Remorse (Rhodes #0.5) - Rina Kent Page 0,15

This time, I’m determined to blend in. No one here knows about my past, and unless they specifically search me, they wouldn’t.

Elsa Quinn is a new person.

By the entrance, I spot a student who’s avoiding the crowd by sneaking her way along the side pathway leading to the huge double doors. I notice her because I was also contemplating the same path.

While I’d love to fit in, crowds cause that familiar itch to rise under my skin.

The loner’s skirt is bigger. She’s on the thick side and has the roundest, cutest features I’ve seen on a girl my age. With her huge rounded eyes, plump lips and braided long brown hair, she almost looks like a child.

And she’s the first presence in this school that doesn’t give me the ‘untouchable’ vibe.

I catch up to her and match her fast-walking pace. “Morning.”

Her head snaps my way, but she soon stares at her feet and tightens her grip on the strap of her messenger bag.

“I’m sorry.” I offer my most welcoming smile. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Perhaps she’s one of the new kids here, too, and feels intimidated.

“You shouldn’t be talking to me,” she whispers under her breath. Even her voice is cute.

“Why not?”

She stares at me for the first time with eyes so green, they nearly sparkle like a tropical sea. “Wow. You have beautiful eyes.”

“T-thanks.” Her lips curve into a tentative smile as if she shouldn’t be doing the smiling thing. She kicks imaginary rocks as she speaks. “You’re too pretty, you shouldn’t be talking to the school’s outcast.”

“Outcast?” I echo, incredulous. “There’s no such thing as an outcast. If I want to talk to you, I will.”

She troubles her bottom lip and I swear, I’m itching to pinch her adorable cheeks.

“Are you new here, too?” I ask, instead of acting like a creep on the first meeting.

She shakes her head. “I studied in REJ.”

“REJ?”

“Royal Elite Junior.”

“Oh.”

Considering how she wasn’t in a horde of people, I assumed she’s new. Perhaps her friends haven’t arrived yet.

“Do you want me to show you around?” she asks in a tentative, small voice.

Aunt, Uncle, and I came for a tour during the summer, but I won’t refuse a chance to bond with my first potential friend.

“Sure.” I interlink my arm with hers. “What’s your name?”

“Kimberly. You?”

“Elsa — and in my defence, I was born way before the Disney film came out.”

She chirps a little laughter. “Your parents must have psychic powers.”

“Aunt said Mum named me after a Swedish nurse who did lots of saving in both World Wars and was nicknamed the ‘Angel of Siberia’. You know, Siberia, Elsa, and then Frozen, the ice princess? So maybe Mum did have psychic powers. Pretty lame. I know.”

“No. It’s so cool.” Her shyness slowly withers away as we walk together. Now that I have her, I don’t feel as alone or dejected.

My grin widens as Kimberly shows me around elegant, huge classes. The locker rooms. The pool — that I avoided. The principal’s office that she jokes we shall never visit in a Shakespearian-like tone.

My three years in RES will be marvellous. I can almost feel it.

Once we reach the enormous, bright green football pitch, another type of giddiness takes me over. Not only because I’m such a nerd fan of Premier League and a die-hard Arsenal fan like Uncle, but also because of the long track surrounding the pitch.

This school definitely has better equipment than my last and I can continue running as usual. Hopefully, my heart condition won’t start acting up again.

A crowd of RES’s students gathers near the wiring that surrounds the pitch. Eager murmurs and excited gleams float in the air and it tastes like Christmas or a kid’s first visit to the amusement park. Everyone seems to be naturally drawn to this place and they keep multiplying by the second.

“Elites.”

“They’re here.”

“I say it’s a championship year.”

“For sure.”

“Have you seen how that little shit became even more illegal? I’d so do him.”

“Shut it. He doesn’t know you exist.”

While everyone chatters happily, Kimberly stands at the far end of the wiring, near the wall to the exit. Her easy, albeit timid smile withers away and her fair skin whitens some more.

I join her and follow her gaze.

On the pitch, the football team players pass the ball amongst each other with their heads or shoulders. They weren’t playing or even in the team’s jerseys. The school’s uniform for the girls is pretty, but it’s dead gorgeous for the boys, especially if they have