Prepsworth Academy

Chapter 37 - "Of course, what else would I be doing?"

Elle

"Hey!" I looked at Rose as she walked up to me, a fake smile plastered on her face. Oh no. I was so not doing this. I looked through her, hoping she was some kind of hallucination experienced from lack of sleep.

"Um, hi?" Rose said, smiling awkwardly. I looked behind me, checking for some of her posse, and saw that everyone in the hallway had given her a wide berth.

"Yes, Elle sweetie, I'm talking to you!" Rose exclaimed with fake cheer, and a touch of annoyance. It was definitely a hallucination. I ignored her, instead thinking about the piles of homework I still had due. Rose finally dropped the nice act and scowled at me, flipping her blond ponytail over her shoulder.

"Look, Verne's said that you have to be on the cheer team to help make up for what happened. So I guess you're on the on the A-Team now." Rose said flatly. I really wanted it to be a hallucination, but I'd given up any hope of that, so instead I stared blankly at Rose

"So just go get changed into your outfit so I can see if it needs to be tailored, okay?" Rose snapped, still scowling. She held up a cheer uniform, coloured in the baby blue and yellow of Prepsworth's cheer teams, after one of the past principals decided that the school colours; grey and white, were too dismal for a cheer team. I grabbed the uniform, a growing sense of dread twisting in my stomach and rushed to the bathrooms to get changed, feeling annoyed. Why did Principal Verne think that a good way of Rose apologising to me was to put me on the cheer team? It was completely illogical, and was sure to go wrong in so may ways.

I hurriedly got changed into the uniform, brushing down invisible creases in the uniform and ran out into the hallway, wanting to get the whole thing over with. Rose surveyed me and dug into her school bag, producing a hair tie.

"Turn around." Rose commanded. Begrudgingly, I turned around, facing the rest of the hallway and trying not to flinch as Rose tied my hair up into a high ponytail, tightening It with a little more force than was necessary. Scratch hallucination, this was a nightmare. I turned back to face Rose, forcing a civil smile on my face.

"Happy?" I asked. Rose nodded absentmindedly, her eyes fixed on something at the faar end of the hallway, and she gave a sudden laugh. I looked up, and followed her gaze directly to Dylan's amused face. This could not have been happening. I was standing in the middle of a crowded hallay, a cheer uniform and Dylan Adams had just walked around the corner. This couldn't get any worse. Dylan bit back a laugh and raised his eyebrows at Rose in question. And then, it got worse. Dylan started walking over to us, his eyes fixed on Rose. As he passed me, he laughed, but returned his gaze to Rose.

"Nice outfit." He said briefly to Rose, before leaning against the wall between Rose and I, his back to me.

"So, Rose, how's Lukas going?" He asked lightly. I stared at his back, trying to control my slightly shocked expression. He'd just ignored me. Just like that. I heard Rose giggle and had to try to stop myself from being sick.

"He's going well. How are you going? We haven't really talked since the first week." Rose said brighty, and I could imagine her smiling sweetly at him.

"Well, as you know, things got a little weird, but now I'm back to normal." Dylan said breezily, earning another laugh from Rose. Things got a little weird. Did he mean that spending time with me was weird. That I was weird? I bristled as Dylan went on joking to Rose, completely ignoring me, before reminding myself that I was done with him. We clearly felt the same way about each other, and that was nothing. I hadn't expected him to treat me like a friend, but I hadn't expected him just blank me. A simple hello would've sufficed. Whatever. I rolled my eyes at his back as I tied back the excess strands of my hair and stalked off to the bathroom to change back into my normal uniform, glaring the whole way.

Dylan

The hallway was full of students, but Rose and Elle stuck out in the sea of grey and white uniforms. My eyes swept past Elle, focusing on Rose. It almost hurt to think about Elle, let alone look at her, and strolled over to Rose, sweeping past Elle easily and smiling at Rose, making a point to ignore Elle. I could sense her disgust at me, and I tried to focus on Rose as I talked to her.

"He's going well. How are you doing? We haven't really talked since the first week." Rose was saying. I blinked, stiffening slightly at the mention of the first week. I knew that Elle was listening, although I didn't know why, and I tensed as I thought about my answer.

"Well, as you know, things got a little weird, but now I'm back to normal." I said pointedly. Rose laughe coldly, flashing a quick look towards Elle, before returning her gaze towards me.

"Oh well, we all make mistakes." Rose said lightly, shrugging a shoulder, mischief sparkling in her eyes.

"Exactly." I agreed, before starting to talk about something that had happened a couple of days prior. I almost didn't notice as Elle walked off, coldness radiating off her. I rolled my eyes. I didn't care that Elle was upset. I didn't care about the fact that she was in the cheer team, or about how different Elle looked in the cheer uniform, like she was another one of Rose's uniform. I certainly didn't care all the looks that the random boys in the hall were giving Elle. Why would I care about any of that? I was over it. It wasn't as if Elle cared about me.

"Hey, earth to Dylan? Are you listening to me?" Rose asked pointedly. I blinked rapidly, before starting to smile.

"Of course. What else would I be doing?"

Amy

I hadn't expected to see Jake the next morning but when I left my dorm, there he was, leaning again the wall, his hands in his pockets, his expression blank. He'd come, even if we were silent for the entirety of the walk. I stared at my leather lace-ups shoes, brushing through the grass that was still wet from the early morning rain. Contemplating all that had happened, I stayed quiet, carefully studying my shoes . Jake had been right about something; the fight, the whole diary thing had been awful. Even if he hadn't known it was Adelaide's dairy, even if he'd been swept up in anger during the fight. He'd let himself get lost in a sea of rage, not caring who he hurt. Even when the rage was gone, he'd still been bitter, bitter and cruel. It wasn't like I hadn't made any mistakes, but when he'd been hurt, he'd gone over the edge. What would happen if he did again? But, in the two weeks since, he hadn't done anything, and he'd acted civil to Rose and Lukas. Maybe, the old Jake was slowly emerging. Maybe he was changing all by himself, and all that he needed was time. Still, everything I thought was just guesswork. I couldn't pretend to know Jake, to be able to read his mind. I looked sideways at Jake, seeing his haunted face. Say something to him, talk to him. Ask him how he is, what he's going through. Tell him how he doesn't need to change, tell him about everything.

I stayed silent.