Wintercrest Academy

Crazy things are happening

             Time goes by in a blur, and it is lunch time before Kaia realizes it. She had Math, Spanish elective, AP Bio and US History. She turns to nudge Cliché, so they could run for their spot in the cafeteria, but when she does, the people around look nothing like her sweet Cliché. They’re pairing up in little cliques and chattering away. Kaia heaves and checks her phone for texts from Cliché. There’s none yet, so she leaves her one, saying she misses her.

            “Hey, new kid!” A girl with wild curls, nude lipstick and chunky heels startles Kaia when she slips into the seat in front of her, resting her elbows on Kaia’s desk like they’re old time pals. “Which do you think is prettier, the totally gorgeous Chanel bag or the absolutely exotic Hermes Birkin bag?” She gabbles before Kaia can even say ‘hi’.

            “Hard to pick, right?” she probes, boring her wide eyes into Kaia’s confused eyes.

            “I’m—I’m not sure.”

            The girl gawks at her like she just said she came from Mars. “Oh. Your parents, what do they do?”

            Her question makes Kaia feel queasy for some reason. “They own a restaurant,” she says, not feeling the need to elaborate.

            “Oh,” the girl repeats, before springing to her feet and strutting away.

            “Weird.” Kaia mutters and grabs her bag. Her gaze flickers to the door frame, and Adan is there, waving frenetically like a child. She waves back, feeling that warmth in her belly she felt when she first met Cliché in East Side’s hallway.

            “Hey, Big K.” Adan smiles, tucking his hands into his pocket.

            “I’m a little K. My Dad’s the Big K. One and only.” She adjusts her bag on her shoulder.

            He chuckles. “Correction taken, miss Mahoe. First stop, your locker.” He leads the way and she follow, some students still looking at them and whispering.

            The hallways are . . .beyond breath-taking. The tiles are immaculately white and sparkly, and the walls add colour to the space. Some are burgundy and some parts are khaki (the school’s colours) and there are 3D frames containing encouraging words strung up. There’s some graffiti kind of design on a small portion of the wall, and the words hidden there read ‘You’re excellent, you’re wealthy, you’re wise’. The three words on the school’s motto.

            When they get to her locker, she runs her fingers on the cold, black steel, single tier locker, plain and not customized like the other ones in the hall. She swings it open, already envisioning how she’d customize it, and swiftly shoves her bag into it, then they keep going.

            Adan shows her the science lab, the art theatre, library, and Kaia is in awe of each one. The state-of-the-art equipment the lab has, the big theatre, like it was made for Broadway performances, the beautiful library she could envision herself getting attached to. It was like a summer dream come true.

            “Adan, are you sure you don’t have stuff to do? It’s lunch time, you should at least be eating.”

            He waves his hand in a dismissing motion. “Food is for the weak.” Kaia stifles a laugh at the cartoony voice he uses to say this. “When we’re done, we can have lunch together.”

            She looks up at him, pupils dilated. “Oh, no, no. You’ve done so much already. I mean, you definitely have your clique of friends and I don’t want to be the new girl who makes them uncomfortable and—”

            “Hey.” He bumps her shoulder with his, like it’s a normal thing for them to do. “You’re overthinking. People are actually curious to talk to the girl who had a 95.5% on the entrance test.”

            She tsks and feels heat crawl up her cheek a little. “It’s not a big deal. I didn’t have a 100% or something like—”

            “Adan ‘juicy lips’ Ramirez Perez.” A girl with crossed arms and a plain white sweater approaches them. She has the most accurate winged liner Kaia has ever seen. There’s the same Council badge as Adan’s on her sweater. Without the President though.

            “Stop calling me that.” Adan groans.

            “It’s a fact though,” she shrugs and Kaia is certain the bored look in her eyes are permanent part of her facial expression. She doesn’t acknowledge Kaia’s presence. “Mr Clawson asked me to get you. We have a meeting right now.”

            Adan’s brows furrow and they almost form a unibrow. “Meeting? But we cancelled that already.”

            “Well plans change, just like feelings do!” A scowl rests on her race.

            Eye roll. “Are you really still not over Ezra?”

            “If you dated him, you’d never get over him. He stays a part of you, like the smell of blood on your skin even after you’ve meticulously cleaned up murder evidence.” Adan and Kaia take a synchronized step away from her. “Anyway, meeting’s starting now. Don’t make me look for you again.” She finally regards Kaia before leaving. “Pretty hair.”

            “Argh! I swear, my schedule was clear. Mr Clawson is so annoying; he can as well be President if he wants it.”

            Kaia has to admit that he’s cute. Handsome, and cute with the way he’s sulking big time right now. “Go.” She gently bumps his shoulder like he did earlier. She bumps his arm, actually. She’s too small to reach his shoulder. “We’d meet up later.”

            He looks like he doesn’t want to go, and his eyebrows are arched in an ‘are you sure’ way. Kaia giggles and bumps him harder this time. “Adan, shoo.”

            “I’d hurry back to you, okay?” Kaia nods and he takes long strides away from her. She’s still watching him, and when he gets halfway down the hall, he turns to wave before disappearing.

            Her phone chimes and it’s a text from Cliché. She starts to reply when shadows close up on her. She raises alarmed eyes.

            “You’re the new girl, right?” the red-haired girl asks. She nods.     

            “Did you really have 95.5% in the entrance exams?” the blonde asks with the same enthusiasm her friend had, and Kaia nods again. “Oh my gosh! So you really trumped Bren’s record!”

            Kaia didn’t follow. “I’m sorry, trumped whose record?”

            The redhaired gawks at her the same way the wild haired girl in her class did. “Aren’t you the scholarship student? The junior?”

            “I am, but—”

            “And you don’t know who Bren is?” the blonde huffs and Kaia is lost for words. Is Bren code name for a society she has to join?

            “That’s disappointing,” the blonde shakes her head. “Well Bren is—”

            The redhaired tugs at her arm, cutting her short. “Don’t explain. She’d figure him out on her own soon enough. Welcome to Wintercrest. Toodles.” They wiggle their fingers and saunter away, leaving Kaia yet again lost, having the weirdest first day at school experience.

            Adan already took her past the cafeteria, so getting there was no hassle. The cafeteria is a large hall with seats arranged around round tables and 3D prints like ‘Don’t just feed your soul, feed your body’ decorating the bare, orange walls. Students are everywhere, chatting as they eat and she instantly longs for Cliché who would normally be pulling her to the line already. There are just three people on the line, so she picks a tray, orders some bread, chocolate spread and apples, and then proceeds to seat at the only empty table in the too big cafeteria.

            Some students steal glances at her and whisper to their friends who do the same, and the whole thing is weird for her. She shoots Cliché an SOS text and focuses on her lunch. She’s successfully blocked out everyone in the cafeteria and doesn’t see the students walking up to her, she doesn’t hear the noise in the whole start to quiet down. Before she notices the people approaching her, her scalp tingles from a cold substance, and before she can even react, the very stinky substance is already pouring from atop her head, into her eyes, soaking her blazer and onto her lap.

            She gasps, instantly shutting her mouth when a bit of the disgusting liquid gets into it. All the hard work she put into her hair this morning, gone. Her uniform is a mess, and she smells like only God knows what! Anger brews up deep in her belly and everyone has their phone out, capturing her embarrassment on their expensive devices. When cranes her neck to see the culprit, her eyes meet the satisfied stare of a girl in cat eye glasses.

            “Welcome to Wintercrest, scholarship kid.” She smirks and Kaia immediately realizes that this is going to be the start of many smelly experiences for her at Wintercrest.