The Teaching Assistant

Chapter 25
The Teaching Assistant, Part 25

Part 25

The first half of the science class came and went with no difficulties. 

Amelia was grateful this wasn’t the type of school that put new students at the front of the room to introduce them. The last thing she needed was a whole classroom looking at her transformed self and sealing in their minds that she was indeed thirteen. Although at this point, it didn’t matter. Her only choices regarding Westridge now was whether she wanted to leave and never look back after being demeaned all day, or permanently dye her hair and go by her real middle name in an effort to avoid recognition by any of the teachers, administrators, or students if she could somehow still land the amazing job after all the fuckery Ashley caused in the office. 

As for class, it was mostly a lecture. While jumping in mid-semester put Amelia at a disadvantage, she was still intelligent enough to follow along for the most part. Science was always one of her worst subjects, but it was more the high school classes that kicked her ass when she was younger. This kind made a lot more sense. Stuck in the role she had committed to going along with for the day, Amelia actually took notes in the binder given to her. It’s not like she was actually interested in the class she hadn’t taken in a decade, but simply sitting there and doing nothing could potentially get her noticed by the teacher up front. 

Having Summer behind her, however, made it difficult to focus. Not only had Amelia refused to flinch towards the popular girl’s intimidation tactics, but she had also indirectly gotten her in trouble with one of the prefects. In reality, Summer had gotten herself in trouble due to the way she called Maxine over, but that’s not how teenage minds worked. Since the tall blonde would have a hard getting back at Maxine, the easier girl to blame would be Amelia. 

The problem was, Summer wasn’t doing anything. She was poised to attempt any number of mean girl antics, and flanked with her friends to boot, but nothing was happening. And, due to how she was positioned directly behind Amelia, there was no way Amelia could keep an eye on her.

Amelia stayed on edge for the whole hour, half heartedly taking notes and following along in the textbook when necessary. She hated that a girl so many years her junior was making her nervous, but it’s not like she had much power to defend herself. Everyone in the room thought she was thirteen, and she was also shorter than Summer and outnumbered three to one if it came to that. Although perhaps that was the perk of this being her ‘first day.’ Too many eyes would be on her, meaning Summer wouldn’t have a chance to corner her or get away with anything in a quiet classroom.

Apparently Westridge didn’t do bells. It took Amelia until the end of her second class to notice, but they were simply dismissed by the teacher instead of a jarring outside source announcing that it was time to move on to something else. As she and the rest of the class stood up and began collecting their things, Summer pounced. 

Quickly and quietly racing forward out of nowhere, she grabbed and twisted one of Amelia’s ears while simultaneously hissing in the other one. “You do not cross me, Millie. EVER. Got it?”

Gasping in both shock and pain, Amelia acted purely on instinct. She slammed her elbow back somewhere into Summer’s torso and turned enough to get a good kick on one of the girl’s shins. “Back off!!” Amelia yelled. 

Clearly Summer hadn’t expected her to fight back. The girl let out a gasp of her own as she was struck and momentarily winded from the blow, and let go to take a reflexive step back from the follow-up kick. “Fucking. Bitch.” The flicker of weakness on her face all but vanished, probably due to having her cronies nearby who expected their leader to always be fearless. 

Amelia was a bit of a mess herself, but put on a similar act. She wasn’t going to let some preppy brat push her around, but also . . . could Amelia get in legal trouble for what she just did? It was purely self defense, but she had still landed two physical blows on a younger girl. Although it was tough to think about such things when she was still bracing herself for a catfight that might lead to something worse than an elbow unless she simply allowed herself to take whatever was thrown at her without fighting back.

Thankfully, the decision was taken out of her hands. “HEY.” Their science teacher had been rather proper throughout the entire class, but her whole tone and demeanor shifted as she snapped at the girls. “What is going on back there?” She stormed towards Amelia and Summer, and any students in her way scrambled to part for her. Half the uniformed girls still in the classroom escaped the classroom, not wanting to be present for such a confrontation, but there were plenty who remained to watch from the sidelines and have something to gossip about later and/or so they wouldn’t be the ones who missed out.

Summer piped up right away. “The new girl just attacked me for no reason!”

“I did not!” Amelia exclaimed. The nerve of this girl. “Summer started it. She fucking grabbed my ear, and-”

“Millie. Language.” The teacher held up her hand. Rather than continuing to address either or the girls, she looked at those standing nearby. “Anybody?” she asked. 

One of the popular blonde’s friends spoke up first. “Umm, technically Summer started it?” It was the last thing Amelia expected her to say. That is, until the girl went on. “I mean, she was going to ask you a question about tonight’s assignment, and accidentally nudged Millie’s shoulder on the way.”

Summer picked it up from there. “And then she went off on me! Look, Millie, I’m sorry. It was an accident.”

“They’re lying!” Millie gasped. It was so much like her own teenage years. She had never been a target of such things, but it was pretty common for girlfriends to stick together. And, in this case, to cleverly put just enough blame on Summer to make it seem like they weren’t choosing sides. “Summer just-”

“Summer,” the teacher interrupted, “Is one of my best students. And she’s the only one who has apologized so far.”

“But-”

“Oh, my God- Sorry. Oh, my goodness,” Summer said, “My leg is bleeding.”

Barely. Her leg was barely bleeding. But Amelia’s kick had connected enough to tear the skin just enough for a single drop of blood to trickle out. Visual evidence that Summer was the ‘victim.’

“Apologize, Millie.”

The woman’s demand was beyond unfair. She wasn’t even giving Amelia a chance to defend herself. Hadn’t anyone else seen?! Or were they all too scared of Summer? After all, siding with the new girl had far fewer benefits when it was clear that Summer was top of the food chain in this particular grade. 

One day. Like Mrs. Webb’s accusations, and Maxine’s write-up, and now this, there was still no benefit to pushing back. Once again choosing the path of least resistance, Amelia muttered, “I’m sorry, Summer.” She half expected the apology to drag on into specifics, but there was still one afternoon class to go. 

Most of the girls were dismissed, so they could get to their next class on time and so the classroom could empty out for the students that were on the way. Everyone except Amelia. The science teacher told her to stay and come to the desk up front. 

Amelia dared a glance towards Summer, but the tall blonde didn’t so much as smirk as she left the room. Probably wasn’t worth the risk, when she was apparently one of the ‘best students.’ In that sense, it seemed crazy that Summer would do something so aggressive in such a populated room, but they had also been in the back and the bitchy girl had probably approached in a way that looked innocent to anyone who wasn’t watching carefully at the time.

As the room cleared out, Amelia had to bite her tongue as she approached the desk. Path of least resistance. Though Summer and company weren’t around to insist on their side of the story, Amelia didn’t bother trying to retell her perspective. Besides, it was starting to feel juvenile to argue that ‘she started it.’ 

“It’s always a coin toss with new girls, isn’t it?” the teacher sighed. Amelia still didn’t know her name, as only the class was on her schedule and she had been told by the science teacher that the syllabus was online. Amelia couldn’t remember if it had been mentioned earlier when they met. 

The woman proceeded to open the top drawer and pull out a stack of those damn pink slips.