Not What You Need

Tears sting the back of my eyes and my heart thumps in my chest as I dash out the cafeteria. I clutch the straps of my black backpack and lower my gaze to fight back tears. I won't cry. I won't cry over an arrogant jerk like Reyan Burman. He doesn't deserve any emotion from me, nor a single ounce of attention.

He cannot, at any cost, see me vulnerable.

I steel myself, downing the beginnings of my tears with huge gulps of water. Perhaps, enrolling in this Crescent High had been a mistake. After all, there was no doubt the premises are as prestigious as they claimed. The campus is massive, with conglomerates of glass buildings representing different departments, all suave with modern architecture and vast green spaces in between. The cafeteria alone has three floors, each spanning more than what my entire two bedroom apartment measured up to back home. I had been given a roadmap by the security guard, to assist me with segregating institutional buildings with housing ones. Apparently, the accommodation here is no less exquisite than the suites of a five-star hotel. Sunshine Valley; the name of the housing community, has two separate sections of cabins based on gender. Each wooden cabin houses two people, with individual rooms, en suite bathrooms and an open kitchen. As if anyone would bother to cook beyond relentless schemes to satisfy their egos.

Correction, Crescent High isn't a mistake. Me being here is.

I didn't care about what the people thought of me. I wasn't really interested in making friends either. I had mentally prepared myself for the notoriety ahead. Alas, I hadn't known that guys in this school would be so despicably insolent. My blood boils at the mere reminition. I feel a desperate urge to punch Rafe again. But more than that, I want to punch that ego out of him. The guy spineless enough to defend someone who isn't even worth it.

Once I reach my designated address, Cabin number 33 down the rows of similar looking houses, I slip in the key and step inside. If I thought the campus was extravagant, I clearly wasn't prepared for what lay in here. Marble floors deck the space, so clean that I can see my reflection in every tile. A white three seater sofa sits against the opposite wall to my left, with an ebony coffee table in the middle and an 11 inch wall hanging TV right in front. Black curtains match the rest of the furniture, just like the black marble kitchen countertop on my right. There are rooms on two far ends of the living space, presumably for me and my roommate, whoever that is. No matter how irrelevant any of this is to my true purpose, I cannot help gawp.

Is this school even real? Could this even be part of a school?

Money truly speaks for everything here. No wonder it's meant only for the elite.

Upon clearing a few last moment formalities, I was told that the staff would deliver my belongings. My luggage - a four-wheeler navy blue suitcase, now leans against the room to the right as expected. I'm about to walk to it, preferably take a hot, long shower after the day I've had, when I hear footsteps approaching and the main door unlocks. A girl, presumably my roommate, is dressed in a pink halterneck top, skirt and stilettos. Her brown hair glints with golden highlights and bobs with each step she takes. Her arm holds a large Louis Vuitton bag stuffed with notebooks.

She stops me before I can ignore her presence. "You're the new girl, right?"

"Yes." I mutter, too emotionally exhausted to engage in fake small talk.

Extending a perfectly manicured hand towards me, she introduces herself. "Sophia D'Souza."

"Veronica Sampat." Another monotonous, pointless introduction.

Sophia casts a sweet smile and asks, "Where are you from?"

It's probably out of courtesy, but all that rings in my head is a condescending tone. "Is that even relevant? The only thing that matters is whether I'm an elite, which clearly I'm not."