Bridgeport Academy #2

by AshleyValentine

  Amir turned toward Jade. “How’s Crystal doing, by the way?”

  Jade eyed him suspiciously. “She’s fine.” When was he going to get over it already? “Great, in fact.”

  Amir balanced his shiny gray ankle boot on the bottom step. He was probably the only boy at Bridgeport who actually polished his shoes regularly. Freak. Amir was an über-metrosexual, with his perfectly stylish wardrobe and the utter invisibility of his pores, something that was not natural in a guy. No wonder Crystal had ditched him for Zane Taylor, an über-sexual if Jade had ever seen one. What did that make Maurice? Just plain sexual?

  “I haven’t seen her around.” Amir bent down and rubbed a smudge of dirt off his shoe.

  “Yeah, well.” Jade shrugged. “She’s been busy.”

  “She hasn’t been at the dining hall lately. Is she not eating again?” How cute for Amir to worry about Crystal’s well-being. Although she had gotten way too skinny.

  But before she could respond, Maurice burst out laughing. He grabbed Jade’s arm in mock anguish and cried, “You must tell me! Has she been taking her multivitamins? Has she been doing her biology homework?” Maurice collapsed into giggles. “You sound like her fucking mother!”

  Amir glared at him angrily. “Fuck off, Maurice. So, how many rooms did you get at the Ritz?” he asked casually, changing the subject.

  “Two presidential suites.”

  “You think that’ll be enough room for everyone?” Amir frowned. “Aren’t there, like, ten or twelve people going? Where will they all sleep?”

  Maurice jumped up and did a dance with his hips, as if he were trying to balance a hula hoop around them. “Where will they all sleep?” he repeated in a falsetto, cracking Jade up. “Bro, there’s not going to be too much sleeping going on if I can help it.”

  Amir rolled his eyes. “Maybe I’ll get a private room. For me and Crystal.”

  “Why? So you can go watch The Notebook? Brown Sugar?” Maurice burst out laughing again. “Love & Basektball? Dude, it’s a fucking party.”

  Jade giggled. Maurice had to be the next boy on the Café Society make-out list. Maybe Crystal thought he was gross, but he was ten thousand times more fun than Amir. He would be such a good time, and he’d be psyched.

  Jade zoned out while Amir and Maurice continued to squabble like girls. Freshmen on their way across the quad stared at her in awe as she stretched out her legs and yawned. It felt good to be back. But one girl in particular was staring at her so intensely…Oh, hell. It was that practically albino Yvonne girl, the one in Jade’s Italian class who always tried to work with her when they had to pair off. Thankfully, Jade was generally skilled at avoiding people, and she cursed herself for not pretending she hadn’t seen Yvonne because she was walking over.

  Yvonne headed toward them, in a white button-down shirt and pair of navy blue chinos with little green frogs sprinkled across them—the kind of pants that were meant to be worn with a sense of irony, something Yvonne didn’t possess.

  “Hi, Jade,” she squeaked, unable to look directly at her. Jade felt Yvonne’s eyes on her forehead instead. Jade gave her a short, cursory smile that encouraged her to keep on walking.

  But Yvonne didn’t catch it or else was just too determined to speak. “Everyone’s been talking about your, um, Boston trip. I was wondering who was going? Like, whole dorms? Can anyone go?”

  Jade felt Amir and Maurice watching her and could tell Maurice was holding back his snickers. Really, what was this girl thinking? That Jade would gush, “Oh, yes, come along with us, and be sure to bring all your jazz band/math club friends.” Jade tried to take the have-you-lost-your-mind-look off her face and made her voice kinder than she felt, only because this poor girl was so clueless, it would do no good to humiliate her. “Secret societies only. Sorry.”

  Maybe in another lifetime.

  To: Bridgeport Students

  From: DeanMarymount@Bridgeport.edu

  Date: Wednesday, September 18, 3:01 p.m.

  Subject: Eric Dalton resignation

  Dear Students,

  As of today, Eric Dalton has resigned from his position at Bridgeport. His Ancient Civilizations history and beginning Latin classes will be taught by other capable members of the department until a suitable replacement can be found. Students should proceed to class as usual tomorrow. For those students who had Eric Dalton as an adviser, you will be reassigned. Your respective dorm masters will be in touch shortly.

  Thank you for your cooperation,

  Dean Marymount

  AlisonQuentin: Yikes, can you believe Dalton got the ax? Just listening to him recite Catallus turned me on…

  DonovanStGirard: If Latin turns you on so much, come over to my room and we’ll watch Caligula.

  AlisonQuentin: U soooo r gross. …That’s a porno!

  DonovanStGirard: It’s not porn. It’s historical.

  MauriceJohnson: Heard Dalton got caught smoking weed in the rare books room, naked with his beginning Latin class.

  ZaneTaylor: Dream on.

  MauriceJohnson: Sounded kind of hot. Speaking of hot, I heard your girl’s been getting around.

  ZaneTaylor: Shut up, dude.

  MauriceJohnson: Serious. Seeerrrreeeuuuus…

  RyanReynolds: So your boyfriend’s gone now…Maybe we can go out sometime?

  NaomiPeterson: Uh, what? I think you’re trying to reach Jade…

  RyanReynolds: Maybe both of you would be interested???

  NaomiPeterson: Don’t write to me anymore.

  28

  That evening, the entire campus was still abuzz with the news of Eric Dalton’s resignation. The second Dean Marymount’s email appeared in the inboxes of the student body, everyone had an opinion as to why Dalton was kicked out, although Crystal was pretty sure she knew the real reason: clearly Naomi had found out about Jade and Mr. Dalton.

  Crystal pushed open the door to the dining hall and was greeted with the nauseating smell of refried beans. Mexican night. Great. She put her hand on her stomach, as if she were trying to reassure herself that it was still flat, and played with the collar of her light purple cashmere sweater. Even if Jade was suddenly her only real friend, she couldn’t help but be pleased for Naomi. Hopefully neither she nor Jade would smother the other in her sleep—that was all she needed.

  “Can you believe it?” Crystal whirled around to see Jade looking unusually perturbed. She was fussing nervously with the pearl buttons at the neck of a silky teal Victorian-looking turtleneck. Her skin was almost completely covered up—so how come all the guys were still staring at her? She made Crystal want to tear out her hair in jealousy.

  “Sort of.” Crystal adjusted her charm bracelet. “Come on, you knew Naomi would eventually fight back.”

  Jade gave Crystal a withering glare, then smiled. “It was definitely Naomi, then?”

  “It had to be, right?” The two girls headed toward the food line. “Why else would he resign?” Crystal snickered. “Unless he was afraid Jade Carmichael might be too much woman for him.”

  “He certainly didn’t have any complaints in New York.” Jade laughed.

  “Have you talked to him?”

  Jade picked up her tray. She would never have admitted it, but part of her excitement over Dalton came from the fact that she was stealing him from Naomi. Once that was over, so was the rush of hooking up with him. She hadn’t even thought about emailing him to see what was up—somehow, she didn’t really care. It was already time for her to make her next move. “No.”

  “Are you going to?” Crystal tapped her ragged nails against her plastic tray as they waited in the taco line. “Tacos. Gross.”

  Jade wrinkled her nose. “Looks like a salad night.” She sauntered over to the salad bar. Crystal followed. Jade still hadn’t answered her. She looked distracted.

  “There’s something else you should know.” Jade really couldn’t imagine a worse time to tell Crystal the bad news than in the
dining hall, in front of the entire Bridgeport population, but she wanted her to know before they went back to their room tonight so she could be prepared. She pressed her red lips together.

  “What?” Crystal picked up a white plate, still warm from the dishwasher, on the other side of the salad bar and started to pile the freshly washed greens onto it.

  Jade set down her tray. “I’m really sorry to be the one to tell you, but I didn’t want you to find out from someone else.” She took a deep breath, and Crystal looked up at her in alarm, their eyes meeting across the clear plastic sneeze guard. “Bree and Zane are definitely together.”

  Crystal paused mid-scoop. “What?” The temperature of her body immediately dropped twenty degrees. Her hands went clammy. She dropped the wooden fork back into the bin of greens. “That’s not true.”

  Jade quickly picked up her tray and hurried over to Crystal’s side of the bar. She looked like she was about to faint. “I’m so sorry. But it is. I saw them in New York together.”

  “But that doesn’t mean any…” Crystal’s voice faltered. Jade’s pitying look could mean only one thing—it really was true. Zane liked Bree? That shrimp? Those deformed-looking boobs? For real? Bree had assured her—promised her—that nothing was going on! That liar! “How could she do that? We live together. I talk to her every fucking day! How could she not tell me?”

  Jade touched Crystal’s arm. “She probably didn’t want to piss you off.”

  “That bitch.” Crystal shivered and looked down to find herself holding her dinner fork in stabbing position. If Bree wanted to live through the night, she might want to sleep somewhere else.

  29

  “Wait up!” Bree spotted Naomi leaving the library that night, her sleek red hair bouncing as she descended the steps. There was a definite spring to her step—her high-heeled lace-up Prada shoes practically skipped across the sidewalk. She swung around to face Bree and smiled.

  “Hey.” Naomi flicked a lock of hair out of her eyes.

  “It’s nice to see you smiling.” Bree slipped the strap of her heavy suede bag across her body—it was too heavy to carry on one side, but she hated it when the strap cut between her breasts, calling even more attention to them than normal. Of course a backpack would be even worse.

  Naomi giggled. “I know I shouldn’t be this happy, but I can’t help it. It’s just…poetic justice, you know. Even if Jade is going to kill me.” The thought of sharing a room with Jade now made her feel almost physically ill. Hard to believe that last year they were giving each other manicures and gushing about their most recent crushes. “I haven’t seen her since the news broke.”

  They giggled as they walked back to the dorm. Inside, the door to Dumbarton 303 was wide open, with “ABC” by the Jackson Five blaring from the Crystal’s iPod docking station. “Great,” muttered Naomi under her breath as she and Bree drew near. “They’re having a disco party.”

  “Hey, Crys,” Naomi greeted Crystal as she walked through the doorway.

  “Hello.” Crystal nodded, pulling on her pajamas. Strands of her thick black hair stood straight up from the static. She flopped down on her unmade bed.

  “Sounds like you’re in a great mood,” Naomi said, dropping her antique Fendi tote to the floor carelessly.

  Crystal didn’t respond. She slid the hair band she kept on her wrist around a ponytail and fiddled with the volume on her iPod. The music switched to a moody Jhené Aiko song.

  “I love this song,” Bree offered. Crystal looked up, her hazel eyes focused and cold, and clicked off the music. Suddenly the silence in the room was deafening. Whoa.

  “Well, look who it is,” a new voice said, and all three of the girls turned their heads to see Jade, in her Egyptian cotton bathrobe, playing with the cap of a bottle of Evian. “Crystal and I wanted to talk to you both about something. We just wanted to tell you both that you can’t be in Café Society anymore.”

  Bree's face turned somewhat fearful. She glanced at Naomi. Why was Jade doing this? It seemed like an open declaration of war.

  Naomi’s eyebrows scrunched together threateningly. “Oh, yeah?” She picked up her field hockey stick as if she were preparing to whack Jade’s head with it. “Is this because of Eric?”

  Jade leaned her head against the door frame. “Eric?” she asked casually. She pretended to think about it. “Actually, yes, I’m kind of annoyed you got him fired just when we were starting to get close.”

  “How can you even say that with a straight face?” Naomi demanded. “Who do you think you are?”

  “I wouldn’t be asking that question if I were you.” Jade strode across the room and dropped the water bottle onto her bedside table before looking back at her. “I know who I am. Do you?”

  Bree, who had been following the rapid exchange with horror, felt completely lost. What was Jade hinting at? Whatever it was, it shocked Naomi into silence pretty quickly.

  Naomi turned her back on Jade. When she turned back around, her face was more composed and her lips were steady. “I know I’m not a slut.” She returned Jade’s nasty smile. “That’s something.”

  “You should think about who you hang out with, then.” Crystal spoke up for the first time since Jade’s arrival. She was staring straight at Bree, and her fury suddenly made a lot more sense. Jade must have seen her with Zane in New York yesterday.

  For a millisecond, Bree thought maybe she could make things better by promising not to see Zane anymore. Maybe things could go back to the way they were the first night at the pizza parlor. She wanted desperately to get that feeling back—that feeling of belonging, of getting drunk with the cool girls, of having them like her. But the second passed. Who was she kidding? She’d never wanted to be with a boy so badly in her entire life as she wanted to be with Zane. She wouldn’t trade him for all the Jade Carmichaels and Crystal Alexanders in the world.

  Naomi was about to come to Bree’s defense when Bree surprised herself by doing it on her own. “I know why you’re angry with me,” she said softly. “And I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but I should have been honest from the beginning.”

  Crystal had none of Jade’s abilities to control her anger elegantly. Instead, her normally picture-perfect skin became red and blotchy and her left eyelid started to twitch. She looked unbalanced. “You’re a liar,” she snarled.

  “Don’t you realize what a hypocrite you’re being?” Naomi railed at Crystal. “You’re mad at Bree for getting together with Zane after you guys broke up while she”—Naomi gestured toward Jade with the curved end of her stick—“started chasing down Eric while I was still with him?” She glared at Jade. “That’s so…shitty.”

  “Honey.” Jade gave Naomi a pitying look. “You were never with him.”

  “Fuck you!” Naomi whirled back to Crystal. “And fuck you too. You can have your stupid, self-absorbed Cafe Society and your stupid, fucked-up games.” Naomi shook her head. Her fiery red hair looked wild but regal. “I have better things to do.” With that, she stalked out of the room, leaving silence in her wake.

  Bree glanced at Crystal. Jade was an enormous bitch, but she still felt like she owed Crystal something. She’d lied to her, after all. “I’m sorry,” she repeated. “Maybe one day you’ll forgive me?”

  Crystal’s eye twitched. Not fucking likely.

  30

  Thank God it was Friday. Bree had looked for Zane all day on Thursday but hadn’t been able to find him. She’d wanted to talk to him about Crystal and getting kicked out of Café Society, but given how pissed off Crystal was, she hadn’t wanted to just run around campus asking everyone if they’d seen him. Zane was probably just spending his time with Credo, enjoying the glorious blue skies before they turned cold and gloomy. But it was a little strange that he was MIA. They’d had such an amazing time in New York, and they’d flirted all through class on Wednesday afternoon. Didn’t he miss her?

  Now it was Friday, which meant art class again. She
slipped through the door and saw Zane pulling his pastels and pad of thick pastel paper from his supply shelf. She came up behind him and ran her hand across his shoulders. “Hey.”

  Zane raised his head. His enormous brown eyes looked stressed but happy to see her. “Oh… hi.” He gave a distracted smile.

  “Are you all right?” Bree glanced around for Mrs. Silver, who was going around the room, checking in with students.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” Zane raised his eyes. “What’s up?”

  “Can I talk to you for a second?” Bree smiled at Alison, who was just now pulling her sketchpad from her shelf next to Bree’s. She raised one of her sleek eyebrows toward Zane and nodded her dark, ponytailed head. Bree felt a twinge of regret that she wouldn’t get to hang out with her anymore, now that she’d been abruptly kicked out of Café Society. But did that have to mean her social life at Bridgeport was over?

  “Here?” Zane looked doubtful.

  Bree grabbed his arm, feeling another little thrill of excitement at touching him. “No, let’s go to the kiln room.”

  Zane raised his eyebrows. “That sounds kind of sassy.” Bree giggled.

  She pulled him into the small room around the corner from the supply shelves. It was a dark room with a single window looking out over the Hudson. Two large kilns and three small ones took up most of the space, and the room smelled like clay and dust. Shelves of pottery in varying degrees of completion lined both walls. It was a romantic place, and it reminded Bree of the sexy scene in Ghost where Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore get all wild with the clay on the potter’s wheel. Mmmm. Bree stepped close to Zane and looked up at him with longing.

  Zane smiled down at her. “Is this what you wanted to talk about?”

  That brought Bree back to reality. “Um, no. I just wanted to say that I’ve been kicked out of Café Society.” The words sounded so silly. “I guess I’m not going to Boston.”