The Academy of the Elite

The morning session of school was a breeze. It passed by so quickly. I guess it’s because I'm just so excited! I can’t wait to get the news on what I am trying to get for Lizzy to forgive me. I asked Mr. Headmaster JT this morning if he could pull some strings and get her favorite band to come on campus. She'd surely love me for that. A snapping in my ear breaks me away from my thoughts. I turn to my left to find a girl snapping her fingers. She had a sweet smile, so it steered me from being annoyed with her.

"Hi. I noticed that you were daydreaming. I just thought that I should bring you back to earth so that you don't miss the notes." She smiles again and turns back to her notebook.

"Thanks,” I turn to face forward but decided to look back t her. “What’s your name, by the way?"

"My name is Chanel." She looked up from her notebook at me.

"Cool, mine is-" I started to say my name but then she cut me off.

"Oh, I already know your name." She shrugged at me while keeping her eyes on the teacher to make sure we don’t get in trouble.

"How?" I ask turning around writing down the notes that I was half listening to.

"Um, hello, you're Ally Leon-" She said loudly.

"Shh!" Our English teacher butted in.

Chanel leans a little closer to me. "You performed at the orientation with your sister Elizabeth; of course I know your name."

She finishes her sentence moves herself back to her spot. I lean back and smile to myself: I'm glad that our performance was a hit. I remember how great that day started and how terrible it ended and my stomach twisted in knots. The bell signals lunch and I practically fall out of my seat and run out of the classroom. I had to hurry and be on my way to Mr. Timberlake's office. While speed walking downs the hallways, Jack tries to talk to me.

"Hey Ally-" He gets off the wall and move towards me.

"Not right now, in a rush." I raise my hand to let him know that I wasn't up for talking.

"Okay, I'll just follow you then." He starts walking behind me, trying to keep up with my pace.

"Whatever." I shrug focused on the task on hand.

I come to a halt at the headmaster’s door and Jack bumps into me. I turn around and glare at him.

"Watch it!" I rolled my eyes at him.

"Sorry." He says putting both hands up.

I turn back towards the door and knock lightly. I wait a few moments before Jack gets impatient.

"How do you expect him to hear you with your light girly knocks? You have to knock like a man," he pushes me out of the way while practically banging on the door with his knuckles.

I smack his hand away from the door."Excuse me; my knock was audible enough for him to hear me-"

"Hello Ally, Jack." We turn to see Mr. Timberlake fishing his keys out of his pocket to enter his office.

"Oh, hi Mr. Timberlake. I just wanted to check in to see what-" I fidgeted with the end of my skirt.

"To talk about your little date with the band today." He finished my sentence unlocking his door and walking into the office.

"Yes," I say, following him in slowly, hopeful that this would work out.

Jack closes the door behind him and takes a seat by the window. I try not to be annoyed that he decided to sit in on my meeting with Jt. This was really none of his business. JT sits behind his desk, getting comfortable before he clasps his hands.

"Well Aaliyah, I'm sorry to say that the band won't be able to make it today. It's their only day off in this city, being on tour and all. They wanted to take advantage of some time to relax. They did say next time they'll be able to make it." He gave me a sad smile.

My heart sunk with his words. I can't believe that they said no. After all, they would still be relaxing, just with one of their biggest fans. How am I supposed to make up with Lizzy now?

"There won't be a next time." I say slumping into the chair I front of his desk.

I cover my face with my hands, not wanting to show my sudden change of emotion. I could already feel tears welling up in my eyes. I don't know what else could possibly get Lizzy on her good side; a simple apology won't be good enough. She will never, ever, forgive me now.

"But," JT continued. "Dennis Lee was open for a few hours."

I wipe whatever threatened to stream down my face and jump up."Really?! Oh my gosh that's awesome! When is he coming?"

"Well, since the school day is over at 8, so he will be here around that time." He says, closing his laptop.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, and thank you!!" I run up to him and give him a big bear hug.

"Uh, no problem Aaliyah," he chuckled, patting my back. I smile, feeling embarrassed while letting go. “You shouldn’t really be hugging me through, it's a bit inappropriate.”

"Just to make it better, you're boyfriend is waiting outside." Jack butted in with a sarcastic tone while looking at his phone.

He gets up and picks our bags up from the floor.

"Thanks again Mr. JT, we'll leave for lunch break now." Jack was waiting with the door open for me.

I walk out and he hands me my bag, closing the door behind him.

"Hey." Max walks up to me and kisses my check, then nods to Jack.

"Hi," the smile I already had on grows a little bigger. "Well I have good news and bad news. The entire band isn't able to show up."

"Well what is the good news?" Max asks, confused.

"Only Dennis will be here today, but that's her favorite member of the band anyway!" I hopped up and down quickly.

"Ahh, okay. Let’s get something to eat, I'm starving.” He grabs my hands kissing my fingers briefly, before looking at jack. “You joining?"

"Nah, I'm not in the mood to be a third wheel." He pauses then looks to me. "I'll catch up with you later, Ally." He gives us a tight smile then walks off. “See you later Max.”

"Okay," I wave lazily.

What's his problem? Whatever, I'm too happy to care; I can make it up to Lizzy! She'll be so excited when she meets Dennis, I can't wait to see the look on her face! She is sure to forgive me after this. Max and I walk over to the IHOP, hand and hand, that is conveniently located by the library. It's on school grounds, so we don't have to pay, which is awesome. Free food is always the best kind of food. After lunch we go our separate ways to class. Next up is biology, my favorite. I kiss him before we leave and skip to class.

"Ugh when is this class going to end?!" I accidentally blurt out.

"Excuse me, Ms. Leon." Ms. Jackson turned around, an angered expression on her face.

"Oh, sorry Miss, I'm just so…hungry." I clench my stomach dramatically.

She gives me a stern look. "There's only 5 minutes until class ends, you can wait. No more outbursts from you."

Snickers spread around the room as she turns back to the board. I'm just so excited for Lizzy to meet Dennis, it needs to happen now!

"The last class always seems the longest of the day," Tony whispers beside me.

"Tell me about it," I reply through gritted teeth.

The last bell finally rings and I try to be one of the first kids out of the class to make sure that Dennis hasn't been waiting for too long. I rush to JT's office since it was quite a walk from the Arts History class. I catch him leaving his office when I get there.

"Hello Aaliyah, I know you're here to ask about Dennis. I'm actually going to meet up with him right now, you can join me." He walks briskly ahead of me.

"Cool, okay." Total excitement fills me up and I get a queasy feeling in my stomach. I hope this really works. "Where is he?" I ask impatiently when we get to the main building.

"He said that he was pulling up, be patient." I huff and cross my arms, leaning against the wall.

The wait seemed too long, and my hunger was getting to me. Finally, a black BMW pulls up to the entrance driveway and parks. Dennis gets out of the car and I almost practically lunge at him. He took it well, considering he's a big star in the rock genre and all. Justin Timberlake, Dennis and I quickly introduce ourselves to each other, noting my excitement. When introductions are finished, I drag him with me to the cafeteria. I just wanted to get this thing over with. When we get to the entrance I stop so that I can lay down the rules.

"Hi. How are you? Nice to meet you as I said before I'm Aaliyah, Lizzy’s sister. You can call me Ally for this one event where we actually hang out." I vigorously shake his hand.

"Uh, sure, Ally. So do I just walk in or-" I cut him off.

"No. I'm going to go in there and approach my sister," I point at the table that our herd usually sits at, already full. "I am going to convince her that I have gotten her a surprise. Then when I turn to you and wink, you come strolling in, thus saving our relationship." I smile at him expectantly and he nods. "Okay, plan ‘Win Lizzy Over’ is now in play," I whisper to myself.

I take a deep breath and pat down my skirt and straighten my tie. I sigh heavily and stride into the cafeteria towards our table. I instantly spot Lizzy, her back facing me, leaning her head on Vic's shoulder. I walk up behind her and tap her shoulder. She turns around smiling but it vanishes when she sees me. She quickly turns back to the conversation and I bite my lip.

"I have a surprise for you." I rock back and forth on my heels and tiptoes.

She ignores me completely. I turn to signal for Dennis to come in, and he comes right at the perfect time. Lizzy gets up from the table. I'm guessing she wanted to talk to me in private because she was in the process of walking up to me. Well, whatever she wanted to say was interrupted by the entrance of Dennis. She instantly froze, astonished.

"Oh my gosh...” Vic whispers, getting up from the table.

He walks up to Lizzy, pulling out his phone, taking a picture of her surprised face. Priceless.

"Hi, I heard that you were like my biggest fan, is that true?" Dennis asks walking closer to her.

Suddenly a huge smile breaks out on her face and she hugs him. The group was surprised with her quick acceptance. I myself was taken by surprise, but not by much. I know how much she loves him. She lets go, tearing up.

"I absolutely love your band, how did you.." She trails off.

"Your sister arranged this, something about your relationship?" She looks at me, an expression I couldn't read.

She walks up to me, tugging my arm. “I will be right back. I need to speak with you," she says looking me in the eyes.

"Later. You have fun with your friends and Dennis." I smile and walk towards the entrance.

"Wait, where are you going?" She asks. I stop and turn around, mid-exit.

"To my room." I turn to walk away.

"What about dinner?" Vic chimes in.

"Uh, I'll just have Naomi pass by my room and bring me something. Good night guys." I turn back and head to my dorm. I sprint to the room and jam the key clumsily into the door. I sigh, closing the door behind me. I quickly send a text Naomi to bring me something to eat after she was done with her dinner group, and then get into the shower. I take my time knowing that she was probably talking it up with Reggie or something. I get out and dry myself, then hop on the bed and turn on the TV. I watch a whole episode of Boy Meets World before I hear a knock on my door. "Finally, I am starving!" I groan, opening the door.

"Hey, I'm not the one who decided to skip dinner." Naomi backfires while walking to my desk.

She sets a paper brown bag on the desk and sits on my bed. "Eat up; I don't need a cranky Ally on my hands."

"Don't need to tell me twice." I leap over to my desk and sit down, removing the sealed cup and take out box from the bag.

She had ordered me a vegan Philly cheese steak with fries and a medium sized raspberry iced tea. She even got me a chocolate chip brownie, what a doll. I am so ready for this food.

"I love you so much right now," I say, mid bite.

"Don’t talk with your mouth full. I know; I figured you would want something to really fill you up." I nod and drink some of my iced tea.

When that was over with, I wash my hands in the bathroom and lay back on my bed. I push Naomi aside since she was on the side of the bed that I was most comfortable in. She rolls her eyes and gets up, heading to the door.

"Where you going?" I ask.

"To my room." She says grinding the doorknob.

"No I'm sorry, stay here!" I grabbed her wrist.

"No it's okay," she giggles. "I'm tired anyways; I'll see you tomorrow, goodnight." She leaves and Lizzy comes striding in before she gets the chance to close the door.

"Hi Ally." She said walking into the room.

"Hey Liz, had fun with your favorite singer everrrrr?" I smile and sit up.

"That's what I came here to talk to you about." She paces back and forth, my smile slowly fading into a serious expression. She stops and looks up at me.

"Did you really arrange for the lead singer of Alesana to come meet me, like did that actually happen?" She paces in the room back and forth.

"Yes Lizzy." I respond, confused.

"How did you manage to...forget that. Is this your way of saying sorry?" She looked me up and down.

"Well, yes." I nervously twiddle my thumbs.

"When were you planning to actually apologize? You think you can bring this big idol of mine and we're cool? We're just fine and dandy?" I look down and stare at my lap.

I hear her sigh and she comes to sit beside me. She hesitantly lays her hand on my back.

"Look Ally, I'm not saying that what you did for me isn't one of the highlights of my life and soon to come, but this can't just make me overlook what you did. You really hurt and embarrassed me, and looking after you up to this point has been nothing but stressful for me. I appreciate that you did this to show that you are sorry, in some way. But I'm not sure if I can exactly forgive you, let alone trust you. Again, thanks for the experience, it was awesome, and thank you for giving me my space, but this isn't going to cover what happened." She gets up and stands in front of me. "Hey," she says, lifting my head to look at her. "It did make me think. And I guess I can tolerate you enough to be on speaking terms with you. But I still need my space." I smile wearily at her.

"Great. Goodnight." She lightly pushes my head to make me lay down then pulls the cover over my body for me. Tucks me in, technically speaking.

"Night." She slowly closes the door behind her on her way out and I sigh heavily.

I had a feeling that she wouldn't let this go easily. But I don't blame her; I would still be upset as well. I turn to my side and drift off at peace, knowing that my sister was at least going to look in my direction without glaring, or pretending that I wasn't even there. I'm happy with just that reaction, and I'm glad that it worked out, somewhat.