"A boy protested a few months back." Jule spoke, her voice was dull as compared to earlier "And now his whereabouts are unknown, the elites are with resources and connections beyond imagination Jennie. And about 'Alpha Elite'. " Jule took a short pause and after sipping water continued "One among the Elites is chosen to be an 'Alpha Elite' who has the power to set rules and give out verdicts, which are to be strictly followed. The Alpha is chosen by playing a game."
"Games ! what games ?" Jennie asked her mind still not ready to believe what was being said.
"It is chosen by the Alpha," Jule spoke "It can be as simple as a coin toss or as complicated as a jet race, but it has to be fair for both the challenger and the Alpha, and in return, the challenger had to wager something worth for the Alpha's position."
Jennie gave a long sigh of distress was this really happening? It was like she was in some medieval period where things like class and duels still existed. She was at the bottom of this class and these elites were some Lords and the Alpha the ruler, and that was not supposed to be even the worst part. The worst part was this ruler had set its mind on tormenting the class Jennie was in.
"This is simply bizarre." was the only thing that was apt for this place.
"Not everyone is like that, and most of the Elites keep up to themselves. Jule has a habit of exaggerating things, so don't worry yourself to death. And the 'Alpha' of your department is in her senior year, she hardly attends classes and is very busy. Even nowadays she is out of the country." Alex assured her "Jule will you stop scaring her." he then scolded Jule.
Alex's words were a bit comforting but Jennie could not afford to act like an errand girl and follow some bizarre medieval rules.
Both Jule and Alex were trying hard to reconcile her in the background but this place and its rule were simply not for someone like her.
Recalling she had received scholarships from many other universities. Jennie took out her phone and one by one started checking all the universities. Unluckily she had missed all the joining dates by a far margin. Now if she wanted to reapply she had to take a year off, which in her situation was just not an option as she did not want to burden her uncle and wanted to pay off the debt as soon as possible.
Jennie irritatedly put aside her phone after her failed attempt, and her eyes wandered around the hall to look for possible people she had to keep wary of. While she was still looking her eyes fell on the familiar figure of Shnaya who was sitting alone.
"In what category does that girl fall ?" Jennie asked pointing towards Shanaya.
Jule looked in the direction before speaking "Shanaya Dai... Umm.. she was 'red' (elite) earlier but now she is 'yellow' (wealthy). '
Jennie wanted to ask more about Shanaya but stopped herself from inquiring any further as she recalled how Shanaya had been clear about not wanting to associate with her.
Jule after a second later added further "She does not have many friends, she usually stays alone."
Jennie nodded, she knew just exactly why.
"Green was for 'new money, yellow for 'wealthy', and red for 'elite'," Jule explained further.
"Who is that guy at the corner in the grey shirt, blonde hair" Jennie asked. When she entered earlier she had noticed the blonde student who was busy fiddling with his laptop and as she looked now he was still busy with his laptop and his breakfast looked untouched.
"Code red. James Parker. Advertisement organization" Jule spoke "But he is a decent red. Always working, keeps to himself."
Jennie nodded and then moved to the other people in the hall and one by one Jule gave her a brief of the yellows and the few reds that were present in the hall at the moment.
Once the three of them were done Jule invited Jennie to hang out with her and Alex in the bowling alley, to which Jennie politely declined. She had a lot on her mind and not to mention she was not much of an outdoor person.
On reaching her room, Jennie did some thorough investigation about the still available options for college. She visited different university websites, dropped inquiry messages, and did a bunch of calls, but all the colleges had begun their academic year. The still available ones were asking for a fortune to take any admission.
Dejectedly Jennie sprawled on her bed, her only option left was to stay here at Xavier's university now. And no matter how much she hated lying she had to keep her identity as a scholarship student a secret even from Jule and Alex as at present it was the best option here.
Jennie then pondered over the unnecessary attention she had garnered which could definitely be fatal to her secret, so she decided to take a few more precautions.
'Desperate times calls for desperate measures,' she told herself and left for the office building, to reschedule the timings of her class. The specialty of being in such a university was that it provided dozens of teachers for the same subject with different time slots. Jennie rescheduled her classes in such a way that she would not be around many students. 'Just for a year.' she reassured herself.
The rescheduled timing of her first class was from 9-10 when other students were still having breakfast and some of them still sleeping from the hangover from last night. The next rescheduled class was just after lunch which was the least attended class. And her remaining class were scheduled after three pm.
Jennie hoped her little tricks would work.
Later that afternoon, she texted Jule fifteen minutes before lunch.
Jennie- Going off for lunch...very hungry..-
Jule- I will have lunch later you go ahead.
Came a reply
Jennie reached the dining hall a few minutes prior to opening time. As soon it was 1 pm and the hall opened she quickly entered and ate within minutes. It was like some task that needed to be quickly dealt with.
Later that evening when it was time for roll call, Jennie was the first girl to be present. Ms. Adria gave her a scrutinizing eye before marking her attendance.
Dinner went the same way she had her lunch, quick and with the least human interaction.
Nothing much to do after dinner she hopped into bed hoping her first day to be boring and unhappening.