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Unlikely Allies
Allison received a letter from the office during her lunch period, informing her that she was to help a new student and show her around. She groaned once she'd finished reading it. This was probably her father's idea of a punishment for getting into a fight with Cathy. She became annoyed at the prospect of having the new girl around as if she were a lost puppy; she wanted nothing to do with this girl, and she hated her father even more for punishing her and forcing her to do this.
Debating on whether or not to just ditch the poor sap and be done with this all together, Ally rose to her feet, ready to head to the office and complain about this. But when she was halfway to the administration office, she stopped, glancing down at the letter again to read the name of this new girl.
Melanie... Wasn't she that weird, quiet girl who's parents died in a mysterious house fire a few months ago? Now that she thought about it, Ally became more intrigued by the second. She couldn't help but feel that she wanted to know more about this girl and where she came from. What could it hurt, really? She was surprised that she was rethinking this, couldn't believe she was actually considering this.
Following the note's instructions on where to find her, Ally made her way towards the library at her usual, I-don't-care kind of pace. There was no way she was going to hurry to meet this girl. Why waste all the energy?
Upon entering the open spaced library, she scanned the room to find the person she was looking for—who was probably somewhere off by herself in some secluded corner.
Sure enough, her gaze landed on a girl sitting off by herself at a corner table half hidden behind a tall shelf of books, her dark hair all Ally was able to see of her.
The gossipers hadn't been far off the mark in their description of her.
Not to be perturbed by anything, Ally trudged towards Melanie, ready to get this over with.
"So you're the new girl." She said rather gruffly, in way of greeting as she pulled out a chair and plopped herself down in it.
The dark-haired girl looked up from where she was writing in a notebook, looking quite startled at her sudden appearance. Ally was taken aback by the girl's eyes, which were now very wide and staring at her.
The new girl's eyes where a stunning stormy grey, their lightness shining brighter against the dark backdrop of her pitch black hair. It was strange seeing such a bright color on someone with such dark features. This new girl's face looked innocent and fragile, reminding Ally of thin glass.
"Uh, y-y-yeah...I am. Who are you?" Her voice was soft as well, sounding just as innocent as she looked.
"I'm Ally, I was sent here to show you the ropes and all that—and believe me when I say, I really don't want to be here right now, babysitting the newbie, so this is going to be short and simple. I'll give you all the advice I can and then send you on your merry way and be done with it. Hope you can catch up."
Allison wasted no time in continuing on in her gruff, brash voice, not caring if she was coming off rude. "I don't do well with people. I'm more of a recluse and can't stand to be around people and deal with all the drama. It makes my life much less complicated than it already is. One thing you need to know about the kind of people that roam these halls is that many of them aren't to be messed with, so don't try and stand up to them unless you have a death wish. There's one girl in particular that fits into that category, and her name's Cathrine Honeycomb. She's a Royal Pain in Everyone's Ass, and annoying as hell. She thinks she's above everyone else, probably because she's a Duchess, and her parents own a ton of money than everyone has in the school combined. With just one single death glare, she can have you expelled for no reason other than that she hates you and you take up too much space. Her parents are the main benefactor for this school, so she pretty much can do anything she wants to. Just leave that beotch to me, kay?"
The thin girl nodded, looking even more shaken and nervous than normal. A weird little pang went through Ally's chest, and she found herself feeling slightly sorry for this girl. Maybe she was being a bit too harsh?
No, Ally thought bitterly. This is crazy. I'm just telling her what's up so she knows, or else she's toast...
"Something tells me you've met her already." Ally observed, a slim eyebrow raised.
Melanie nodded, nervously biting her lower lip. "You could say that. She came up to me at the lunch table earlier, pretty much telling me to take a hike. But if it hadn't for this boy, I would have most certainly been toast. He stood up for me."
Ally pursed her lips at this surprising news. "Huh. Not many people usually stand up to Cathy and her Royal Pain Posse, except me of course. What kind of idiot wanted to get his butt seriously whipped this time?"
Melanie frowned slightly, which ruined that soft face of hers. "Chase, I think his name was. You and him seem a little bit alike, uncaring attitude wise—no offense or anything."
Allison raised both of her eyebrows this time, ignoring Melanie's last comment. "Chase? Chase McAllister? Is that the same Chase you're talking about?" She secretly hoped the girl was talking about another Chase.
Melanie nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Why, is he always so uncaring all the time?"
Ally let out a laugh as she threw her head back, but it was anything but joyful. "Yeah, something like that. He never cares enough to stand up for anybody. At all. It's weird how he helps some newbie—no offense."
She examined the girl more closely. What was it about her that made such an anti-social, people-hater stand up for this chick? Ally didn't quite understand it, nor knew what to make of it.
Melanie squirmed under Ally's calculating stare, messing nervously with the edge of her sleeves. "I–Is he really as bad as you say? He seemed kind of off, but he wasn't overly rude. He just told me his own stark opinions on the matter and left it at that. He wasn't too friendly either." She recalled, remembering his off-putting demeanor.
"Weird."
The Ally girl rose to her red Vans-clad feet, pushing back the library chair across the carpeted floor. "Alright, We'll do a quick tour of the Academy and be done with it. We can go back to our crazy lives and call it good. Follow moi." Without another word she stormed out and Melanie was hard pressed to follow as quickly as she could.
"I'm Ally Marks and yes, I'm the headmaster's daughter—and before you start getting the idea that my life might be better than yours, think again. It definitely doesn't get me any special treatment, that I promise you. My dad and I are on rocky terms at the moment because he's all about 'Rules' and crap, and he doesn't understand why I'm not the 'good little girl' he expects me to be. It's maddening!" She grumbled. Ally was a medium in height, with golden brown hair almost hastily done up with a half-hazard bobby pin keeping a lock of her hair up; plus, the faster the girl walked, the more Melanie had to almost sprint to keep up with her. Her short-tempered mood was causing her to quicken her pace.
Melanie wondered to herself if the girl was always this moody.
"I really don't know why I'm telling you this... Anyway, let's do what we came here for. We have many classrooms that mostly contain ordinary school desks, especially in your english and writing classes and whatnot. The science rooms have long lab tables. You'll see for yourself soon."
They walked by multiple classrooms with students sitting in regular school desks, some with textbooks open. In others, students were gathered in groups to practice the learning material or just chatting in general.
"Depending on what your little gift is, you'll be placed accordingly with the classes more suited to your abilities and all that junk."
Ally spoke so nonchalantly, not bothering to hide the boredom in her voice as she gave the shy new girl the tour, explaining where the gym was, as well as where the main core and the extracurricular classes were at.
"Oh, and a word of advice: don't get lost, many teachers here get kinda crabby if you show up late, so you'd better learn where everything is at and quickly."
"Thank you for helping me. You didn't have to do this, you know. I could tell you didn't really want to be stuck with the boring job of showing the newbie around. You could have just left me to the wolves..."
Ally shrugged. "You're right." Miss I-Don't-Care gave her a measured look. "Okay, I'm gonna be frank about this and just say it: I was curious about you at first. After hearing all the rumors floating around, I just wanted to see for myself, not because I was told to. And, to be honest, you're way different than from what I was expecting. You're shy, but friendly; but you're so innocent. It's all rather curious."
Melanie blinked. "Um, thanks? I guess?" she hesitated, unsure if that had been technically a compliment coming from her.
"But, you know, you're not too bad. You're not overly chatty, self-absorbed, or dumb. There's too many of those kind of fools here, it's kinda nice for a change." Ally shrugged. This wasn't necessarily praise coming from her. "But this doesn't make us friends, okay? I hate the clingy types."
Melanie nodded earnestly. She found herself wanting to please this girl so she could remain on her good side. Maybe one day they could even be friends...if that was even possible. "Don't worry, I understand. We're just allies, sort of...right?"
Ally's thin lips curved into a sort of grimace—what she thought was a smile. "Sure, something like that..."
The lunch bell rang, signaling it was time to start the last few hours of the day. Students started pouring out of the nearby classrooms, causing up a storm of chatter and laughter.
"Whelp, that's my cue. We will go on pretending we're strangers from here on out. I have a 'I'm-a-bitch' status to uphold." And with that the girl stalked off, disappearing into the mass of bodies heading to class.
Well, Melanie thought to herself. Wasn't she pleasant...
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