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Even though Olive Albrecht was going to be attending a real school, a nightmare she had been dreading, what was more embarrassing for her was the reaction her best friend made after she told him the news.
"OLIVE ALBRECHT IS GOING TO A HIGH SCHOOL!," Aspen rejoiced, kneeling on the carpet as if he had just seen the supernatural.
"I must be blessed by the gods to live to see this day unfold," he breathed out from his fit of laughter.
Olive only stood there in irritation, not knowing what else to say as she had accepted her defeat.
A school. She thought to herself. It sounds horrid. Like the water from a mop bucket, or the gunk coming from a sewer.
She simply couldn't fathom the idea that a school in her town was the worst of all the other schools Aspen attended.
She would know, after doing Aspen's homework since their friendship began, she knew the quality of their education. Wellsbury High was by far the most boring school there is.
Specifically AP English. She could see why Aspen always practically begged her to do his homework for that class.
Now she has to take that class herself, and do double the work. 'Cause even if she was going to school with Aspen now, the boy would still beg her to do his homework.
Aspen then finally calmed down from his fit, sat back down on the sofa, and chuckled, "My gosh, Oli, what was your mother on now? Enrolling you to school? It's a call for help."
What Aspen meant was that her mother must have been going through financial struggles to resort to enrolling Olive in a normal high school instead of funding her tutors.
Well, her father usually funded them but Olive supposed that wasn't the case anymore.
"Bet," Olive stood up, "Damn it, now I have to do boring homework like you," she complained, grabbing two bottles of beer from the fridge.
"Cheers to our impending doom," she toasted.
"Okay but seriously I'm gonna die in that school," Olive complained whilst making dinner, Aspen watching a movie on the laptop in the kitchen aisle.
"Please," Aspen scoffed, "Trust me, you'll do great at school," The boy tried to comfort, eyes not leaving the screen
"Academically speaking," Olive added.
"Yup."
"How about socially?" Olive turned to Aspen with a skeptical look.
He chuckled nervously, looking up, "Oh you're dead meat."
"Great.."
The next two days went by in a blur for Olive, and before she even knew it, it was already Monday and her first day in class had finally arrived.
And Olive couldn't even lift a finger off her bed.
Aspen had already welcomed himself into the Albrecht residence, a few minutes left till classes started, only to find Olive still fast asleep.
Aspen stomped to her bed and grabbed the edges of her duvet, yanking it off her, "Wake up, b***h! Or we'll be late for school!"
Olive, unfortunately, was swept along the duvet and fell face-first on the floor cartoonishly.
"...Thanks for the wonderful morning greeting, asshole," Olive sarcastically remarked, getting up from the floor.
"You'll be thanking this asshole eventually you'll see," Aspen pouted.
Olive only raised her middle finger at him before disappearing into her bathroom. Her mind was still fuzzy and her entire being still couldn't accept that fact she was going to school today.
She couldn't explain the dread she had weighing in her chest as she tried to prepare for school and look a little bit presentable, which meant resorting to the outfit Aspen had prepared for her the previous night.
He acts more like my mom than Mother ever did.
Before Olive could let her mind drift away into a daydreaming bliss, Aspen was quick to pull her out of it.
"Oh my days, you wore it," the tall brunette exclaimed, hands covering his mouth in shock.
Olive rolled her eyes but struck a pose anyway,
Aspen squealed before making a turn motion with his finger, Olive begrudgingly turned for him.
"Are we done?"
He held up a finger, "Sh, let me have this moment."
Olive couldn't help but chuckle at Aspen pretending to be a stage mom witnessing their child's first runway show.
A few seconds passed and Olive slouched back to her regular posture, "Alright, let's go, aren't we supposed to be late." she reminded, Aspen sighed but proceeded out of the house anyway.
It was an annoyingly sunny day, Olive thought. It wasn't comforting and it certainly wasn't reflecting what she was feeling inside. A gloomy, rainy, sea of clouds.
When she arrived at the school she dreaded so much, she wasn't surprised to see a very bleak one-floor building made of cement and brick. No fun color in sight.
I'll give it some credit, it doesn't look like a building from hell.
But looks can be deceiving
When they entered the school, it was filled with people her age, standing, sitting, and even lying by the hallway. It shocked the girl.
"Why are they sitting by the walls?" she whispered over to Aspen, whilst beginning to notice the stares she was getting. Probably for what she was wearing.
"You know what, I have no clue," Aspen answered before stopping in front of a room, "Well, this is AP English. The only class we don't have together because I'd rather dumpster dive into the pits of hell than take this class. Good luck, Oli!"
"No, Aspen, wai- and he's gone," Olive cursed under her breath as she fixed herself and walked into the classroom.
The classroom was filled with students just talking to their peers, looking like they came out of a Nickelodeon show with what they were wearing.
Olive couldn't help but groan knowing that she'll have to be greeted by this every morning for the next 5 months.
"And you are?" someone suddenly asked from her side. It was a bald man dressed like he was a teacher from the 90s.
He probably thinks it still is the 90s. Olive joked to herself.
"Olive Albrecht," she answered plainly.
The teacher's eyes widened and his posture became better at the mention of her name.
"You're Mrs. Albrecht's daughter, correct?"
Olive merely nodded.
The teacher went over to his desk grabbed a piece of paper and handed it to her, "These are all the books we will be tackling this semester, some might be unfamiliar to you but that is why we will be studying them here."
Olive didn't quite like the tone the teacher was using but she'd rather shut her mouth than have to deal with a nag. He looked like the type to do that.
"Because we in AP English take this subject seriously," he said rather proudly and Olive snuck in an eye roll before taking a seat behind a girl wearing a grey shirt.
Almost as soon as the class began with the teacher talking about the crucible and summer and all that stuff, Olive already wanted to go home to her reading books that were interesting to her.
"We'll be taking a pop quiz on the crucible. Oh, Olivia and Virginia, you don't need to take the test, I don't expect you guys to have read the book."
Olive rejoiced in her seat, already preparing to take a nap but then the girl in front of her suddenly raised her hand.
"Yes, Virginia?"
Her name's freaking Virginia? Like the state? Olive thought.
"There are 16 books in the syllabus?"
"Yes?"
"14 of them are written by men and 15 were written by white authors, and I'm guessing the one black author will crop up on black history month?"
Olive raised her brows whilst indulging the drama, sort of intrigued, but not exactly seeing where the girl was trying to go with her words.
Yes, the lack of diversity is jarring seeing as America is quite a diverse country that houses varying ideals and cultures, but Wellsbury High doesn't exactly reach that standard, let alone surpass it.
You'd have to hold high expectations for this school. Which they will never reach. Olive thought to herself.
"And?" asked the teacher, Mr. Gitten.
"I'm just really concerned that because of the lack of diversity in the authors, it makes my voice as invalid and I really care about my education, Mr. Gitten," the girl leaned on her table, "Also, please call me Ginny."
Mr. Gittten visibly turned read from irritation and Olive mentally thanked Ginny for making her morning I little bit more entertaining.
And giving her leeway to make more fun for herself.
Olive raised her hand.
"Yes," Mr. Gitten asked, his tone seemingly kinder, "Olivia?"
"It's Olive, also the Crucible isn't that unknown of a book that you can instantly assume that the new students haven't read. Although I can see your consideration, you're expecting the students to have not read a well-known book sort of reflects your expectations for your students, and from my observations, it seems to be rather low." Olive remarked, the girl in front of her looked at her rather taken aback by both her accent and her acute observation.
Little did she know, Olive could care less about all she said, Olive was simply trying to mess with a boring class.
"So, ergo, I'd like to also take the test."
Mr. Gitten remained red-faced but disregarded the comment and moved on. Olive merely eyed the teacher before staring out into space and falling asleep after the test eventually.
Olive left the room, it felt like it was as if she had a breath of pure fresh air after spending a year in a sewage canal.
Preoccupied with her temporary freedom, Olive wasn't quick to notice someone standing in her way.
"Oi, watch where you're going-" she looked straight ahead and faced a tired-looking boy wearing a ridiculous shirt with the words Wednesday printed on it.
Olive grinned, it wasn't often she was given this cliché situation, and she had always dreamed of being in one. But with a twist, of course.
"Oh my days, you know the band Wednesday?!" The boy looked at her confused, Olive simply nodded at his shirt as if it was obvious.
The mop-head boy looked away shyly, "Uh yeah, of course. Huge fan."
"I loved their April album, it's an absolute banger," Olive exclaimed, "Do you know it? My favorite track has to be Stone of Sisyphus, hos about you?"
"Yeah, April album, um I guess I like Stone of Sisyphus too, the lyrics are pretty cool, I guess. Totally love the message on patriotism and also..."
Olive chuckled, "Wednesday isn't a real band, you mop-head. Good effort though."
Marcus looked at Olive completely dumbfounded at the fact a new girl just did the same thing he did to Ginny.
"Anyway, nice meeting you, stranger." Olive walked away with a pat on his shoulder.
Marcus stood there completely confused, it wasn't exactly common for him to have an interaction with a random girl, call him a mop-head, and then leave like nothing happened.-
"What the heck just happened."
02 | end