by O. E. Boroni
“Your cousin decided to stay in her room today,” she said as Nathan turned around. He had a clipboard in his hand and had been addressing the dancers. I frowned and turned to Beverly.
“What’s your problem?” I asked her. “Why are you reporting me to him?”
“He’s the interim house head till Jimmy gets back,” she said. “If you’d been here this morning, you would’ve heard the announcement.”
My eyes widened slightly in surprise, and my mouth would have dropped open if not for the smug look on Beverly’s face. So I held myself together.
“Leave her to me.” I heard Nathan quietly say, but she refused.
“Absolutely not!” she argued. “I already announced that any culprits would be assigned –”
“I understand that.” He interrupted. “But could you just please leave her to me?”
“Fine.” She said, looking incredibly upset. Nathan had seemed pissed as he spoke so I couldn’t enjoy the annoyed look on her face as she stormed off. I was certain that he was probably irritated with me too, so I kept a straight face and avoided his eyes.
“Why didn’t you report here this morning?” he asked.
I met his gaze, and just shrugged.
“Could you go wait for me in the hallway?”
I nodded and walked away, just as he turned around and resumed speaking with the dancers.
I took a seat on the floor to wait, and when he came out a few minutes later, I didn’t even bother looking up. I was eager to see what he would do, but he surprised me when he went to the wall opposite me, and slid to the floor.
“What are you doing?” I asked, my tone somewhat hostile.
“I’m waiting for you,” he answered in a tired voice.
“Waiting for me to do what?”
“To tell me what you want out of this festival.”
“Well I don’t want to participate.”
“I get that, but I think you should. I probably wouldn’t have myself if the housemaster hadn’t given me this responsibility, but now that I’m here, I’m happy to be a part of it.”
I remained silent.
“I can’t punish you and you know that, but I’m asking you to either choose one of the activities to be a part of, or accept the sloth duty. Anything else will make you return to your house and I won’t allow that, because it might get you in real trouble.”
“I don’t need you to protect me.”
“I’m not protecting you,” he said, and rose to his feet. “Nora, I know you won’t accept ultimatums, so I’m giving you options. Please don’t make me regret it.”
I looked away from him as he pulled the door open, and re-entered the court.
*
By the end of the day, I was sure he wanted to kill me. I’d chosen the sloth duty, but ruined every single assignment I was given until I’d been kicked out of all the groups, and the leaders were breathing down his neck.
I dropped a basket of supplies so carelessly on the artists’ table that one of their plastic paint bottles overturned, and ruined some of the sketches that they had been working on. Their yells had startled me and at first I had rushed to apologize, but when a girl named Daisy had insulted me, I’d lost my manners.
The dance group dismissed me when I continuously forgot to pay attention to their movements enough to know when to pause and play the music. I also kept mixing up their tracks. I couldn’t very well tell them that Nathan was the reason for my distraction, so when they’d questioned my mental ability to handle such a simple task, I’d stood up, and stormed off.
Beverly was leading the singing group but when she caught me staring at Nathan as he addressed the drama group, she sent me to the instrumentalists. I continued to stare from there too but when the racket they made became so unbearably loud, I stood up to leave.
Unfortunately as I was heading down the bleacher steps, I tripped on a wire that disconnected their electronic organ. That immediately stopped all the other instruments, and distracted the entire court. Everyone turned around at the sudden quiet, just in time to see me break my fall with the two bleacher seats beside me, and then struggle to set myself upright.
Nathan responded after that. He immediately ran up to help me, as well as Elisa.
“I’m alright,” I said to them, feeling so embarrassed that I couldn’t take my eyes off the ground.
“Can you stand?” I heard him ask, and I nodded.
“It’s fine, I didn’t get injured.”
“Come with me,” he said, and I got to my feet. My elbows and knees hurt a little bit but of course I wasn’t going to say anything.
Elisa put her hands around me and led me down the steps, complaining along the way about how I needed to be more careful. I felt better when by the time I and Elisa crossed the middle of the court, people had gotten over it and returned to their business. Nathan stopped on the way to respond to someone that had come up to him with a request, so I and Elisa headed to the locker room alone to wait. He came in a few minutes later, and asked her to please excuse us.
He came to stand in front of me, resting his back against the lockers and with his arms folded across his chest.
“Stop looking at me like that,” I said a few seconds later, when I couldn’t stand his stare anymore.
“How do you want me to look at you?” he asked.
“Don’t look at me all,” I replied. “Just go back to your group.”
For some reason, that pulled out a soft laugh from him. It surprised me.
“I thought you were pissed?”
“Oh, I am pissed, and you’re crazy.”
“What did I do? I tried to participate but everyone just kept pissing me off.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
“Well, that’s how I felt.”
“Of course,” he mocked.
“Yes,” I asserted.
“So what do you want to do now?” he asked.
I sighed, because I was beginning to sound like a chore, even to myself. “Fine, I’ll go stay with Elisa- whatever she’s doing.”
He shook his head. “No, what do you want to do?”
I frowned. “Nothing.”
“You can’t say nothing.”
I glared at him, but it didn’t move him for even a second.
“Let’s do it this way,” he said. “Marilyn has the fashion group, so I’ll tell her to slot you in.”
“No, I’ll go stay with Elisa.”
“You’re not going to stay with Elisa.” He said sternly.
“And what right do you have to say that? I can go wherever I want.”
“I’m the interim head, and I’m saying you can’t. Elisa’s group is full.”
“No it isn’t.”
“Well, starting now it is.”
I stood to my feet. “You can’t do that.”
He took a step closer to me. “I just did.”
“This is abuse of power, but I’m telling you that I’m going to stay with Elisa, and there’s nothing you’re going to do about it,” I said and started to walk away, but he caught my hand and pulled me back.
“We’re not done talking,” he said in such an intimidating voice that I had to force myself to remember that this was Nathan I was talking to, instead of the interim house head.
I straightened my shoulders and said directly to his face. “We are.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Are you doing this because you know me?”
“As a matter of fact I am, and even if I didn’t, you can’t just force me to do what I don’t want to do.”
He watched me for a few seconds, and then said. “Fine. You can do whatever you want to do.”
He turned around and left the room.
« CHAPTER 21 »
I’d felt guilty for causing him all the trouble that I had, so after I left the locker room, I made up my mind to just keep my head down and quietly remain with Elisa. She was occupied with the poetry group, but after almost two hours of listening to them recite p
oetry in French, I’d found my way out of there, and gone in search of Marilyn myself.
She was happy to receive me when I told her that Nathan had told me to come over, and immediately after lunch, she put me to work.
She asked me if I could draw and when I told her I could, she gave me the draft sketches on the final collection that they would be presenting to re-draw. I took my time with it, and it held my attention until later that evening when it was finally time to end the day. I avoided Nathan as I left with Elisa, and then skipped dinner.
The next day, Elisa came over and I willingly went with her. It was quite strange but I was actually looking forward to what Marilyn’s group had in store for the day. We had our breakfast and then headed over to the court to meet Nathan and some other seniors that were waiting to address us.
Beverly was the first to speak, and she started by giving an excessive summary of the songs she had chosen for her group’s performance, and how well their try-outs were coming along. Other seniors heading the other groups took their turns in explaining what they had come up with the previous day and when they were finished, Nathan rose and addressed us.
He quickly passed on information concerning updated locations for the cuisine, fashion and marching band groups, and then sent us all to work. I headed straight to the classroom where my fashion group had been relocated to and continued with my sketches.
When I was done with the ones that Marilyn had given me, I moved to the next page on the sketch pad and started one of my own. It was a simple wrap dress, and as I was struggling with how to include the folds, and the length to slant it at, Marilyn came over to peer from behind my back.
I slightly leaned away from the sudden intrusion, until she came around to stand beside me. “That looks really nice,” she said with a huge smile. “Do you have interest in fashion?”
I returned the smile. “I’m not sure.”
“Well you should be,” she said, and gave a small gasp when I flipped the page back to reveal the ones that she had given to me to do. “These are really good. Would you like to handle the rest of the collection?”
“Okay,” I said, and I was surprised to find that actually felt excited to do it. “Have they started making them?”
“No, we’re going to begin today.”
“But, the show’s next week …” I said, not seeing how the entire collection could be made in that time – they had eight pieces to create.
She sighed and said, “I know. Someone’s coming over from London today to guide us, and I foresee some sleepless nights. At least they’ve started on the purses and all the equipment is here.”
I looked towards a table to see an instructor surrounded by eager students as he explained something about seams.
“Do you want to join the modeling audition?” she asked. “I think they’re about to start.”
“No,” I shook my head, quite content to continue my sketching.
“Well, okay,” she said. “I’ll get the collections for you. Brian needs to start them on the computers soon.”
She brought them over minutes later, and I proceeded to occupy myself. It was evening when Elisa came to get me and we went for dinner. I joined the people returning to the studios when we were done, while Elisa went to hang out with Matthew.
I continued with my sketching and despite the noise in the room from the machines and people yelling at each other, I was able to completely immerse myself in the task. The place was littered with fabric, and had posed mannequins almost everywhere you turned to in the room.
Everyone had something to do so no one idled away their time. It was a busy space and as I watched the creation going on, I felt contented at being a part of it.
*
Tuesday came by very quickly and with it, the vigorous preparations for the first phase of the competition that was scheduled to take place the next day. The drama, cuisine and art groups were scheduled to perform so preparations were in overdrive. I was on my sketching seat, and watching the models practice their runway walk when Beverly came to get me. I frowned as soon as I saw her.
“I need you to sort some things out for me.” she said.
I asked her why she was coming to me.
“Because you’re on sloth duty,” she replied, her voice thick with irritation.
I just shook my head and turned away to ignore her.
She jerked my shoulders towards her, making me turn around on the stool. Furious, and completely fed up with her harassment, I got to my feet and faced her.
“Did you just dare to put your hands on me?” I asked. She took a step closer to me.
“Yes I did you brat,” she said. “Who the hell do you think you are? I’m a sen–”
“Oh please shut up and go away,” I told her.
Somehow I didn’t see it coming, but I heard the gasp escape my lips just as the slap landed on my cheek with a blinding smack. My hand went up to my face in shock, and right then, my temper exploded.
Blind with rage, I grabbed the nearest thing that my hand was able to find on the table and swung it at her. It was only when it shattered against her head and knocked her down that I saw what it was – the ceramic pencil holder that had housed my drawing utensils.
I heard the screams around me as she collapsed, and laid lifeless on the floor. I was struck dumb, and could do nothing but stare down at her in a mindless daze. The outside noises slowly began to dim until all I could hear was my own heart thumping inside of my chest. People rushed to her, and out of nowhere I heard Nathan’s voice.
I looked up to see him walk in. He saw Beverly’s body sprawled on the floor and immediately hurried over to her. After pressing his finger to the underside of her chin, he lifted her into his arms.
“Lenora, come with me,” he told me, and it brought me out of my stupor. We hurried out of the room and towards the clinic, and I watched horrified, as he effortlessly carried her limp body. When we arrived, he laid her on the bed and went to get the nurse who came in, and began to check her. It wasn’t Laura, the nurse who had treated me, and this one didn’t seem alarmed. After a few minutes, she straightened and asked us what happened.
Before I could speak, Nathan told her that Beverly had fallen and hit her head. The nurse turned to examine her head.
She was about to head back to her office when I finally spoke, my voice barely above a whisper. “Is she going to be alright?”
“She’s fine,” she answered. “She’s just knocked out. She'll be awake in a couple of hours but with a painful headache. I’m going to get the doctor.”
I shuddered as I released a heavy breath, and then lowered my head. Nathan came to squat in front of me. He raised his hand to my cheek.
“She’s going to be fine,” he said. I nodded morosely. He then sat down beside me, and held my hand in his. The doctor came in to check on Beverly and a few seconds later, Olivia ran in yelling her name.
A couple of her friends were with her as she ran to Beverly’s side, but they calmed down when the doctor told them that Beverly would be fine. She turned tear-filled eyes to me. “You’re so evil,” she said in a voice so thick with hate that it cut me like a knife. I flinched. “How could you do this?”
Then she turned away, her focus back on her sister, and tears running down her cheeks. I couldn’t speak, and didn’t want to leave but Nathan managed to drag me with him and out of the clinic.
“I want the key,” I said as we walked out into the corridor. To my surprise, he nodded straight away but insisted that he’d come with me. I didn’t refuse because quite frankly, I believed that the only thing that was still keeping me standing was his presence beside me. I felt exhausted to my bones at all that had just happened.
When we reached the stream, we sat down on the rock that we’d stayed on the last time we’d been here. Still terrified, I watched the rushing water until I eventually broke down in quiet sobs. Wrapping his arms around me, he led my head to rest on his shoulder and then leaned his head against mine.
He was silent as I cried, allowing me to let out the fear that had gripped me until I eventually ran out of tears. I fell asleep to the soothing motion of his hand as it ran up and down my arm.
*
We returned when it was almost dark and by then, dinner had already started. Nathan forced me to go to the dining hall and when I saw that it was less crowded than it usually was, I let out a deep sigh of relief. I could feel the gazes on us as we walked in and took our seats but instantly felt better, when Elisa ran over to meet us. Nathan left me with her and stood up to get our meals. I was surprised to see her.
“I heard what happened. Are you okay?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be rehearsing your poem for tomorrow?” I asked at the same time, and then shook my head to clear my thoughts.
“I’m fine,” I said.
“Have you been with Beverly? I heard she’s okay.”
“She is?”
“Yes. She’s back in the hall now. I thought you were with her.”
“No, I was with Nathan.”
“Oh,” she said, and I could see the questions in her eyes but she chose to postpone them. Nathan returned with two trays in his hands.
“Thanks for taking care of her Alex,” Elisa said, and I gave her a dark look. He smiled at her, and then turned to give me a spoon.
I took it and started eating and so did he, while Elisa updated me on the progress in the studio.
“Nathan, when’s the kick off tomorrow?" she asked.
“Ten,” he replied, “but you’re all required to be there by at least nine.”
“Okay,” she said and then turned to me. “Lenora will you be able to participate tomorrow?”
I frowned at her. “Of course I will- why wouldn’t I be?”
She shrugged, and then studied me before saying.
“I’d have expected you to do a bit more damage.”
“Elisa …” Nathan warned. She grinned.
“What? She’s been a pain in both our sides.”
“Don’t encourage this, and it wasn’t entirely her doing. Beverly hit her first.”
Elisa’s mouth dropped open. “And you’re upset with her for knocking Beverly out?”