The Hijinks War

1. Private School War

The students of Waterbridge Academy were at war.

There isn't much else I could say about the academy as there wasn't much else we cared about. Our regular lives were full of the difficulties that came with being a teenager, and the added drama of coming from families with status and money. At Waterbridge, our home away from our families, Hijinks was our escape and took up most of our lives.

"You think he'd know how to park."

I examined the crooked parking job while I twirled the keys on my finger, not nearly as surprised as my bestie, Jess. The green sports car, obnoxious in a way that made it perfect for a car chase movie, belonged to the General. Ten minutes earlier it had swerved onto campus, tires screaming, horn blaring and cursing fit for a group of sailors streaming out the windows. It crashed into the parking lot, veering wildly until it screeched into a spot just narrowly vacated by two boys from the swim team.

I gestured at the destroyed shrubs and smirked. "With that kind of driving?"

"But that was because she grabbed the wheel." Jess chewed her lip thoughtfully. "You know, I wonder why they came together?"

"Don't care." I yanked open the trunk and began pulling bags out, dropping them heavily onto the pavement. Slamming it shut, I hauled up two of the bags and headed to the residence building.

I am Nicole Kemper, daughter of an ex-model turned perpetual dazed junkie and a big screen action hero with a life's goal of eradicating domestic violence. Off campus, I was often chased by paparazzi, my life and everything about it constantly compared and measured against my parents' achievements. On campus, I was simply Private Kemper, and that anonymity was kind of okay.

It didn't take long after arriving on campus for me to shed summer Nicole and slip into the familiarity of being Private Kemper. The school year technically didn't begin for two days, but already the majority of the student body had been reduced to nameless peons. Still, when given my orders, I obediently marched off to fulfill my part in the 'war'.

Which is why, like hotel porters, Jess and I, were bringing the General's bags up to his room.

"Why are we doing this?" I tried to balance the weight of the overstuffed duffel and weekender bags I carried. Jess was three steps below me, though she had the much smaller, wheeled bag that slapped the back of each stair as she pulled it after her.

"I wish he asked someone else. I don't want to be lugging his crap!" Her blonde head shook as she whined. Jess Kida could have been in a Japanese girl band, with her large brown eyes, slender frame and pale honey complexion.

"Right?" I laughed. "He should have known you didn't even lug yours in, Princess!"

"Shut up, He-man!"

We both knew we did it because it was an order and whatever our Elite said was law. While that is a bit of an exaggeration, most students obeyed the Thunderbirds Trifecta or the Hellhounds Triad blindly.

It wasn't anything like the normal high school social hierarchy, based on looks, style and wealth, and laden with bullying. With all of us being wealthy, money was hardly a footing. No, our hierarchy was based on a military model, Generals, Sergeants and soldiers, or sublings, as we'd been affectionately named. The closest we came to bullying was when our orders leaked into the territory of mundane everyday tasks that the Elite didn't want to waste their time on.

As we stopped outside the room, we heard the General's voice; a full fledged strategy meeting was already taking place. "Whatever we do, it's got to be big. We need to blow that Hellbitch out of the water."