Faking It

Chapter 4: Bullies and Besties

The dining hall filled with students was nothing like the serenely empty place it had been when William had first shown it to me. It buzzed now, with conversation and giggles and the sizzle of cooking food. As I followed Gyeong-Ja to the queue, I tried to ignore the endless once-overs that raked me with each table we passed.

"Who's that with Georgie?" demanded a pale, petite blonde, standing beside a table of guys guffawing at a phone.

"Looks like she's rooming with the new girl," said the tall, tan brunette beside her.

"Ignore them," Gyeong-Ja muttered, trying to hurry me along.

"More like they saddled the newbie with the only girl none of us wanted to room with," snickered the blonde.

My feet ground to a halt. I hated the way Gyeong-Ja's shoulders hunched as she hurried towards the queue. I drew myself up and faced them.

"I dunno, I'm pretty happy about it," I said, pointing a glare at the blonde, "I'd take Gyeong-Ja as a roommate any day over a judgy snob like you."

The brunette clapped a hand over her giggled gasp, and the table of boys stopped laughing to turn and stare at me. Gyeong-Ja hesitated at the end of the queue and pushed her glasses up, shoulders still hunched.

"Excuse me?" demanded the blonde, folding her arms.

"You heard me," I said with a tight, frosty smile. I'd hoped I wouldn't have to deal with this kind of pettiness, but apparently prep schools weren't all that different from regular schools. At least not where bullies were concerned. And I definitely wasn't about to stand around and let it happen to Gyeong-Ja.

The blonde opened her mouth, her perfect brows crashing together, when the brunette burst into a peal of laughter. "Ohhh, Em! Looks like your salt won't go unchecked this year." She brushed a piece of perfectly styled hair from her face. "I'm Giselle Watson, by the way. And this is Emma Ripley. She's an acquired taste."

"I'm Ellie," I said, silently daring them or anyone at the table of guys behind them to challenge me again. When Giselle just smiled and Emily scoffed and turned away, I joined Gyeong-Ja in the queue.

"You didn't have to do that," she said quietly, handing me a tray.

"Of course I did. You just told me you hate being called Georgie, and clearly she knew it. What's her problem, anyway?"

Gyeong-Ja's cheeks flushed. "Emma's just rude. But it's fine. We're not all spoiled brats here. There are plenty of nice people, I promise."

I resisted the urge to look for William in the crowded dining hall, and instead eyed the chafing dishes of vegetables and pastas. "So what's your dinner recommendation for a newbie?"

"The Kingsbridge Slider is really good," Gyeong-Ja said, nodding towards a quartet of chefs taking orders behind a counter. "They have a vegan version too, if you want."

"No thanks, not a vegan. But I am a carb queen." I left her at the counter to serve myself a heaping portion of tortellini with rose sauce and mushrooms, and then hesitated. At my old school, we paid for our lunches at a checkout line, but there didn't seem to be one here. When I asked Gyeong-Ja about it, she just laughed.

"You don't pay. Tuition covers it," she explained, leading us to an empty table.

"Like...all of it?" My mouth watered as I looked back at the buffet, vowing to save room for seconds.

"Ye—"

"Oy, you trying to ignore me?" A tall, dark-skinned girl with a knot of braids atop her head slammed into the chair beside Gyeong-Ja and snatched a fry off her plate.