Jennies eyes opened wide and she jumped up off her bed with heavy breathing and a dried mouth.
"The same nightmare..." she massaged her temple and controlled her erratic breathing.
After her father's death four years back, Jennie had been seeing this nightmare where she finds herself jumping off a tall building, and just moments before hitting the floor she would always wake up.
But today's nightmare was slightly different, just moments before she was about to hit the floor and wake up she saw the reflection of a person.
After giving it a few thoughts Jennie brushed off the whole nightmare aside. She had already tormented herself in the past making sense of her weird dream.
She picked up her phone to check the time, it was 6:00 A.M. So she decided to unpack her luggage and settle them in her new closet.
Jennie neatly arranged her books in the largest compartment of the closet. Once done she unzipped the bag that had her minion collection. Handling them with utmost care she picked them one by one and arranged them on the second largest shelf of the closet. She loved the cute yellow monsters and had been collecting their action figures since she was seven.
"Perfect" she commented as looked at her books and her inexpensive minion collection that was neatly organised.
Now it was time for the clothes. She unpacked the last of the trolleys, made a pile of the clothes, and then shoved them into the first free shelves she saw.
After she was done unpacking she checked Julie's notes and found out they had two classes in common. She quickly copied the notes.
Around 9:00 A.M. she received the message from Jule. Jennie had saved her name along with a thunderbolt emoji.
Julie - Currently I am out, so I will meet you directly in the dining room in 20 minutes. You know where is it right?
Before Jennie could type anything, she received the location of the cafeteria from Julie.
Julie - Bye see you there in 20 minutes.
Jennie sighed, Jule really was like a thunderbolt.
After taking a hot shower Jennie left to have the first meal of the day.
The dining hall was a single-floor building, that was located just next to the dorm building.
The hall was huge. The owner of the university seemed obsessed with glass to Jennie as one wall of the room was glass that had a great view of the beautiful Garden outside. As it was a Sunday, and the breakfast timings were from 8:00- 11:00 the place was moderately crowded.
What amused Jennie the most on entering was the variety of food that the place displayed.
Among the vast number of choices, Jennie decided to pick a simple meal of cereal and milk, along with a boiled egg.
After she had picked up her meal, Jennie quickly spotted Julie who was sitting with a friend, and walked up to her. On walking toward Jule, Jennie could feel students staring at her but she decided to just ignore them.
Jule quickly introduced Jennie to the friend she was sitting with- "Jennie this is my friend Alex. Alex this is Jennie the new admission who just moved next to me."
"Hello, Alexander Ramsay, Arts department. Welcome to the university." Alex greeted her. He had straight black hair, with a thoughtful face like some scholar, and the way he sat with a straight back on his chair. He looked like some aristocrat.
"Jennifer Ashwood. Nice to meet you." Jennie returned the smile. She took the seat next to Julie and opposite Alex.
"Jennie you must be wondering why Alex is eating here and not in his block?" Jule questioned out of nowhere. and a second later answered herself, "He says the food here is better than on his block. He eats all his meals here." Jule giggled.
Alex gave a sigh and then spoke "I was surprised to know the university would take in a new student in the junior year, especially a month later than the regular admissions."
"I got a bit late in deciding which college to enter, but I didn't know it is difficult to get admission in Junior Year." Jennie was unaware of the information. When she was applying to universities she searched top ten universities with the best placements and just applied for them all. With her good grades, she almost got in all of them, so she just compared their placements programs and chose the best among them.
"Nope... I heard even children from some prominent families could not get admission in here." Jule confirmed, speaking with stuffed a mouth. Then turning her shiny eyes towards Jennie she asked curiously "Your connections must be very strong. So tell us which family are you related to, Allan's, The Wai's, or Quin's ?" Jule started with her guessing game.
"Oh wait ! You must be related to the owners of the University, the Frost's ?" Jule stated swinging her spoon excitedly as if she had just unraveled some mystery.
"No. No" Jennie spoke shaking her head. She did not know how can someone conclude that she was rich, let alone filthy rich.
"You got everything wro-" Jennie spoke to put an end to this little misunderstanding when Alex cut her short.
"Jennie you don't need to explain. This is very rude of you." he slightly scolded Jule.
"But guys I-" Jennie tried clarifying again but was interpreted by Jule this time.
"Fine-fine. Alex you are so boring...." she spoke with puffed cheeks.
Jennie sighed this was the second time Jule had misunderstood her background, Jennie made a mental note to clarify everything later with her.
"I am getting myself some more pasta. Can I get you both anything ?" Alex asked getting up.
"Boring !" Jule stuck her tongue out and teased Alex. Jennie just shook her head and declined with a smile.
Jennie was really surprised to see someone like Alex and Jule together. They had such contradictory personalities Alex had a sophisticated and mature personality, while on the other hand, Jule was always playful and was all over the place. Even their clothes were completely opposite. Alex wore a brown well-pressed collared t-shirt while Jule wore a bright yellow dress with a flowery pattern on it.
Jennie was still lost in her though when she felt a few eyes on her.
Jennie looked around and caught many students looking at her. Some students were decent enough to shift their gaze when she caught them while some of the bold ones just stared her straight in the eye.
"Jule, why is everyone staring at us? Is it because of the whole admission thing ?" Jennie asked. She had always been a low-key bookworm kind of a person so feeling so many eyes upon her made her a bit uncomfortable.
"Ohh that....It is because of the whole Ms. Adria incident yesterday. And it is clear to everyone that Naomi West dislikes you." Jule told casually while devouring her noodles.
"Everyone knows about it already ?!" Jennie was shocked at the speed the news had traveled.
"Don't worry Jennie they are just a little curious, they would soon forget about it." Alex spoke, placing his plate of pasta on the table "And Naomi West dislikes almost half of the school including me so no big deal."
"Naomi despises him." Jule added playfully, and then she further spoke with a huge grin "You know Alex's father cut down her role in one of his movies."
"I have nothing to do with my father's way of working." Alex immediately defended himself "And just to be clear she was fired because she always turned up late to set and was rude to other cast members."
"But I heard a different version of the story. I heard you used to like her in middle school and you were rejected. So to take revenge on your behalf your father just fired her." Jule was giggling by now.
"Wait....You are the son of William Wright Ramsay !" Jennie suddenly recalled the most talked about incident of last year where the famous director William Wright Ramsay fired Naomi from his films and cast a lesser known actress. To add further injuries to Naomi, the movie won an Oscar later that year.
Alex casually nodded, his whole attention on Jule "Are you even listening to yourself Jule."
Jennie blinked her eyes in amazement. She realized Kiara's words had turned up true and she was really making some celebrity friends.
Jennie looked at the two in amusement as their personalities clashed and were engaged in their friendly bickering "How long have you guys known each other ?" she asked.
"Three years." Jule replied "When I joined I was having a bit of difficulty settling in as I was 'new money' so Alex here and helped me back then and since then we are friends."
" 'New Money' what does mean ?" Jennie voiced her thoughts, it was the first time she had heard the term.
" 'New money', 'Wealthy' and 'Elites' there is a hierarchy. Aren't you aware ?" Jule looked at her with a big question mark floating over her head.
Jennie just shook her head.
"There are three division of groups 'New money', 'Wealthy' and the 'Elites'. People like me....whose family owns small businesses or are government officials and have wealth over a million are called 'new money' "
People like Alex whose family has a higher standing in society and has enough accumulated wealth that is more than 100 million are called 'wealthy'.
And then comes the 'Elite' , these are people own multinational organizations that basically run the world. These are people with a wealth of over a billion. These are really different people from the rest of us Jennie." Jule spoke in a single breath.
Jennie burst into a fit of laughter as soon as Jule had spoken "Come on Jule, from which K-drama did you pick up this plot" Jennie asked, looking at the two, waiting for Jule to laugh along with her and tell her she caught the joke.
But both Jule and Alex just stared at her with a slight frown on their faces.
"What you cannot be serious?" Jennie asked in disbelief "Isn't that childish. Like do you get a batch or something if you are an 'Elite' or 'wealthy' ?" And where was she supposed to lie in this so-called hierarchy?
"You did not do your research with your peers before entering here?" Jule asked.
Jennie shook her head. She had Kyle but they were not in much contact with each other after he moved to Xavier's two years back, so they just caught up recently after Jennie had taken admission to the university. She was really desperate to get into the number 1 university and then grab a high-paying job to get rid of his uncle's debt.
Jennie was still pondering over what Jule had told her, when Jule spoke again "Look there" she pointed towards a few students who were running hysterically here and there, setting dishes and throwing leftovers. "The Alpha Elite of our department does not like Scholarship students, she thinks they are inferior, so she had made separate rules for them. That is how much power they hold."
The information sent creeps down Jennie's spine and Hundreds of questions flared in her mind "Why does no one complain about it to the authorities, or to the police to anyone, to someone.... and what is this Alpha Elite and what are those stupid rules you talking about ?" she blurted out her eyes on the students who were being treated liked errand boys. She really hated what was happening to those students and supposedly her fate in this university was to be the same as theirs.
Suddenly the advice Shanaya had given her about hiding her background started making sense.