Chapter 2: Into the jungle

Leila's POV

"These are your timetables, try to work your way through familiarizing yourself with the different classes, if I can advise you don't ask for help, strange to say, but I'm sure you'll see why..." she added, with a strange look in her eyes.

What was that? pity?

"Oh…and one more thing." she said hesitantly. "We've never had a girl scholarship student here before, 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?

"Ms 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.

She looked down uncomfortably 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 Leila.

"What is that thing?" the other one replied clearly repulsed.

They stared at Leila in shock. Leila couldn't quite make out their expression.

"Wait, is she a beggar?"

"No ways, we've never had a charity girl before."

"Maybe she's a transfer."

"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.

Those 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 politely 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.

-----

Leila took an awkward step forward, the whole class had stopped whatever they were doing and stared at her. She had gone to a lot of schools, done a lot of transfers, but never had she gotten a reaction like this before. It was as though she was an alien species, and the humans had just discovered her. Apart from that, she had never in her entire life seen a class like this before. It was like a fusion between a café, and a class. Somewhere from the back of the class came a whistle and people turned around to see who had done it.

"What? I'm just stating the obvious." someone said. It seemed to ease up the tension in the class room, as a few of the guys cheered him on.

Suddenly the classroom door opened and what looked like the teacher walked in. She too froze when she caught Leila standing in front of her class. She looked young, probably not even in her 30s, but she was the first person, who looked at Leila like she was an actual human being.

"Hello there, you must be our new bursary student?" she asked Leila kindly. There was a gasp from some of the other students and Leila distinctly heard someone whisper, "Bursary?"

"Yes." Leila managed a whisper, which to her horror came out like a croak.

"Great, well than take a seat here, right in the front row, you can put your things down there, and then come up to the class so you can introduce yourself to us." she beamed.

Leila stared at her in shock. Really? Go up there and actually talk about herself to them? She took a big gulp. It seemed like time had frozen while everyone was still staring at her putting her bag down. The teacher too seemed to be waiting for her to come up and introduce herself.

She walked to the front, staring down on the floor, she barely managed a whisper. "Hello everyone, my name is Leila Adams, thank you." she said.

Just as she was about to walk back to her seat, a girl put her hand up. "Yes Pearl?" Ms Judy asked.

"Where did that come from?" Pearl asked sneering at Leila and making a face as though Leila was something disgusting under her nose.

Leila looked up to Ms Judy, she could see Ms Judy take a deep breath as though to calm her nerves down. Ms Judy smiled kindly at Leila, "Where did you come from Leila?"

"Well I originally came from Saint Francis High School." Leila said softly. The whole class erupted in laughter.

Leila stared at them in confusion, she didn't understand what was so funny. She looked up at Ms Judy in confusion, Ms Judy however gently guided her back to her seat.

The class seemed to go on from there, however Leila couldn't help feeling like she was going to regret ever agreeing to this bursary. Sighing to herself, maybe that's what the receptionist had meant when she said "just survive..."

Leila stared in awe at the class around her, but something strange immediately caught her attention. As her eyes were scanning, she could see distinctly that the chairs got more and more "executive" going down the class. Right at the back of the class looked almost like the setting of some type of important office. They even had executive sofa/chair type of set up.

She quickly gasped as she saw one of the eyes following her gaze. He was a handsome guy, staring at her unashamedly. She quickly moved her focus back to Ms Judy.

When the bell rang, all the students got up at once, even though Ms Judy was still talking. She looked as though she was used to their behavior. Leila was the last to leave her seat, waiting for everyone to file out. She heaved a big sigh of relief. Wiping her forehead, she was actually sweating. She heard small clicks, Ms Judy was closing her briefcase.

"Leila, where is your next class?" she asked kindly.

Quickly checking her timetable, "Uh…it's PE." she said horrified.

"Oh well that's easy enough, you just go back up the stairs, and down the corridor, like as if you're going to the entrance, when you come out, you'll find a glass house, that's where your PE class will be held." she said.

"Thank you Ma'am." Leila said politely, to her surprise, Ms Judy stared at her, as if in shock at her politeness.

"Call me, if you need any help, this place can be quite cruel." she said uneasily.

Great, just great. So far people have said "just survive" and that this place can be cruel, what the hell has she gotten herself into?

-----

Leila thought to herself furiously as she made her way to the glass building. It was just as Ms Judy had described, a glass like house.

As she entered again, she was met with the same reaction, people oogling her like she was from out of space, and then there were some girls who plain stared at her with utmost hate. What had she done so wrong to make enemies already?

She was late, the other girls had already changed into their PE uniform looking like they were all part of some sport themed music video.

As Leila was standing there, one of the boys walked over to her, he was quite handsome, but then again which one of these pupils didn't look well taken care of. He had a tall thin athletic physic, beaming at her, he stretched his hand out.

"Hey there, nice to meet you Leila, my name is Nico, pleased to meet your acquaintance." he said, while kissing her hand. Leila heard a small "pshh" of disapproval from the girl Ms Judy had called as Pearl earlier.

"Uh hi Nico, nice to meet you too." Leila said awkwardly.

Another guy walked over to her, Nico smacked his back playfully, "and this here, is Taylor." Taylor beamed at her too, "Hey there Leila."

"Hi." Leila said shyly.

"I'm sure you're going to make school a very entertaining place for us this year." Nico said.

"What? Why? I'm quite boring."

"ahh…well let's see, I've never seen our girls like this before." Nico whispered dramatically to Leila. She turned red.

"wow and she blushes too." Nico said ecstatically turning his head back a bit towards his other friend, Leila caught a glimpse of him, just staring at them.

He was the same handsome guy she had seen earlier at Ms Judy's class. His face looked very cold, he had absolutely no expression on. His dark eyes again stared at her unabashedly. This time though Leila could really see him.

Although everyone around her pretty much had an aura of being the socially elite, there was something much different about him. He stood out from them vividly. It was as though even in the upper social class, there were even further subdivisions into the upper social class and the upper-upper social class. And he was definitely at the top. Maybe it was the way the others kept glancing at him nervously, as though seeking his approval. Or maybe it was just him. Self-importance etched across his very being. He looked powerful, feared, and yet enigmatic at the same time. Blushing she looked away.

"Here come's fatso…" Pearl said. Leila turned to look at whom she was talking about. There was a huge obese man, huffing and puffing as he was making his way through to his student. He stopped before he could even greet them, huffing and puffing. The kids all started laughing at him rudely. Finally after catching his breath he walked over to them.

"Good morning folks." he said while wiping sweat off his forehead with a handkerchief.

"eww...." a girl who seemed to be Pearl's friend said.

He continued, ignoring her, "today we will be doing group activities. Girls on one side, boys on the other. We will be focusing on core training. Right who here is the new bursary student? Leila Adams?" he asked, reading a label on a clothing bag which he seemed to have in his hand.

"Here sir…" Leila said shyly, raising her hand slightly. Again he looked at her shocked to be addressed to politely.

"Oh here is your PE Kit, courtesy of the Royal High Scholarship Fund." he said, handing her an exquisite black paper bag.

"Thank you." she responded.

"Gosh, she can't even afford her own PE wear? What a joke!" Pearl's friend said, while Pearl sneered looking at Leila.

"Okay, you can change and make your way back here please Ms Adams."

Leila walked into the change room, and it took her a moment to regain her breathing.

-----

Wow, just wow. How can this be a changing room for a school?

The changing room was glistening with the polish from the tiles, the whole room was surrounded with mirrors, and each cubicle was equipped with its own Jacuzzi, mini sauna and mini steam room. There were already white robes laid out neatly on the entrance of each cubicle with fluffy white slippers at the entrance.

She quickly opened up her bag, and beamed again at the magnificent so called PE uniform. It was a white silk skirt with matching silk top, which fit her on snugly, as though it was custom made. Now that she thought about it, she did have to fill in details on her application form like her measurements, weight, height etc. Her outfit even had her name printed on it on the underside of her collar. There was a matching head band, long socks and even PE white shoes, without looking at herself, she quickly went out of the changing rooms.

And yep again, for the third time in a row reaction was the same, ogling, whispers, catty looks. How was this already getting so tiring at only her second class of the morning?

"Now ladies, that is how you wear a PE outfit." Nico came to stand by Leila, embarrassing her.

She didn't understand all the unwanted attention she was getting. All of these girls looked flawless, beyond beautiful, from their well-kept hair, accurately tweezed eyebrows, beautiful layer upon layers of endless lashes, could they be fake? beautiful bronze tan….flawless. And there she was in stark contrast, chipped nails, hair tied in a messy one sided ponytail, wearing a uniform which she could never even dream of affording. What was the fuss all about?

"Okay now, divide yourselves up, girls onto one side, boys onto the other." the PE teacher said.

Nico winked at Leila and went off onto the other side of the basketball court.

"Right now, huddle around in a circle, we are all going to practice some warm up exercises." the PE teacher said.

All through the PE session they worked on different themes, from general warm up, to strengthening their core, to relaxing tensions in the muscle. Although he was unfit, he really did know his stuff, Leila thought to herself.

She heard the bell ringing signaling the end of the PE session. Suddenly from the boys circle came a terrible scream, still huddled in their circle, but there was a small figure being dragged to the center, and he was getting kicked in succession by each of the guys around the circle, almost all of them were having a turn kicking him except for Nico, Taylor, and their tall handsome friend. He just stood there gazing at the scene in front of him, with his hands in his pocket, with a strange expression on his face.

Leila couldn't fathom it, it was a mixture of cruelty and sneering. Leila looked in disgust at the PE teacher as he ashamedly bowed his head down and turned away from the scene.

"Scholarship students." Pearl said, approaching Leila. She was accompanied with two of her other friends. The rude one who had openly laughed at their PE teacher and another girl who too stared at Leila in disgust.

"You see? that's what happens to them when they don't know their place, you might be here at Royal High School, but it would do you good to know your place on the food chain. And here you're all just scavengers, begging off the bits and pieces we throw at you, like the clothes on your back you're currently wearing." Pearl continued, while every sentence she threw made her beautiful face look more and more ugly.

"My name is Pearl, here is Alicia and Oliya, we are important." she said walking off.

Leila stared at them in disbelief, she moved her gaze to the floor where the scholarship student was still being kicked, and saw in turn that she was being stared at by the same handsome face, looking at her with mild interest. Blushing she looked between his face and the guy on the floor being hit, and finally it dawned on her, the handsome man was actually enjoying seeing such brutality.