Chapter 4

The first of anything always raises anxiety to anyone. Joanne is no immune to it. She woke up way too early because of the noisy sounds someone made from the outside of her room. The sky was still dark. Hesitantly, she slipped into her dirty flip-flops, then she entered the enormous bathroom, a little too big for a 7 years old girl to use alone. Once she finished getting ready, she found a set of school uniforms being hung against the door to the walk-in closet. Assuming from the size of the clothes, it was hers. With no doubt, Joanne put it on, she also found a pair of black leather shoes, though they are a size too big, she still walked in them confidently.

To her surprise, she found both the teenage siblings already eating their big breakfast. They were fully dressed too.

"You can take anything you can, Ms.", said the Polish maid, flipping the empty plate and pulled the chair in front of it.

They had buffet tables on each side of the dining table. Joanne blinked twice, not believing what she saw. There were fruits, pancakes, waffles, bacon, basically every breakfast food that she could think of. There is no way a family of 5, 6 including her could ever finish this.

"You better hurry, the staffs have to eat after us.", Annette, the teenage girl said. So that's where the food goes.

Joanne stacked all the edibles she could fit on top of her plate before devouring them all in mere minutes. Her step-siblings watched her as she did that with a lack of etiquette. The Polish maid handed her a napkin to wipe off the grease around her mouth. She took it from the maid's rough hands before she excused herself.

When Joanne stepped out of the house, she gasped a little, looking at the limousine that was taking them to school that day. She had never seen one in real life, and now she was entering the fancy excuse of a car. The interior is so lavish, it's what she imagined the lounge of a 5-star hotel would be. Annette took many of the seats, stretching her legs in ways Joanne did not think were humanly possible.

"Sorry, I have an audition for this school play.", Annette said, almost so faintly no one could hear.

"You do this every day, audition or no audition.", Russell responded, chuckling.

Hatred aside, Joanne admired the bond between the two siblings. She could sense how strong it is by just stealing a few glances of them. She could almost admit that she felt pure jealousy, knowing they had each other, but she was all alone in this world.

The school is enormous. It looks like it could fit millions of people inside, Joanne exaggerated. Though it was newly renovated, everyone could tell it's an old building as it's more similar to an ancient palace than a functioning school. All the pupils looked so posh, bantering about some historic events, laughing as they did so. None of the views seemed familiar to our Joanne. She started to wonder if she could actually fit in with the crowd. They are of course divided into different cliques and she hadn't decided which one was she going to choose yet.

The principal's assistant gave her a private tour, covering almost the entire building, except for the east wing.

"It is reserved for sport's functions", the tall lady reminded. Joanne was mesmerized by all the facilities she got to enjoy as a student. The bell rang, just as soon as her tour ended. She presumed the lady was well aware of this, which is why she cut the tour short.

**

The first few classes were more than difficult. Just as Victoria previously warned, this is nothing like the curriculum she took before. Joanne did not understand a word said by any of the teachers. Although she was convinced that she was going to have to repeat the year, she still tried her best to catch up with all the lessons. She thought it wouldn't be that hard, considering she got her credits transferred. She didn't want her evil stepmother to earn the right to say "I told you so" either, so she felt like she had no other choice.

**

Lunch time was another battlefield. Back in Philadelphia, she never struggled to make friends, but the pupils here are so individualistic. Enrolling 5 months before the school's over did not help her case either. Everyone was either too anti-social or already had their own circles. She inhaled deeply, watching all the groups carefully. Old money, new money, no money, everyone looked almost identical with their uniforms on. She should really start looking at the shoes they were wearing but she preferred holding her head high. That way, people would get easily intimidated by her confidence.

Joining the queue, Joanne picked up a considerable amount of food on her tray, getting her own portion of nutrition for that day. She eavesdropped on a minor argument the 2 people behind her had, nothing important. She jerked her head to the side, looking at the guy at the end of the line. He handed a card to the lunch lady before she pretentiously typed on the cash register. Joanne had no knowledge that they needed to pay for lunch provided by the school. Her heart started to race. She thought of borrowing the card from the person behind her, John would definitely pay off her debt, but it's so embarrassing, she clearly did not want to show this family that she didn't even have a penny. Not long after, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"There you are!", Annette said, out of breath. She got in line in front of Joanne. Causing a few people to curse when they realize they had to take a step back.

"I thought this was a one-way trip, once you go forth you may never retreat.", said someone sassily from the back. "You can't just easily cut the line", he added, in case both the girls did not understand what he was trying to imply.

"She's new and hasn't been given a card yet. Be considerate!", Annette shouted. That was the first time Joanne really heard her stepsister's voice.

Although Joanne was grateful for the impromptu rescue, she was too proud to thank her stepsister. Annette then invited her to sit with some of her friends. She had no other option since she hadn't chosen her crowd yet. Annette kindly introduced her friends to her.

One minute in and Joanne already felt so attacked by their questions. "Where do you come from?", "Why did you choose to transfer now?", "Is your mom okay with this?" and everything else that was too personal for her to reveal. It felt like she was being interrogated. She still answered them mentally, in a very impolite way.

Looking at how Joanne's smile dropped, Annette tried to divert the topic.

"Jenn, my brother was asking whether he could use your and your cheerleading friends' help for his promposal.".

"Anything for the king of this school.", Jennifer winked flirtatiously. It was never a secret that Jennifer was in love with her best friend's brother, but who wouldn't? Russell is equally athletic, smart, and polite. There is a saying in the school that goes like "Even a blind person knows how wholesome Russell is.", the legend continued even years after he graduated, but that's not the story I'll tell right now.

"Make sure Amanda doesn't hear about it.", Annette smiled.

Joanne could only assume that Annette was doing this so she could avoid being asked why she took in a junkie's daughter into her huge house. That conversation would not be pleasant. Nevertheless, Joanne felt sort of grateful for Annette's repetitive courtesy. Still, she was wary of what Annette was planning, there is no way someone could be this kind.