Book One: Trunk & Chopbox Girls

Chapter Three

October

I met Delores after dinner on Friday. She and I went to the same school before coming to BAGS. She had never really been my friend but I suppose that seeing her in a new surrounding made me feel less nervous. I hadn't also heard from my parents neither had I gotten the chance to call them. There was always a queue for the phone at the Tuck Shop that put me off but then I also didn't want them to think I was actually happy here.

"I thought I saw you on Monday but I felt it couldn't be you", she told me as we walked to FOB.

"Yeah, I came in on Monday", I said dreading the question she was going to ask next.

"What about Mountain Crest? You were so ready to go there?" she asked me.

I smiled. "Yeah well..."

"Don't worry. I heard the entrance exam was a killer", she patted my back.

I shook my head. "Oh nah...it's not that..." but Delores never let me finish. Besides it was better that way. I was not going to explain my wait list status to her.

"I think there are three other girls from our school here", she said. "I'm in Muller with this one quiet girl. I don't remember her name."

"Oh cool."

Delores waved her tiny fingers at me when her friends called her. "Ciao Joelle!"

"JJ", I barely whispered and headed towards my class.

Thankfully, despite my two-week stay at home, I was able to catch up with the lessons being taught my favorite being Health and Nutrition because the teacher was nice and pleasant. They called her Sister Joan because she was younger than most of the teachers in the school. The other girls in my class were also all right but with the exception of my sitting partner Lorraine, I hadn't fully had conversations with them. She was waiting for me when I entered the class and breathed a sigh of a relief when the bell rang for prep to begin.

"I was worried. They are not sparing us at all", she said as other girls who had been loitering about on the corridors started rushing to their classrooms out of fear of being punished. "This afternoon they punished a girl to weed just because there was powder in front of her trunk. Can you imagine?"

I shrugged not sure if I should tell her about my experience with Tasha Fierce and she literally made us fly to our beds in the afternoons. Instead I said to her, "But you like it here right?"

"I do", she agreed. "Hannah and I have always wanted to come here! We do everything together."

Just then out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nann walking slowly to her class as if she didn't care a senior could see her and punish her. I didn't realize it but I scowled and Lorraine noticed.

"She's not friendly, is she?" she wanted to know.

"I haven't heard her speak since I got here", I replied.

"I also have wondered what her deal is. This girl", she pointed to a busty girl two seats ahead of us, "I think she knows her. They went to the same school. Aku!"

We lowered our heads and giggled when we realized we were making noise but Aku came anyway and sat down in front of us. She was chewing gum and gave the impression that she didn't care about anything or anybody. And I think she really didn't. Aku was in Muller House.

"Yes?"

"Nann was in your school wasn't she?"

"Yeah, she was. Why? What has she done?" Aku suddenly looked interested. Barely a week into my stay and I knew Aku was the class gossip. She knew everyone's story almost immediately. "I knew she couldn't keep up this charade!"

"What charade?" Lorraine and I asked almost too immediately.

Aku sighed and looked to the skies as if she was about to reveal something huge to us.

"Nann is so popular, you guys. Before we even came here, the seniors knew about her. In school, she was the 'bad girl'. I'm sure she's done everything imaginable. When we were in Class Six, she was dating a guy in secondary school."

Lorraine and I exchanged glances. I mean, it wasn't anything special but I knew girls from my old school who were like that. So what if Nann just wanted to change?

"That's it?" I looked at Aku.

"No oo!" she exclaimed and then lowered her voice. "When were almost done Nann got suspended. Our teacher caught her kissing another girl, can you imagine? I think that girl is in the States now. But before then a boy dumped her and Nann told her friends she was no longer interested in boys. Except then, they didn't know what she had meant by that. After the suspension, she grew really quiet and stopped talking to her friends. Even me."

We heard footsteps approaching our class so Aku turned around and pretended to be reading from her textbook.

That night as we got ready for bed, I couldn't stop thinking about Nann. I tried hard not to make it obvious I was studying her as she changed out of her clothes and into her nightie. Just because she was bad didn't mean she had to change her attitude completely and ignore everyone. She still hadn't even thanked me for helping her out during that inspection or she would have gotten in trouble with Tasha Fierce.

I was never one to dwell on something for so long but this one troubled me and I couldn't explain it. Ordinarily I would have forgotten about her but this time, I just wanted to be her friend.