Bright School: I'm A Princess, Part 3

Over the course of a couple weeks, Kateri slowly familiarized herself with the layout of Ashford Academy and watched the student population rise incrementally each day. The prospect of being at such a large school was still daunting, but with her class registration sorted out and a couple weeks of living on campus without incident, Kateri was beginning to feel more confident. Each day, she would shower, eat, and get dressed, then take a walk around the school grounds to touch grass and do whatever shopping was necessary. Kateri was usually a very focused person, but she did have a tendency to focus so hard on one thing that she would know everything there was to know about it only to realize that she’d neglected everything else around her. So when she went to get class supplies, she bought all the pens, pencils, notebooks, binders, folders, scantrons, and paper reams she needed all at once and she was proud of herself for doing so. However it took until the next day to realize that she’d neglected a backpack. On her way to get a backpack, Kateri went shopping for containers, tupperware, racks, shelves, and other household utility tools like scissors and a stapler. Once home Kateri decided that ordering out all the time was unsustainable on her student allowance and thus tried to cook, only to realize that she had no dishes or silverware and thus had to go back to the home life store to get them along with a shower curtain, drapes, a bar for the drapes, soaps, shampoos, and conditioners. Each day brought her ever closer to having a fully furnished home, but each trip made her realize that she’d forgotten something else that she desperately needed to be a functioning adult.

Life had become slightly easier and the worried feelings that plagued her when she first arrived had begun to subside. Kateri was still suspicious of the administration, but she no longer felt that everyone was out to get her. She hadn’t had any more strange run ins with students hidden away in secret corridors and the bouts of nausea she’d been having after speaking her student password into the mic outside of her door to gain entrance to her apartment had first decreased in severity after happening one more time after getting everything cleared up with her class registration at the admissions building, then after that, disappeared entirely. They had been so quick and so sharp at first, but each bout was less severe until they just stopped happening, giving her the impression that it was just some kind of harsh stress response brought on by the feelings given to her by her stupid and marginally sexist and less marginally racist password. Even that though, she found, bothered her a little less once she was used to saying it a few times a day.

Each day, more students trickled in and housing began to fill. Kateri began noticing more and more people in her little neighborhood while checking the mail or taking walks through the neighborhood. The size of the university was one of the things that she’d heard people chattering about most often, especially amongst new arrivals. Kateri chuckled at the collective notion that the college itself was like it’s own little city, having restaurants, classrooms, private housing, and numerous recreation facilities including a movie theater, an arcade, and several sports centers. For Kateri, this was actually how she’d lived most of her life. Growing up on the rez hadn’t really been all that different from where she was now. The only real changes were the quality, aesthetic, and diversity of people. In that way she felt much less like a fish out of water than she’d expected to, though her VIP status did have a visible effect on her quality of life. Unlike most of the incoming students, the young Morongo native enjoyed priority everything. Priority seating at restaurants, discounted luxuries, a weekly allowance instead of a monthly one, free bike access to get around campus, discounted meals, priority seating at the movies, 3 free drinks per night at the on campus bars, access to any club function or party, and many other ridiculous and extravagant perks. Part of her was terrified that this was all some kind of devilish debt scheme, but on the other hand, it certainly made her life a hell of a lot easier than it would have been, and outright bougie compared to her life on the reservation. Kateri enjoyed her surprise privilege, but given that she only had it because someone she’d never met pulled for her right after she was found lying to an administration she barely remembered applying to after brutally chewing them out at a cultural festival. There were few things more suspicious than that, but she was more than happy to take their bribes AND still be ready to show the prissy tightass rich girls how things were done on the rez.

The email notification for Kateri’s classes had come while she was walking around the grounds, vaguely aware of yet another tour group full of nameless, blurry-faced students being led around by an equally, unremarkably attractive brunette woman in the apparent Ashford staff uniform of “Slutty-In-Professional’s-Clothes”. She looked down and read her schedule, excited, but unsurprised that every class she had been assigned was one of her core classes to graduate and the electives she’d put in for.

(1)

Criminal Law: Mon-Wed 2pm-3:30pm

Investigations: Tue-Thur 7pm-8pm

Ethics: Fri 10am-1pm

Art 104: Sat 10am-1pm

Weightlifting: Sun 10am-11pm


Kateri smiled and sighed contentedly, satisfied with her schedule. It was satisfying and highly rewarding to know that she was checking tasks off of her list and that it was going easier than she’d expected it to. She knew also that she’d given herself a full schedule with no days off, but this too was a calculated effort. Having grown up in a place where 90% of the population were obese layabouts, the other 90% were alcoholics, and the last 60% were heavy smokers, Kateri was all to aware of the dangers of addiction and that no person, no matter how health-conscious, strong-willed, or ambitious in their youth was immune to it. In fact, the more optimistic a person’s future seemed, the more likely they were to fall prey to available vices eventually through either sheer arrogance in thinking that they were incorruptible or through perfectionist burnout when they finally couldn’t take the pressure of holding the world on their shoulders anymore and finally broke down. The schedule keeping her busy every morning meant that she could never stay out to late or long, making sure she got to her classes on time by making everything that might tempt her not work with her schedule. There would be no freshman 15 or weekend binge drinking for miss Serrano.



“Alright everyone that’s what I have for you all today. Remember, if you have any questions, you can email me with them at the email listed on the syllabus. Know also that if you ask me stupid questions that are already written in the syllabus, I will tell you that you have asked a stupid question and that the answer is indeed in the syllabus. I am also fully aware that at least some of you are already stupid and will still ask your dumb questions without reading the syllabus anyways, so try not to be that person. That being said, do we have any other pressing matters?”

Professor Seegal was in Kateri’s opinion a delightfully maniacal old man who spoke his mind with ease and made his points very clear. He was also the type of man that you couldn’t really tell at a glance if he was a college professor or just homeless. Still, he’d picked Kateri from the moment he saw her, smiling with a sort of creepy old crazy guy smile that did nothing to hide the tiny amount of spittle shining in his beard.

“There she is. That’s my ‘A’ student.” He said, grinning at her from the moment she’d sat down.

It made her smile to be picked out like that. Even better, he’d done it in a way that didn’t make her feel objectified or fetishized. The way he looked at her seemed genuinely optimistic. Almost reverential, even. It was hard not to smile at the recognition.

(2)

As she walked out of the classroom, Kateri felt her senses spike in alarm, but didn’t know entirely why. She began to walk faster, not certain if anything was actually going on, but pointedly wanting to escape it. It didn’t feel like she was in danger, but few things did right away. In Kateri’s experience, the real troubles were often things that she felt were uncomfortable, but not worth violating a social contract for. Those situations where you felt like you should do or say something or get up and leave….but convince yourself not to. She’d learned after too many failures to trust those instincts and move regardless of how she looked or who it might offend.

She ducked around a corner and felt safe for a minute or two, but then the feeling returned. She felt eyes on her, watching her from somewhere. Kateri looked around and scanned the area. There were a bunch of girls laughing and huddling over their phones, a scrawny boy who looked no older than 15 playing with a yo-yo, a couple sitting on the grass with a large blue trench coat thrown over the tiny Asian girl’s lap as she fiddled around underneath it, and a bunch of frat bros doing impressive aerial acrobatics on the lawn. No one seemed to be especially menacing nor did she see anyone hiding in the shadows, but she decided to make her way to the cafeteria just in case. As she walked, she looked around and saw that the yo-yo kid was headed in the same direction, but he seemed to be preoccupied with what he was doing to be of any danger to her.

When Kateri had made her way to the student common area, she went straight to the cafeteria, turning right while yo-yo kid went left into the student store. Still, she felt like someone was watching her. With wary eyes, she made her way across the room past numerous students all buzzing away in their own little cliquey worlds, hoping to get lost in one of the lines for food since the serving area was out of sight of the rest of the cafeteria proper. She never made it to the line however, as she was stopped when a surprisingly strong hand reached out and yanked her out of step.

“OH HAYYYY! LOOK WHO DA FUCK IT IS! HAY GURL!!” Said a black woman, her strong arms still holding onto Kateri’s.

“Uhhh…” Kateri said, her eyes wide as she stared at the woman, immediately recognizing her from her first day on campus.

“Theresa.” The woman said, her eyelids drooping in unsurprised irritation.

Kateri blinked several times in shocked confusion, still surprised to be yanked out of her previous train of thought.

Theresa was dressed differently than she had been before, having traded her flannel for a black tank top with what looked like a cute chibi knight with a red plume and the word “ARISE” written just below the low cut showing off her large, heavy breasts. She wore heavy looking earrings in each ear and a silver pendant necklace, her long braids pulled into a high ponytail that reminded her just a little of Samira. She reasoned that it while there weren’t a ton of people with braids running around, it was a little strange that she kept having weirdly aggressive interactions with the ones who did.

“Hay, errbody this is my frien’- er…Ah shit. Gurl, what’s yo-”

“Kateri.” Kateri said, returning Theresa’s judgemental expression.

“Yeah, this mah girl Kateri (it is Kuh-tair-ee, rite?) an she gon’ be hangin wid’ us today for a minute, aight. Ya’ll just keep on playing an I’ma fall the fouck out. Get sum feminine energy in hea real quick.” Theresa said to a group of guys seemingly playing Magic: The Gathering in a large group.

Kateri’s eyes remained wide as she sat listening to Theresa ramble on, explaining about lands and enchantments at a pace that she couldn’t even begin to follow. On several occasions, Kateri would try to excuse herself from the conversation only to have Theresa practically force her back down, her facial expression giving off a short lived level of severity. For almost an hour, Kateri was trapped, stuck listening to Theresa banter on and on in fluent Ebonics, her ghetto chattering almost lulling Kateri to sleep after a while.

“Oh nah girl this ain’t that I’ma need you keep ya head up but don’t be looking around or nuthin. You just keep on looking at me, aight just stay here with me like you in’trested in whateva the fuck I’m saying right now. I ain’t tryna fuck wit’chu I just gotta keep you hea for a while cuz you gotta stalka an his name is Thomas an he’s fuckin creepy. Ain’t nobody like him. No. Don’t look. Kat-..Fuck. Kate-...girl tell me ya name again. You got one’s them names I ain’t tryna fuck up. I get that shit too often myself like mah name ain’t Tuh-ree-suh like some psychic white bitch wit no eyes like…anyways. They be calling me Ta-ressa an I’m like get the fuck outta here wit dat shit like that shit ain’t even sound ghetto like me. But I ain’t that ghetto like…I mean, Im’m kinda ghetto. Or I’m like a little ghetto but like I ain’t THAT ghetto like I be living wit a Tyreekwa an’ Sha-naynay an shit but like Ta-ressa don’ even sound like black folks. White people jus’ be making shit up to a’ffen me. Anyways. My business. Whateva.”

(3)

Kateri started at the woman with dull, sleepy eyes before her brain finally caught up, her head almost twitching left and right like she was trying to watch a bee buzz around her head before mustering a response.

“Theresa. What the fuck are you talking about?” She asked, emphatically, but in a hushed, cautious tone.

Theresa’s eyes flicked upward briefly toward the doorway where Kateri had entered while her head remained turned toward Kateri’s.

“I’m talking about creepy Thomas followin’ you up all the way from the hunnid’ quad. I was just walkin up, minding mah business when I turned around and saw him looking at you like he do when he be doin that crazy stalker shit an’ I saw him followin yo ass all the way up to the do’h. Now I wasn’t gonna say nuthin cuz dat’s a you problem an you VIP so I kinda gotta beef wit you but dat’s just mah jealousy. My class warfare you know but you ain’t even act like dat so I’ma help a bitch out like…Lil’ nigga wit a yo-yo be following you. You seent’im too, huh? You was lookin aroun’ an’ you looked right at him but it was like you didn’t notice cuz he be tryna be stealthy an shit but he be following you like you was the Last of the Mohicans. He be doin that song like ‘no matta wheeeeere you go, I weel fine you~’ an I ain’t about that. You a person of cola’ an I ain’t tryna see Tommy be walkin around wearing yo pretty ass like he Buffalo Bill or sum shit like tellin you to put the lotion on an’ shit……This ain’t that.”

Suddenly, Theresa’s actions made infinitely more sense. She wasn’t holding her hostage or trapping her in some kind of ghetto nerd jail, Kateri thought, she was pulling her away from a creepy guy she saw following her around.

“Wait…So the yo-yo kid…He was following me?” She asked, suddenly feeling he outrage well up in her chest and the bloodfire beginning to take hold.

“Oh yeah. He ain’t look like shit but that mo’fukka be standin outside people’s houses an’ shit. He been walkin aroun’ da student store fo’ an hour jus’ lookin at’chu.” Theresa responded with a judgemental confidence in her voice.

Kateri began to turn around only for Theresa to snap her fingers in her face.

“Nah, bitch what’chu doin? You look an he gonna think you lookin fa’ him an he ain’t neva gonna leave you alone.” Theresa scolded.

“Or I could punch his lights out and tell him to stay the fuck away from me.” Kateri responded in kind.

Theresa seemed amused and nodded with a smile, her head more bouncing up and down than engaging her neck muscles as she did.

“Yeah. Dass’a good point. You coul’ do that. I mean like you COULD do that, but I hadda ex once that was like so mad he always thought he was doin what was best fa’ me so he called my nursin’ job an got me fired cuz he showed em mah Fetlife where I had all my nudes an fuckin titties out, pussy out, all that shit like dressed up in masks an shit an’ they saw that an’ was like Theresa girl you can’t be showin erbbody yo asshole online an be workin hospice, aight. So I got fired. Fuck you, Turhan. Fuckin turd-hand ass nigga. Fuckin asshole. I needed that job. I was boutta get promoted too.

Anyways. You punch Thomas an he gonna narc so you gotta play it cool. Go get’chu some curly fries or somethin an’ look when you walk out but don’t make it obvious.” Theresa said.


Kateri followed her advice, still steaming about having to deal with the situation in a more delicate matter despite knowing Theresa was right. When Kateri finally emerged with her plate of curly fries and a side of ranch, she looked out into the student store and did indeed see the weird, dorky yo-yo kid from outside her class wandering around the book section, looking over at her like a creep.

(4)

“Joo see ‘im?” Theresa asked, her hand propping up her head as she casually scrolled through her phone.

“Yeah. I did. You were right. He’s totally still in there. What should I do?” Kateri asked.

“Nuthin. I got it. But I’mma need a fava lata if das’ alright wit’chu.” Theresa said, grinning.

Kateri’s shoulders slumped in irritation.

“What’s the favor?” She asked dryly.

“Dunno yet.” Theresa said, pleased with herself. “Law of Sa’prise. Ah’ma figure that out lataz an’ call you when I need you. In the meantime, I’m take yo-yo off ya hands. Use my…Feminine charms, right? Hit ‘em wit dat UwU shit they-”

Theresa seemed to gag on her words for a second, her entire stomach flipping over on itself as she did. Her head ached, her joints felt like they were filled with lead, and her eyeballs strained against an unseen pressure that felt like they were going to be pushed out of her head. The pain lasted for a moment, and then it was gone as if it had never been there to begin with.

“You good?” Kateri asked, more oblivious to the amount of pain her new potential friend was in than should have been normal. To her, it simply seemed like Theresa choked on something as she spoke.

“Yeah, I’m alright. I just need a lil’ water is all. Anyways, you sit here for a minute and act like we’re just chattin’ each other up. I’ll get up and head to the student store and when you see that Thomas has his back turned to you, you run out of the cafeteria and go somewhere else. Don’t go straight home because you don’t want him seeing where you live, aight?” Theresa said.

Kateri nodded.

“But what about you? If you go put the moves on him or whatever, won’t that just make him your problem?”

Theresa nodded thoughtfully, her lips pursed together in a sort of thoughtful duck face as she rocked back and forth with her nod.

“Mmmm…Maybe. But I think I’ll be way more of a problem for him than he is for me. I only have two classes this semester so if he wants to stand outside my house and wait for me to tell him what to do or throw money at me, that’s fine. Plus. I grew up in the hood and I’m a thick black chick with an attitude. I’m used to dudes fallin’ in love with me. I’ll be fine. But you still owe me later.”

Kateri shrugged and smiled. “Fair enough. Now let’s do this. I wanna get home already.”

“Alright then. Mission: Start, baby.”

(5)

The two chatted for a while about card games and anime. It wasn’t necessarily Kateri’s thing since neither were especially available on the Rez, but she knew what they were more or less. Eventually, Theresa got up and made her way over to the student store while Kateri finished her fries, her heart pounding with excitement at their little stealth op. Once she was certain that enough tie had passed, Kateri shot a glance over at the student store window and found that Thomas was indeed being pulled here and there by Theresa. She got up to leave just in time for Thomas to look desperately over at her as she got up, but Kateri ducked out of the back entrance and took the long way home. Thomes wasn’t able to get away from Theresa in time to figure out where Kateri went, and in the end, the native girl made it back to her apartment without being spotted. Pleased, she locked her doors, kicked off her shoes, got undressed,  made some lunch, and plopped down on the couch in her underwear.

“Welp…” She said, relieved to be home and pleased with the cool, dark apartment ambience. “That was enough fun for one morning. I guess I’ll give watching anime the old college try.”