*Watty's 2021 Shortlist*
Samantha Roberts and Ben Evans have one thing in common - they both attend Sir Robertson's School for the Gifted, an elite boarding school for the children of the world's wealthiest. Both scholarship students, they gravitate...
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As awkward as it was to have Sam hidden in my closet—and believe me, if any of the guys had found out, I never would've lived it down—our conversation after was worse.
I really hope she couldn't tell I was hiding something from her.
We've been friends for such a short time that I've never had a secret that I couldn't tell her. It just felt weird... like I was breaking the "bro code" or something. Y'know, don't tell your friend who's a girl that your other friend might be a spy. Or whatever.
I know that doesn't make much sense—but neither has my life lately. I kind of thought that Sir Robertson's was the answer to everything.
Like... I dunno, like I would know what to do when I was here.
Instead, everything is more confusing than it's ever been—and on top of that, I'm letting Sam down as a friend. She feels like she hasn't been paying enough attention to me? That girl structures her whole life around me.
She tutors me, she finds time to clean up our dorm—and she's still happy to hang out with me.
I don't know how she does it sometimes.
It's like she's juggling all these balls, and I feel like I should be able to as well—I've taken all the lessons, and I'm just as prepared.
But I keep dropping mine—and she manages to pick them up and give them back to me without losing control.
I didn't really sleep last night. It was hard when all I saw when I closed my eyes was the creepy holographic lady from Anthony's phone.
And on top of that, Sam and I are partnered up for the science fair.
We've never worked together on something like this before. We're friends, but we're very different people—Sam's so go, go, go.
And I'm... not.
Usually that's not a problem—I get all of my assignments done on time. But Sam probably wants to work on it, like, ASAP and get it done right away.
Which is fine for her, but she seems to forget that I have courses that aren't just the sciences. My Athletics scholarship requires me to take certain courses: Fitness and Strength, at least two sports (I chose soccer and volleyball) and as an elective I'm taking Archery.
Right now, we're in the middle of the Volleyball season—which currently consists of the team splitting up and playing against each other. You may think it's pointless to have a season when there are no other schools on the island to compete against, but get this:
If we're good enough, they fly the team to the US to compete in Nationals.
And we have to be good enough. There has never been a team not good enough.
That would mean that I'm not good enough—and that would lead to repercussions.
