Braxton Academy

Chapter 11

JASPER'S POV:

I know I'm not the only one who thinks this, but Monday's truly are the worst. Especially since I am always assigned garbage-duty. The Administrators claim that chores are submitted arbitrarily so students learn how to do everything required in a household but somehow I always get this honor. There were almost a hundred-and-seventeen rooms in the Academy and every single one of them had a trashcan that needed to be collected or dumped, plus you have to lug this giant cart around that barely fits through the door frames. There were some obvious ones that I could avoid like the Penalty Box unless I've heard a rumor that another student was spending time in there but it's just not worth the risk of missing a can.

As if that wasn't bad enough, when the garbage is collected you have to haul the cart down to the basement and throw all the trash into the dumpster one-by-one. Plus, with the enormity of the Academy, garbage duty has a way of making every assigned student feel like they're searching for trouble. It increases the odds of one getting into trouble with every room they step in. Especially since I had to collect from the cans inside the Administrators offices'.  Accusations from the Administrators of eavesdropping and bartering for obvious reasons are common.

I turned into the girls corridor. To avoid inappropriate conduct between the male and female students, the female students were required to leave their trash outside their door and the bathroom cleaner for that morning is supposed to collect from the restrooms and vice versa for when a female student is assigned garbage duty. I started throwing the bags into the cart as quickly as I could, this is the last hallway before the Administrators offices and then I'm finished. It's almost a quarter-til-eleven and I want at least an hour to myself before lunch.

"Hey Jasper, this is the trash from the bathroom." Sarah threw the bag on the cart.

"Okay, thanks." I picked up the rest of the trash while she stood there idly.

"So...would you want to go to the movie showing with me?" She leaned against the wall, a little closer than I would have preferred.

It's no secret that I don't particularly like Sarah, she's not good company to keep around and she's definitely not my type. Anyhow, I was planning on asking Naomi. I saw her this morning on her way to Mr. Davis' office and, since she wasn't at breakfast, she's no doubt enduring a long and harsh punishment after Sarah kicked her to the curb.

"Um, sorry but I'm planning on going with Naomi." I said as nicely as I could.

"Naomi? What do you want with her? She's too young for you..." She narrowed her eyes.

"I think she's funny and creative and that's hard to come by in here." I removed the gloves and threw them on the end of the cart.

"She's not going to be able to show you a good time." She took a step forward. "But I can do that if you want."

"Sarah, I'm not interested in anything you have to offer. Excuse me." I said more assertively that time.

Pushing the cart to her left, I moved on down the corridor and into the hallway. I figure that if I'm going to be here for another month, I may as well take advantage of the situation. She was someone that I confided in when she first got here so maybe it's time to make things official. I know there are a lot of rumors going on about Naomi, everyone thinks she gets special treatment but I honestly think she has it harder here than anyone else. At some point or another we're all going home...she isn't.

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NAOMI'S POV:

It's been almost two hours since Mr. Davis excused me to my room, thankfully he assigned me to vacuuming the building which is tedious but at least it is done after dinner so I would not be bothered by anyone tonight. I tried to settle myself by pacing in my room to avoid sitting, but not even my book could take my mind off of our conversation this morning nor the one from last night. It seemed like there was nothing I could possibly do under the restrictions placed upon me to get my mind on something else.