Trina laughed. “Thanks, Ms. Flores.”
The guidance counselor smiled and headed out of my new room. As soon as she was gone, the smile faded from Trina’s face, and she advanced on me, eyes flashing.
“Listen up, new girl,” she hissed, pushing me against the wall. “You’re a scholarship student, and that means you’re lower than dirt around here. The rest of us pay ridiculous tuition fees just to cover sponges like you, so if you think we’re going to be nice to you, you’re completely deluding yourself.”
My eyes widened, and my stomach plummeted. “But I—”
Trina let go of my tie and cut me off, stony face relaxing into a wide grin. “I’m just kidding! Oh my god… your face!”
I licked my dry lips. I kept trying to formulate a response, but my heart was racing so fast that I couldn’t get the words out properly.
Trina’s brows shot up, and her hazel eyes filled with concern. “I’m so sorry! I thought it would be funny to make you think we’re all psycho elitists here. But it wasn’t funny, was it?” she said, words spilling out a mile a minute. “I feel like such a dick.”
I finally managed a shaky smile. “No, it’s okay. I get it. I’m just really nervous about my first day, and I had no idea what to expect, so I thought you might actually be serious.”
She groaned. “No, it’s not okay. I obviously scared the shit out of you,” she said. “I have the worst sense of humor ever. My friends are always getting on my case about my dumbass pranks and jokes.”
“So you don’t actually hate scholarship students?”
“Hell no! If you’re smart enough to get in here without having to pay a dime, then I salute you!” she replied, patting me on the shoulder. “Trust me. You’ll be fine. And really, I’m so sorry for scaring you. I don’t even know why I thought it would be funny.”
My face relaxed into a real smile. “It’s fine. I forgive you.”
“Good.” She grinned back at me.
“Do you board here too?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I’m a townie. I’m jealous of all the boarders, though. It’d be so cool to live right here on campus.”
“If you did, you could sleep in an extra half-hour in the mornings.”
“Exactly!” she replied. “Anyway, can I see your class schedule?”
I handed it to her, and her eyes sparkled as she scanned it. “We have almost all of the same classes,” she said excitedly. “That makes things way easier for you. I’ll be able to show you the right rooms as we go, and we can sit next to each other, too.”
“Awesome.”
“Anyway, let me show you around the main parts of the campus,” she said. “You’re definitely going to want to see the cafeteria. It’s amaze-balls.”
She led me over to Royal Hall and slung an arm around my shoulder as we headed down the main hallway. “Like I said before, I’ll show you the classrooms when we actually need to go to them,” she said. “For now I’ll just show you the senior lockers. They’re right around the corner.”
She led me into a slightly narrower hall lined with lockers. “Some of the boarders don’t bother using these, seeing as they can keep all their stuff in their dorms, but if I were you, I’d use one,” she explained to me. “It’s way easier to keep your books and stuff here, rather than running back and forth between here and Blair Hall all day.”
“Makes sense.”
“Can I see your student ID?”
I showed it to her, and she pointed to a number on the back. “That’s your locker number,” she said. “You’re only four down from me!”
“That’s cool. I guess we were meant to be friends, huh?”
She smiled. “Totally. Your combination will be somewhere in your registration packet. I assume Ms. Flores gave one to you?”
“Yes. I’ll figure it out later.”
“Cool. We’ll go to the cafeteria now.”
She directed me down another series of halls until we reached a towering Gothic arch with wide double doors. The panels on both doors were decorated with intricate carvings—a crown inside a shield, flanked by regal-looking lions. RFA’s main symbol.