Faith Heights

Chapter 36

Another compulsory assembly was called during afternoon classes. Four more scholarship students were 'accepted' before holidays had commenced, leaving only Rhea and three others to collect their awards. My stomach was a jumble of nervous knots as our class filed onto a bus to the performing arts centre. I'd been in math class with Jackson and Gabe, and I was glad to have them beside me while we watched Rhea's fate be decided. As much as I wanted her with me through all of this, I couldn't help but hold onto a small flame of hope that Rhea would be rejected. With Jackson's newfound control, maybe a relationship with a human was a more feasible option than it once was. They could keep in touch when she returned to her hometown, and we could visit in the holidays. It would be hard lying to her through all of this, but we'd manage. 

If Rhea had a choice in all of this... what would she choose? She could live out a normal human life with no supernatural expectations, but an abundance of normal ones from her overbearingly upper class parents. Or would she prefer the freedom that remaining at Faith Heights gave her, even if it came hand-in-hand with a predetermined love life?

The bus came to a stop just outside the grand building, and we were herded to our seats in a middle row. Jackson sat to my left, his lidded eyes glued to the back of the seat in front of him.
When most of the audience was settled, the remaining scholarship students were led in. I saw Rhea move past us to the front aisle. She looked absolutely terrified, her green eyes searching for the nearest exit. Jackson looked nauseous.

When they were seated, a spotlight lit Leclair's lone figure on the foreboding stage. Her dark hair was straightened and slick down her back like a dark, bloody waterfall, and her violet dress was draped elegantly over one shoulder. She looked like she was about to present at the Emmys, not hand out fake high school awards.

She cleared her throat- as if she even needed it to draw our attention. "I thank all of you for being here today. You have all come so far over the past semester, and I could not have asked for a better group of students to claim pride for." She smiled maternally at the crowd before her. "Four students have stood out to me in particular, and it gives me great pleasure to call each of them to our stage today."

Clapping ensued. It left my ears aching and my hands numb. It was harder from the distance, but I could make out four 'guests' sitting to the back of the stage, applauding enthusiastically.

Leclair called the first scholarship student to the stage, Hamish Reele, to meet his guest, Yasmine Guston. They couldn't keep their eyes off each other from the moment she stood up, so I assumed they were soulmates. The next student, Evan Drechsler, was met on stage by a large, hulking mass of brown hair and caterpillar eyebrows. The large guest looked to be in his mid to late twenties, but when Evan shook his hand, even from this distance, I couldn't miss the way his dark eyes lit up like stars.

The third student, however, was met with a very different reaction. Seth Cowen approached the stage, trying to smooth over a black curl that kept popping down over his wide eyes. His guest, a beautiful young girl with a bronze glow in her cheeks and russet-brown hair, offered him a dazzling smile. But the moment they shook hands, her cheery radiance turned to something arctic, and she didn't bother with any pretences as she ran from the stage, teary. Seth looked mortified as Leclair ushered him off to the side of the stage. What would she say to him after the ceremony? Or would she merely douse him with her tea and send him on a bus back home?

Rhea was next. Of the four remaining scholarship students, three were boys, and Rhea was delegated to going last, just to cement her torture. She must have been shaking in her seat as Leclair moved once again to the front of the podium.

"Rhea Lenox, please make your way to the stage. You have been awarded with the honour of showing Mr. Dominic Payne around our establishment."

Rhea stepped onto the stage with her head down, as if being called to her grave. Her eyes rose for a moment to scan the crowd, but I doubted she could see anything beneath the heavy spotlight.