The Rest Is History | ✓

02 | the challenge

Archer Woods was infuriating.

Currently we were both standing near the stage after the announcement of the new Heads, and everyone was congratulating us. But after most of them had dispersed, Archer turned on me.

"Who the bloody hell did you suck up to to be selected as Head?" he hissed.

"Excuse me?"

"No, tell me."

I glared at him. "Look here, you piece of shite. I got selected for the same reasons you did, and if you have a hard time believing that, then it's your problem you're so insecure, not mine."

I gave him one last withering look and walked off.

I could hear him muttering insults under his breath. Jerk.

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Bloomwood Prep was, I daresay, an elite boarding school in London, and here, there were two buildings, the old wing and the new wing. The old wing had a few classes, the old library and the study room, a huge hall where students could congregate for study sessions. Somewhat like the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford.

The new wing had most of the classes, the new library, the gymnasium, an auditorium, and two towers for the girls' and the boys' dorms. The girls' dorms were in the Carrington Tower, while the boys' were in the Moseley Tower.

The two towers were separated by a long corridor, and deviating from that corridor towards the back, was another shorter corridor, between the two towers. The shorter one housed only one room and a loo. The room was the study of the Head Boy and Girl. This was where Archer and I were supposed to sit and work in, after our lessons finished, till an hour before supper.

So you can imagine why I was losing my mind.

"Viv, calm down, you'll just have to spend, what, five hours with him everyday? It's just five hours, you can do this!"

I stared at Kate like she had gone nuts. "Are you hearing yourself, Kate? I have to spend five whole hours with the person I hate, every single day! This isn't some sort of joke!"

Angie was more rational. "Okay, okay fine, maybe it's tough. But so what? You're the toughest girl I know, and he can't bother you if you don't let him. And it's no use grumbling, is it? What's done is done, and being Head Girl was your dream. To live it you've got to give up other things."

I sighed. "I know. I guess I'll just have to deal with it."

I got up from my bed in the dorm I share with Kate, Angie, and another girl called Beth. I went down to the common room and sat down at the big wooden table to do my homework. I was in the middle of solving a calculus sum when I heard someone enter the room.

I looked up just in time to see Archer slam his hands on the table.

"Listen here, Vivian. I know we'll have to share a study together for five hours everyday next term, but I want nothing to do with you. So you'd better mind your own business and I can just do my own work, alone, without any annoying interruptions."

I smiled sweetly at him. "Believe me, anything would be better than having to share a study with you, so I'll gladly mind my own business. Just make sure you do, too."

He glared at me. "I think it'll be better if you go back to your dorm and I sit alone in the study. No one has to know. If the students have any problems, they can just come to me."

I stood up. "Like I'd ever give you the chance to say you're doing all the work, not me. It's not nice to hog the limelight, haven't you heard, It Boy?"

He smirked. "So you think I'm the It Boy, huh?"

I rolled my eyes. "Everyone here with a working brain and a pair of eyes knows you're the It Boy, Archer. Don't play dumb with me. That's not how outsmarting works."

His smirk dropped. I smiled.

"Moving on," he went on, "I don't want to share the same room as you for five hours every day."

"Neither do I. But we have no choice."

He sighed, his face suddenly turning deadly serious, his eyes gazing into the distance.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What are you thinking?"

He snapped out of his reverie. "None of your business, Vivian."

With that, he stormed out of the common room.

I suddenly had a very cold, empty feeling in my chest. I shook my head, reminding myself it was nothing, nothing to feel upset over. He'd been calling me Vivian for the past few months now, instead of the usual Vi, so it wasn't like it was a big deal.

Not at all.

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a/n: are we sensing something buried in vivian? what do you think? hope you liked this chapter :)