Published: October 31st 2023, 12:00:08 pm
While the rest of the girls went into the locker room, Amelia was sent off with Lily, one of the brunette girls from the group. According to Summer, it was the hospitable thing to do, as ‘little Millie’ might otherwise have trouble finding the private bathroom in a timely manner. Amelia suspected the real reason was to keep her from running off again, like how she had made a lengthy detour to the library instead of meeting Summer and her friends outside the dining hall.
Lily linked arms with her with a friendly smile, guiding her off to the right and around the corner. It was impossible to tell whether the attitude was just for show, or if the girl was actually nicer than Summer. Not that it was a particularly high bar.
As they walked together towards a different section of the gym–Amelia suspected that putting a solo changing room so close to the regular locker room would lead to any number of girls trying to abusing it the same way some students at Amelia’s public high school did when her classmates figured out that nothing was stopping them from using the private faculty bathroom during class. Why settle for the bathroom hundreds of people used every day when the other one was both better maintained and had less traffic? She could only imagine how girls at a school like this might act in a similar way if given the opportunity.
“It took guts to stand up to Summer, by the way,” Lily said. She had no doubt waited until they were well out of earshot to risk saying something about her leader, “Believe it or not, this whole ‘bitch’ thing is better than you think. It means you have her attention.”
Of course, it had been easy to have ‘guts’ when Amelia was only masquerading as a student. That, and she hadn’t known at the time that Summer was top of the totem pole in her year. At the time, Amelia had just viewed her as a cliché teenage bully/mean girl. Not that any of those elements were mutually exclusive. Then, not even the brief physical assault had intimidated her; in fact, it had done the opposite. But now? Amelia was stuck as a transfer student until she could convince an authority figure at the academy otherwise, or until Ashley finally let up on this prank that had gone way, way too far. Summer had proved multiple times that she could effortlessly get Amelia in trouble, which in turn would only complicate things for the petite blonde who apparently had a file that said she had been difficult at her old school.
Until she could follow through on her plan to borrow a phone or laptop from another student, keeping her head down was the best play. And that meant not making waves with Summer. Actually . . . maybe this moment alone with Lily could be an opportunity. “What do you mean?” Amelia asked. She needed to be careful. Simply blurting out what she wanted wouldn’t work, not when the young brunette in charge of escorting her was one of the more popular girls in her year. Lily would be used to girls having an angle in any given conversation, not to mention that she could always report back to Summer.
“You could be one of us,” Lily shrugged.
Such a simple suggestion caused Amelia to start overthinking everything. Was this something Summer and Lily had planned, or was Lily operating on her own at the moment? Despite being popular and effortlessly manipulative off the cuff, Summer was still a thirteen year old girl. At the same time, Amelia hadn’t entertained such games when she was that age, and that was before considering the rich girl factor and what a background like that might add to the equation. “I don’t know about that,” she replied. Keeping things non-committal for now, and letting Lily do the talking. As for the rest, Amelia tried to keep things simple. Whether there was one layer to Summer and her clique or numerous layers, the important thing was to avoid providing them with more ammo to use against her.
It wasn’t lost on her that she was a young adult who was currently walking on eggshells around a group of girls ten years younger than her and constantly affirming that she was Summer’s bitch.
“I mean it,” Lily said, “Think of it like initiation. If you show Summer that you know how to fall in line, and pay your dues for a few days, she might let you on board. A girl with guts is nice to have around. As long as you use that energy for the benefit of the group. Here’s my advice, Millie. The next time someone crosses Summer, make sure you’re on the right side.”
Clearly Lily was naive to the double meaning behind Amelia’s response. While her outward hesitation might have sounded like she didn’t believe Lily, most of it had to do with the fact that Amelia was way too old and mature to be interested in being one of the popular girls. As for ‘the right side,’ that was obviously a matter of perspective. “Thanks, Lily,” Amelia said. With the private, gender-neutral bathroom in sight, she made a judgment call to not ask to borrow the brunette’s phone. For the time being. Even if she successfully managed to search for herself, what would she do with that browser? Without any adults within sight, there was no point. However, she tucked that idea away for potential later use; if Lily was indeed trying to be an ally, rather than a conspirator with Summer, maybe Amelia could eventually win her over.
“Sure thing. Oh!” Slipping her arm free, Lily stepped aside and dropped her duffel bag to the floor. “I guess you’ll be needing a gym uniform. Mine will be a little big on you, but it should work! Hmm, but for shoes . . . Sorry, Millie. You’re on your own for that! Maybe you can just play in your flats?”
“Umm, what are we playing?” Amelia asked. Until now, she had no clue why they were at the gym, and no one had told her anything thus far. Knowing that it would be some form of game, rather than a group workout, wasn’t particularly helpful. That could still mean anything.
Lily just replied with, “It’s a surprise! Don’t worry, you’ll have fun.” She dug through her bag for a minute, eventually pulling out a pair of black gym shorts and a green athletic polo that was similar to the hue of the skirt she was currently wearing. “Oh, do you need a sports bra? Might as well try one of mine, right? If it doesn’t fit, you’ll have to manage without one.” Standing back up, the young brunette offered the stack of clothes, “Here you go!”
Amelia didn’t know what to say. She just forced out an awkward, “Thank you.” Taking the clothes and stepping towards the bathroom door, Amelia briefly hesitated to consider telling Lily that she’d rather wear her own gear. Except did she even have the shorts/polo combo Lily was loaning her? Similar to the computer login thing, Amelia wasn’t sure how many things were actually back in her room due to how Ashley had likely been selective about what she had given her ‘cousin.’
The whole thing was moot, anyway. Amelia had already delayed Summer and her friends once. There was no way she would be allowed to make a trip all the way across campus when she was literally holding a spare outfit in her hands that would do just fine.
Deciding that the private bathroom was her best option for the time being, as the whole point of getting there in the first place was to avoid the locker room, Amelia went in and immediately locked the door behind her. The last thing she needed was for Lily to barge in for whatever reason. Although the girl’s friendly attitude was somewhat disarming, Amelia hadn’t known her nearly long enough to trust her. No harm in being overly cautious.
She didn’t love the idea of changing, either. While the schoolgirl outfit was demeaning, considering her real age, at least it was modest. At first glance, the gym shorts didn’t look overly short, but they would clearly be more form fitting and show a little more leg than the plaid skirt she was currently wearing. And compared to the dress shirt and blazer, the polo wasn’t nearly as conservative.
As she reluctantly shrugged off her outermost layer, Amelia realized she only had a small hook on the back of the bathroom door to work with. A hanger would have been preferable. Could she get an infraction for a wrinkled uniform? The academy handbook was quite extensive, and last night’s reading and subsequent quizzing hadn’t been enough for everything to stick.
She had already gotten written up at breakfast; another pink slip wouldn’t be great in terms of proving to Ashley and Claire that she could be a proper student. Because according to them, they weren’t going to treat her like an adult until . . . what was the phrase? Until she grew up physically and intellectually. The former was both rude and impossible. As for the latter, she could see Ashley suggesting that failing to follow the academy’s rules was technically a mark against her on that side of things.
Regardless, Amelia was limited in her options. Draping the blazer over her forearm for the time being, she went about undoing the tie followed by the buttons on the dress shirt. Then, double checking that the door was still locked, she stripped off her skirt. Folding one item at a time until she could neatly stack them on the edge of the sink, Amelia briefly glanced at her nearly bare body in nothing but pain lingerie in the mirror, then started dressing herself in the borrowed items.
The shorts were a little loose on her smaller frame, but there were strings inside that she could use to tighten them enough so that they’d sit on her hips without threatening to slip down. Nothing to do about the athletic polo that was one size too large, however. It was better than being half naked, although the girl looking back at her still looked more like a student than a teacher.
Sighing to herself, Amelia scooped up her proper uniform and stepped out of the bathroom before she lost her nerve.