Chapter Text
It was one of those mid-autumn days where the heat radiated off the pavement, sending a thin haze over objects. Even when the wind frittered over the campus, it didn’t cool anything down.
The class was hot, packed with preppy students wearing uniforms that had multiple layers. Charlie tugged absent-mindedly at her collar, trying to alleviate her flushed body.
“We will be going on an overnight trip to a nearby town for the end of the lesson.” The professor spoke from where he stood, his beer belly pooling over the tight pants as his blading head gleamed under the sunlight. Momentarily blinding most of the students, a soft murmur of snickers crowded the classroom.
Charlie zoned ahead; she had many excuses on why she couldn’t go. Though usually, she could just say her family couldn’t afford the fee, and the teachers wouldn’t care to let her elaborate, just nod their heads with faux sympathy and pat her off.
It was how she liked it, no unnecessary words. Just simple and easy.
“Can’t skip either, part of a grade.” His words halted Charlie’s thought process. Looking up, she saw him glance at her. The satanic smile was directed precisely at her. He didn’t even care enough to glimpse at other students. “I mean, I suppose, if you don’t care enough, you could skip. But that would be heavily detrimental to your grade.”
Charlie pictured punting him through his skull, his detestable grin enough to send her organs to churn.
“Excuse me, sir,” She raised her hand, trying to overlook the eyes that all slid toward her. Being the student that won the scholarship- it became easy to do.
“May I talk to you after class regarding some of your statements.” She smiled, playing it as politely as possible, though anyone could see the twitching in her eye.
“Of course.” He let that sinister smirk regain his features, tightly cleaning her fist underneath the expensive desk. Charlie turned her head to the side. She paid attention to the yard: the flowers danced within the soft breeze, while the sky was vastly different than the average dull, hanging clouds scenery.
“As requested by the headmaster, we will be accompanied by five university students. Most of those that you know very well,” The professor proclaimed, soaking up the exciting clamors that began to spread throughout the classroom.
Charlie felt a boulder drop in her stomach, digging at her insides as it made bile surface in the back of her throat. She had a sinking suspicion that Louis and Jack would be a part of the uni students.
“Sir!” Lisa rose her hand, the pink nail-polish glinting beneath the lights, as she drew everyone’s attention away from Charlie.
“Yes, Lisa?” The professor answered; there was an ounce of annoyance in his tone, but he still appeared much more welcoming to replying to her than Charlie.
“Would James Hardford just so happen to accompany us on the trip?” Lisa questioned, dimples showing as she flashed another one of her ‘famous’ smiles.
“That would ruin the surprise.” He answered, yet he seemed to ponder the answer. A slightly less obnoxious grin substituted the old one.
This time murmurs seemed to cascade throughout the room, girls re-pampering their hair as some of the guys harbored scowls on their features.
Charlie sunk lower in her seat- it seemed that every place she went, that annoying little prick followed her. Hopefully, she’d be able to pull out of the trip.
“Professor,” Another student raised their hand, this time a male.
With a heavy sigh, the educator paid new attention to him. “Please ask your question. I have multiple things to discuss concerning the trip.” He sighed, making circular motions with his hands.
“Where will we be traveling to?”
“Paris, now before I hear the complaints. I am sure that, if not all, most of you have traveled to Paris, but we will be going for a different reason.” The professor cleared his throat, “We will travel there to dissect our study on the novel, Dangerous Liaisons. Once we finished the novel, I am sure you all remember the movie we watched. We will be going to where they shot each scene. A little break,” He declared.
The soft chorus of bothered students floated through the classroom. Of course, they had visited Paris. Living in France and never visiting Paris was some unknown rarity- it was pitiful.
Even Charlie saw Paris, albeit when her mother was still alive, and she was young enough to forget most, if not everything, that her family did. But she still went!
“We will be staying at a nearby hotel since the ride is three hours. We rented out coach buses, but if you can catch a ride with an upperclassman attending the trip, I see nothing wrong with that.”
Charlie took a small breath; At least there’s a chance she’ll miss hanging out with most of her bothersome peers.
The professor began to drone on about her everyone’s behaviour must be nearly perfect. A few mishaps could get the school in horrible trouble.
The metallic-sounding bell began to ring, echoing throughout the intercom system over the school. In groups, students began piling out of the door. “I hope we get to pick who we share our hotel rooms with.” Lisa’s friend stated, not talking to anyone in general.
Lisa shrugged, “I know that they’ll put us together.”
She said it with the confidence that only money could attain, with complete and utter reassurance.
“Have fun sleeping with Jared, Charlie.” Camille batted her eyes as her expression rivaled the tone of her voice, making a smile ruin her empathic act.
“I’m not going on the trip, now, if you can excuse me.” Charlie gathered her belongings, arms already throbbing with the weight of her books as she descended to the teacher’s seat.
“Excuse me, sir, may we discuss the trip.” Charlie greeted, sitting in the seat opposing his.
Charlie let her fingers drum against the oak of his desk, trying not to touch any of his cluttered mess. Stray ungraded papers were in random bundles, and books lay on each other. To the right of his arm was his untouched coffee, leaving a ring underneath the chipped mug. The entire desk was very chaotic.
“What is troubling you?” He questioned, voice lacking any type of concern. More of the syrupy tone that adults speak in when trying to manipulate their kids to do chores.
“I will not be able to make the trip,” Charlie began again, trying to fight the urge to bang on his desk with the condensing smile he shot at her.
“Again, I will say this. You either don’t attend and get an F, or you go and pass. It’s that simple.” He explained with that same aggravating tone. He leaned back in his chair, arms climbing to rest around his head.
“Sir, my permission slip has not been signed. I physically can not go.” Charlie explained she wasn’t lying either. She never got one signed, nor did she get one.
“I will give you a paper- the trip isn’t until next Tuesday. And money will not be a problem. The school will be funding this trip. Come back to me at the end of lunch. I’ll have the new paper printed for you.” The professor smiled as he tilted his head to the side, his plump cheeks going upwards with his smile.
“No, thank you.” Charlie pushed back her chair, lifted her belongings she left the classroom.
Slipping her phone out of her pocket, she groaned as she got another text message from James. All of them were the same in the end, order and then another.
James: can you get me milk?
Charlie stared at the text, vision becoming blinded by red.
James: actaully, can you get 2?
Ignoring his typo, she took in a shuddering breath, anger replacing the lighter phase of irritation. Her sweater was being drenched in her sweat, while the corridor was so fucking humid. While now, she had to attend an overnight trip that was less than a week. She still had to plan out the details with Mrs. Pence and Miss. Penny about Lucian, clutching her phone even tighter, she paced to her locker. Shoving her books inside, she initiated her trek to the food court, already fishing out a twenty-euro bill.
Charlie: I’m getting them.
Heading to the small refrigerated section, she got out two bottles of milk. Scrunching up her nose at the moist texture of them, bringing them over to the cashier, she purchased them.
Walking; over to the court where most students piled on, some laying on their stomachs while others were playing rugby.
“Here.” She quietly seethed, slamming the two glass containers full of milk on the skillfully-made benches. Nothing like her old public school ones, where rust gathered at the nails, and the wood held multiple gaps between each one.
“I have a feeling you aren’t in the best of spirits…” Louis declared- a smug smile on his features.
“Such a good feeling,” Charlie deadpanned, sitting next to them. It became a typical occurrence after she started running errands for James.
Tugging once again at the collar of her shirt, she bit her bottom lip, glasses slipping from their position on her nose. Pushing them back up, she looked up at James. The model was just slacked-jaw, not even moving.
“Aren’t you going to drink your damn milk?” Charlie snapped, generally, she would refrain just a bit more, but after this awful day, she just wanted everything to speed up.
It just turned out that acting rather rude to James helped her waste time.
“What!” James was baffled, looking over to Louis for some help though his friend just shrugged his shoulders. “I can report you to the school for your little ‘hobby,’ so I would just-,” Charlie groaned over him.
“I’m sorry, today’s just been a little, just a bit, rough.”
“Why?” James asked, popping open the cap of his drink and flicking it at Louis’s shoulder.
Charlie narrowed her eyes on the brunette but rolled her eyes, “Why do you want to know? It’s not like anything can change. Just an overnight trip.” She explained, grabbing small bundles of her hair and letting her head flop downwards.
“Sucks,” James consoled, slurping on his milk until nothing remained. He put it back on the bench. “Throw away my bottle,” James ordered, getting on his phone, his stupid expensive phone.
“You insufferable prick,” Charlie whispered as she swiped up his bottle.
Fuming at the trash can, she threw the bottle in the recyclable. Heading back, Lisa stepped in front of her pathway. Her snobbish smile momentarily paused Charlie’s thought process.
“Hi, Charlie!” She greeted, the high-pitched tone of her voice just irking her even more.
“Hi,” Charlie spoke back, trying to side-step her.
“I just have a question,” Lisa beamed while she said each word, “Why are you hanging with James and Louis? It was just kinda random.”
“Ask them.” Charlie sighed as he continued her track back to the bench. Halting a few steps away, she began to turn around; just as she was retreating, Louis stood up. Clutching her shoulder, he dragged her back to her spot.
“Why were you leaving us?” Louis asked, puckering out his lips as his eyes focused on something behind Charlie.
James looked up from his phone screen, then quickly concentrated on what he was doing. His fingers were typing out something over his device.
“Thought I should explore the world.” Charlie deadpanned, turning around so she could see what caught Louis in a trance.
A girl was crying, full-on sobbing, mascara staining down her cheeks as her lips began to whimper. Incoherent words slipped from them as the male in front of her just shook his head. Returning some floral piece of paper into her grip, patting her shoulder, he started walking away. A grimace was permanent on his features from the whole ordeal.
“She just got rejected,” Louis stated, as if just staring at the aftermath- it wasn’t clear.
“Didn’t notice,” Charlie expressed, turning ahead, “So you two are going on the overnight trip?” She asked; she knew the answer but wanted to hear it from the two of them. That maybe, something nice would happen to her.
“Yeah,” James answered, putting down his phone with an annoyed expression.
“Mr. Father is forcing me to do it, so of course, I made sure James would do it with me.” Louis grabbed Jame’s body, his eyes still staring ahead as he brought them closer.
“Mmh, lovely.” She answered, leaning back further in her seat.
Her anger had transferred into a soft current underneath her skin, but if she had to deal with Lucian, she knew she would probably snap at the boy a few times.
“You are in the class going, correct?” Louis asked her, letting go of James.
“Yeah,” Charlie sighed, standing; she looked at James, raising her eyes, she did an over-sweep with her hands. “Anything else before I leave?”
“No, I suppose you did enough.”
That was shocking, commonly- he made her do a few more minuscule tasks and then let her go.
The lunch wasn’t as horrid as it was most days.
Entering the school again wasn’t relieving. Instead, it seemed everything got more scalding. Assuming how much funding the school accumulated- you would think they would at least have AC in some classrooms. Walking a few flights of stairs, she only stopped a few times to gaze at the grounds even though the groundskeeper was somewhat aggravating; he did a good job.
Charlie reached her previous classroom. Her professor was hunching over his desk. Looking up, he waved a paper at her, “Here, get it signed and return it tomorrow. No day later.”
“Thank you, sir.”
As if on cue, the bell began ringing, singling that the break was over.
The next; few classes were the leisurely ones, where the bullying was nearly absent, and the actual teachings were nothing that drove Charlie insane with trying to comprehend the concepts.
Once the dismissing bell rang, Charlie was already out of the classroom; stripping quickly from the heavy sweater, she jogged the rest to the exit gate.
If she stayed on time or as close as she could, she might have a few extra hours at their house. Tightening her hold on the wool sweater, she began steadily towards the daycare.