Imiliana jumped off a bottom bunk bed close to the window.
"This is my bed," she announced. "Bring my luggage over here. Stacey, you're in the way. I told you to bring my luggage, why does someone else have it? You choose one of the beds over there. Golly, you're so slow. Get out of the way. Move it."
Pushing Stacey aside into the table in the middle of the room, Imiliana snatched one of her big cases from Pearl to drag it over to the space where luggage could be stowed. Stacey tripped on a chair leg and just barely caught her balance. Ning helped to stabilise her before the chair could fall over.
"There's so little space here," Imiliana grumbled, without looking up. "Stacey, hurry up and bring my other case over. I want to unpack."
"Here," Zanity brought Stacey's small luggage case over and frowned at Imiliana. She asked Stacey, "Are you sure she's your personal assistant and it's not the other way around?"
"Apparently she's here as a favour," Stacey said in a low voice to Zanity, feeling troubled. "I was told to put up with her."
"Put up with me? I'm the one who has to put up with a dunce like you. What personal assistant," Imiliana snorted. "Clearly she's my personal assistant. Papa said he organised everything for me, meaning she's supposed to do what I tell her. Not the other way around."
"In that case, I think there's been a mix up," Telea said. "We've been informed that Stacey is your employer. Meaning, she's paying for you to be here."
"Yeah. She is. She's paying for the privilege to serve me and cosy up to my family. So what?" Imiliana rolled her eyes and continued to organise her things. "So she has to do what I tell her."
"I foresee some rough times ahead," Telea clasped Stacey's shoulder. "She's your employee, so you will need to learn to deal with her and keep her under control. She's not an official part of the program so if she's too much, she can be moved to a staff dorm. You are going to want to have a chat with her and clear this misunderstanding up."
Stacey glanced at Ning, who nodded, understanding her nonverbal request.
"I'll make a report," he promised. "Bu, Zhuang and Hun will check in on you regularly while we are a part of the program. The rest of us will join the security team."
Bu, Zhuang and Hun were the female bodyguards amongst Stacey's security team.
"Thank you," Stacey said to him and the rest of her team. "Thanks for your help."
"Seriously," Imiliana snorted again. "Go ahead and report me then and see if it'll do you any good. I'm obviously here to take her place in the program."
"I'll talk to her," Stacey's manager, Last Prose, told Stacey after an awkward silence. "Lord Huo has given me some instructions regarding this. Imiliana," Last Prose said in a sharp voice. "Leave your things there and come along," he ordered. "You aren't a part of the program. You're only here for observation as a personal assistant. You aren't even a part of the staff, so you can't order anyone around or make demands. To be clear, you are here to help Stacey in her recovery and to make life easier for her. Not harder. You are not taking Stacey's place. You are only here to learn about the industry by watching how things happen, not by participating. You can settle your things after the trainees have left the room for their classes."
"But I want to stay," Imiliana pouted. "She gets to stay," she pointed at Stacey, "and my talents are definitely better than hers."
"You are employed as an assistant," Last Prose reminded her in a slow and measured tone, as if he was talking to a child. "An assistant means someone who helps their employer - that is someone who is paying you. No one is trying to cosy up to your family. If anything, it's the other way around. Unless you'd like me to report what you've said to your father?"
Imiliana jumped.
"No, no. Don't tell Papa. Fine. Ok? I'm coming," she huffed and shoved past Stacey. "This is all your fault, you idiot," she hissed while passing by to follow Last Prose out of the room with the rest of Stacey's team.
Zanity caught Stacey before she fell and scowled at Imiliana.
"What a…" Zanity caught herself, glancing at the static cameras in the room and made a face. She took a deep breath. "So, Stacey. This is our room. What do you think?"
"It's a lot nicer than I expected," Stacey gave a small smile looking at the window. "I wasn't expecting that we'd have so much light or such a big window. It's nice. Thank you all for welcoming me into your room. I appreciate it. I'm sorry for the trouble."
"No worries," Chastity gave Stacey a sideways hug. "Like we said earlier, Zanity and I owe you. And Vera, well, Vera's alright."
"Great. Thanks for the compliment, girls," Vera rolled her eyes and shook her head so that her ringlets splayed out. "Honestly, Stacey, I don't mind. I'm glad to finally be able to meet you. Hardly any of us girls have had a proper chat with you, so I'm looking forward to getting to know you. A girl who can make the guys forget she's a girl is someone whose brain I want to pick. I have sooo many questions for you. Like, what do the guys think of us girls?"
"Haha," Stacey scratched her nose and turned to look at Zanity. "So, uh, what's the schedule for today?"
"We have free time for another half an hour," Zanity glanced at the clock. "We've got plenty of time to show you around the girls' dorm and to get changed. Here, let's put your suitcase away."
"Which bed do you want?" Chastity asked. "We have some mass training later so we'll need to get changed into uniform."
"What about what kind of look the guys are into at the moment," Vera pressed. "Helloo? Anyone listening to me? Come on."