Chapter 8 — Tour
TAYLOR’S POV:
We are standing outside of our class and I turn to the students. “So this is the class that you all are supposed to report to for each subject. Do any of you have questions? If you do, please raise your hand.”
The girl beside Melissa who seems to be her good friend, raises up her hand and asks, “What if we oversleep and are late for class?”
“For coming to class late for the first time, you will be given a warning. After that, detention will be served to students as necessary. Our school regulations are one of the strictest amongst the schools in New York.”
The girl nods her head and when no one else raises their hands, I nudge Zach’s shoulder, gesturing him to continue.
Zach points to the locker and says, “The lockers over there are for all of you to use. You all can choose the locker that you want and please insert your name and pin number in the security locker.”
The students make their way to a locker of their choice, while Zach and I walk around helping them. One of the guys, Archer, taps me on the shoulder and asks, “Can you help me?”
I smile and say, “Sure. Which locker do you want to use?”
He points at the locker on the right and I walk to it and help him set it up and say, “So this is how you do it. Now you need to enter your full name and your password.”
He smiles at me and says, “Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome.”
Before I turn away, Archer stops me and asks, “Can I have your phone number?”
I gave out an awkward laugh and say, “Sorry but I don’t give strangers my phone number. If you need someone to contact, you can ask Zach for his phone number.”
He says, “I am not the one who wants your phone number; the guy over there, Liam wants it. He asked me to ask for your phone number.”
I look at where he was pointing and see Liam looking at both of us. “You can tell him that the answer is no. If you don’t need any more help, I’ll move on to help another student.”
I walk away, knowing that he will pass down the message to Liam. I walk towards Zach and say, “It’s getting late. We need to bring down to the student dorm for them to get some rest. They must be tired.”
Zach nods his head in response and asks all the students to gather to head to the student dorm.
When we reach the student dorm, we see their luggage had already been delivered to the dorm. As we get the students to settle down, I open the list of instructions that everyone needed to follow within the dorms.
“So these are your dorms; this is where you’ll be staying for the next 3 months. Each room will be occupied by 2 people. There is a strict rule; no boys or girls allowed in each other’s room. Every weekend, the cleaners will come in to clean up the room so make sure you don’t leave any valuables lying around and make sure that they are kept in the safe locker in one of the cabinets. Any questions?”
One of the girls from the back raises her hand up and says, “Are we allowed to choose our roommate?”
Zach says, “Yes of course, but as Taylor mentioned, a girl and a boy aren’t allowed in the same room.”
The guy, who I recognized as Dylan, spoke up. “So what time are we supposed to reach our class every day?”
“I will be giving each of you your time schedule for the day. All of you are assigned to our class as we have been assigned to show you around. Any more questions?”
I look around and see none of them raising their hands, so I decide to hand out the papers that were in my hand.
Zach takes half the papers and distributes them to all of them and I see Melissa trying to get Zach’s attention by whispering to him in his ears.
I cringe in disgust, seeing how she is still the same as she was in high school. I smile at the two of them when I see Zach brushing her off, making her angry.
I look away and focus on the students in front of me and say, “There is a welcome party for all of you tomorrow night. It’s called Dinner and Gala. So, there will be no classes tomorrow. You all can go shopping if you want and find your own outfits for the party. The dress code is formal so make sure you dress appropriately for the party as the teachers will be there tomorrow to check.”
Zach continues, “The party will start at 7:30 pm, and no one will be allowed to enter after 7:30 pm, understand?”
All of them nod their head in response and I say, “Come on, let’s get each of you a room to choose. The girls can follow me and the boys can follow Zach.”
I lead the girls towards their rooms as Zach does the same with the boys. After I’m done helping the girls to choose their room, I’m left with Melissa and her friend whom I have not seen before, but she was quite pretty. Melissa gives me an evil smile and says, “What an ugly person you are and you say you are the vice president of the student council?”
I smirk, pointing my hand towards her, saying, “Maybe? But there is someone as ugly as me, which is you. Don’t try anything with me, because I will make you regret it. I am not the same girl I was then. That girl died when she left that toxic party.”
I open the door of the last room, leaving them alone, not caring what words are coming out of her mouth.
I walk outside to see Zach talking to someone. I look closely and see that he is talking to Liam. I walk towards them and look at Zach, saying, “See you tomorrow. Charlotte is waiting for me in the parking lot.”
Zach hugs me and says, “See you tomorrow.”
With that, I pull apart and I accidentally look at Liam who was standing beside him. When I realize he was about to say something, I quickly walk away.
I walk to the car park and see Charlotte talking to someone on the phone. I tap her shoulder and she jumps in fright, saying, “You scared the hell out of me, Tay. I thought you were someone else.”
I laugh and say, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to do that to you.”
I see Charlotte hang up the call and raise my eyebrows. “Who were you talking to?”
Charlotte looks away and shakes her head. “No one special.”
“Are you sure? You have been acting weird, you know? Are you hiding something from me?”
Charlotte rolls her eyes and says, “Yeah I am sure. Probably I am acting weird because I am weird.”
I laugh and say, “Ha-ha Let’s go. We have the get-together at Ava’s and we have a party to attend tomorrow and we need our beauty sleep before the Dinner and Gala.”
We open the door and sit inside. While she is busy starting the car engine, I switch on my Bluetooth and connect it to the speaker and start playing Taylor Swift’s latest album. We drive away, singing loudly and jamming to the song. I roll down the window, allowing the cold wind to enter. I look outside, admiring the beauty of my neighborhood, and I repeat to myself that everything I achieved is definitely due to the hard work I put in.
I couldn’t help but think to myself, Did Liam truly change? Or was he still the same person that I had seen at the party? Is he dating Melissa?
A lot of questions are swarming around in my head and I didn’t have any other option than to wait…
Only time will tell.