OLIVIA
"Elijah, I can't go to school like this."
Through the closed door between them, she heard him heave a muffled sigh. "There's no this or that," he reassured her. "This is how everyone's going to be going to school."
Olivia stood in front of the mirror hanging on her door and pulled on her maroon blazer. It made her look even shorter than usual and puffed out in all the wrong places. The white shirt inside was too loose and did nothing to help give a bit of shape to the outfit. To top it all off, the plaid knee length skirt matched neither the blazer nor the shirt.
She stepped away from the mirror and closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to see anything. "I look ridiculous," she declared.
Elijah's patience was unwavering that morning, possibly because it was her first day of school and he didn't want to stress her out even more. Instead of telling her to hurry up, he asked, "Why don't you come out and show me?"
Olivia smoothed down her hideous blazer and equally hideous shirt and doubly hideous skirt and opened her bedroom door to where Elijah was waiting for her in the hallway.
"Okay," she said. "Tell me the truth. It's awful, isn't it?"
He looked her up and down. "It's not so bad," he said generously.
"Elijah!" Olivia protested. "I can see you laughing!"
Elijah cracked a smile. "I promise it's not so bad. You'll be fine."
"I don't understand why uniforms have to be ugly. Why don't they ever make nice ones? It itches. And I'm melting already. I'm going to have sweat stains in this white shirt."
"Here, take off the blazer, you'll be less hot." Elijah pulled her sleeves out and slung it over his own shoulder. "You can put it back on if someone tells you to. Where's your backpack?"
"Elijah," Olivia groaned. "Please don't make me go."
"It's just for a little while until the witness protection program makes your new birth certificate. Then you can go join the public schools here."
"Why can't I just homeschool like I did the rest of last year?"
"You've been home way too long. I think you need to get out and see actual people. Besides, the witness program is paying for this. You might as well go."
She picked up her backpack with a huff. "How long does it even take to make a stupid fake birth certificate?"
"Olivia," Elijah said in a listen-to-me tone. Olivia immediately quit her sulking and straightened up because if it got to the point where he was using that voice, this was serious.
"I know you don't think you'll like this school, but don't write it off already. Now please, hurry up. I'm going to be late for work."
By the time Elijah pulled up to the private Catholic high school, Olivia was sweating profusely and absolutely pissed. She snatched her backpack from Elijah and made to get out, but Elijah held her back by the arm.
"Olivia," he said. "You really shouldn't call Logan late at night. He doesn't sleep very well. Okay?"
Olivia's lip curled in anger and disbelief and betrayal. "He told on me?"
"He was just worried-"
Olivia got out of the car and slammed the door shut, not bothering to even glance back after her.
*****
It was the first day back after summer break, and students were milling around, joking and talking and catching up with each other after the holidays.
To say she felt lost was an understatement.
And for some reason, everybody was staring at her. Olivia self-consciously looked down at her uniform and wondered what the problem was. Despite all her grumblings, Elijah was right - she was pretty sure she was wearing the same thing as everybody else.
Except for one thing.
The tights.
She had been so sure that the tights listed under the dress code were optional - after all, who wore tights with skirts when it was a hundred degrees outside? - but after seeing dozens of girls all in black tights under their skirts, she was starting to think that maybe she should've worn them anyways.
She dropped her stuff in her locker and made it to first period after taking a few wrong turns. She took a seat in the back, fanning herself with her notebook.
Hate this goddamn weather.
"Alright, class, quiet down, you can finish talking to each other sometime else," came a voice hardened by years of teaching. Olivia's first teacher was for English, an older woman with gray hair tied back in a bun so tight that it seemed to be pulling the skin from her face.
"Before we begin, I've been told we have a new student this year."
Olivia cringed. This was why she hated small, close-knit schools.
The teacher's gaze landed on her. "Olivia Powers, would you mind standing up please?"
She hated the new last name the protection program had given them too.
"Class, please make Miss Powers feel welcome. I understand she's also new to the area so help her out if she needs anything. My name is Ms. Rivera, and I will be your English teacher for the year."
Her gaze dropped disapprovingly down to her bare legs. "And Miss Powers...see me after class."
The rest of the class turned in their seats to look at her and snickered until Ms. Rivera told them to quiet down.
It had only been a few minutes and Olivia had already made a mistake. She slid back down into her seat and sighed.
*****
After class, she stayed back to talk to Ms. Rivera as she asked.
"Olivia, I know you're new here, so I understand if you don't know the dress code policy."
She tried not to give Ms. Rivera the chance to lecture her and said quickly, "I'll remember the tights tomorrow."
Ms. Rivera looked relieved. Maybe her students were always putting up fights, but Olivia wasn't interested. She wouldn't be at the school for very long anyways.
"Good."
Olivia let out a sigh of relief.
"But you'll still have to speak with the principal after school. Just so she can explain proper behavior to you."
Her relief was sucked right out of her. "Ms. Rivera, it won't happen again-"
"You are not in trouble, Miss Powers, it's just part of the policy. Now, all you need is take this pass-" She ripped off a pass for her next class. "And I'll let the principal know you will be coming in the afternoon. How does that sound?"
Ms. Rivera smiled like she was Mother Theresa having done the world a great service.
"That's fine," Olivia made herself say. She pulled the paper from Ms. Rivera's fingers, slid out of the chair, and ran out of there.
After English, the same thing was repeated over and over again. Her teachers would inevitably catch a glimpse of her bare legs no matter how she tried to sit, stand, or hide, and tell her to stay back. Every time they did, the laughter from the other students got even louder. Each time she had to talk to a teacher, Olivia had to resist the urge to bang her forehead against the teacher's desk and force herself to smile through her fury.
During third period, it got even worse.
"I don't know where you're from, young lady, but here we do not tolerate this kind of provocative behavior," said Miss Mayhew, a middle aged lady with blue eyes and blond hair.
Olivia's chest tightened with anger. "Provocative?" she repeated incredulously. Her skirt was about three inches above the knee as per regulation.
"Of course. And I cannot imagine that anyone in your family would appreciate you walking around in a state like this either-"
"My older brother saw me leave this morning," Olivia interrupted, her face heated. "Without my tights."
Ms. Mayhew's eyes grew wide and horrified. "Then I am sorry to say that your brothers are also sadly misguided in their-"
"Ms. Mayhew, considering all the religion you try to shove down our throats, I cannot understand how slandering someone is also not sadly misguided," a voice droned from the back of the class.
Olivia turned around in her chair to see a boy with dark hair and half closed eyes leaning back in his seat with his long, lanky legs propped up on his desk.
"Mister Dimayuga!" Ms. Mayhew exclaimed. "Take your feet off your desk!"
"Oh." The boy didn't move to put his feet down, but he opened his eyes to stare at her. In a falsely inquisitive voice, he asked, "Is telling the truth also being provocative nowadays? What're they going to do next? Immigration? Abortion rights?"
Ms. Mayhew's face was red as a stop sign. "Detention, Mister Dimayuga!" she yelled.
"Yes, ma'am!" he crowed good-naturedly.
And before Olivia turned back around, she saw his eyes glance towards her. He waggled his eyebrows and winked.
She turned back in her seat and tried to forget about him for the rest of the day.
*****
At lunch, Olivia sat at the end of the least full table she could find and tried to keep her head down, but it was impossible.
By now, it seemed that everybody knew that the new girl from who-knows-where was walking around bare-legged and had gotten into an argument with the history teacher about it. She could hear them whispering about it from a mile away.
Two girls, however, weren't content to sit a mile away. They put their lunch trays opposite her and sat down.
"Hi, my name's Kendra!" the girl with blond hair and blue eyes said.
"And I'm Hillary," said the girl with darker skin and curly hair.
"We heard you were new so we wanted to just come over and say hi!" the first one gushed.
Their voices were already giving her a headache.
"Hi," she forced herself to say. "I'm Olivia."
If it was at all possible, their smiles grew even wider. The brunette said, "Nice to meet you, Olivia. Where're you from? We heard you just moved."
"New York."
"Oh my gosh, I've always wanted to go to New York! I've never been though."
Olivia had never been either. "It's alright," she muttered.
"Anyways, we heard you went off on Ms. Mayhew today," the blonde one said in a hushed voice. "Are you in trouble?"
Olivia took a deep breath in so she wouldn't snap. She wouldn't be here long, but that didn't mean she could be a jerk to everybody. "No, it was fine."
Their eyebrows flew up their foreheads in unison. "Fine?" they both exclaimed.
"She got distracted by someone else."
The blonde one rolled her eyes. "It was Angel, wasn't it? He's a ladies' man."
"Always trying to save the damsel in distress," the other one added. She fanned herself with her napkin and sighed dreamily. "Wish he would save me sometimes."
"I wouldn't know, haven't even talked to him." Whoever Angel was, Olivia was not interested in any sort of man, ladies' or not. After Milo, that was completely out of the question.
"Anyways, what's up with the skirt? Are you seeing someone? Is that why there's no tights? Who're you trying to impress?" The blonde one waggled her eyebrows.
"Is it Angel?" asked the one who had swooned over him.
Seeing someone? Angel?
She had just gotten there that day.
"It was an accident," she said, even though she knew there was no undoing the thoughts they now had in their minds.
"Sure," drawled the black haired one. They both giggled.
Olivia put her head down and tried to drown in her water bottle.
*****
She found the boy from history class sitting in the principal's office when she got there at the end of the school day.
Of course. He had gotten detention.
"Oh, hey," he said, smiling slightly. "Though I'd see you here."
Olivia wondered whether she should thank him, but he didn't seem to be waiting for any praise. "Is it the skirt?" he asked.
Olivia scowled at him. If one more person pointed out her nonexistent tights to her that day, she was going to strangle them.
"It's always the skirts." He tilted his head towards her legs. "No tights, rookie mistake. Are you new here?"
"Why are you asking if you already know?" she grumbled.
"Been sitting here just staring at the secretary for the past ten minutes and just wanted to talk to someone." He shrugged. "And it's nice to see someone new around here. God awful with the rest of them."
Olivia was just about to make an excuse to get up and drink water or use the bathroom so she wouldn't have to make conversation when she was dead tired and sticking to her chair with sweat, but the door to the principal's office opened, relieving her.
"Mister Dimayuga," the secretary called from the doorway, and the boy jumped up out of his seat.
"That's me," he said to Olivia. "Catch ya later." He winked and gave her a little wave before heading into the principal's office.
It's my first day back to school too :) Just got back from a lab class that we have to do in person and am now sitting in my fiction class online before I drive home.
Next update will be next Monday after I hopefully try not to screw up everything during lab.
Who am I kidding. I can't ever figure out what the numbers on the pipette mean.
For next time: Logan's still around here...somewhere