by Chloe Smith
Summary
Monica Suarez is like any regular teenager. She expects to go to a regular high school, walking to and from home to get there, and able to see her Mamma every day. But what happens when Mamma's best friend, Hilary Packman, is paying for her school’s tuition? Tuition? Why are we paying for tuition? Oh yeah. Did I mention the school's the most expensive private school created just for the elite? Yep, St Ferdinand Private High. It's expensive yet far away...that would explain why she has to live away from home in a high school dorm. Her roommate is the sweetest person a girl could ask for, but her problem lies with the son of the woman who's funding her education.
Clinton Packman is better known as "The King of St Ferdinand" after just one year of going there. The cocky, cold sophomore Monica runs into the first time makes her blood boil. He acts so cold, and makes her first few weeks a living hell. If only she could go to a regular high school. Or better yet, just never see Clinton again in school. That would solve a lot of her problems. But fate seems to be against her wish as King and Commoner encounter each other more than they're supposed to.
Chapter 1
Now let me tell you now. I don't like freeloading, free payment, or anything like that. If I live somewhere, I have to pay rent. If I get something, I buy it. If I want something, I earn it.
So you may wonder how I landed at a very expensive private high school free of charge. Well, let me say this also, it wasn't my choice. I want to get that clear from the beginning. My mother just so happens to have a best friend who is Nikko. She met this lady six months ago when I was still in middle school at the grocery store, and now you just seem to see them together all the time. Everyone knows they are best friends because you can never separate them. No one would think they would be sisters though. Mamma has this gorgeous chocolate brown curly hair that reaches her waist braided with matching eyes. Mrs. Hilary, her best friend, has straight blond hair that falls right below her shoulder blade, her eyes are a shocking blue.
Mrs. Hilary has a son, although I have never met him. I tend to stay home when Mamma goes anywhere with Mrs. Hilary, and the son seems to do the same thing.
A week before school let out, I found out Mamma had already enrolled me in high school. Little did I know I would be going to a very expensive middle-of-nowhere private high school. So imagine my surprise, when a month before high school starts, Mamma is starting to pack my bags. At first, though we were moving, until the day before high school was bound to start.
I'm going to be living in a high school dorm, thirty or forty something miles away from civilization…or so Mrs. Hilary told me when she came to see me off.
"Oh, Monica, I do hope you will find my son there, he's already there, but he may be..." She kept talking, but I lost track of her voice, my attention was drawn to the blue veins lacing her temples. They looked so cool, and I almost found my hand rising to trace it with my fingers.
"…Duff. Just remember his name. Can you take him this?" Her outstretched hand brought me back to the present. What she was holding out was a picture in a frame. "I just…you know, we haven't been apart like this so much, and if he has this, maybe he won't be so lonely. It was a picture of her. Crap, and I was too spaced out to catch his name.
I took it with a nod. "Yes, Mrs. Hilary."
She waved it off. "Just call me Hilary!"
"Monica, are you ready?" Mamma was just loading the last bag into the car. I sighed. There was a perfectly good high school down the street. Why was I going all the way to a school that far away?
I waved at Hilary and hopped into the car.
I don't know how long it took there, but I guess it was alright. We'd never driven through town, so I got to see the rest of what I 'd been missing, but after awhile, the town turned into just greenery. Green this and green that…
I was finally happy to see a different color through the leaves.
"Ah! We're almost there." Mamma said, her hands tightening on the wheel as she leaned closer. I almost laughed. She looked like a little kid, excited to enter the amusement part.
When I turned to see the school, I was…Surprised? Yes. Speechless! Yes. Horrified? Yes.
Chapter 2
"Mamma! How did you pay for this school!" I asked looking at St Ferdinand Private High. It didn't look like a school, it looked like a mansion!
"I not paying for it." She said in her heavily accented voice.
"Huh? Who is?"
"Hilary."
"What!" I looked at Mamma in disbelief. "Are you saying I am going here because someone is paying other than us?"
"Sí." She smiled. "Hilary insisted."
"No Mamma, I can't go. I can't accept this. This must cost a fortune!"
Mamma's carefree attitude went to the wind. She lapsed into Spanish. "You listen to me. Hilary was nice enough to pay for this school. She did it out of her own heart. Will you reject her gift to you? She wants to do something nice for you. And if you don't try and be nice to her or accept her offers to go out with her, how do you think she is able to find what you like if you continue to be the hardheaded selfish girl you are!"
I sulked. "But she doesn't have to pay for a school like this for-"
"No no no! I don't want to hear it!"
I crossed my arms and looked out the window as Mamma drove into the parking lot. Once parked, she helped me carry my baggage to my dorm. When I opened the door to dorm room number 112, I was surprised to see the half of the dorm that was my roommates all set up. It was all in cream or gold and silver. There was a touch of baby pink here and there, and blue pillows on the bed. But beside that, it looked like an elegant bedroom. I was even more surprised at how large the dorm room was. It was like two of my rooms at home put together, plus the closets! There were already two king size beds on either sides of the room, indicating the two halves of the room.
Mamma helped me unload and decorate my side. Unlike my roommates side, my side was bold colors, like home. Mamma put the sheets she had been saving for her own bed she was saving up for onto my bed, and I felt stupid and guilty for acting so selfish. I came up behind her and hugged her around the waist. "Lo siento mamá…I'm sorry for acting so stubborn."
"Ah, my Monica." She said, turning around to hug me back. "Don't worry. Hilary didn't want you to feel bad, she want to make you happy. That's all she want to see, was your smile." As usual, Mamma's accented voice always soothed me. She added in Spanish, "After all, you are the daughter she never had. Let her spoil you."
We finished decorating and settling in, but Mamma had to leave for work, which left me to find my own way. I admit, I felt like a kid, not wanting to let go of Mamma's hand, but I guess it had to be done.
I walked back out to the car with her.
"Don't forget to say your prayers every night. And always brush your teeth. Don't forget to braid your hair every night, and-" she started fussing with my bangs.
"Okay, Mamma, I get it. I will take care of myself." I said, stilling her hands with my own.
She looked at me, and gave me that sad-happy face. "Aw, my baby is growing up!" She pinched my cheeks.
"Mamma!" I said, looking around, making sure no one else saw that.
"Come on, humor your Mamma. You won't see me for at least a month!" She took me in her arms, and I smelled in her unique smell once more. It smelled like sunflowers. "Ah, mi mamasita!"
And with that, Mamma climbed into the car and drove away.
Once she was gone, I trudged up to my dorm room to get my purse. I may as well get used to the school. It was to be my home for nine months.
"Oh! You're my roommate! So cool!"
Chapter 3
"Oh! You're my roommate! So cool!" I was met with that upon entering the room.
"Ah, yes." I said, not knowing what else to say.
She clapped her hands, delighted. She popped up, and I was surprised at her pixie-like state. She came up to my nose. She held out her hand. Even that move looked elegant. "I'm Gaya. If you want, you can call me Lucie." She said in a soft voice.
I took her hand. "Ah, I'm Monica."
She radiated energy. "Oh, I'm so excited!" She blushed. "I've never really talked to someone like this before. I'm sorry if I came on too strong." She backed away a little.
"No! You didn't!" I exclaimed faster than I had meant to, and I think I scared Gaya little.
She looked at me in the face and saw that I wasn't making fun of her. Then she looked down and smiled, a blush creeping over her cheeks. "I'm glad."
"Ah…" What was I supposed to say? "Well…I was, um going to go look around the school." I said, picking up my purse which was sitting on my bed.
"Oh!" Gaya perked up again. "I can show you around if you want."
I looked at the school map that had been sitting right next to my purse. "Well, uhm…" The map did look complicated. "Sure."
Chapter 4
I had to admit, I was completely awed. This place was so huge. What was it doing in the middle of nowhere? Gaya didn't get to show me even half of it before a bell rang.
"Oh, that's the dinner bell. come on!" She took my hand and led me to the cafeteria.
My mouth dropped open. They called this a cafeteria? It looked more like a restaurant. I looked at the line of foods. A buffet restaurant.
"What do you want? There's salad. There's um…seafood. There's different kinds of meat, like chicken, meatloaf, different kinds of sandwiches, stuff like that."
"Uhh…I d-don't know." I said. Everyone in there was acting like this was regular. Didn't they know this was different from a regular school?
Bt then…this school must be expensive, so maybe this was where all the Nikko lived? Maybe I was the only one who wasn't used to this.
"Well, let's start with a salad, and see from there."
We got salads, and I realized how not hungry I was. She seemed to be hungry though. After taking me to get my salad, I trailed her as she got a full plate of all kinds of food. Sushi, corn, mashed potatoes, and a few other entrées I had no idea what they were.
I had been checking out the cafeteria the whole time, but I still hadn't had enough of it. There was the awesome chandelier dangling from the center of the dining room. The colors were gold, and reminded me a little of Gaya's room, with some crimson mixed in here and there. There were booths lining the walls like you would find in restaurants, and coffee tables littered the spaces.
I was engrossed with the place. Maybe that's why the accident happened.
I was too busy looking around me, above me, that I didn't pay attention to in front of me. I tripped on the small step that led to the big table. The one that sat smack in the middle of the dining room…right under the chandelier.
My simple salad flew off my tray…
And onto the most gorgeous guy I've ever laid eyes on. His hair was the color mixed between milk chocolate and creamy caramel and it swept down to his collar. He regarded me with mesmerizing, yet odd colored copper eyes. I could feel the heat filling my cheeks. It seemed the whole cafeteria became quiet.
"Ah…I'm sorry…I really-"
"What's your name?" He asked his voice devoid of any feelings.
"I'm, uh, I'm Monica Suarez." I felt my cheeks grow hotter as I looked up at him from where I fell.
"Ah. The commoner." He looked at the pieces of lettuce decorating his black T-shirt. "I should've known."
"Eh!" Commoner! Did I just hear him cal me a commoner! "Excuse me?"
"Commoner, do you know who I am?" He picked off a piece of the green and threw it at my face.
"No. Should I?" People around me gasped, but I didn't care, this bastard needed someone to teach him some manners. For God's sake, it was just pieces of vegetation that could be easily dusted off.
He merely raised an eyebrow, the only sign that he was surprised. "You may want to remember my name in the future. Clinton." With that, he stood and left the table, not looking back once. The people who were sitting with him followed, darting weird, disgusted, or pitiful looks at me.
Who cared. I was mad, so I didn't even register them.
Chapter 5
Gaya rushed up to me, kneeling down next to me. "are you alright? She asked, her golden hair creating a curtain around her worried face. Her green eyes looked almost afraid. "You shouldn't really provoke him."
"Yeah? Well, I don't care." I stood, brushing off my clothes. Gaya stood also.
"Many people call him the king of St Ferdinand. It would be really bad to get on his bad side."
"Too late. I'm going back to the room."
Once back there, I plopped onto my bed. Today had been long indeed, and I felt like I stuck out like a dog trying to run with the wolves. Not even a hound. I felt more like a Chihuahua. I groaned. I wished now more than ever that I went to a regular school. They didn't have such things as "King of the school" and buffets for dinner. We didn't even have dorms! I rolled on to my stomach, curling a pillow under my chin. I hadn't even gotten through the first day without making mistake. Keep it up, and I was looking forward to a long high school career!
A phone started ringing. At first, I thought it was my roommates…until I realized it was coming from my desk. I scrambled off the bed and searched the desk. I found the phone in the second drawer. It was a silver flip phone. It looked simple, but it oozed expensiveness.
I answered the phone. "Hello?"
"Ah, Monica!" Oh Mother!
"Mamma! What's going on, where did this phone come from?" I asked her in Spanish.
"Oh, just a 'have fun' gift from Hilary. She thought you might need a phone, especially since you're so far away from home." She sounded cheerful. How could my mom feel so comfortable with accepting so much stuff from her. It made me feel like I was in debt to Hilary. How could she and I feel so different on this? She raised me for crying out loud!
"How was it? Did you get settled in?"
"Yes Mamma."
"Oh, mija, Hilary wants to talk to you."
"Oka-"
"Hello? Are you having fun dear? How was the food? Excellent, right?" Hilary bombarded me with questions, and I had to move the phone a couple of inches away from my ear.
"Ah, yes…Thank you Hilary. You really didn't have to-"
"Oh hush, I wanted to. And I thought it would be good if Clinton had a friend. Did you give him the photo?"
Wait…C-Packman? Please tell me they were not the same person! "Ah…no, not yet."
"His dorm room number is 209, if you wanted to go by there." I found myself totally hoping that Hilary's son and St Ferdinand’s king weren't the same Clinton. Hilary didn't even look like that guy she saw sitting at the big table in the cafeteria.
"O-Okay. I will give it to him."
"Thanks hun! I hope you do well there. And don't forget to have fun!"
"Oka-"
"Hola, mamasita?" Egh…Mamma and Hilary went so fast, it made my head spin. No wonder they were friends…Mamma finally found someone who could keep up with her!
"Mamma."
"Have fun! Hilary is going to take me out to dinner. Keep the phone with you, okay?"
"Oka-" click.
I sighed. I should go and take the photo to Hilary's son.
Chapter 6
"Two…oh…nope. That's two-nineteen. Ugh! Where is that stupid room!"
"Excuse me? What room are you looking
for?" I turned around and found myself facing yet another gorgeous guy…but I grudgingly admitted he wasn't as cute as that guy. His hair was sandy brown, and it was so long that it was put in a loose ponytail that fell to just below his shoulders. He had bangs that haggardly, yet neatly fell to frame the sides of his face. His eyes…blue-no, purple. Maybe indigo? They were dark and reminded me of deep water. He was really pretty.
"Are you alright?" Only when he asked did I realize I had been staring. I shook my head.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I-" I blushed for the second time that day, and looked down at the floor.
"No, I meant about earlier." He surprised me by saying.
