Wow, this one's really long - I didn't actually realise how long it was until I uploaded! But hopefully you'll read anyway :)
-------------------------
Brad looked up from his guitar and burst out laughing as Olivia walked into the room.
"That’s the uniform?" he said, gasping for breath in between guffaws. "Oh my God, you couldn’t pay me enough to wear that."
Olivia rolled her eyes at him, and walked over to the full length mirror that was propped up against the wall, waiting to be hung once their father got round to it. No dramatic changes had been made to the house since they first arrived, as they had only been there two days – there were boxes of random objects everywhere, and most of the furniture still had to be arranged. She stared back at her reflection, which displayed her wearing her brand new Serenity Falls uniform – a crisp white shirt, buttoned right to the top below her neck, a grey and gold checked tie, a dark grey blazer emblazoned with the school logo, a dark grey checked pencil skirt that finished just below the knee, and long knee length socks. She had thought that she looked good, as she had gotten dressed that morning, and she was not set to let Brad knock her confidence on her first day at the best school in the whole country.
"It’s smart," Olivia informed him. "Anyway, everyone will be wearing the same thing. Everyone there actually cares about their education."
Brad snorted. "Right, whatever." He looked back down at his guitar, and continued to play a chord. "This doesn’t sound right, you know. I swear something happened to it when it was packed up in that car. It was squashed up against all our other crap, so I’m not surprised."
"Oh, quit your complaining," Dad said, after downing his cup of coffee and placing it near the sink, which was piled up with a considerable amout of plates and cups, on account of the fact that the washing up hadn’t been done in a few days. "I haven’t heard one positive word out of you ever since we got here."
"You ever thought that’s because there’s nothing positive to say about this place?" Brad rolled his eyes, as he continued to strum his guitar, frowning at the slightly off-tune sound it was giving out.
"It doesn’t matter, you’ve finished school anyway. This is Olivia’s chance. Speaking of which, we’re going to be late if we don’t get a move on now. You ready, Olivia?" He glanced over at his daughter, who was smoothing down her skirt and still peering at herself in the mirror.
"Yeah, let’s go."
The two of them made their way outside to the car, Olivia’s father getting into the driver’s seat and slamming the door hard a few times before it fully closed. Olivia threw her bag onto the back seat and climbed into the front, fastening her seatbelt and taking a deep breath as the car engine started up and the old Nissan pulled out off the drive and onto the road. Neither her Dad nor Olivia really knew where the school was situated, but once they got onto the main road it was well signposted and around ten minutes later, they pulled up outside a new-looking brick building, surrounded by tall, iron fences. Whether this was to keep the pupils in or the public out, it was unclear. At the front of the grounds, there was a wrought iron gate that seemed to stretch up into the sky, adorned with gold detailing that took the form of the school logo.
Winding the window down, Olivia’s father leaned out of the car and pushed down on one of the buttons that was part of a keyboard, fixed to a post on the gate. He paused for a second, waiting for something to happen, when there was suddenly some loud feedback and a voice spoke.
"Name?" It commanded, in a way that brought the image of a military sergeant to Olivia’s mind.
"Uh…" he hesitated, startled by the unexpected obligation. "Olivia Webb. It’s her first day."
There was a pause for a few seconds as the rustling of paper could be heard over the speaker, when suddenly it stopped and it was replaced by a loud creaking noise – the sound of the gates separating and being forced open to let their car through.
Once the gates were fully opened, the school and the surrounding grounds were much more easily visible, revealing the sheer size and apparent greatness of the place that immediately occurred to them upon arrival. The main building was situated in the centre of the place, obviously the main attraction with its huge modern windows and perfect brickwork. The campus was mostly covered in greenery, from the lush green grass that covered large stretches of the area and looked so perfect it seemed to belong on some faraway tropical island paradise, to the rectangular patches of soil that contained perfect flowers and shrubbery, producing a complete rainbow of colours. The place was relatively quiet, with a few students wandering about here and there in groups of three or four people and the atmosphere was calm – nothing compared to the usual, familiar chaos of a public high school. The car turned right and pulled into the area designated as the car park, before manoeuvring into an empty space.
Olivia paused as the car engine was turned off, taking a deep breath as a wave of nerves began to wash over her. She pushed open the car door and tentatively climbed out, smoothing down her uniform in an anxious attempt to ensure a good impression. The pair started to walk down the stone path that lead up to the main entrance, interrupted only halfway there, where a large fountain stood, water cascading over the edges whilst producing a pleasant sound. Once inside the building, which was vast and somewhat superior, they found themselves in a room that looked rather like an office. A receptionist was sitting at a desk, typing on a state-of-the-art computer. She was fairly young and had shiny blonde highlighted hair that was swept back into a neat bun, and was wearing a pristine grey suit that looked like it had come straight out from under the iron.
Olivia’s father cleared his throat to indicate their presence, and the receptionist looked up.
"Can I help you?" Her voice was well-spoken, and she frowned at the two of them, eyeing them up and down as if she thought that they did not belong in there.
"Yes, actually," Mr Webb answered, putting on a voice that made him seem more classy. "This is my daughter, Olivia Webb. It’s her first day today. She’s on scholarship."
"Oh." The receptionist’s expression changed slightly, as if she suddenly recognised their type – the middle class ones that were only there on academic ability to bump up the school’s place in the national league tables. The ones who weren’t contributing to the school fund. "Right. Okay, I’ll send you through to the headmaster in a minute. You can just… wait here."
The two of them stood awkwardly in the room whilst the snotty receptionist spoke through the phone on her desk. "There’s some… people here to see you," Olivia heard her say, pronouncing the word ‘people’ as if she was swearing. "Should I send them in?"
She paused, listening, put the phone down and then looked in their direction, wrinkling her nose slightly. "You can go in now." She gestured towards a door on the other side of the room, which was bearing a gold plate engraved with the head teacher’s name – Mr J Delmar. Mr Webb walked up to it and knocked gingerly, as he waited for a reply. As someone inside called for them to enter, he pushed open the door and walked inside, Olivia following closely behind him.
Mr Delmar’s office was spacious and grand, with lots of bookshelves and a high ceiling that gave off an antique feeling, even though the building was quite new. Mr Delmar himself was sat at an oak desk in the middle of the room, using a computer. He looked up as they entered the room, and smiled as he greeted them.
"Good morning – Mr Webb, isn’t it?" He stood up and reached forward, extending his hand for Mr Webb to shake. "And you must be Olivia." He shook her hand firmly too, and gestured for them to be seated in the chairs that were placed in front of the desk.
"Well, I must say, welcome to Serenity Falls." He smiled warmly at Olivia as he took a seat once more. "I assure you that you’re going to be very happy here – and excel in every area of study."
"Thank you," Olivia said. "It means a lot to be here."
"I’m sure it does," Mr Delmar nodded. "I trust you know how hard it is to be accepted into this school, but you, my dear, have far by exceeded our usual candidates. I am very glad to welcome you into this school. I am sure that you will be a credit to us, and that we will be a credit to you."
Olivia was somewhat taken aback by his appreciation, but she supposed that everyone in this school was polite and upper class, only a handful of the best from everywhere.
"Now, I have your class schedule somewhere here, if you’ll excuse me for one moment," said Mr Delmar. He turned to his computer and typed something into it, and then a few moments later the printer on the other side of the room whirred to life, spurting out a sheet of paper that he then got up to retrieve.
"Here you are, Miss Webb," he said, holding it out to her. "Don’t lose it, but I’m sure that if you did we could find you another copy." He smiled. "That seems to be in order, I presume?"
Olivia scanned the piece of paper quickly, and nodded.
"Good. Well. I think that you have been assigned a locker, but I will get my receptionist to sort that out later. The bell is going to ring any minute now," he paused, looking at his watch. "So it is better to get going, yes?"
Mr Webb got up at that moment, smiled and thanked Mr Delmar for everything, and then kissing his daughter on the cheek and whispering a soft ‘good luck’ in her ear. He then opened the door and departing, calling out his goodbye as he walked out of the room.
"Your homeroom is just to the left of here, room 63," the headmaster informed Olivia, as she turned to leave as well. "If you have any trouble locating it, come back here."
"Okay, Mr Delmar. Thank you," Olivia smiled back at him as she walked back out into the office room, past the snotty receptionist, trying to ignore the dirty looks from her, and back into the main corridor. It was suddenly much busier now, with lots more students on their way to various classrooms. As she turned to the left, following the directions that she had received just a few moments before, she was confronted by three tall, threatening figures.
"Look at that nerd," the tallest one, obviously the leader, sneered, as the other two on her sides laughed obediently. She had a perfect, slim figure and natural blonde curls that cascaded down to the middle of her back. She was wearing the compulsory school uniform, but it was as different to Olivia’s as possible. Her checked skirt was only a few inches long, and it hugged her curves perfectly whereas Olivia’s tended to hang awkwardly around her hips. Her shirt was unbuttoned to reveal a good amount of her cleavage (that was getting a considerable amount of attention from most of the male passers-by) and a hot pink lacy bra that she was wearing. The school tie hung loosely around her neck, more like a necklace. Her short blazer was undone and worn in such a way that it could’ve been on a catwalk, and Olivia’s black clunky school shoes were nothing like the extra high heels that stood between the blonde’s dainty feet and the floor, along with the sexy white over-the-knee stockings that covered her toned legs.
"No prizes for guessing that she’s on scholarship," she snickered, smiling at the other two clones behind her. They were obviously trying to copy her with the way they looked – bleached blonde hair, fake tan, skirts barely covering their backsides – but neither of them matched the other girl’s standard. They were both just airheads, with no brain of their own, only programmed to follow whatever anyone else did. How on earth did they get in to such an academically demanding school?
"God, I wish they’d stop letting these nerds in," the girl said, rolling her eyes and inspecting her manicured nails. "They’re not even paying for this school, and they’re such a waste of space around here. I mean, we could have rich, hot guys instead!"
"Totally," the other girls nodded in agreement towards their leader, although they probably would’ve agreed with anything that came out of her mouth, no matter how stupid it may have been.
At that moment, the loud shrill of a bell filled the air to indicate the start of school, and Olivia silently thanked someone – anyone – for her route of escape. She veered round the three girls and continued down the hallway, inspecting the number of each door in an attempt to locate number 63. She found it eventually, pushing open the door and stepping inside to be faced with a room full of bored students sitting at their desks, half of them not paying the slightest bit of attention to the teacher at the front of the class.
"Hi…" Olivia said quietly, as the teacher at the front of the class looked up. "I’m new here."
"Oh, hello," the man, who was young – probably only just out of university - and had brown hair that was spiked up into a modern style, not at all like a stereotypical teacher, greeted her with a smile. "You must be… Olivia, right? I’m Mr Hammond. Come and take a seat anywhere there’s a space."
Olivia scanned the room and spotted an empty desk near the back, and so made her way towards it and sat down. No one said anything, but a few moments later the door opened again and someone entered the room – someone who Olivia had not remembered pleasant from their last encounter.
"What are you doing in my seat, loser?"
It was the girl from the corridor, standing with her hands on her hips in front of the desk that Olivia was seated at.
"Oh, sorry… I uh, didn’t realise…" Olivia said, jumping up out of her seat as quickly as she could manage. "Sorry… I’ll just…"
"You may be new, little girl, but you’ll soon discover who’s boss around here. Not little freaks like you," she hissed, pushing past Olivia and sitting down at her desk.
"Alyssa," Mr Hammond looked up from calling the register to frown at her.
"Sorry, sir." Alyssa’s voice suddenly changed into a sickly sweet baby voice, as she widened her eyes at Mr Hammond. "Do you want me to stay after class?" She winked at him cheekily.
What was this place? Olivia wondered to herself. Students flirting with the teachers? This place couldn’t have been any more different from what she thought it was going to be like. She had imagined a place of focus and intelligence, where everyone actually cared about their education, but everyone who was there just seemed to be filthy rich airheads.
"That’s quite alright, Alyssa," Mr Hammond nodded at her, but the corner of his mouth was twitching into a smile. Was he actually returning her flirting?
Olivia took another seat behind Alyssa and her crew, where it would be harder for them to irritate her any further than they already had. She tried to concentrate on what was being said in the classroom until the bell rung again, startling her slightly, when she got up to go to her next lesson. She peered at her class schedule, trying to work out how on earth she was going to find room 24, when she heard a voice in front of her.
"You got Biology next?"
Olivia looked up to see another girl standing there, smiling friendlily at her. She was quite small and had straight shoulder length red hair that hung neatly by her face. She had thick black glasses and her uniform was trying to copy Alyssa a little too much, but she looked kind and Olivia was thankful that there was at least someone in this school who wasn’t a stuck up bitch.
"Yeah… any clue where room 24 is?"
"You’re in the same class as me, then. Come on." She headed for door, and Olivia followed obediently.
"I’m Chelsie by the way. It’s Olivia, isn’t it?"
"Yeah."
"I see you’ve already had an unpleasant encounter with our school’s very own Regina George – Alyssa Taylor."
"Yeah, what’s up with her?"
"Oh, nothing in particular. Just your typical spoilt brat, because her Dad owns Sync. Industries, you know, that company that makes practically billions of dollars a year for selling cheap laptops? She’s just a bitch to anyone who’s not a hot guy or her cronies, Kayla and Courtney. They haven’t got brains of their own, as I’m sure you’ve guessed by now." She laughed. "They’re only here because of their dad’s credit cards, which is the case with most of the people here, unfortunately."
"And Alyssa too?"
"Naturally. She’s probably got a brain under all that blonde somewhere, but she definitely doesn’t choose to use it. Unless it’s got anything to do with hooking up with someone."
"Like Mr Hammond?" Olivia raised her eyebrows.
Chelsie smiled. "Yeah. I mean, I know he’s gorgeous and everything, but he’s a teacher. Alyssa’s the only one brave enough to try anything direct with him. And I wouldn’t be surprised if there was actually something going on between them after class."
"Ew, a teacher? That’s gross! She could get kicked out, couldn’t she?"
"If it was any other student, maybe. But not Alyssa. Her Dad’s paying so much money into the school fund that she could probably murder someone and Mr Delmar would look the other way. I’m guessing that doesn’t make you feel any better on your first day, right?"
Olivia laughed. "Not really."
Chelsie smiled. "Here’s room 24, anyway. You can sit next to me, if you like."
"Yeah, thanks," Olivia agreed, as they walked into the classroom. Maybe this school wouldn’t be so bad after all.