Chapter 8: The Past and the Present

After the general school assembly, the students all went back to their respective classrooms, except for some students. Nicole May had to go to the principal's office so she could get permission for the people she hired to be allowed inside the school premises. She even asked Avegaille to come with her, despite Avegaille's constant objections. Avegaille obviously didn't want to see her mother as the principal. As both of them entered the office, they saw Miss Vivian and Mrs. Amelia Stewart having a very serious conversation about what happened earlier. Avegaille sat down by the sofa near the door while Nicole May leaned her back against the door.

"Mrs. Stewart, I warned you many times about this, now I really don't know what the students will be like after what just happened…" Vivian wailed, pacing around back and forth with a worried expression on her face.

"Come on now Vivian, it's just a general assembly. Besides, the students all seem too serious… and I thought that they should have some fun once in a while," Amelia said as she sweat-dropped. "Although, it is kinda my fault for forgetting that… speech…"

"Hmm?" Vivian stopped walking after she saw Avegaille and Nicole May standing in front of them. "Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't notice you two were already there. Is there anything you need to ask the principal or something?"

"Eh, I'm pretty sure Nicole May can give more details than I could…" Avegaille said and then turned to her mother. "Mom, how come you never told me you were going to be the school principal for this school? You said you wanted to go back to your work as your teacher or something…"

"Ahaha, well, you'll find out eventually. Anyway, dear, do me a favor and call me Mrs. Stewart when we're with other students. I know you don't like it when students put too much attention on you just because they're the daughter of the principal or something…" Amelia said while she approached Avegaille and sat down next to her. Then, she looked at Nicole May. "Ah, you're Nicole May Rustford, Sandra's daughter, if I recall correctly, right? What brings you here, as what Vivian here's been saying…?"

"Yeah… you could say that…" Nicole May muttered while she walked a bit and stood in front of Avegaille and Mrs. Stewart. "Anyway, we're also members of the school newspaper and I've already asked some people to help out with restoring electricity to that room Elizabeth proposed yesterday, as well as furnishing it."

"Hmm, basically, you're saying you're funding the things the school paper needs, right?" Amelia asked happily. "Sure, why not? This is a public school after all… the government kinda sucks with providing enough funds for the school anyway, so we basically survive from donations from the alumni and other generous people."

"Mrs. Stewart… you're too frank…" Vivian remarked as she sweat-dropped. "Please don't mind her, Miss Rustford."

"Ah yeah… you can call it that, I guess…" Nicole May muttered as she looked away from Mrs. Stewart and sweat-dropped. Then, she took out her phone and browsed through it. "Ah, they should be here soon…"

"Well Avegaille, I think you should go back to class now, Miss Harrington might be looking for you, she said you haven't been paying attention to her class…" Amelia said and stood up from her seat. "That goes for you also, Nicole May. Anyway, this is a public school, so just tell your people to come here first so I can show them that room."

"Ah… yeah, I'll tell them…" Nicole May said while she sent a message through her mobile phone.

"Gah, this is why I hate it when my mother is the principal of the school…" Avegaille grumbled as she stood up from her seat and quickly opened the door. As she left the office, she slammed the door shut.

"Avegaille…" Nicole May quickly opened the door and ran to follow her, leaving the office while at it.

"I'll never understand why she's always like that…" Amelia muttered to herself and sighed. Then, she turned to Vivian with a rather serious look. "Vivian, I'll be at my office, do you mind showing those people around when they arrive?"

"Yes… Mrs. Stewart…" Vivian muttered while she watched Amelia enter her office and closed the door. "She must be having a rough time getting along with her daughter lately…"

.-.-.-.-.-

"Avegaille, hey, wait up!" Nicole May called while she tried to keep up with Avegaille's pace. As she finally caught up with Avegaille, Avegaille stopped walking and looked at her furiously. The two of them were standing in the middle of the hallway, with two intersections ahead of them.

"What do you want?" Avegaille asked as she turned and faced Nicole May. "I'm not really in the mood today you know."

"Well, yeah, I can tell, but…"

"What?! Just say it already!" Avegaille exclaimed furiously as she clenched her fists and glared at Nicole May.

"Hey, you don't have to shout at me you know!" Nicole May exclaimed back while she tried to restrain herself and just gritted her teeth. "At least your real mother is still alive, you know…"

"Where are you getting at this time?" Avegaille asked as she folded her arms across her chest.

"It's nothing… forget I even said anything…" Nicole May muttered. Then, she ran off and left Avegaille.

"Pfft, whatever, I guess…" Avegaille remarked sarcastically while she walked to the opposite direction. She was heading towards the exit of the building. Avegaille was in such a bad mood, she didn't even care about her classes for the day and wanted to skip all of them and go home instead.

.-.-.-.-.-

As Nicole May got to the door of the classroom where Miss Harrington was, she wasn't really in the mood to enter the room and get lectured for being late to class, even though she just went to the principal's office. She just sat down on the floor and hoped that the class would end soon. She didn't really need to attend classes anyway since she already knew everything the teachers were just about to teach the students. Not just in history, but all the subjects in school even up to a collegiate level. Ever since she started reading books when she was a kid, she could easily memorize and analyze everything she had read up to this day. Her parents found out about it when her teachers from first grade told them how Nicole May was always getting perfect scores in her tests. Nicole May's teachers eventually recommended her to accelerate to the next grade level after that. But when the same situation happened again, Nicole May refused to be accelerated anymore and wanted to stay. Her parents were fine with her decision and instead bought books that she could read after school.

While Nicole May curled up while leaning her back against the wall and rested her head on her knees, a boy with black hair wearing a long sleeved collared shirt with a red neck tie and some blue jeans, approached Nicole May and crouched down to see her face. Nicole May raised her head and was somehow startled at the boy in front of her.

"Yo, I'm kinda lost, do you know where I can find Room 112?" the boy asked and laughed nervously.

"Ah… um, I'm sorry but I'm not really familiar with this school yet as much as you…" Nicole May muttered as she sweat-dropped. "But Room 112 should be on this floor… hey, are you also in seventh-grade?"

"Ah, yeah, the name's Arthur Parker, it's my first time in a public school actually. I came from Archer Academy, that's an all-boys school by the way. I'm an enthusiast for… well let's say, I have more interest in the same gender than with girls. Of course, I don't mind girls either, it's just that… it's more fun with the same gender, if you know what I mean…" Arthur laughed a bit and stood up.

"Basically you're saying you're gay…" Nicole May muttered as she looked at him exasperatedly.

"Bisexual is a better term, seeing as I still have some interest in certain girls, well, tomboys to be honest," Arthur corrected as he winked. "Anyway, shouldn't you be in class also? Or are you skipping classes?"

"I don't really think it matters if I skip classes or not as long as I can keep getting good grades," Nicole May said as she stood up from the floor and fixed up herself. "If you're interested in school newspapers, you should probably join them also, they could use more members at this point. Anyway, I'll be off now."

"See you then, hey wait, what's your name?" Arthur asked but Nicole May had already left.

.-.-.-.-.-

The school bell rang, and it was the end of the second period. All students were getting out of their respective classroom to get to their next class. Elizabeth and Naz just got out from their science class and were about to head out to their next class, which was Mathematics. Naz was looking at her class schedule and wasn't paying attention to her surroundings. Then, Naz bumped into someone and fell on the floor, and she lost grip of the paper she was holding. The boy she bumped into picked up the paper and helped Naz up.

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"You all right?" the boy asked while he gave the paper to Naz.

"Ah, yeah, I'm fine… sorry about that," Naz said while she took the paper and placed it in between the pages of the book she was holding.

"You guys are going to your Math class, right?" the boy asked as he turned to Elizabeth. "Anyway, the name's Arthur Parker, I hope you ladies don't mind helping me find Miss Clayton’s class also… they say that the two classes are near each other."

"You seem to get lost easily, are you a transfer student or something?" Elizabeth asked.

"Ah, sorry, I'm just not too keen on memorizing where the rooms are located, but I've been here for a while," Arthur explained and laughed nervously. "Anyway, I hope you ladies don't mind introducing yourselves to me, the last girl I talked to kinda ran off without telling me her name. She had long brown hair in a ponytail and had her glasses on her head."

"You must be talking about Nicole May… she's always like that I guess…" Naz said as she folded her arms across her chest. "Anyway, my name's Natalie Howard but you can just call me Naz. Over there is Elizabeth Jones, the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper… at least, the soon to be re-established newspaper."

"Ah, yeah, that girl… Nicole May… she said the school newspaper was looking for more members. I dunno why she said that out of the blue… but if you guys know her, I'm to assume she's also a member?" Arthur asked while Elizabeth and Naz shrugged. "Well, I hope you guys are still accepting, because I love doing newspaper layouts~"

"Ah, but of course, now our only problem is if we're going to have a computer, but Nicole May's already arranging that, so we should start our activities when the room is fully functional…" Elizabeth pondered and sighed. "For now, we should be on the lookout for news… I don't even know where to start…"

"For now, we should head down to class, or else Mr. Collins will sure give us more quizzes if we're late again," Naz interrupted while she took Elizabeth's hand and started to drag her away while Arthur followed them.

.-.-.-.-.-

Nicole May was in the library, in her usual favorite area by the corner, reading one of the encyclopedias. She was basically skipping classes, as she wasn't in the mood to attend them. She wasn't too keen on having a perfect school record anyway, as she could recover by getting perfect test scores. She flipped through the encyclopedia she was reading to pass the time. Then, she stopped and looked at the books in front of her. She was getting sleepy due the silence of the room and without realizing, she rested her head on the desk, wrapped her arms around and fell asleep.

.-.-.-

Avegaille entered the room she shared with a certain girl at Midway Academy, and saw Nicole May reading a book while sitting on her bed. The both of them, in particular, weren't fond of each other and avoided talking to each other whenever possible. Then, Avegaille looked around the room and saw the device that Nicole May always used in her classes. She thought that Nicole May needed to learn the truth after overhearing the conversation Nicole May's friends were having.

"Hey, can I borrow this? I'll prove to you that those snobs you hang out with are just using you," Avegaille said while she took the portable voice recorder from Nicole May's desk. She opened the cassette door and took out the tape. Then, she took another blank tape from the desk and placed it inside the recorder.

"I haven't even said anything! Put that back!" Nicole May protested as she closed the book in her hand and got off her bed. She quickly approached Avegaille and tried to take back the recorder.

"It's for your own good, trust me," Avegaille said slowly while she tried to avoid Nicole May from getting the recorder from her. She ran quickly to the door and left the room, slamming the door shut.

"I hate her… dammit…" Nicole May muttered to herself furiously as she clenched her fists.

.-.-.-.-.-

Avegaille finally got home after some tedious walking from school, even though their house was just a few blocks away from the school premises. She quickly ran upstairs to her room and locked the door. Then, she tossed her bag to the floor, next to her bed, took off her shoes and flopped into her bed. She rolled around until she could see the ceiling of her room and then closed her eyes. She fell asleep afterwards…

.-.-.-

Avegaille entered the room again after a few hours. Nicole May was back sitting on her bed, reading a book while trying to vent off some steam from what happened earlier. Avegaille went by Nicole May's side and tossed the voice recorder in front of her. Nicole May could feel the pain from the impact of the recorder landing on her stomach and quickly picked up the recorder.

"Hey, you can't just toss this thing as if it was some piece of trash!" Nicole May protested as she glared at Avegaille while holding the recorder in her hand.

"Huh? Why don't you listen to it first before you actually throw it away?" Avegaille suggested sarcastically and smirked at her. Then, she went to her bed and sat down there.

Nicole May couldn't say a word even though she was really annoyed at Avegaille and just stared at the recorder. She pressed the play button and she could hear familiar voices. They were her friends, or at least, how she always saw them. They were laughing over something. Then, the real conversation started.

'You know, I really don't think Nicole's suited in our group, I mean, look at her, she's such a freak. I don't care if she's just as rich as us, but she's really different no matter how you look at it. I still can't believe we let her join us…'

'Well, I suppose you could say that, but she has lots of good uses, it's not like she'll know we're just using her anyway? Either way, she thinks of us as friends, so we can always ask her for favors whenever we want. As if she's really our friend…'

'True that, we can keep this up until we graduate… You are so mischievous, Melissa, you know that?"

'I know, I know, right? Huh, it seems that someone's here…'

The recorder became silent after that and Nicole May pressed the stop button on it. She kept quiet while she placed the recorder on her bed and clenched her fists. She wanted to cry, but tried to restrain herself and lowered her head instead. Avegaille stared at her from the other side, folding her arms across her chest.

"Hey, Rustford, you know, you don't need to hang out with those snobs. If you want to be really happy, you should do what you want to do and be with people who actually appreciate who you really are," Avegaille said while she looked away from Nicole May. "I don't like this school, to be honest, but I'm here because my Mom forced me to study here. If there's something I want to do, I would always do it, even if people around me oppose it. I really don't care if the students here don't like me, I'll continue to move forward because I want to. You now have a choice of either pretending you didn't hear that and continue hanging out with them or tell them that you're not some tool that can be used and abused. You're a human being with feelings. Let me tell you this… I hate it when some people are not honest with themselves and try to pretend to be happy when they're not."

Nicole May raised her head as she looked at Avegaille for a bit, and then turned away. She felt so upset, yet so scared to tell them off. She was confused on what to do. She knew that once she told them off, she would be the target of their bullying. Avegaille noticed the reaction Nicole May had on her face and wanted to help her out at least, even though she was annoyed at her for trying to shove her off.

"Oh yeah, you wanna know why those annoying snobs can't even pick on me? Because I know how to fight for myself, and I can use violence if I want to, even if it means getting kicked out of this school. But… even if that happens, I'm not going down without them coming with me, because I have evidence that can also get them kicked out of this school," Avegaille continued. "If you're that worried about those stupid snobs picking on you, they'll have to go through me first."

.-.-.-.-.-

"Hey, wake up~" a voice called while Nicole May tried to open her eyes.

As Nicole May raised her head and looked around, she saw that Naz and Elizabeth were standing beside her. She yawned as she stretched her arms and held onto her head afterwards. She was feeling a bit groggy from too much sleep and then, she remembered what she was dreaming about.

"Yo, how long have you been sleeping?" Naz asked as she grabbed a chair and sat down next to Nicole May. "It's already lunch time you know…"

"What… already?!" Nicole May exclaimed surprisingly. She took out her mobile phone and checked the time. "Ah, I never slept this much before… I really don't know why… I've been here since the second period…"

"You skipped classes?" Elizabeth asked as she took another chair and sat down. "That's quite unexpected for someone like you."

"It's not like I'll learn anything new anyway, most lessons here I've already known since elementary…" Nicole May muttered and sighed exasperatedly. "Anyway, what brings you two here?"

"We went to the room earlier and saw two men inspecting it… one was checking the cables of the room while the other was writing down stuff on his notebook… then they saw us and asked if we're an acquaintance of 'Miss Rustford'. We told them 'yes' of course, then, they asked us what else we would like the room to have…" Elizabeth told Nicole May and laughed nervously.

"Anyway, we told them we wanted the room to have an air-conditioner for the summer heat and a heater for those cold winter days, and also a computer, and sofas and even a mini-refrigerator," Naz continued and giggled. "So, yeah, we hope you don't mind. I'm kinda curious how they'll fit all of that in such a small space though."

"It's fine. Anyway, have any of you seen Avegaille around?" Nicole May asked while she looked around, and realized that Avegaille wasn't with them.

"Hmm, nope, haven't seen her around at all, did you two have some sort of argument or something?" Elizabeth asked and looked confused.

"Not really, she was in a bad mood when she left the principal's office and I followed her after that. I tried to somewhat calm her down, but I guess that pissed her off even more. I really don't know where she went after that…" Nicole May explained and sighed.

"She probably skipped classes like you and went home," Elizabeth said as she shook her head slowly. "Avegaille has a tendency of skipping classes when she's in a really bad mood… teachers aren't too happy about that either once they find out."

"On the other hand, we need to thank you for earlier… we have a new member in our team!" Naz exclaimed happily while she took Nicole May's hands and shook them. "The dude was quite enthusiastic in doing the layout for the paper. You really should introduce yourself to him properly, you know that?"

"I'm not really interested in men…" Nicole May muttered as she looked away from Naz.

"Ah, so you're really a lesbian?!" Naz exclaimed as she looked at Nicole May ecstatically. "I thought the conversation we had before was just for the what-if situation… stuff…"

"Shut up! So what if I am?!" Nicole May exclaimed and looked at Naz exasperatedly.

"Now, now, calm down you two, we're in a library…" Elizabeth interrupted as she sweat-dropped. "Anyway, if you're that concerned with Avegaille, she'll get off her bad mood by tomorrow, hopefully."

"She doesn't look like she's getting along with her mother as of the moment…" Nicole May muttered while she tried to get off Naz's grip. "At least, from their conversation in the office…"

"I actually envy her, you know, at least, her mother is still alive, unlike me, who was adopted and now has different parents…" Naz pondered as she folded her arms across her chest and sighed.

"What? You're adopted also?" Nicole May asked as she looked at Naz surprisingly.

"Huh, what do you mean, 'also'?" Naz asked as she looked at Nicole May curiously.