away right now, or we’d visit the long list of things I can use to blackmail you.” Adan’s voice is as calm as it always is, but it’s more commanding than Kaia has ever heard before. It works because James puts his phone down and walks away with his friends.

           “Yo Adan, you guys are shagging, aren’t you?”

           “They definitely are.”

           “How much does she cost? Pretty cheap, right?”

           “Don’t be stupid!” Adan growls at no one in particular, and then for the first time since he arrived the drama scene, he looked down at Kaia, his expression genuine and warm. “They’re stupid. Let’s get out of here.” With his left hand, he grabs her right hand and they leave, the catcalls from the halls following after them.

           “You saw it. The video and comments,” Adan states the obvious. He’d taken her to the basketball gym to be far away from prying eyes and poking noses. “Kaia, ignore them. They’re stupid. I’d solve this. I’d find out who handles that account and get them to take it down and—”

           “Why?” Kaia’s voice is brittle and on the verge of shattering into bits of rage, and maybe a few tears. “That’s my job. I work at my father’s restaurant. I cook, and bake, and deliver food. What is the problem with that? Why am I getting a backlash over it?”

           “They’re stupid, little K. I’m sorry that all of them are just so stupid.” Adan sighs and massages his browbone.

           “You have a council meeting. You should go. Thanks, Adan. Really.”

           “I’m not leaving you alone,” he says in a way that speaks finality. “Alex and Love can handle the meeting. We’re planning for Homecoming. It’s not important.”

           “I’m not poor.” Kaia sniffles after some minutes of silence, counting the snaffles on her brown loafers. “My Dad’s doing fine. We’re comfortable. We’re happy.”

           Adan scoots closer and wraps his arm around her like he’s afraid she’d fall and break. She settles into him. They’re a little stiff, but it’s comforting nonetheless.

           “So what if you were? Nobody should be talked down on for any reason. I’m sorry, little K.”

           “I really don’t belong here,” Kaia says more to herself than Adan, but he hears her anyway and lifts her head gently off his chest so he can look into her eyes while he talks.

           “You belong here much more than any of us do. Wintercrest is so popular because of our academic standards, but these stupid kids make it solely about the s**t ton of money we pay for tuition. You belong here, little K. And I’m glad you’re here.”

           Adan’s eyes are true and it makes Kaia feel like she’s safe with him. “I’ve never heard you cuss,” she says and he coughs out a little laugh. Her hand goes up to fiddle with her earrings but Adan catches it mid-air.

           “Nervous habit?” she nods, awed that he’d noticed. “Don’t be nervous. Not because of them. They’d get out of their stupidity soon, okay?”

           “Yeah, okay.” I hope.

                                                           ****

           Kaia logs out of Twitter when she gets to Big K’s. She talks to Diane and Cliché and makes them promise not to tell her Dad about what’s going on at school.

           “I don’t want him to panic,” she insists.

           “You’re getting bullied, Kaia. He has to know about this so that he can at least report to the school authorities. Kids die from these things.”

           “No,” hard-headed Kaia says. “Do you know how happy he is that I’m at Wintercrest? I don’t want him to feel bad for anything. I only told you because you wouldn’t stop asking me why I looked sad. Cliché’s my best friend so of course I’d tell her. I can handle this, guys. I just” ­— she heaves— “I just need to stop thinking about old memories. I need to bury them farther away.”

           “This is why you should tell your Dad. There’s so much inside you that you have to talk about. You need to talk to someone, Kaia. Someone neutral.”

           “I don’t need a therapist, Cliché.” Kaia returns her attention to deseeding watermelons for fruit juice. “And I don’t need to tell Dad anything. All of it would bring back memories he’s better off forgetting. I’m fine guys. Thank you.” She stays in the kitchen throughout, helping and sporting big smiles when Dad gets back so he doesn’t suspect a thing.

           “You have a visitor.”

           Kaia takes her nose out of her book. It’s evening already and she’s taking a break before it’s time to go home with Keanu. “Visitor?” Her brows furrow.

           “Yep. And he says I’m not supposed to tell you who he is or give you any hints, so just come outside.”

           “Really, Diane? What if he’s a serial killer?” Kaia deadpans.

           “I’m pretty sure a serial killer wouldn’t be stupid enough to attack his victim in the open. And show his face while doing it.”

           Kaia sighs and gets up, her mind running through every list of possible male visitors. Adan? Caleb from Youth Group? She steps out and Diane points to the table ‘the visitor’ is sitting at.

           “Mr Ariel?” Her doe eyes grow bigger at the sight of him. He looks laidback and younger in casual clothes: a white T-shirt that somehow make his eyes pop, jeans and a baseball cap.

           “Miss Mahoe?” he tries to match her surprise and ends up making her laugh.

           “You came.”

           “Of course,” he says in a ‘duh’ kind of way. “I have a coupon. Who wouldn’t use a coupon?”

           She smiles, satisfied. “Can I take your order?”

           He nods and picks out the large sized barbecue, chips and salsa and sugarcane juice. “Takeaway please.”

           “Right away, sir.” She scurries off, puts his food together and brings it back. “That’d be $17.90.” He pays with his card.

           “Customer service is amazing. I look forward to enjoying my meal.”

           Kaia tips an imaginary hat with a smile. “Thank you. You surely will enjoy your meal. Please leave sweet comments on our website.”

           “I definitely will. Kaia, now that we’re here, can we talk?” he gestures to the seat opposite him.

           “Uhh, sure.” She slips into the seat. “Did something happen?” She watches his blue eyes become focused and serious, like it does in class.

           “Talk to me. What happened at school today? What’s been happening at school? How have the kids been to you since the initiation dump? Tell me. Everything.”

           Kaia’s mouth parts open. She wasn’t expecting that at all. Staring for too long without blinking makes her eyes feel teary, but before she can rub that feeling away, a single tear slides down her cheek and into her open mouth.