Asked to Compromise

227R wasn’t a hard room to find. It was in the girls’ dormitory on the second floor. The girl’s dormitory was away from the main school building, adjacent to the boys’ dormitory. The room was just like a standard hotel room, only a little more personal. It had white walls with two light gray accent walls. A white desk sat under the window sill with a small reading lamp and a white chair. A small refrigerator was near the bathroom and closet. There was a gray accent rug on the floor. It looked decent. I was glad it was a little custom, with different colors, colored bins, and little things to make it look like a normal room.

The closet was normal sized and so was the bathroom. I was thankful that all the dorm rooms were single and I had my own personal bathroom. If I had to share anything with anyone else, there would be a problem.

I kicked my shoes off and lay back on the twin sized bed, looking up at the ceiling. Sullivan had brought my bags to my room fifteen minutes after I found it. I was too tired and pissed after earlier to even do anything. I didn’t want to unpack my bags or explore. It was almost six o’clock by now, and that was “dinner time”. I knew by the footsteps and giggles coming down the hall. They were annoying the hell out of me already. I wasn’t going to eat with the rest of them. I could live off of the snacks I’d packed and then go to sleep for the night.

I thought about calling my parents, like they said for me to. Fuck them. I’ll call when I’m ready or if they’re ready to take me back. I put my Blackberry under the pillow and rolled over, falling asleep.

-

By the time I woke up in the morning, it was almost seven. I’d slept for a solid twelve hours. I must’ve been knocked out cold. I remembered that it’d be almost nine back home. I was somewhat refreshed, but that didn’t change the idea that I hated it here already. It was Saturday and I wanted to know what goes on around here, how things work.

I groaned when I realized I didn’t even wash my face or take off my clothes from the day before. I searched through my suitcase for my body wash and toiletries. I quickly got into the shower to wash and brush my teeth. After my surprisingly hot shower, I wrapped a towel around myself and sat at the desk lazily. I remembered that I had the packet that Mr. Sanders gave me. I threw it on the desk as soon as I got to the room yesterday.

I took out the agenda and the map. The agenda was for planning and writing homework down, but it had some “helpful” things in there, too. It included a lunch menu and eating times. Breakfast was from six to nine on weekends, and 5:30 to 7:30 on weekdays. Lunch was whenever your schedule said, and dinner started at six o’clock. But overall, the cafeteria was open all the time after school and everything was free.

I threw the agenda and map on the bed. I would have to take it with me for the day if I wanted to know where everything was. I unzipped my suitcases and searched through it for something to wear. It was Saturday, California was hot, I had no one to impress, and I had to be ready if anyone tried to mess with me. I decided on a plain purple tank top, dark skinny jeans, and my gray Converse. I rolled up my jeans above my ankles a bit. Always dress prepared to fight. Though, I’d fight half naked if I had to.

I dried my hair with my blow dryer rather quickly. My hair was naturally semi-straight and wavy. I did my makeup quickly and I was done. I was never the type of girl that took too long to get ready; an hour at the most. I packed my bag with the agenda, my room key, my cell phone, my ipod, and other things. I folded the map up and slipped it into my back pocket. How lame would I look carrying a map in my hands. I left the room, locking it behind me, and followed a group of girls down the hall.
I had no choice but to eat with everyone else in the dining room now. Loner or not, I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to end up looking like some scared kid that didn’t belong here. I did “belong” here according to others. This wasn’t going to be a first day of school scene from a cheesy teen movie. People were not going to walk over me here. I was going to stand my ground just like I always did, despite this school making me “change” for the better.

I inconspicuously followed everyone else to the dining hall, trying to at least act like I knew where I was going. I took my phone from my bag, turning it on to keep me distracted. The walk to the dining hall wasn’t far. I walked into the air conditioned dining hall and looked around. It was mixed with everyone, guys and girls. I could clearly tell who was dating who, despite the whole boys and girls segregation thing. They were hormonal teenagers away from their parents after all.
The cafeteria was huge, big enough to hold the five hundred or so kids that attended, give or take. It was restaurant buffet-styled. Everyone immediately grabbed a plate and went down the line, grabbing whatever they wanted. I watched everyone sit at their tables and talk. It was like normal high school cliques, I guessed.

I made my way towards the line and picked up a plate, fork, and napkins. I looked over everything there was to choose from. There were different pancakes, different styled waffles, bacon, eggs, varieties of cereals, and a variety of fruits. I wondered how they could even afford this much food for this many students, being that it was a privately funded school. I pretty much got the idea that Sanders, Haner, Sullivan, Baker, and Seward owned and ran this school, or at least that’s what I assumed after yesterday.

I got a small stack of plain pancakes and drowned them in syrup. I pushed past everyone discreetly, making my way to the juice machine. I held my plate in one hand while I grabbed a cup and filled it with apple juice in the other. I found an empty table and sat down at it. I hoped no one was going to come and try to claim this table. I was here first.

I shoved the pancakes into my mouth, texting while I chewed. I didn’t even expect a reply from any of the guys, knowing that they slept in a lot. I did get a reply from Marcy, though. She said she missed me already and that they hadn’t gotten into any sorts of problems yet.

I looked around and observed everyone again while I waited for another reply from her. For a “boot camp-like” school, no one acted like it. I would at least expect some kind of brawl to break out. It made me wonder what the rest of these kids did that was so “bad” that they got sent here, and why they weren’t acting like it. Some interacted like they were best friends or something.

They all dressed different, too. I could’ve been expecting the guys to be in orange jumpsuits from the rumors I heard. Instead, they dressed like… I don’t know, how normal guys dressed. The skinny jeans, the beanies, the band tees. Only a handful of guys back in Batavia and Chicago dressed like that, including Adam, Charlie, and Max. I’d say this was some kind of hot, “hipster” alternative school if I didn’t know any better. There was no doubt that some of these guys were very hot.

Before I could even search the whole cafeteria for Eric, a chair was pulled out across from me and Mr. Baker sat down. I looked him up and down. He looked so much different from yesterday. He wore a regular graphic t-shirt now, black with Misfits across the chest. So he was into rock music…

“What do you want?” I asked, sipping my apple juice.

I wasn’t listening to him as I continued to look him over. He had some sort of dog tag necklace around his neck. And his tattoos, he was all inked up like Seward was. It honestly surprised me.

“Are you listening to me?” He asked.

“What?” I snapped out of it, looking at his green eyes. “No, I wasn’t listening to you.”

He rolled his eyes. “How’s it been so far? Why are you sitting alone?”

“How’s it been so far?” I mocked rhetorically. “A nice room and food doesn’t change me. And I’m sitting alone, because in case you haven’t noticed, I’m fucking new here and I don’t want to be bothered by anyone.”

“Watch your language,” He said. “You’re seriously pushing it, Priscilla. You haven’t even been here for twenty-four hours. Get to know someone, we have a bunch of kids here.”

“I was about to get to know Haner yesterday until you stopped me,” I told him.

“About that,” He said, “we don’t put up with that. You’ll be let off with warnings for now. After, we’ll be forced to take action.”

“Is that a threat?” I scoffed. “Are you going to suspend me, too? Or expel me?”

“No, but you’ll learn,” He said, getting up and taking off to go talk to other students.