Wintercrest Academy

Initiations stink

            “Are you crazy?!” Kaia springs up, careful not to let more of that icky stuff get into her mouth.

            Cat eye glasses smirks and comes closer. “Don’t be such a whiny baby. It’s tradition. I heard your parents have a restaurant, figuring out what you smell like shouldn’t be that hard.” She smirks again and then saunters away, her silky brunette curls swirling behind her.

            Kaia looks around at the students. Some are still watching her and some aren’t. When someone from the left end of the cafeteria starts clapping, everyone joins. But what the heck are they clapping for?

            “Oh my gosh,” Kaia mutters, storming out of the cafeteria as the students clap and cheer. She marches straight towards the Principal’s office, face hot with embarrassment. Whatever sick tradition this is, I don’t want to be a part of it! Her eyes are stinging and the smell oozing out of her is so horrible, she wants to get out of her body. Her hair is shrunken already and would get puffy any minute now.

            “Woah, woah, woah!” A girl comes to block her path, holding her hands up to Kaia’s chest. Instead of their burgundy school blazer, she’s wearing a black, leather jacket.

              “They did ‘the dump’ without me?!” She pouts in a genuinely sad manner and it just infuriates Kaia the more.

            “What are you talking about?” Kaia spits. “Please get out of the way.”

            The girl looks back at the receptionist’s desk and then to Kaia before a snickering sound escapes her lips.

            “Is this funny?” Kaia asks, hurt. Her eyes are still stinging and tears are running out involuntarily. How could she be laughing at the big mess that I am right now?

            “If you’re thinking about going to report to Principal Jan, don’t bother. It’s tradition. Every new student at Wintercrest gets ‘the dump.’ It’s like an initiation process.”

            “What kind of initiation is this? Am I supposed to go around school smelling like a cadaver for the rest of the day?” Somewhere in her heart, a flicker of hope burned. Maybe it was a good thing that she got a part of this ‘initiation process.’ Maybe it’d help them see her as one of them. Nothing to be worried about, right?

            The girl’s face darkens. She leans into Kaia a little and sniffs her out like a dog. Kaia takes an awkward step back.

            “What are you—”

            “You’re at the bottom of the chain,” the girl finally says, scrunching up her nose after all the sniffing.

            “What chain? What are you . . . talking about?” Kaia stutters.

            The girl sighs, sadness taking over her expression. “So, here’s the thing, the kind of dump you get depends on your social status. The smellier your dump, the lower you are on the chain. Last year, a boy got dumped with just sparkly water because his parents own the biggest shoe brand in Italy. And seeing how they dumped you with fish water and whatever the other awful smell is, it means you’re not on the . . .you know, elite class.”

            The little flicker of hope Kaia had dies out at once. What kind of a sick, discriminatory tradition is that?

            “Well, I’m sorry about this but—” she quickly pulls out a bottle of ketchup and draws a heart shape with the tomato paste on Kaia’s white shirt.

            “I’m sorry. I’ve never missed out on ‘the dump.’ And you’re already a mess, so . . .I’m doing you a favour with this tiny little heart. My name’s Astrid Gray. I’m here for you when these kids start playing the social stratus card. My mum wasn’t rich before she married my dad and she still go through a lot, so I can relate with you somehow.”

            Kaia glares at Astrid, whose black bob hair cut that stops exactly at her chin is a stark contrast with her ivory skin.

            “I don’t need you to be ‘here for me.’ Just get out of my way.” She pushes past Astrid and goes to the receptionist.

            “Is Principal Jan in?”

            The man looks up from his computer. “Yes, she is. Why do you—” he winces a little when the smell hits him. He gives Kaia a once-over and heaves knowingly.

            “Are you a new student?”

            “Yes,” Kaia answers. “Can I just see Principal Jan?” Tears are gushing out of her eyes but it isn’t because she wants to cry. They must have put a basket of onions in the stuff they poured on her; it stung like crazy.

            The receptionist sits straight in his seat and clasps his hands. “Kaia, your name is Kaia Mahoe, right?” she nods. “Can I be honest with you? Principal Jan isn’t going to do anything spectacular. She may just give them detention for today, and even that is very unlikely. This is something they always do, so why don’t you go get cleaned up and forget about them?”

            “This is my first day. It’s not like I walk around with bathing soap and extra pair of uniform,” she sniffles, rubbing that stinging feeling away with the back of her palm.

            The receptionist reaches into his drawer and hands her a vial of perfume, a small bottle of lotion and a towel. “I just happen to have these here. You can use them to clean up. And smell better.” He smiles and the aqua marine colour of his eyes pop. He has a boyish handsomeness.

            Kaia hesitates before taking it. “Thank you. Mr?”

            “Ariel,” he says and smiles again. “Hey,” he speaks in a whisper. “Don’t get worked up. Don’t cry. They can be a little reckless and too much to handle a first. But they’re just kids like you. You’d get used to them.”

            She shakes her head. “I’m not . . .it’s the onions. It’s making me cry.”

            “Okay,” he smiles again with a small nod and she turns to go to the female bathroom.

            “Kaia!” Adan runs over to her. His mouth hangs open as he looks from her head to her toes. He cusses under his breath when he realizes what happened. “How long did I leave you alone for? I’m so sorry. I forgot about the stupid dump. I didn’t even know it was still a thing.”

            “It’s okay,” Kaia says, not looking into his eyes. “It’s not your fault. Really.”

            “I have my basketball clothes. They’re clean. You can wear them instead.”

            She raises her eyes to his and he looks apologetic. “Okay,” she says and follows him, a foreboding feeling lingering heavily in her heart.

                                                            ****

            “Happy first day at Wintercrest!” Dad, Diane—a worker at Big K’s and Cliché squeal as Kaia comes in, Adan close behind her. They’re all standing behind the counter, hands flailing in the air with excitement.

            “Dolphin,” Dad furrows his brows, taking in the oversized basketball clothes she has on. “What happened?”

            “You joined the basketball team already? Way to go!” Diane says enthused, oblivious to Kaia’s crazy day.

            “Hey, bestie! Give me all the tea about school. How was it?” Cliché squeezes her in a hug.

            “Horrible,” she sinks into a seat and narrates her entire day. “This is Adan. He’s the owner of the clothes I’m in.” She points to him and he smiles gingerly at her father.

            “Thank you, Adan. For bringing her here too,” Dad says, eyeing him carefully.

            “Well, on the bright side, they’ve initiated you. You’re one of them which means tomorrow would be much better than today was!”

            “I don’t know about that,” Kaia whines and places her head on the counter. “Eww, germs.” She raises her head sharply.

            “There are no ‘germs’ here, Kaia. This place is spotless.” Diane scoffs. They’re all used to Kaia being extra conscious about the cleanliness of her surroundings. Sometimes, she would wipe the counter over 5 times after someone touches it because ‘bacteria are ubiquitous, and dangerous.’ On some occasions, it was cute, other times, it was annoying. She and Diane always bickered because of it.

            “Well,” Diane reaches down and places a small chocolate cake on the counter. “We made you a cake.” She turns the butter cake to Kaia and it reads, ‘Happy first day at WA!’

            “Aww, you guys. This is sweet. Thank you. We’d share it after I work a little and—”

            “No,” Dad says firmly. “No working for you today. Go home and rest. You had quite a day.”

            Kaia would normally have objected but frankly, she just wanted to be in her room right now. “Okay, Dad. I’d see you later.” She turns to Adan. “Thank you so much, Adan. Really. You saved me big time today.”

            Adan shakes his head in a ‘it’s not a big deal’ kind of way. “No problem at all. I can take you home. Just tell me where . . .” he stops himself when he meets her father’s hard eyes. “You know what, I’d see you tomorrow.” He says instead and she nods. Dad insists on giving him some cupcakes before he leaves.

            Cliché goes home with Kaia, helps her wash her hair after they had laundered her uniform. Now, Kaia sits on the floor in a yoga position and Cliché is on the bed, working hair butter and argan oil through the strands of Kaia’s thick hair.

            “Do you want to binge Grey’s anatomy? The Good Doctor? Chicago Med?” Cliché asks after they’ve been silent for a while. Kaia has followed every medical series ever aired and she never gets tired of re-watching them.

            “No,” Kaia replies with a sigh. “I’m okay.” She chews a bit of her cake, the chocolate goodness melting easily in her mouth. “Do you think . . . that I made a mistake? Maybe I should have stayed at East Side.”

            “Turtle,” Cliché starts. Turtles are her favourite animals, so she calls Kaia turtle. She actually has a turtle named Kaia. Yep, they have the weirdest nicknames for each other.

            “I know your first day was such a weird day, but tomorrow would be better. I’m sure of it. You deserve to be at Wintercrest. You worked hard for it and you got it. I don’t care what the kids say about social status. That’s bullshit. You’re going to blend in just fine, okay? You have Adan, that’s one friend. At least.”

            “He’s a senior, and council President. If I happen to be number 500 on his priority list, then I’d be lucky.”

            “It doesn’t matter,” Cliché strokes her friend’s hair. “He’s still going to be there. Who even cares about them? You’re there to slay your academics, and you’d do that well. I trust you, Kaia. You’d be okay.”

            Kaia gets off the floor and the both of them climb into her twin XL bed. She rests her head on Cliché’s shoulder and Cliché strokes her hair.

            “Does my hair still smell like fish and stinky tofu?”

            “A little,” she says and Kaia groans. “I’m kidding.” Cliché laughs. “I got all the smell out. You’re going to be okay, turtle.” Kaia nods against her shoulder. If Cliché says she would be fine, then she believes her.

            “So, speaking of Adan, are you two going to get together soon?” Cliché says suggestively

            “Micah!” Kaia slaps her thighs.

            “I just wanna know!” she says amidst laughter. “I mean, you may have had a shitty first day, but did you see the boy who followed you around all day? He’s like Chris Evans and Kim Taehyung in one person, but Latino and taller and younger. And so hot! I’m sure he’s got a totally ripped body. There has to be some chemistry between you both.”

            Kaia rolls her eyes. “Oh my gosh, you’re exaggerating! And what do you even know about chemistry? He just helped me out because I helped him in the past. He’s reciprocating my niceness. Period.”

            “Ugh, dude. How can you act like this when there’s a chance the hot boy likes you?”

            “Case in point, ‘hot boy.’ Adan ‘juicy lips’ Ramirez Perez definitely has a girlfriend.”

            Cliché’s ears perk up at the sound of that. She leans into her friend. “Juicy lips? How do you know he has juicy lips? Did you guys sneak a kiss in the locker room?!”

            “Shut up, Micah!” She swats her thighs again and they keep talking but Cliché doesn’t shut up about Adan’s height and hotness till she eventually leaves.

            That night, after doing her assignments, getting set for school tomorrow and kissing Keanu and Dad goodnight, Kaia gets a text from an unknown number.

            You little b***h. Who do you think you are to be flirting with Adan? For one, you’re just a lower-class kid with at least a brain that was able to help you bag a scholarship at Wintercrest.

            Second, you’re a junior. Adan is exclusively for senior girls, so piss off! He’s not going to screw you. Keep your distance from him if you don’t want trouble.       

            Kaia stares at the text for about a minute, plugs her phone in and draws her covers over her head. That night, for the first time in a long while, her sleep is haunted. But this time, it’s by the kids from school.