Three
The school is a combination of two mansions and loads of other ridiculously large buildings that span over a hundred acres of land.
The main mansion houses our living quarters, the canteen, form rooms and a few classrooms.
We’re a privileged lot, but unlike the rest of the prep or boarding schools around, money doesn’t rule this place I just haven’t figured out what does.
I’m not doing the standard full day of lessons yet, but that’s only because of the assessment. Apparently public school opinions don’t mean a lot in places like this. I just need to get through this week and then they’ll know what I'm capable of academic wise.
Today, I have science and I can’t wait. Luckily the science building is right next to the dorms, along with the DT classes. DT basically teaches us to cope on the outside; cooking, art and design and even making clothes. The cooking is a handy one, but I don’t need to be able to make clothes, I’ll just buy them.
Part of me wonders if I should look into becoming a doctor but my people skills are seriously lacking. I haven’t been to the science building yet and Noah is in my class and somehow got chosen to be the one to escort me.
I doubt it’s a coincidence but how did he get it to fall in his favour?
I head over to my door and open it and he’s just standing there, mouth agape.
“What’s wrong,” I ask, as I grab my laptop bag and school planner and get ready to leave.
“When did this happen?”
His voice is still doing glorious things to me, but I’m soon forgetting all about it as I take in my door. It’s still got the R but now it’s surrounded by a strange looking rectangle, it reminds me of something, but I must be wrong, surely. Otherwise, someone has drawn a gravestone on my door, and I can easily guess what the next two letters are going to be.
“It was just the colour and the R yesterday, Ivy said if I started being a little nicer to you guys then I may be able to find out who's doing it,” I reply and he’s rubbing the back of his neck.
“You dislike us that much huh.”
“It’s not as clear cut as that, honestly out of all of you. You’re the one who I don’t mind being around, but it’s only been two days so there’s still time, I guess. I’m not trying to hate on your buddies but Ivy is a bitch, and hey, so am I. The way she’s changed her tune makes me suspicious. Then there’s Elijah and his stupid bloody nicknames, the only reason he’s interested is cause he’s taken in by a pretty face. As for Amias, I get the impression he gets off on turmoil and chaos and I have enough of that without him adding to it.”
Great, now I’ve got myself all worked up, fuck the escort I’ll find my own way there. I try to close my door but Noah puts his foot in the way, staring at me with unreadable eyes.
“You’ve known us for two days, and that’s your assumption.” I try to cut him off but he’s laying his hand over my mouth, it’s gentle but it’s still pissing me off. “You’re not wrong, not in everything. Ivy does have an ulterior motive for suddenly warming to you, but you’re not the one who needs to worry. Elijah is an incorrigible flirt but he rarely goes with a girl just because she has a pretty face, and Amias; is a dark mother fucker. We’d be good people to have on your side, especially as it seems that the Shepherds are declaring war on you. And if you don’t stop licking my hand, I will have to get my own back.”
He pulls away from me and waits for me to make up my mind, I guess I better follow him, at least I won’t get lost.
“Just to point out, I was trying to bite you,” I state, and he lets loose a beautiful smile.
“How did you get such a good read of them in two days?” he asks, and I shrug my shoulders as he turns back around and leads me to our class.
He doesn’t need to know that I’ve perfected the art of reading people, I still get it wrong occasionally but I’m getting better. I know that I can’t trust the Shepherds, Amias is another person I need to watch and Noah, he’s the only one I haven't got a good read on yet. I think I may need to spend a little time with him, if I have to play at being nice, I might as well figure him out whilst I’m doing it.
We get paired together for chemistry and he’s back to being a man of few words. He collects our materials and gets on with his portion, we don’t even discuss what we’ll be doing. How can we when he doesn’t talk all that much? I’m wondering if that little chat we had before we came here is the most I’ll ever hear slipping past his lips, and now I’m wondering why his hand tasted so nice?
We have to show our understanding of filtration and evaporation processes, and the teacher has chosen the method of making us separate salt from sand.
Noah already has the beaker, filter funnel and paper, Bunsen burner, and the other required pieces of equipment. It’s an easy process to be fair and Noah is standing back and watching as I curl the filter paper into a cone and place it into the funnel.
“Have you done this before?” he asks.
“No, but I read about it a few months back and it explained the process and the correct way of preparing the equipment. It’s not difficult,” I reply, rather absentmindedly for me.
I mean to tell him what to do with the salt and sand mixture, but he’s already got it in one of the test tubes and has it submerged within water. Only the sand remains visible and as we pour the mixture through the paper, only the salty water passes through onto the evaporating basin.
“You’ve done this before?” I ask as we wait for the water to disappear and I know he’s not going to reply.
“You shouldn’t be here.” I turn my head to see Octavia staring at Noah.
“I’m here to help the newbie, go away,” he replies, not even looking at her.
“Come on Noah, I’m sure I can convince Ms. Dove to let you switch partners and work with me. I know we could have a lot of fun together.” Why is she licking her lips like that? it’s definitely not having the effect she’s hoping for.
“Try it, still won’t happen.” His tone is cold and so at odds with the quiet but sweet smiling guy I see at lunch.
“Go back to your table, your boyfriend’s eyes are wandering again,” I say as I jerk my thumb in his direction.
“Don’t you dare talk to me you little cretin, Harrison knows you’re still here and he won’t play nice for long. Just you wait, we are going to have so much fun at your expense.” She smiles viciously and laughs with glee. Clearly, she’s excited to try tormenting me.
She goes back to her table and Noah has a slight tick in his jaw, but he just finishes off the experiment before Ms. Dove comes over and gives us a nod of her head before going to check on the others.
According to Noah a nod from Ms. Dove is the highest accolade you can get other than an A on your work. I don’t know if I believe him, but I do enjoy watching as she drags Octavia to the front of the class and proceeds to make her demonstrate to the whole class, how not to do it. The smile on my face is threatening to make my jaw hurt but it’s worth it, the first genuine feels I’ve had since I got here.