The Boarding School

Chapter 8: Working Together

English went by rather smoothly. We agreed it would be set in a small town by the lake. That's the farthest we got, though.

My next class was science. Our teacher, Mrs. Arkan was a very friendly old lady. She had short gray hair and made small jokes here and there. I was a bit early so we were talking about this school year's projects and homework assignments. We would be doing a DNA test and finding out our blood type. Fun stuff!

People started to walk in the door and get a lab partner. I hoped someone from Walker would be in the class. Charlotte and Bonnie both walked in, but they partnered up together. Then Wesley walked in. And Dallas. They both looked strait at me and started walking toward my table. Oh dear! What do I do?

"Hey, Lena, wanna be my lab partner?" they both asked simultaneously.

"Oh..." I started to say, but they started to argue.

Dallas had never spoken to Wesley, but Wesley's first words to him were very harsh.

"Hey, freak, step out of the way so I can sit down, would ya?" Wesley snapped. Oh, Lord. What was I gonna do?

"Excuse you, who are you calling freak, Jackass?" Dallas asked very rudely.

"Are you deaf or just an idiot? I said move!" Wesley yelled.

Obviously they didn't like each other. There was more to Dallas being a weird kid that hid in his room that Wesley hated, I guess.

"Gentlemen, stop fighting! There will be a seating chart up tomorrow. For now just pull up a chair and you can both sit by her. She's not a toy!" Mrs. Arkan scolded. Thank God she did something before things really got out of hand! Who knows what would have happened.

They both sighed and I sat in the middle of the both of them. I looked over at Wesley from the corner of my eye and he looked furious! I hope he doesn't think bad of me for not saying anything to Dallas. And I hope Dallas doesn't think bad of me for not saying anything to Wesley. Why don't I just find out what Wesley is thinking about? I completely forgot that I cold do that.

'I really hope she doesn't like that punk. There will be some problems if she does.'

What do I do? I do sort of like Dallas even though I've only talked to him in English. We would be spending a lot of time with though. I couldn't change that. But, Wesley was friendly to me and made conversation with me at breakfast. I really can't compare the two of them when I hardly know them. I had a feeling that they had a grudge against each other over some stupid thing in middle school. That's still no reason to argue with each other over a seat next to me. Maybe they didn't want me. Maybe they wanted the chair itself and I just happened to be sitting next to it.

I really didn't understand why anyone would fight over me. I didn't understand anything about students in boarding school. They were so bored with their own lives that they had to fight over girls who had no social lives and cried over dead fictional characters. I felt bad for them. They were isolated from the outside world and their parents threw them into boarding school. I kept having to remind myself that I'm one of those kids whose parents threw them into boarding school. At least they couldn't ground me!

The rest of the day went by smoothly. There weren't any problems seating arrangements and I had Bonnie and Charlotte in the rest of my classes. We had dinner that night and that's when the problem really started.

I helped Pam set the table and put the food out. We were having lasagna. I sat down and cut myself a piece and Dallas walked in. So did Wesley. Everyone was already there and had started eating. Wesley sat down next to me at the head of the table like he did this morning. Dallas sat down next to me. But of course, Wesley couldn't let that go.

"Oh, sitting by Lena again," he said, "It would be silly of me to expect anything else."

"Well, considering this is the only seat left, where else could I sit?" Dallas asked. Not this again!

"On the floor, in your room, in the bathroom, outside," he listed. And then, to my horror, he mumbled, "in hell."

"Wesley!" I shrieked.

"Wow! You can use big boy words!" Dallas laughed like they were joking around.

'I hate that son of a bitch,' Dallas thought.

"Okay, how about we stop arguing and using big boy words? Does that sound good to everyone?" I asked.

"This is good entertainment, Lena! Don't stop them now!" James said, "How much you wanna bet that Wes is gonna win, David?"

"James!" Charlotte scolded.

"Five bucks," David replied.

Luckily Pam walked in at that precise moment and frowned. That was the only time I've ever seen her frown. It looked weird to see her frown. It didn't suit her in my opinion.

"What are we doing, gentlemen? I hope we aren't arguing," Pam said. I was so thankful that whatever they were doing didn't get out of hand.

"No, Ma'am. Wouldn't think of it," Wesley smiled at her.

'Kiss up,' Dallas thought.

I couldn't agree more.