Chapter Five
Dragging myself to my dorm room after a lesson with Mr. Langley was a mixed bag. My bed wasn't the comfiest and the company was unbearable, but my muscles were so permanently tired nowadays that I had to make do with what I had.
Dropping my cardigan on the floor and changing into my pyjamas without caring if anyone was looking, there was only the touch of a smile on my lips. Mr. Langley had praised me for the first time today. It hadn't even been anything big. I'd performed a simple combination and he'd watched me with those intense eyes and nodded. "Good job," he'd said, and I'd really tried not to beam from the praise.
After my outburst he'd certainly never been mean to me, but his teaching style wasn't exactly affectionate. He was a down-to-business sort of guy and that definitely came through in the commands he barked at me. Actually hearing a compliment from him sent my mood skyrocketing.
I tried to tell myself that it was because he was the only guy I spent any time with here at BriarwoodâI was the kind of person to latch onto someone like that. I had to fancy someone after all. But it just wasn't true. At the very least, Mr. Langley was certainly gorgeous. And after he'd overcome his anger, at least towards me, he was a very good teacher, too.
The fact he was such a great dancer took the cake, though. I'd watched far too many videos of him by this point, even some of them on repeat. I hoped there was no way for teachers to check our browsing history here.
I'd still stayed to practice far after our lesson was finishedâthat was no doubt what had earnt me the praise in the first place. I'd been putting in my all, and it had been a twenty-four seven effort. That what made it late enough to justify going to sleep when I crawled in.
Satisfied with my ability for the first time since arriving, I slipped into bed and revelled in the warmth. One thing I'd definitely remembered to bring with me to the Academy was my blanket. Large and fluffy and covered in pictures of cats, it was practically my prize possession.
At times like these it was the biggest comfort.
The lights were still on and everyone was still awake, but my tired body didn't care. I closed my eyes and knew I'd be out like a light.
I would have been if the beam above my head hadn't collapsed, anyway.
I screamed, both in pain from the hard wooden object slamming across my body and from the icy water which drenched me. Shuddering and glaring so hard I could barely see through my narrowed eyes, I was instantly surrounded by my dorm mates.
Amber was laughing so hard she actually snorted at one point. "That was perfect. Even better than I planned."
I stood up with the bar between my hands, entire body shaking and so desperately tempted to whack Amber across the head with it that my fingers turned white. I'd be picking splinters out of them tomorrow.
The other girls weren't so amused. "Oh my goodness, are you okay?" They all demanded in turn, one having to pry the beam from my freezing hands.
"I'm fine," I spat, wanting to cry from anger and my inability to do anything about the situation.
"We didn't expect the beam to fall at all. We do this kind of thing to anyone who joins new, it's just for amusement. It was only a prank."
"I'm going for a shower." Speaking through gritted teeth and curling my toes to avoid launching towards the still laughing bitch, I grabbed my towels and a clean, dry pair of pyjamas then stalked from the room.
As I attempted to warm myself up in the hot shower, I allowed the tears to come. Wrapping my arms around myself, I had to rein in everything not to punch or kick something.
All my life, I'd never been known as a pushover. I'd gone through school telling anyone who confronted me that they'd regret it and normally they had. The rules hadn't been the same there. No one was going to tattle if you had a scrap with someone and it settled the dispute so easily. It wasn't a big deal. You moved on.
But here, I was completely helpless. I was the little unpopular girl who didn't deserve to be here in the first place. I couldn't go whack her across the mouth and tell her that if she ever did anything to piss me off again then she'd be getting two punches instead of one. That wasn't the way things worked.
And so I was forced to hide in the shower and cry angry tears as the bruises formed on my arm and stomach. As if my body needed any more harsh treatment.
I thanked the Lord the showers didn't have timers on like I'd read horror stories about, although Liliana had warned me that what I was experiencing joining as a sixth former was nothing like what they had to go through before they were sixteen. I stayed in the shower for a good hour, knowing that everyone else would have gone to bed by the time I got back.
That way I could make sure no one knew that I'd shed a tear about this.
My sheets had been hung on a makeshift washing line to dry whilst I'd been gone. The girls who weren't Amber must have had something other than stone hearts inside them.
Still, my mattress was soaked through and it was the hard floor that I'd been sleeping in tonightâthere wasn't even carpet, just cold laminate. Grabbing my collection of hoodies to use as a blanket, I attempted to curl up and shut my eyes.