Online Love, Offline Hate

Chapter Five: Kameron

This was it. Today was his first day at Pristine High School. Ever since he resumed yesterday to setup his dormitory room, he felt butterflies jittering in his stomach.

But as he stood in front of his room door, hand on the door knob and staring at the polished wooden door, the butterflies had turned to a solid rock, sinking to the bottom of his stomach. He suddenly wished he was back at Rivers High, with its old and small buildings. He wished he was back with his friends; the people he had spent all his life with.

He longed for the safety of familiarity.

Kameron gripped the door knob tightly. Familiarity and safety would not give him the life he desired. It was through this uncertainty that he would attain his goals.

Fight through the fear, he said to himself.

Squaring his shoulders, he slung his backpack over his shoulder, opened the door and headed into the unknown.

Stepping into the corridor where his room was located, he noticed that several other students were also heading out of their rooms. He had picked a good time to leave.

From what he understood about the boarding system, all the students in this block were seniors as well. There was a separate block for the students of other levels. The female dormitory was on the other side of the school.

Therefore, most of the people now present on the corridor would be heading in the same direction as he was. Maybe even to the same class.

He had memorized his route the night before but he still pulled out the map to make sure he knew the right path. He was scrutinizing the map in his hands when he heard a voice beside him.

“Hey. Are you new?”

Kameron turned to see a broad smile flashing up at him.

“My name is Matthew but I prefer Matt. What’s yours?”

“Uhmm, I’m Kameron. Nice to meet you. And yes, I’m new.” The person named Matthew was dressed in the standard uniform and was also headed out from the same corridor. That meant that the person in front of him was a senior and possibly of the same age with him.

Matt stretched a hand out. “Nice to meet you too. You’re really tall, aren’t you?”

Kameron took the hand and shook it. “Uhmm, Thank you.”

So, are you heading to class?” Kameron was about to answer when Matthew slapped his forehead. “Don’t answer that. It’s a stupid question. Of course, you’re heading to class. What class are you in?” Matthew punctuated his question with another wide smile.

“Uhmmm, Class 3. And you?” He needed to stop saying uhmmm.

“I’m in class 4. We’re headed the same way.” Matthew gestured to the map Kameron held in his hands. “Do you need help?”

“All the help I can get.” Truthfully, Kameron could find his way just fine on his own but there was no harm in making a friend in the new environment.

“Let’s go then.” Matthew beamed and began to lead Kameron out of the hostel. Once they hit the walkway that connected the hostel to the building where they would have classes, he started explaining the somewhat complicated grading system Pristine High School used. Kameron knew about this from the school’s prospectus and the visit to the Student Administration Department but he gained new insights as to how the students made life a little easier for themselves.

Matthew ended his lecture with “That’s why visual arts is somewhat unnecessary. I’d pick something more technical but then, the choice is yours, man.”

Kameron nodded, making mental notes.

They were currently on the pavement along the parking lot. By then, the main school building was in view and it was a view.

Hundreds of students converged on the building, some walking from the direction Kameron came from, the females from the opposite direction. Others in cars and yet others from the official school buses.

The sea of white and brown plaid was a sight to see. The nerves that had settled due to discussing with Matthew the way here had begun to whirl in his stomach again.

To clear up his mind, he began to observe the different students that filled the parking lot. Different expensive cars pulled up, each one glossier than the last. As the students exited their overpriced cars and walked up to the building, Kameron felt that he wouldn’t be able to distinguish the scholarship students from the others.

This was because the school did not allow students to wear jewelry during school hours. As such, all the students were dressed in the same white and brown and were impossible to tell apart from a distance. Getting closer, he immediately saw that he was wrong.

The rich students didn’t have to wear jewelry for it to be obvious that they were of a different social and financial status. Their shoes, their bags, their watches, even their hair bands all screamed affluence.

He heard a chuckle beside him and turned to see Matthew smiling. “You’ll get used to it. Some kids here are heirs to multi-billion dollar empires. Though they don’t act like it.”

A lesson for him. Try not to offend anybody.

Kameron and Matthew were almost at the end of the parking lot when a large black Range Rover swerved into the parking space right in front of the school building. From the driver’s side emerged a tall, white girl with a black Gucci bag hanging off her arm.

Kameron’s walking instinctively slowed down.

His first thought was “Is that a student?” Which was a stupid thought because she was dressed in the standard Pristine High uniform. His second thought was “I think I’ve seen her before.” Which was a more accurate thought because he had seen her before.

During the summer, when Kameron had come to settle some issues with the Pristine High Student Administrative Department, he had gone round the school for a brief tour before he and his family returned home.

They had arrived at what was labelled in the map as the Female Volleyball Gym. He saw her, or someone that looked like her, in a red and white jersey, holding a volleyball.

His third thought was “She is very beautiful.” Which was just stating the obvious. Everyone was staring at her.

His fourth thought was “How come that space was free for her to park in?” Which was his most sensible thought, so far. All of the parking spaces close to the school’s building were filled. The spaces left now were the spaces farthest from the entrance.

That made sense. The students that came earlier would take the better, closer spaces while the students that came later would take the worse, farther spaces. So why was this space, the closest to the school, empty this late? And why did she just fill it so confidently?

“That’s Amy Exner.”

Kameron was stirred out of his musing by Matthew’s quirky voice. He tilted his head towards Matt and saw him also gazing at the Range Rover and its driver.

“If Pristine High is a kingdom where the top of the top gather, then Amy Exner is the queen of that kingdom. Not only is she the richest here, she is also the best student and the captain of the female volleyball team. And they got to nationals last year. Try to stay away from her.”

Captain of the volleyball team, Kameron thought to himself. She was the one I saw.

But Matthew had given him another lesson. Try not to offend Amy Exner.

The passenger’s door of the Range opened and another girl came out. He thought Amy Exner was tall. This girl was even taller. She was dark-skinned and also very stunning. She also had a Gucci bag.

“Is she also a member of the volleyball team?”

Matthew nodded. “Thera Johnseinne. One of the best high school volleyball players in the country. Sports Weekly did an interview and all. Her father is the CEO of Priestess Bank.”

Kameron whistled. The students here were intense. He had to watch his footing.

“Come on. Let’s go,” Matthew said, waving at him to hurry up.

They left the parking lot and entered the school. They came to a stop in front of one of the classes on the ground floor.

Matt pointed to the top of the door where it said: Class 3-3. “This is your class. Mine is on the floor above. There will be an opening ceremony at the end of the day. No classes will hold today. It will mostly be orientation. They do it for us scholarship students and the few transfer students. It should be fun. I hope you enjoy yourself.”

“Thanks, Matt.” Kameron said, truly grateful. “I appreciate it.”

“It’s fine.” Matthew waved away the gratitude. “I’m just trying to help in whatever way in can. Have a nice day, Kam.”

“And you too.” Kameron watched as Matthew headed towards the stairs, greeting several people on his way. Kameron shook his head. He was like a little ball of sunshine. Kameron still found it hard to believe that Matthew was his age. Katy looked older than him.

That wasn’t important now. What was important was that he was about to meet his classmates. He didn’t know what to expect but he prayed they were nice.

Three weeks later, Kameron was wishing he had prayed a bit harder.