The Teaching Assistant

Chapter 44
The Teaching Assistant, Part 44

Part 44

Summer had Amelia repeat the degrading phrase a few more times, then subjected her to silence for the rest of the meal. 

The girls at the table resumed their normal conversations as if she wasn’t there. Gossiping about teachers, other students, and plans for the weekend. If Amelia really was a new student, some of it would have been useful information to mentally file away. Because of who she really was, however, Amelia tuned most of it out and impatiently waited for breakfast to be over. 

Ashley and Claire were actually preferable compared to these girls. The devils she knew, in a sense, but also the fact that the two seniors were older and more mature. While what they were doing with Amelia was still all kinds of wrong and insulting, at least they weren’t straight up brats about it. More importantly, they kept their focus solely on Amelia, and didn’t drag anyone else into their game.

Of course, Amelia realized halfway through the meal that she hadn’t been told what was next beyond this part of the morning. It was Saturday. The class schedule she had been given by the mathematics teacher the day before only accounted for weekdays. If Ashley and Claire had something in mind, or if there was something students were responsible for outside their weekend homework/studying, she hadn’t been made aware of that yet. 

There was no bell to signal the end of breakfast. Similar to how classes had concluded the previous day, as well as what Amelia’s college experience had been like, everyone simply kept track of the time. Considering the reputation the academy had, it wasn’t particularly surprising that the students were self-sufficient in that way. Summer and the rest of her clique stood up; the blonde leader finally turned her attention to Amelia again. “You can deal with our trays, bitch. Meet us in the courtyard in five minutes. Don’t fucking be late. What do you say?” 

Amelia was still slightly in disbelief that she was allowing a thirteen year old to speak to her in such a way, and yet nothing had changed regarding their dynamic. Summer was the actual bitch between them, Piper was innocent, and Amelia was stuck playing defense for a girl she barely knew. “Yes, Ms. Summer,” she reluctantly said. “I’ll take your trays.” It only felt a little bit weird to say, considering how often Amelia had been told to respond ‘properly’ over the last 24 hours. Respectful title, and affirmation of what she would be doing. 

As a future educator, she still had mixed feelings about the way Westridge enforced that. Making a bunch of students echo XYZ felt a little bit cult-y, although Amelia could also see how it could be effective when used by teachers who weren’t abusing their power like Claire was. Any number of lessons or reprimands would sink in better if the student had to actually say it herself instead of just hearing it. One thing was for sure, however–the system hadn’t been designed for a girl like Summer to take advantage of. 

Unlike most of the surrounding girls who were picking up their own trays and heading towards the other end of the dining hall, Summer and company merely pushed in their chairs and walked away. 

Amelia scowled at the backs of their heads, especially when none of them glanced back to see if she was doing as she was told. They all just assumed that she would. Unfortunately, they were right. After a few seconds of quiet frustration, Amelia started consolidating everything onto one tray so she could stack up the rest of them. A professional young adult, cleaning up after a bunch of teenagers. She had half a mind to get them in trouble, consequences be damned, although that had backfired before. Like what had transpired after the class where she had confronted Summer, a similar attempt would likely end up with it being five against one again. And, thanks to whatever Ashley had done to register her as a transfer student, all the teachers and staff believed that Amelia was a difficult girl at her former school. Meanwhile, Summer knew how to suck up to teachers while being her actual self to her peers. It would never be a fair fight between the two of them, even if Amelia wasn’t as intimidated as the other girls in her grade. 

Most importantly, Amelia needed to stay focused on her original goal. Finding a computer was far more pressing than getting a bitchy student in trouble. As she picked up the stack of trays, she took the first moment of solitude all morning to weigh her options. While the whole Piper thing was a constant worry, Amelia had already let it screw up her morning enough where Summer was involved. Wasn’t reclaiming her real age and identity ultimately a better way to fix everything at once? If the academy knew she was actually an adult and a candidate for the job, maybe she could get Summer in some real trouble after explaining the mortifying series of events that Ashley had orchestrated. 

Taking a breath and slightly nodding to herself, Amelia settled on that course of action. At such an expensive school, there had to be a computer lab somewhere. She just had to find it without alerting Ashley or Claire, and while also avoiding Summer. The latter was the more difficult task, as the courtyard was just a few feet beyond the entrance to the dining hall. Westridge also had multiple buildings, and Amelia’s tour hadn’t given her the kind of information she needed to narrow things down. 

Then again, she was a new student. Taking a moment to look left and right for the two eighteen year olds who would complicate matters both now and later if they knew her destination, Amelia turned to the girl next to her. “Hey. Is there a computer lab we can use? Or something in the library?”

“Umm, yeah,” the girl said, “Both.”

Finally. Some good news. 

Amelia managed to keep herself from sounding too excited as she asked for location details. The computer lab was farther away, in the Math and Science building, but the library was more centralized on campus. Of course, avoiding the courtyard would add some time no matter what, although there were dozens of uniformed girls that were putting trays on the conveyor belt and filtering out of the spacious room. For once, Amelia’s height was going to work to her advantage. 

She immediately put her more official plan into motion. Now that she knew where she was going, mostly, it felt a lot more attainable. Carefully turning the corner when a couple of taller girls left the dining hall, Amelia took a sharp left and strutted down the covered stone path. She was still outside, and could potentially be noticed if Summer or one of her friends were watching out for her, although she made an effort to stay on the building side of the path so she’d be obscured by both students and the occasional pillar. 

A single afternoon hadn’t been enough to fully memorize the campus, yet Amelia managed to find the library without too much trouble. Sighing to herself in relief when it was actually open, something she had been worried about on the way when she considered what day it was, Amelia stepped through the double doors. 

No Ashley. No Claire. No Summer. 

This was her chance.