Elite & Tawdry ✔ [COMPLETE]

Chapter 6

Lunch could not have come fast enough.

Orientation was stressful for Tawny. She tried to stay focused on her instructor, but all the while she could feel the daggers of eyes in the back of her head.

The murmurings and giggles from the other girls in the classroom. Were they directed at her? She felt paranoid to suspect, and yet...

"Everyone," said the instructor at the front of the class, a petite woman with a short bob of black hair and a thick South Asian accent. "We have new transfer student to Ivoree Gates; a scholarship recipient. Please welcome Tawny Matthews."

Tawny inwardly bristled at the introduction. They're already treating me differently, she thought, why add salt to the wound by telling them I can't afford it?

To her utter mortification, the instructor motioned for her to come to the front of the class.

Tawny stood from her desk; her chair scraped loudly across the floor, amplifying her embarrassment.

"Why don't you say a few words to the class?" said the instructor.

"Um...hi," croaked Tawny, her voice sounding weak and not her own. "I'm happy to be here with you all and...um, look forward to learning with...you all."

Cue the snickers.

Tawny looked down at her feet during her introduction, but cautioned a glance at the rest of the students. Most looked bored and indifferent, as she expected.

However, some of the girls were smiling back. Tawny took this as an encouraging sign, until one of the girls, a pretty redhead sitting in the front row, raised her hand.

"Yes, Elizabeth?" said the instructor.

Elizabeth stood up with a flourish. "I just want to say that I, for one, think it very noble and altruistic of Ivoree Gates to lean in so heavily in their philanthropy.

If our institution doesn't give opportunities to our abjectly destitute members of society, who will?"

"Very well said, Elizabeth," the instructor, missing the thinly-veiled slight entirely. "Tawny, you may sit down."

Tawny was all sorts of shades of red when went back to her seat; it didn't help that as she passed the redhead,

Elizabeth flipped her hair in such a way as to hit Tawny right in the face.

---

Lunch would be better, Tawny convinced herself.

And how could it not? The cafeteria of Ivoree Gates was the largest in the country.

In fact, it looked more like a high-scale food court with its restaurant-style seating and five-star chefs on staff to serve up delicious, epicurean delicacies.

Tawny could only stare in awe as a server carved her a generous, rare piece of prime rib and laid it on her plate.

The only other time she ate this decadently was the reception after her friend's grandfather's funeral.

She quickly got over her uncertainty when she saw the mashed potatoes and mac and cheese, two of her favourite foods. She hurried over and piled her plate high with both offerings.

She was so engrossed with filling her craw (she had stuffed a bread roll in her mouth and held it there), she almost jumped out of her skin when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

Tawny turned to look and was face to face with an Asian student with long, straight black hair, held back by a bright red headband.

"Tawny, right?" said the girl. Her voice lilted with the music of an English accent. She extended her hand. "Violet St. Regis-Wright."