Xavier was getting ready to go back to the school which he absolutely hated right after spending a small stint in prison, together with Zach, his so called ex-best friend. Xavier looked at the reflection in the mirror, even his prison term couldn't fade away his aura of being privileged.
Smirking to himself, such were the perks of being wealthy. If it had been someone else, who had burnt down a mall in City Centre, they would've probably spent a good few years in prison. What was it that his lawyer had said? "Minor? Prison overcrowding? ….good behavior?" he put on his tie, while still smirking, yeah…being part of the most wealthiest and influential families in the country...certainly has its perks.
Xavier's uncle inherited a portion of the various businesses which was his father's legacy, Xavier's grandfather. But the main inheritor of everything was left to his one and only grandson, which was Xavier. On his 18th birthday, Xavier was to inherit the largest industrial conglomerate in the world, which was Royal Business. Royal business had shares in every trade imaginable, from hospitality to real estate,harbor trade, oil and gas, construction, fishing and mining. The list went on and on.
Yawning, Xavier looked at himself, with the royal school uniform on. What a joke he thought smirking to himself. Wearing a uniform like he was an ordinary student, while all the while everyone from the principal down to the cleaners were scared of him. It got tiring to be honest. There was no one who really objected to him in any way. So the fake smiles he had to face every morning from his teachers to his fellow pupils made him angry…because they didn't like him, they didnt care for him…they just endured him.
Xavier walked down the stairs, taking a last glimpse at his mansion, the porcelain tiles were already freshly polished, a gourmet made buffet breakfast set out for him while the head chef waited eagerly to serve him. Xavier stepped into the dining room. He could smell a whiff of pancakes; there were at least 20 dishes or so on the buffet table, with clean plates in the dish warmer of every size and shape. He looked at his chef "Morning young master…today I haf prepared for you ze buffet breakfast option…we haf croissant, chausson aux pommes, strawberry tart, apple tart, chocolate éclairs..." Xavier held his hand up, signaling the man to stop talking; taking half a look at him …it must be the French chef today. It was all too much for him, he took one croissant and started chewing "fanks…" he said his mouth stuffed "I'll be late for school on my first day…" he said walking away, looking at the disappointed look on the chef's face.
Xavier took the flight of stairs down and saw the driver standing out of the SUV waiting for him. "Good morning young master" he said pleasantly, while opening the door for him. "What's so good about the morning Jeffrey?" Xavier asked rhetorically, with no emotion in his voice.
It was always the same 2 line conversation he had with Jeffrey every morning, and always Jeffrey would smile at his response and never respond back. The drive to the school was somber, a lonely road, as he never had any company, for as long as he could remember he had always gone to school alone together with Jeffrey.
He had two bodyguards who would meet him at his school so that they could accompany him to the actual school entrance. The drive from his house to the school was relatively long. Xavier's father had bought a large piece of land, just outside the suburbs of the city where he had built his dream home, almost like a little town of its own. It was equipped with everything one could need to live the life of luxury in solitude. Apart from the enormous mansion, which was their house, their little 'town' had its own hospital, car showroom, zoo park, hair studio, industrial space, everything you can imagine…except for a school.
His father wanted Xavier have a 'normal' school experience. However with the type of lifestyle that he had, Xavier had never once in his life felt 'normal'. They finally reached the vast school gate's which read "Royal High school" with a gold script. Underneath the name was their logo "Educate. Empower." In big gold letters, across the black tall gates.
There were hundreds of cars in the parking, much more than usual. Xavier frowned to himself, was he missing something? The drive from the gate to the actual school building was a small one. A small paved road which had immaculately trimmed green velvety grass on either side. When they finally arrived at the building Xavier exasperated loudly, as he could see what the cause of all the commotion was. It was the paparazzi. He had totally forgotten about them.
They must be having a field day, he could just imagine their headlines "Royals heir, fresh out of prison." or "The royal arsonist…ready for the heat of school.." pressing his fingers lightly on his forehead, Xavier looked out the window. Yep welcome back to the real prison, he thought to himself. He glimpsed at Jeffrey, who had a soft worried expression on his face. "You'll be fine young master…just ignore them..." he said gently. Xavier rolled his eyes, he could see his bodyguards had arrived; he stepped out of the car, ready to enter the jungle, which was Royal High School.
"Xavier! Are you looking forward to coming back to school after your criminal activities?" One reporter shouted, trying to squirm her way through the wall his bodyguards had put around him. "Xavier! Xavier! How do you feel after spending such a short period of time in jail for such a serious crime! Don't you think you got off too easy?" the reporter's kept asking and yelling on top of their voices waiting for a response from Xavier, but he however had been well coached since he was of a young age. The rule of thumb was "Always say nothing…" he continued to walk.
For the first time all morning a smile crept on Xavier's impassive face. Standing at the entrance, looking like some type of fashion model gathering were his friends. Xavier hastened his pace towards them. "There you are sucker!" Nico said giving a big welcome back hug to Xavier. Nico, almost as tall as Xavier had a slim athletic physique. He was wearing the royal school blazer but with obvious modifications on them to make it look as though he was wearing a slim suit. Next to him was Taylor, who unlike Nico had a big bulging figure, he opted to wear the royal school baseball jacket, with the pale khaki school pants. He had earrings in both the ears, and earphones hanging loosely around his neck. Xavier gave him a high five.
"Seems like you missed me a bit too much" Xavier said laughing at his friends
"Of course! We were waiting for our royal heir..." Nico said doing an exaggerated bow.
"How was prison? Did they give you the royal treatment there too?" Taylor asked joyfully, happy to have his classmate back with him. Xavier gave him a playful punch "of course they did! There's no place impenetrable by money….and prison is no exception..." Xavier replied back cheerfully.
Joking, they made their way into the building of Royal High School.
Royal high school lived up to its name; the hallways were equipped with a red carpet which was replaced every day so that they could maintain the plush velvet look. The walls were embroidered with gold carvings, and the whole school had frameless glass for walls, reaching magnificent high ceilings.
"What's our first class today?" Xavier asked.
"Should be math's I think…" Nico replied while flipping through this timetable schedule. Xavier quickly grabbed his flip file "Hey! Don't embarrass me! Why are you carrying that thing around?" he asked while throwing it into the bin nearby. "Hey! That had all my other homework in it!" Nico said, running to the bin
Xavier stared at Nico in shock, "What? Homework? What did I miss while I was gone? You doing Homework now? What's next? Soon you will be studying?" he finished exasperated.
"It's not so much that his doing the homework…it's who he is doing the homework for…" Taylor said mysteriously.
"Hmm….really? And who might he be doing homework for?" Xavier asked curiously
"It's a certain new teacher, which has caught the attention of our little pupil here," Taylor replied, putting a hand on his heart making Nico and Xavier laugh.
"Ahh that explains it! I almost thought he was trying to be real student…" Xavier said jokingly.
They ended up entering the last class at the end of the corridor. There was nothing ordinary about the class though. From its shiny marble tiled floors, to the majestic drapes for curtains, the coffee machines at the front, with various types of tea bags, different types of milks; from 'low fat' to 'extra creamy' all lined up neatly on the counter. The class was equipped with sleeper couches at the back. All the desks, (if you could call them that) looked more like mini executive offices and were equipped with touch screen computers inside of the desks.
Xavier moved right to the back, where his desk was. His was one of a kind, as it had his name engraved in it. In small golden letters it was written "Xavier Johnston" on a plac card. That was one of the unspoken things of Royal High school. It all revolved around social class. It was a norm there, where everyone knew their rightful place. The elite, which were the richest of the rich people sat at the back, this is where their desks had gold encrusted names of the owner. And although to the untrained eye the differences would be subtle, the differences were still there.
While the seats were all executive office seats, the ones at the back had a more regal look, they were for sure custom made, and the colour was slightly different to those in the rest of the class. Just reinforcement that they, the pupils were not all equal, that in fact yes…some students were more important than others.
"How was prison?" Pearl asked sitting next to the Xavier's executive chair. Xavier exhaled a big sigh, "Pearl don't you know, this side of the class is for the VIP" he emphasized, not looking at her, flicking through his home screen on his desk.
"Xavier don't you know, my father's company's shares is now up by 31 percent" she retorted swishing her brown straight hair back and rolling her pretty eyes. Xavier smirked, maybe…..just maybe he almost missed her when he was in prison? Pearl and him had a strange relationship of sorts, not much of friendship more of a comradely. They were forced to be friends since childhood, her parents had both hoped it would bloom into something more, which in potential could allow them one day to marry, and cause one of the biggest industrial mergers of the world. However Xavier had never entertained that thought for even one second. His argument was always, Pearl's family was rich and influential but still not at the level where they could stand on equal footing. The possibility of a merger would be more beneficial for them than it would for the Royal conglomerate.
"That's great Pearl, but we all know that 31 percent is about as significant as the toilet paper i used this morning" he responded, without sparing a glance at her.
"Whatever…I see prison didn't teach you any manners" she responded haughtily getting up and making her way back to her seat, which was situated on the second last row in the class. Pearl was beautiful...of sorts. But like every other rich girl at Royal high school, who could afford the best hair, had personal makeup artists, they almost all looked good.
Plastic surgery was a norm amongst them, though it was taboo to discuss it. Of course it went without saying that he was the most eligible bachelor at Royal High School. His females classmates disingenuous attempts to capture him was almost joke like for him, but then again another thing at Royal high, relationships were based on status and not on feelings.
"Tut...tut…she's here…" Taylor whispered smirking at Nico.
Xavier turned his attention to the front of the class to see who had entered. It was a young slim woman. She couldn't have been older than 28. Dressed conservatively, with a brown jersey and pin skirt. She had a slightly stern look on her face, but equipped with her messy hairdo bun and geeky glasses, she looked like your typical teacher.
"Good morning class…" she said in haste as she placed her clipboard and small briefcase on top of the empty desk at the front of the class. There was no response from the students. She turned her attention onto the front of her class, bringing her eyes to Xavier.
"Aah I see…we have a new student here today! Please introduce yourself for us" she said in a friendly voice. The class burst out in laughter. Looking confused, she put her hand up for silence "Hey! What is wrong with you?" she said looking stunned at her class's response to their new student. "Please, do introduce yourself to us..." she said gently to Xavier. Xavier smirked to himself, she looks like a softy, she wouldn't last too long in this jungle of Royal high school.
"Ha-ha…yeah Xavier go ahead and introduce yourself for us..." Nico said. Rolling his eyes, Xavier got up. The class turned into pin drop silence. "My name is Xavier..." he said briefly, while sitting back down.
"Oh come now! That won't do at all! Tell us a bit about yourself…where were you before, are you a transfer student…?" she continued asking. Xavier took a huge breath in, gosh she was really clueless, he thought to himself as he got up again. Maybe he should just tell her who the fuck he was to avoid such cases with any of the other new teachers.
"Yes…do tell us...if you are a transfer student…" Nico replied back naughtily
"My name is Xavier Johnston, heir of the Royal group. And no…I'm not a transfer student…I just got out of prison" He responded. He could see her face turning red by the second, and finally he could see hints of insight dawning on her.
"Oh..." she said
"Any further questions?" He asked
"Er…no…that will do just fine…thank you…you may have a seat.." she stuttered awkwardly while the whole class started laughing at her again, but yet this time she didn't ask them to stop. The class droned on from there, Xavier losing focus almost immediately.
Royal high, the school where teachers were openly mocked by their students. Usually because they belonged to the working class and the young peers of Royal high saw that as a low social status. When the bell rang, he almost immediately jumped from his executive desk, making his way out of the corridor. The whole morning went the same way. The only thing he missed was his friends, when he was in prison. As for royal high, it was like a concrete jungle, beautiful and expensive looking.
But it was filled with animals. Ruthless animals, who were only interested in the rat race, things like friendships were a rare commodity here. The so called friends were chosen simply based on the social status, the wealth of their family, how much influence and power they have in the world beyond the walls of Royal high. What they were really looking for was mergers. That being said, it made Xavier Johnston the biggest merger opportunity that there was.
The final lunch break bell rang, signaling end of the morning sessions. Xavier, Taylor and Nico made their way to the cafeteria.
"Gosh what a boring morning…thought it would never end…" Taylor said sighing loudly.
"Guess what we need is some entertainment..." Nico said concurring with Taylor. Xavier's handsome face broke into a cruel curved smile, "think I just found it…." He said
"What?" Nico asked
"Entertainment" Xavier replied smiling
In walked the charity kids, as they were called at Royal high school. The kids who got admission based on good academic records, from a poor background, and were on scholarships at Royal High. Royal high had a strict social class system. The charity kids had to sit on their own table, which was close to the buffet tables, where the smell of the roasted eggs was most prevalent, and where all the cooks stood to serve the students. They were also the most vulnerable, Xavier looked to the table, someone had placed a big plac card on the table it read in big letters "Beggars" smirking to himself again, the little devils are at it again. Being part of the charity group meant you were open to humiliation from just about anyone in the whole school, the senior charity group kids to the most junior ones, there was no one safe.
Xavier started the whole system back then, with who used to be his best friend, Zach. Zach was also sentenced to a prison term, but he was sent to a different prison. His term was about to end anytime now, and then they would be at each other's throats once again.
Xavier and Zach had a strange relationship of sorts. They still had too much love for each other to truly hate each other, but had hurt each other in so many ways to ever go back to the way they were. School will be interesting when he comes back, that's for sure.
Xavier got up from his table which was at the furthest end from the beggars table, and walked towards them. He glanced at them there were about four of the 'beggars' sitting at the table. One looked like he couldn't be further than the 9th grade, big glasses which were held up by sellotape in the middle, and rough hair. Urgh yuck. Xavier thought to himself. Then there were the other two, they looked much more senior than the small kid. They were talking amongst themselves, and looked like they were leaving the kid out.
They were laughing and as he walked past their table, one of them caught Xavier's eyes and quickly looked away, while whispering something to the other one. Xavier walked on, as a strange thought occurred to him. Never had he ever seen a charity case girl student though. Maybe the school management thought the girls wouldn't be able to endure the bullying. The bullying was the one big elephant in the room which no one really spoke about. It was as though there was nothing to acknowledge, everyone bullied the charity kids, and each other depending on the social status.
Suddenly there were big shrieks of laughter from the nearby table. Xavier looked up while getting himself a waffle. Someone decided to throw potato mash onto one of the senior beggars face. He closed his eyes whilst wiping the mash off his face slowly.
"Oy so this is what's been going on while you have been gone" Nico said helping himself to some waffles too.
"We have left the school's state of ethics to these amateurs…" Xavier replied disinterested.
"Didn't we already do the potato mash in like 7th grade?" Taylor asked curiously
"We sure did....they should start to get more creative....this is soo boring" Nico replied.
"Like what? Burning malls maybe?" Pearl said, moving into the conversation.
"Yeah maybe…but I doubt they will be able to pay off the legal fees to stay for just three months due to overcrowding..." Nico replied
"Or pay off the judge, or the judicial ministry…" Xavier replied
"You paid off the judicial ministry?" asked pearl surprised
"Why so surprised?" Xavier retorted
"Didn't know you could even do that" she replied
"Yeah it was approximately the size of a gdp of some small country….doubt you can afford it though" Xavier responded.
Pearl gave him the death stare "Im just saying" Xavier said shrugging.
**********
Leila was standing at the reception, waiting to get her timetable.
"These are your timetables, try to work your way through familiarizing yourself with the different classes…" she said hesitantly , not looking at leila in the eyes, as though she were avoiding her "Er...if I can advise you don't ask for help…strange to say, but im sure you'll see why.." she added, with a strange look in her eyes, what was that? Pity? Leila couldn't quite make out what was the look in the ladies eyes.
"Oh…and one more thing" she said hesitantly... "We've never had a girl scholarship student here before, er…try to survive..." she added abruptly.
Survive? Strange words to use, it made her feel uneasy. As she entered the school hall, her jaw nearly dropped. Leila had never been inside something so beautiful in her life. The school really suited its name…Royal…it was fit for royalty.
Leila looked at her timetable, her first class started within 15 minutes, "Biology…Ms. Judy, room 108" was written on her block. She looked at the doors in the corridor, most of them were opening in, and it was hard to see whether they had any numbers on them. As she was walking down the corridor, the feeling of unease was starting to get bigger and bigger.
Leila could feel stares at her, and whispers were falling suit. Or could she be imagining it and they were talking about something completely unrelated to her? Maybe she was just imagining things, have these kids never seen a new student before? Leila finally came across one door, which had the number 56 placed onto it. Sighing, looks like it was going to be a long walk she thought to herself. With less than 10 minutes left to get to her first class, she started panicking a bit when the corridor abruptly ended at room 89. Where in the world did the hundreds start?
"Miss Judy really made a fool of herself! I mean how could she not know who Xavier is?" Leila heard a girl talk loudly with another one as they both giggled. Leila stood for a few seconds in awe of them; they were the kind of kids which you see on television series, on any series which featured lives of the rich and glamorous. They both had designer handbags wrapped on their shoulders, and they were both wearing extra high-high heels with their outfits. They looked so prim and proper, well kept. Even their nails were manicured to the T. Leila looked down embarrased at her shoes; they had some sand on them, as she had to walk her way to the school. No taxis were going that side, and the ones who did agree to take her there were charging a bomb. Leila got off at the nearest stop, and walked from there. She shifted uncomfortably. The girls saw her looking at them.
"Oh-My-God…" the prettier one said, staring at her.
"What is that thing?" the other one replied clearly repulsed.
They stared at her in shock. She couldn't quite make out their expression.
"Wait…..Is she a beggar?" the other one shrieked as though wanting to burst out laughing.
"No ways…we've never had a charity girl before…" her friend replied staring at her curiously
"Maybe she's a transfer ?" her friend responded
"You know this is not that type of school….it's not like you can just transfer here…"
Leila stared at them, half scared and half amused. They just stood there speaking about her, as if she didn't exist. Boy rich people sure do have their own way of doing things she thought to herself. Leila almost wanted to open her mouth to ask them if they knew where Ms. Judy's class was and then she remembered the warning she got from her secretary, "don't ask for help….just survive"
Looking past them, she saw there were stairways leading down on the left hand side of the corridor; it had a small sign which read "90 – 120" on it. She walked away from them, and went down the staircase.
The number 108 was printed on the door ….found it. Breathing a sigh of relief she stepped into the class. Immediately when she got in, she knew something was wrong…very wrong !
********
There was pin drop silence from the moment the new girl walked into the room. The whole class stared at the newcomer. Xavier turned to see what the commotion was all about.
"Well…finally…I think we have a game changer…" Tyler said, smiling to himself, while looking at the new classmate.
"What do you mean?" Nico asked.
"I think my friends, for the first time in Royal High, we have a girl charity scholar….and look at her…she's….."
"-Beautiful..." Xavier finished off, while staring at the new on comer.
Tyler looked at the other girls reaction to their new 'competition', Pearl stood there with an unimpressed look on her face. "Oh oh…I smell trouble..."