Chapter 2 - An American Flavour

The day went by just as I thought it would. Every year there are new students in every class. Most of the kids who are back year after year are day school kids. Kids who are actually FROM the town, Faribault, in Minnesota where the school is… those are the ones who are back year after year. Most of the boarding kids come for a couple of years at most, and then move on. I’m kind of the exception to that rule. Well me, and a couple of others. Our families have shipped us off for good. I’ve discovered that boarding school is something of, well, it’s like a punishment or a reward. Some kids get to come for a couple of years for a specific program if they are good. Where others are shipped off if they misbehave in day school. Boarding schools are like gas stations… they have pretty high turnover.
Not me though. I’m just here. I was too young to be really bad, and it definitely hasn’t been a reward for me. So the first day of school, no matter what grade you’re in, is usually a brand new experience for a number of people. It’s not a long day here.
You go to homeroom in the morning, they give you a list of things you need to pack for our week long outdoor retreat (great way to start the school year – no showers for a week), and you do a bunch of silly get to know your classmates activities.
I breezed through it the same way I had for the past few years. Saying as little as possible, winking and smiling at a couple of cute guys in my class, and getting out of there as fast as possible.
Nobody said anything to me. Middle school kids are too scared of upper classmen to say anything to us, and the upper and lower classmen who don’t know learn my story pretty quickly and stay as far away from me as possible.
It didn’t actually hurt my feelings if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m used to way things are, and I could care less. I find the hypocrisy of it all amusing to say the least. I headed to my room (a single, thanks to Grandmama) and double-checked to make sure I’d packed everything I was supposed to pack.
It wasn’t exactly exciting, but that’s how I spent most of the morning after I met him. At lunch, I went back to the kitchens, where Anna had a great chicken salad ready for me, before heading back up to my room to change into my completely inappropriate bathing suit.
See, one thing I may not have mentioned, is that Shattuck’s has a strict dress code. Particularly when we’re going to class. Formal school attire is required. In other words, we wear a uniform.
Not that I really mind the uniform that much. I always dress it up a little with some accessories and then changed my clothes the minute I’m done classes. The school HATES how I dress outside of school. Particularly during the summer, since I tend not to wear very much. Since it was a gorgeous day, I didn’t intend on wearing much. I pulled out my favourite teal blue shimmer-y bikini and pulled it on, adding a teal green sarong and a pair of matching flip-flops, I grabbed my IPod and my beach chair, and headed for a nice patch of sun.
People whispered behind their hands as I passed them, and I tossed my long mane of strawberry blonde hair over my shoulder in response. I wasn’t about to let anyone know that I hated the fact that they talked about me, but not too me.
I wouldn’t have minded all the gossip if a few of them would have actually talked to me… maybe then I wouldn’t have been so lonely. At least I would have had someone to talk to. I sighed. This was going to be the longest year of all because it was the last one. I knew that no matter what, Shattuck St. Mary’s would NOT be my home after June. I would be moving on… I just didn’t know what too.
Grandmama wanted me to go to Harvard or Yale and be a lawyer (the profession my Dad almost abandoned because I was on the way). Grandpapa wanted me to go to Georgetown and be a Doctor. Mom wanted me to go Brown and become an accountant or a stockbroker. I have no idea what Dad wanted me to do. Probably crawl under a rock and disappear.
The problem was, I had no idea WHAT I wanted to do. The only classes I really enjoyed were my history and language classes. I was taking both Spanish and French and I knew I’d adore the classes the same way I had the year before.
I set a nonchalant grin (my favourite kind) on my face and set myself up on the front lawn of Berker Hall where the sun was shinning brightly. I lay down on my beach chair and soaked up the rays. I was just about to plug my earphones into my ears when a familiar voice said in snooty tones. “Good God Kallista have you no shame?”
I glanced up at Katie Nash. She was a teammate on the soccer team and had been at Shattuck’s for a year now. She was a reward kid. I raised my sunglasses off my eyes. “Of course not darling.” I said in my best impression of my Grandmama’s rich New Yorker tone. “I left it all behind in The City this summer.”
“You look like a whore.” She snapped.
I looked her up and down. “And you my dear, look like you shop at Target or Wal-Mart.” I told her critically. I glanced up and down again. “JC Penny perhaps? I really can’t tell one from the other. Perhaps however, you are just advertising what you are.”
“I’d rather get my clothes from the Salvation Army then advertise what you do.” She said. “At least if am advertising anything with my clothes, they’re advertising that I’m a decent girl, unlike what your clothes advertise.”
“And what, pray tell, do my clothes advertise?” I asked, knowing full well what she was going to say about me.
“That you’re a whore.” Katie snapped angrily. “Which we both know that you are.” “Still upset that Danny chose me over you sweetheart?” I asked condescendingly. “We all know why he chose you.” She nearly yelled. “It’s because you’re a slut who’ll sleep with anything that walks and I’m not.”
“Or maybe it’s because you’re prude and not much of a catch darling.” I informed her. “A guy like Danny, going to go to school on the East Coast, he needed some East Coast class before hand, a lesson in the way WASPs do things.”
Katie snorted. “If you are classy, I would HATE to see what you think is trashy.”
“Two words. Paris. Hilton.” I replied slowly as if she were too stupid to understand me. “She is East Coast trailer trash, for all her money, and anyone who’s actually anyone in New York will tell you that.”
Katie rolled her eyes. “At least she’s a famous whore. All you are is just a regular run of the mill puck bunny.”
“Darling, I’ve been hitting the society page of the Times every summer I’ve spent in The City and the Hampton’s since I was 12.” I said in my best imitation of my Grandmama’s bored sounding voice… the one she uses when she’s the most irritated. “When was the last time you were mentioned on the society pages of, well any newspaper?” I paused. Katie is from some small town in Iowa or Idaho or Indiana or something like that. “For that matter is there even a newspaper where you’re from? Is that something only us city folk like?”
“I may not be mentioned in some newspaper every summer, but at least I’m a decent human being.” She snapped.
“And what makes you say that I’m not?” I asked. “The fact that a boy liked me better then he liked you?” I laughed. “Darling, if that’s how you decide whether or not someone is a good person, you are going to be meeting many, many bad people in your life.”
“You don’t care who you hurt on the road to getting what you want.” Katie informed me. “That’s what makes you a bad person.” She paused. “That and the fact that you dress like a complete and total skank.”
“And I’d rather dress the way I do darling, then be a virgin like you.” I glanced at her innocently. “What’s it like to be 17 and unable to find a boy willing to relieve you of that pesky little membrane of skin?” I asked.
“You are such a bitch Kallista.” Katie snapped.
“Tell me something I didn’t ready know.” I replied, placing my sunglasses back on my eyes. “Now do you mind? You’re blocking my sun.”
Just then, a group of hockey boys walked past and Sidney immediately caught my eye. I figured that by now, he’d heard all about me, so I didn’t look up and meet his gaze (though I did feel his eyes on me) or wave or anything like that. I kept my gaze firmly on Katie until he called. “Hey Kally.”
I waved. “Hey kid.” I replied as he approached. “How was your first morning at Shattuck’s?” I asked politely (I mean, Mom and Grandmama did teach me some manners before dumping me at this hellhole).
He shrugged, loosening his tie. “It was school.” He said.
I laughed. “You packed yet kid?”
“Not yet.” He replied, as his new friends starred hard at us. “Actually, we’re on our way to do that now.”
I wasn’t sure what was shocking them more. The fact that I was capable of actually being nice to someone or the fact that someone was actually talking to me. Hell, I wasn’t sure which was surprising ME more, and I was included in the conversation.
“Well get ready for a fun filled week of no showers and close contact with your fellow students.” I said with a slight shudder. “Oh and remember, deodorant is your friend kid. Like, some hockey players seem to think that because they are used to the way they smell, that the rest of us should be too.”
Sidney chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He said with an infectious grin. One of his friends, a guy named Matt Smaby, who’d been at Shattuck’s the year before, had recovered from his shock at seeing me being nice and talking to someone during the day and was pulling anxiously on Sidney’s sleeve.
“Sid come on.” He said, looking at me as if I were carrying the Black Plague or something. “There are a few more things you need to know about the way we do things here.” I laughed. “What Matty?” I asked mockingly. “You mean, you didn’t warn him already? I’m surprised at you. You need to be more on the ball about these kinds of things. Why the kid may catch something just TALKING to me, and we wouldn’t want our newest Tier I Bantam to be unable to play because he caught something from the school slut. ”
Sidney rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He said with a shrug as he glanced at Matt. “But I do need to go pack. Catch you later Kally?” He asked, his eyes hopeful.
“Yeah sure, whatever.” I replied, hoping that no one was able to really see the hope in my eyes. “Bye kid.”
Katie, who hadn’t left (unfortunately for us all, but for me in particular) but had rather stood there, watching my exchange with Sidney and when Sidney and the other sophomore boys in walked out of earshot, she suddenly burst out laughing. “Oh I get it.” She said gleefully. “Well that’s a first.” I muttered under my breath.
“With Zach gone, you’ve lost your one sure thing.” She said laughing. “So you’re going fishing.” She paused. “Is a sophomore the best you can do?”
I rolled my eyes. “First.” I told her firmly and somewhat angrily in spite of myself. “You know nothing about Zachie and I, so in the words of my Grandpapa, do not write a check that your ass cannot cash. Secondly, not that it’s any of your business darling.” I said, my voice calm once again. “But Stoney insisted on introducing us this morning when I went to class early. If you had been the only upper classmen around, I’m sure that you would have got to meet him first. He asked me to show the kid to his homeroom while he talked to his parents. That’s it.”
“Then why was he talking to you now?” She asked snottily. “Did you already promise to sneak him into your tent this week?”
“I don’t sneak boys into my tent Katherine.” I told her firmly. “They sneak into mine on their own. I don’t have to encourage them. I suppose that you would probably have to try and talk one into it….” I paused. “How demeaning.”
Katie was now completely red in the face. She was totally pissed off at me, and had been the entire time we were talking. One of the things my Mom and Grandmama had taught me was that nothing irritated an opponent more then you staying calm, as they became angrier and angrier. “Unlike you Kallista I am NOT the kind of girl who would WANT a boy in my tent.” “So you’re a lesbian then?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. “How… LA.”
She glared at me, and I could tell that she wanted nothing more to hit me, but there was a zero tolerance policy for violence at Shattuck’s, and if she hit me…. Well it didn’t matter what I’d said to her to provoke her; she’d be kicked out of here so fast her head would spin. “I am NOT a dyke.” She said angrily through clenched teeth.
I shrugged nonchalantly. “Whatever floats your boat darling.” I said. “Really none of my business. Much like my sex life is none of yours.” I paused, letting that sink in, not that I thought it would. Katie is somewhat thick. “Or perhaps you’re jealous.”
“Of what?” She snorted.
“The fact that I met the kid before you did.” I told her. “Not that it really matters that much. He’s just a sophomore. But Stoney did say he was Bantam Tier I. Maybe you’re the one who wants to “go fishing” as you put it, for the year. It must be frustrating to be nearly a full year older then I am and still a virgin.”
“You’re a bitch Kallista.” Katie snapped red in the face.
“And we’ve already established that darling.” I replied calmly. “Now get out of my sun, or you’ll find out just how much of a bitch I can be.”