NINE #2
“I understand you were homeschooled for the majority of your high school years, and so you will be unused to life on campus. It may be a bit of a culture shock at first, but I’m sure you will settle in no time.
At Northridge Academy, we aim to make our students’ education with us as pleasant and rewarding as possible.
But it goes without saying that a student will only get out what they put in.
” He stopped for a brief second to glance at me over the papers he kept nervously shuffling.
The principal’s voice was surprisingly high-pitched.
He was a tall, well-rounded man, around forty, I would say, with dark plastic-looking hair, suggesting he was overenthusiastic with hair products.
He also had a large nose, which was clearly needed by how thick and heavy his glasses looked.
I wondered if he knew about my parents and what had happened.
I could tell I made him uncomfortable: unless his face always looked like that.
He rasped a hand over the stubble on his jaw as his shrewd eyes ran over me.
“I imagine, studying from home, you likely have a unique perspective on learning, and we want to encourage that curiosity, not replace it. However, so we know what level you are working towards, we have arranged for you to take a handful of aptitude tests.” Great, ‘tests’, my positivity was set to nose-dive at any second.
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, and his brow creased.
“Don’t look so worried. The tests are only so your teachers can assess what support you need going forward and to enable you to flourish in your chosen course.”
He paused and glanced down at the paperwork he held.
“I see from your records that you never sat for your GCSEs. That means we may need you to take some equivalent exams to run simultaneously with your chosen BTECH. However, please bear with us. Homeschooling is still unique, and we have never had an external student who has been so absent from school, so we may not get it right off the bat. But we are here to support you until your exams. Does that all make sense?”
Unique, there was that word again. I slowly nodded my head and stopped myself from saying, not really. Unique could be used to describe the homeschooling, but non-existent would probably be more accurate.
Attempting to swallow away that lump that had been sitting in my throat all morning, I forced the muscles in my mouth to respond. “Yes, sir.” Kieran’s ‘toe the line’ instruction echoed through my thoughts.
“As you’re being held back a year, it may feel like you are going backwards, but we’ve spoken at length with your aunt, and we agree that this is the right thing for you. And it gives you more time to decide what you want to do with the rest of your life.”
His last sentence gave me a smidge of hope, the thought of one day being able to make my own decisions. “Thank you.”
He then beamed at me over the desk and placed the papers down.
“Good. We’re so pleased you are with us, Amelie.
” Principal Bannerman said, clapping his hands together.
He attempted to sound cheerful about my being there, but I didn’t miss that mixture of curious sympathy in his eyes.
I wondered how much he knew about my background.
I also imagined that the big fat whooping six thousand pounds per term my aunt and her husband had forked out had something to do with his sudden glee.
I smiled in response as he took his glasses from his nose and wiped them with his sleeve.
As he looked back up at me, his eyes were like dots.
He then placed them back on his face and leaned backwards.
The leather chair creaked, and the material looked as tired as the principal.
I imagined running a private school full of demanding, privileged kids would eventually take its toll on anyone.
I toyed with the strap of my bag, which I held on my lap, as Bannerman raised his eyebrows at me.
“Do you have any questions?”
Oh, I had several, but none that would be welcome in that stuffy old room. My stomach rumbled, the sound almost echoing in that space between us. If the man on the opposite side of the desk noticed, he didn’t say anything, thankfully.
“No, sir.”
“Very good then. My PA, Alison, has your timetable, and I believe Miss Dumas is here to show you the ropes.” My hands trembled as they wrapped around my backpack, and I pushed to my feet. Miss Dumas, as in the girl Halo from the party? At least she wasn’t a total stranger.
As I left the room and was placed in the hands of Alison, a large woman with greying hair scraped back into a bun, the bell went, as did the sound of doors crashing open and loud footsteps.
I could see the blur of students as they walked up and down the corridors through the glass of the secretary’s office.
Taking my timetable and some other forms, I thanked her.
The woman looked exactly how you’d imagine a school secretary to look.
I was asked to complete the forms with a ‘guardian’ as Alison escorted me from her office.
Thankfully, Halo was standing leaning against the wall as students passed by.
I didn’t miss how everyone turned to look at me as they went about their morning.
She looked cute in a pale blue dress and white Converse trainers.
“Hey,” Halo said, waving a piece of paper at me. She clutched the strap of her backpack with the other hand.
“Hey yourself,” I replied. As the secretary lingered, I sensed Halo was playing the part as she lowered her hand and gave me what looked like a campus map. Once Alison was satisfied that she had delivered me into safe hands, she left us to it.
The buzz of the corridors had faded by the time we were alone. The bell sounded again, and I grimaced.
“I know, it’s a shrill sound, isn’t it. Anyway, that means it’s the start of period one, and so everyone should be in class now.”
“OK. So, I guess I’m missing my first class?”
Her smile widened as she threaded her arm through mine. “Absolutely, and what’s even cooler is that, so am I.”
I shifted my focus to the corridor we were walking down as Halo led us around the corner.
The spaces were wide, probably designed to allow students to move around freely without bottlenecks, the walls were cream, and the floor was polished wood.
There were windows on one side, allowing natural light to spill into the building and doors into classrooms sat on the other side.
The modern décor inside was a contrast to the outside.
Externally, the school had a Hogwarts-type feel.
The main building was a tower of sandstone walls covered in dark ivy with grand-looking windows that looked out onto a cobbled courtyard and what I assumed was a football field.
There were several other smaller buildings dotted around the main one and a large car park that had been almost full when we’d arrived.
Halo talked shop for the first twenty minutes as we made our way across campus, weaving in and out of different sections of the school.
She showed me the cafeteria, which was dead apart from the dinner ladies working behind the counter.
We also visited the girls' changing rooms, the toilets and the place where the school counsellor's office was; someone I hopefully would never need to visit. I had seen so many during my time at the children’s centre that my head would likely explode.
Halo suggested I look into a couple of classrooms to get a feel for the rooms I would be studying in. The doors had glass-panelled windows. As we both carefully looked inside, every student had their heads down and were working.
When we got to the maths department, I saw Kieran sitting at the back of the class. Halo said that Kieran was super intelligent and taking further maths. She explained that was the reason why there were only five students in that classroom.
“I reckon he’ll become an architect like his dad,” she explained.
As my eyes roamed over him, he must have sensed someone was watching as he raised his head from his book.
Those dark eyes locked on mine briefly before he broke that connection, glancing back down at the desk, the pencil in his hand gripped so tightly.
So, we were back there.
I moved away, surprised as Halo threaded her arm through mine again as we walked. This time, her hold was tighter as she led us towards some double doors at the opposite end of the building to where we had started. By that point, I was totally lost; the place was huge.
Once we were outside, Halo and I walked down a gravel pathway, the sun warming my shoulders, and I started to relax until my tour guides’ next words.
“So, just to give you a heads up. Everyone is talking about Kieran carrying you out of Weston Cavendish’s house party at the weekend.”
“Really? How? School only started twenty minutes ago?” I questioned, confused at how gossip could have spread so quickly.
“Everyone’s phones blew up all of Sunday,” she explained, cutting me a sideways look. “And I would say don’t worry about it, as gossip at school usually gets old fast…” She slid her arm from mine and turned to face me.
Clearing my throat, I clutched the straps of my bag. “I can sense a but coming on.”
Halo pursed her lips before adding my predicted word. “But, as it concerns Kieran, stuff tends to linger for longer.”
I released a sigh, glancing over her shoulder to the field in the distance where there was a PE session going on. “He won’t like that.”
Halo’s loud snort drew my focus back. “Of course, he will; he’s a Rook. They love being the centre of attention.” Yes, but not when I was in there somewhere.
Lowering my hands, I shifted on my feet, kicking at a stone. “So, what else are they saying?”
“That something is going on between you.”
My mouth dropped open in shock. “That’s ridiculous. I’d had too much to drink, and he helped me home. That’s it. I suppose he was being a gentleman.”