Published: March 30th 2025, 7:23:29 pm
(The whole five chapter short story is compiled on my SubscribeStar, if you want an easier way to access older parts!)
Roxanne was appalled that Cynthia was treating her like this. Not quite manhandling her on the way to their second class of the day, but certainly violating her personal space. Stumbling more than once from the way she was being roughly led by the arm, and still not used to the uncomfortable flats Neve had given her earlier, Roxanne ended up letting herself be dragged all the way to Ms. Diaz’s classroom. She mostly didn’t want to stoop to Cynthia’s level; as a professional young woman, Roxanne could only imagine how it would look if she yelled at the girl while dressed as she was.
She probably should have tried harder to yank her arm free, or to do something before a determined Cynthia assertively walked her all the way to the coming class. Sure enough, Ms. Diaz didn’t really know Roxanne. She was familiar with the name, and had met her once a couple months ago, but that wasn’t enough for the no-nonsense woman to believe that she and ‘Meadow’ were the same person.
All Roxanne got for her troubles was a write-up. While Ms. Kwon had given stern warnings, she ultimately hadn’t committed to officially reprimanding the troublesome ‘student.’ Ms. Diaz, however, was far less lenient. When Roxanne requested to go to the office, claiming that she was actually a teacher and started to explain the situation, Cynthia chimed in like she had with the previous teacher, effortlessly undermining the petite brunette and making her flustered enough to lose track of what was already kind of a ridiculous story despite it being the truth.
By the end of the exchange, Ms. Diaz had snapped at both of them to be quiet. Though Cynthia had risked a write-up of her own by inserting herself in the conversation, she was saved by the fact that Roxanne’s arms were completely empty. New students would have already been issued textbooks and appropriate school supplies that matched the uniform, so there was no excuse for the new girl to be unprepared for class. That was what ‘Meadow’ was specifically written up for, though one more disruption would result in another.
As the morning progressed, Roxanne felt less and less inclined to prove who she actually was. Similar to the reason she had arrived on campus earlier than usual, it was getting to the point where it would almost be more embarrassing if someone did recognize her. Now that there was a paper trail of her getting in trouble with a teacher, as well as whatever Neve did to make it so ‘Meadow Thorn’ was in the system enough that no one questioned the arrival of a new student to their class, it was starting to feel easier to just keep her head down. If Roxanne could just get through the school day, this would all be over and she could spend the weekend figuring out if it was possible to get her students back under control on Monday.
Cynthia was a big part of the problem, of course. Every time Roxanne tried to explain the situation to an authority figure, be it a prefect or a staff member, the meddling girl ruined any attempt of getting traction. By the time they were released for lunch, Roxanne had given into her temporary existence as a student. While she wasn’t actually one of the flock, when her personality clashed so much with Cynthia’s little trio, Roxanne still reluctantly allowed the difficult student to take the lead. Mostly since Cynthia wasn’t really in charge; their schedule is what dictated where they went any given hour, so it was more a matter of just going along with her first period class in general.
The one thing Roxanne didn’t expect, beyond the continuous sting of being perceived as a schoolgirl by everyone who saw her throughout the day, was when Cynthia grabbed her wrist in a similar way between classes and dragged her to the bathroom with the other two troublesome girls following. At first, she was nervous they were going to do some mean girl nonsense in a location where no one would be around to see. Cynthia wouldn’t go that far, would she?! After all, the girl made an art form out of avoiding trouble. Up until then, Roxanne could see her spinning it as part of the bet–“‘Meadow’ was being a student all day. It was part of the deal!” Something like that.
Instead of some kind of dramatic prank or hazing or whatever, Cynthia went with something simple yet effective. She merely walked Roxanne to the sinks and positioned her in front of the mirror. “You do realize you could pass for an underclassman, right?” she smirked, standing behind the short girl to show off the height difference between them, “Are you sure you’re a senior, Meadow? You might have been sent to the wrong classroom this morning.”
Roxanne gasped. While she had seen her reflection that morning after putting on the uniform, this was the first time since Neve had pressured her to change shoes and put her hair up in a high ponytail. She was painfully short compared to Cynthia, and was also the smallest of all the girls flanking them. It was embarrassing to admit to herself, even internally, but the bratty girl was right. Roxanne definitely looked younger than the group she was with, and they were all eighteen.
“Face it, Meadow,” Cynthia said, “At best, you’re one of us. No more bitching about it, or you’ll get written up. Again.”
The way she was made to focus on her looks and current status made her that much more resigned to going through the rest of the afternoon as a student rather than trying to deal with the mess she was in. She barely paid attention in class, when she was constantly looking ahead to Monday and if it was possible to face her students after taking such a hit to her dignity. Instead of being the teacher who came up with an interesting tactic to motivate the girls, she had basically lost every ounce of authority with them from the combination of how she was treated by other teachers as well as how Cynthia contributed to her mortifying situation along the way.
Letting out an enormous sigh of relief at the end of the day, Roxanne headed straight for the administrative building when the last class was over. She really should have expected Cynthia to follow, as the girl had essentially attached herself to the young teacher’s hip since First Period in order to continually complicate whatever attempt Roxanne made to explain things. When asked where she was going, Roxanne simply answered truthfully, “I’m getting my things and going home.”
“The dorms are that way, Meadow!” Cynthia said, “Come on, I can show you.”
Roxanne wanted to scream. She wasn’t actually a student!! Though she could attend class in uniform and look like she belonged thanks to her size, and somehow ended up on the roster, there was no way she had been assigned a dorm just like that. Most importantly, it was Friday afternoon, which meant she had to get to the building before everyone left for the day. That hadn’t been a concern back when she had first taken care of all those details with Neve, but now she was worried about her purse being unreachable if she got distracted by Cynthia and dawdled too much.
Instead of a closed office, however, Roxanne soon found herself dealing with a completely different obstacle. “Where are you heading, ladies?” One of the security women noticed Roxanne and Cynthia walking in the wrong direction compared to all the other students who were filtering out of their classrooms. Students at the boarding school were only allowed to leave campus when given permission to do so. The older girls were given a lot more liberties in that regard, though they still had to fill out the appropriate form for outings so they could be accounted for. Since the academy took broad guardianship of all the girls during the school year, there was a whole system in place to ensure that responsibility was taken seriously.
“The wrong way,” Cynthia said, jumping in before Roxanne had a chance to reply, “Meadow is new. I was just trying to tell her that we’re supposed to go back to our dorms after class before doing anything else. You can explore campus tomorrow, Meadow! Right, Miss?”
“That’s right,” the woman nodded, “For now, you need to listen to your friend. The dorms are that way.”
“No, I’m not really a student!” Roxanne exclaimed, “It’s a long story, but I’m a teacher here. My name’s not Meadow; it’s Roxanne. I just need to run to the office, and-”
“Oh, I’m also a teacher,” Cynthia giggled, “Can we go hang out in the faculty lounge? Pretty please?”
Roxanne shot a glare at the girl, not that it looked particularly intimidating thanks to her current appearance. But the damage was done. Rather than dismissing Roxanne’s assertion, Cynthia ‘played along’ in a way that completely undermined what was actually the truth.
“I actually am!” Roxanne insisted, “My ID is right inside. Just-”
“Your ID is right there, young lady,” the woman said, gesturing to the plastic card still peeking out of Roxanne’s blazer pocket, “Now, you both need to return to your dorms.” Then, addressing Cynthia, she asked, “What’s your name?”
“Cynthia Lott,” she politely replied, turning on the charm Roxanne had experienced countless times throughout the day, “I’m really sorry for the trouble, Miss. You know how it is with new students who haven’t learned the rules!”
“The rules are there for a reason, Meadow,” she said, turning her attention back to Roxanne, “I want you to follow Cynthia back to the dorms. You’re probably in her building and, if not, you’ll be one building over. Got it?”
“But-” Roxanne started to argue.
“But nothing,” she cut her off yet again, “Security doesn’t write students up, though I highly discourage arguing or being disrespectful towards authority figures here. Try that with anyone else, and you’ll almost certainly receive an infraction for yourself.”
Cynthia grabbed Roxanne’s wrist, quite comfortable with the gesture by now. “This way, Meadow!” she exclaimed. Dragging the petite brunette away from the administrative building and the parking lot beyond, Cynthia kept up a brisk pace to keep the girl in tow off balance.
It was one thing when they were going from class to class. But Roxanne had made it through the day, and she needed her belongings! If nothing else, her key ring so she could drive home and let herself into her place to put on her actual clothes and get back to some semblance of normalcy. Whoever was working at the dorms was going to see that she didn’t belong there, though she was wasting precious time just going there instead of where she actually needed to be.
“Cynthia, wait!” Roxanne complained. Then, before they made it too far, she spotted Neve leaving the academic building where they had just had their last class. Immediately abandoning her attempt to make her headstrong student listen to her, Roxanne called out to her colleague instead. “Neve! NEVE.”
The young blonde woman turned when she heard her name being yelled from across the courtyard. For a second, it looked like she was just going to walk away. Instead, she smiled and walked over to them. “That’s not very respectful, Meadow,” she said, sounding rather amused despite the way she was casually reprimanding her fellow teacher, “I’m going to have to write you up for that. It’s ‘Ms. Mercer,’ just like you address any teacher here.”
Roxanne scowled in annoyance. She was still pissed off about Cynthia’s teasing about being a teacher a few minutes ago, and there was no reason to keep up the charade with Neve when they both knew who she actually was. ROXANNE. Not ‘Meadow.’ And was she expected to play along with how she was being reprimanded? She begrudgingly did so, with a sharp tone that said she was not nearly amused as the two that were with her. “Ms. Mercer. I need my belongings from the administrative building.” She was starting to feel like a broken record, even if this was the first time she had said it to Neve.
Rather than responding to the demand, Neve first said to the other girl, “Head on back to your dorm, Cynthia. I’ll send Meadow that way in a minute.”
Cynthia seemed hesitant. After a full day of making life difficult for her uniform-clad teacher, she probably didn’t want to lose the chance to keep messing with her. And yet, she had just been given a directive by a teacher, and knew better than to argue. “Yes, Ms. Mercer,” she said, “See you soon, Meadow!”
As soon as Cynthia was out of earshot, Neve asked in a more teasing tone, “So how was your day, Meadow? I hear you got a few infractions! Speaking of which . . . ” She reached into her bag and pulled out a stack of the familiar slips. “I was being serious about that. Make sure you get my name right from now on!”
“What the fuck, Neve?!” Roxanne snapped. She had at least taken a second to make sure no students were within earshot for the inappropriate language. As for her colleague, there was absolutely no reason for them to act like she was a student. “Why was there a substitute for my class today? Did you add me to the attendance sheet?” Based on the brief interaction between Neve and Cynthia, it didn’t feel like the two of them were working together. And why would they, when one was a student and the other was a teacher, not to mention how Neve hadn’t known about the bet until that morning. So the real question was about what Neve had done, since she was the only one between the two that had direct access to the office.
“You just made it too easy!” Neve brushed back her hair, clearly enjoying how this had all played out, “Don’t worry, I just called in sick for you. Oh, and put you in the system as a student. Nothing that can’t be undone with a few clicks. And no one else knows, so you’re fine!”
‘Fine’ was relative. “This isn’t funny!” Roxanne said, “How am I supposed to teach after all that?”
“Hmm, you’ll find a way,” Neve shrugged, “Anyway, you’re not going to be able to make your date tonight. He’s my friend’s ex, so it would be super weird if you two started hooking up. I think it’s best if you stay on campus for now. You should be able to get back to real life tomorrow, probably. Just figure out how to grab your purse from where I left it in the office.”
“What? No!” Roxanne protested. She couldn’t actually stay in the dorms. By ‘in the system,’ did Neve mean that she had been assigned a room as well? That was not at all the same as sitting in a classroom as a ‘student.’ Even in a private dorm room, she’d be sharing a hall and probably a bathroom with girls she taught. That was so unprofessional, inappropriate, and a lot more. All this, because she had a date scheduled with a guy that she didn’t even know had a connection to Neve? “It’s literally a first date. I don’t have to go.”
Too late. Even if Roxanne bailed on the date, this had unfolded in such an entertaining way for Neve, and the thought of keeping her youthful looking colleague there all weekend was too enticing. After all, the administrative building would be closed until Monday morning, plus she hadn’t specifically told Roxanne where her clothes and important things were. While Neve made it sound like it was only going to be a single night, there was a good chance Roxanne was going to be stuck on campus until at least the end of classes on Monday. Maybe she’d end up with another substitute early next week, just to extend her embarrassment a little more.
Roxanne continued to push back, only to be shut down every step of the way. Similar to what Cynthia had done earlier with the bathroom mirror, Neve gestured to her and said, “Look at you, Meadow! You’re literally a student. Besides, maybe you’ll empathize with the girls if you see what boarding school life is like for them. Now, take this and run along.” She handed Roxanne the infraction, keeping a copy for herself that would end up going in the temporary record she had made for the ‘new student.’
By the time the conversation was over and Roxanne was sent towards the dorms, it was too late. The building she needed to access was closed, and she had already experienced how trying to explain who she was to anyone who didn’t know her ended up only making things worse. It was also Friday, which meant the campus was clearing out save for prefects and security, neither of whom really could remedy her situation. Neve had also laid out that staying overnight was the best way to avoid anyone important finding out about all of this; as frustrating as the logic was, Roxanne couldn’t deny that it made sense. She had already lost a good amount of respect from her students; in terms of damage control, she could at least try to avoid other faculty and staff finding out about this failure of a motivational tool.
She reluctantly trudged towards the dorms, still partially in both denial and disbelief that there was a room waiting for her, and that she would be staying as a student rather than driving home like she normally would at the end of the day.
Just one night. That’s all she had to do, and then she could sort this out tomorrow without Neve or Cynthia around to interfere. Right?
As she entered the main dorm building, the girl at the front desk gave her a warm smile. “You’re the new girl, right? What’s your name, again?”
Lightly flushing, Roxanne muttered the false name on her student ID. “Meadow Thorn . . . ”