The Elite

Chapter 6, Part II

BOP

Main Building

Photography Room

Thursday, September 5th

1:25 P.M.

"How did you talk me into taking this class?" Layne asked from her spot next to Claire, blindly toying with the camera in her hands. "I suck at this."

Indeed, Layne's shots were mediocre at best. They would probably be a little better if she didn't chug a Red Bull right before they walked together from Verona Hall to the Main Building. By the time they reached the classroom, Layne was hyped up and ready for the last class of the day with jittery hands.

"You'll get better!" Claire insisted encouragingly. Although it was only the first week of school, she had her doubts that there would be any major improvement by the end of the semester for Layne. And for the sake of Layne's grade and her health, Claire hoped that she would cut back on the energy drinks.

"I hope I get better," Monica said as if she had been a part of the other side of the table's conversation. "Or else this was a waste of my time..." She gave Cayden a pointed look, grey eyes smoldering with a quiet fury.

Cayden was completely unfazed by a wrathful look that made Claire want to melt under the table, and she probably would have if she wasn't so oddly interested by what was being exchanged before her.

"You would have been overworked with your old schedule." He admonished more like a worried relative than a friend. "You needed a fun elective."

"I had two..."

"Advanced Readings in Russian is not fun." Cayden rolled his eyes as Claire exchanged a glance with Layne.

"No, it's not." Monica laughed, her angry look at him seemed long gone, her eyes shining now. "But it would have been an easy A."

Claire had heard that the class was incredibly hard. Not only did you have to read classical Russian literature, but also write essays and give speeches on the assigned readings. And like every advanced or accelerated language course at BOP, no English was allowed.

She hadn't even known that Monica could speak Russian. But it wasn't a surprise.

During their freshman year, Alicia had done a little research on Monica's old Swiss boarding school, Le Rosey, a prestigious school even among the world's elite.

The main campus is located in the Château du Rosey in Rolle. In the winter the entire student body and all of the faculty move to the winter campus in the Swiss Alps resort town of Gstaad. Not only did the school's location provide natural exposure to French and German, but there was a ten percent quota for each nationality so that there was a mix of cultures and languages. The curriculum was bilingual with twenty-five mother tongue language and literature classes for students to stay in touch with their culture.

"I don't think Harvard will mind if you take one non-boring class." Cayden rolled his eyes. Everyone knew that Monica was destined to be accepted early to her school of choice.

But the mention of Harvard sent Monica's smile crashing. Cayden quickly noticed his friend's change in mood and jumped into action.

"Come on, you know you'll get in!" He encouraged. "Both of your parents graduated from there, you're a legacy!"

Her frown deepened the second he mentioned her parents. "I don't want to get in because of them." She spat and instantly Claire understood.