Bright School: I'm A Princess, Part 2

It wasn’t the sound of old diesel engines from pickup trucks or cats fighting in the street that woke Kateri up from her slumber. It wasn’t coyotes in the trash or her already drunk dad screaming at the TV. It wasn’t the sun making her room so hot and uncomfortable that she just couldn’t stay in bed any longer.

It was birds.

Kateri’s eyes slowly fluttered open after a death-like sleep in which no dreams could touch her. The sounds of birdsong slipped through the glass of her curtained window as just the right amount of light illuminated her new accommodations and filling her brightly decorated room with a warm, lively coziness that could have just as easily put her back to sleep if Kateri so chose. There were no classes starting up yet, as most of the students attending Ashford Academy either hadn’t been assigned housing yet or had simply not arrived on campus to get settled in. This meant that the week before the semester started was a free one for all the early bird arrivals to explore the campus, make friends, and generally enjoy getting to know their new home before it was time to buckle down and get to work. Katerina was under no obligation to do any chores, run any errands, or even get out of her bed if she didn’t want to.

Some part of her had wanted to have a bad night since the moment she walked in the night before, disgusted at how brightly colored the apartment was and how high end the amenities were. Nowhere on the rez would anyone ever even dream of finding a Jacuzzi function in the triple wide bath tub she could practically swim in or a fridge that dispensed clean water and ice reliably and without it tasting strange. She despised how the bedroom was awash in white with pink accents and trimmings, making it look like either a little girl or College Fun Barbie lived there. Her bed too was white with a baby pink canopy that true to her new password looked like something that a princess might sleep in. Some fraction of Kateri had wished and hoped that she would have been tossing and turning all night as the bed, for all it’s pretentious poshness turned out to be too firm or too soft or have blankets that were too heavy…..But she didn’t. The bedroom was just the right temperature all night and the mattress always felt cool to the touch. Her blankets were immensely soft and cozy and her pillows were like clouds that had just the right amount of give to keep her neck at just the right elevation for her to fall asleep.

Kateri sat up in bed, wiping away a little drool from her mouth as she looked over at the clock and saw that the time was 10am. She’d slept 2 hours longer than she usually did at home despite having gone to bed and hour earlier. She wanted to hate it so badly, but there was no doubt that it was easily the best night’s sleep she’d ever had.

(1)

While it was true that there were no classes, Kateri was also interested in trying to get a handle on what she was going to need for the upcoming semester. She may not have been crazy about how girly the lodgings were and still wary of how fortuitous her acceptance into the academy had been, especially into a VIP program no less, but the fact remained that she was becoming increasingly excited to be going to college. Having always been something of a prepared, studious type, Kateri decided as she ate a plate of freshly cooked pancakes and eggs that she would make going to her counselor and getting list of basic materials she might need her project for the day. It was a convenient way to keep herself occupied and convince herself to get out of her bedroom and be productive while trying to figure out how soon she could register for classes.

Throwing on a pair of jeans and a white, run of the mill tshirt she’d brought from home with a generic tribal design on it and prepared to leave. It was stupid to worry, she thought, that someone might see her shirt and ask about it. In truth it was just junk clothing. The feathered diamond symbol on her chest didn’t symbolize anything really, it was just a native-looking design that was sold at corner carts to tourists passing through the rez on their way to somewhere more interesting. Still, it was decent quality on par with what used to be Forever 21 quality before they went bankrupt. Even so, Kateri felt nervous that someone would ask her about it or know that it didn’t have any significance given her heritage. She didn’t know why it bothered her so much….but it did.

Kateri never bothered with cosmetics in general. Most times there was either no one worth wearing it for or nothing worth wearing it to, so she just didn’t bother learning how to do it outside of badly applying enough eyeliner to make her eyes water so bad that she looked like a crying whore in a nightclub bathroom. It wasn’t a thing she really was overly interested in, but every once in a while she did wish she had put more effort into learning instead of dismissing it as impractical.

Kateri made her way out of the door and into the bright, sunny, verdant campus, surprised to already see a decent number of soon to be students all milling about. Some looked nervous like Kateri herself and shied away from other people, merely looking to be exploring the place while others cheered and played with each other as if they were on the first day of Spring break instead of a week before Freshman year. The student body was still few in number, but Kateri could already tell that there were a good number of eyes on her. Normally she was used to being ignored on the rez while leaving made her only slightly more interesting when she and her family or friends would visit nearby establishments in the next town over. Given that the reservation was a pretty well known thing in Southern California, it wasn’t too uncommon to see native folk walking around, so no one really batted an eyelash. If anything, it was far more important to look tough and travel in groups when off the reservation so as to not get picked up or harassed by random white people for one reason or another. Some were flaming MAGA psychos who would screech at her that she needs to “go back to Mexico” or have ICE called on her and her friends while others were just horny dudes looking to get some action from someone they deemed either stupid, easy, primitive, or all three.

Walking across the campus on white, pristine sidewalks past pink and blue and white buildings and colorful adverts for events and clubs set to begin in the coming months was a weirdly vulnerable experience for the otherwise gruff native. Here there was no need to put up a tough front. People stared and giggled, but in what looked like interest and appreciation more than predatory ogling or discrimination, though the former DID still seem to be present. It wasn’t even most people that watched her, but a small yet noticeable fraction of those she passed by telling their friends to look at the “Indian girl” as she passed by as they ooh’d and ahh’d at her. Kateri felt the impulse urge to act macho and stick out her chest or scowl angrily, but felt that doing so would only make her stand out even more. It was the first time she’d ever experienced a situation in which she had full control of her own agency, but felt that making herself seem smaller and more pleasant was the better way of handling attention from non-natives. On one hand, it was kind of freeing to not feel like she was going to get trafficked, abused, grabbed, yelled at, or interrogated, but on the other, it made her feel like she didn’t quite know what to do with herself. It was too easy for her to feel comfortable and that, ironically, made her feel uncomfortable.

Initially, Kateri had gone straight to the admissions office to meet with her counselor, expecting it to be open and full of new students being processed in, but to her very great surprise, it was closed. A note on the door read:

“Dear students and parents,
Due to high volumes of information and high student traffic, Ashford Academy (Subsidiary of Bright University) has instituted a late-morning policy designed with the mental health and welfare of both our staff and students in mind. Office hours begin at 12 noon and end at 6pm on weekdays, Monday through Friday without exception.

Students or parents seeking to speak with counselors, teachers, or any of the BU:AA staff may do so via school email or other means of online communication. Students without personal cell phones or computers may apply for a school laptop or smartphone to be assigned to them for use during the school year or use the computers in one of the computer labs or libraries.

-Sincerely, BU:AA Admin.”


Kateri blinked a few times before a slight grunt of disappointment slipped out of her throat. It was great that the school was going out of it’s way to not overwork the staff or students, but it was pretty inconvenient for her to try to get ahead on her work when no one else was around to accommodate her before the afternoon. She grumbled off, irritated that she had to not only walk all the way back across campus to the VIP apartments, but also that she had to find a way to kill three more hours just to have to walk all the way back to the office before making the trek a FOURTH time to get back home to relax. It was understandable that the school wanted to be good to their people, but Kateri was still annoyed at the inconvenience. On the rez, almost every office had someone around from the asscrack of dawn to make sure that someone was on top of everything. Granted, there wasn’t always much for those people to do, but it was still nice to be able to be able to count on someone minding the store if you needed something in the middle of the night or working the desk if you needed something sent out or brought in last minute. With a sigh, she huffed off to a larger building with a courtyard that she’d seen a bunch of other students casually walk into.

Initially, she hadn’t any intention of doing anything there except for exploring and getting a feel for her surroundings, but as she stepped past the pristine double doors and into the courtyard, she noticed a number of signs along the perimeter leading into different interconnected facilities, all with signs next to each doorway. Some of signs were outside of specific doorways and read things like “East Atrium Hallway” or “Student Store, open 12pm-10pm.” All of the others were either blank or had “Future Club Meeting Room” or “Coming Soon” on the signs in movable type slotted onto wooden tracks. The student store one especially caught her eye as she wandered into the hallway leading to the student store. The student store itself was closed, but the glass windows separating it from the hallway showed a good number of boxes being hauled in to stock the establishment. There seemed to be food and school supplies as there were refrigeration units like those seen in a grocery store and several bookshelves, but Kateri moved closer to the window as she noticed how many clothing racks there seemed to be. The student store itself was larger than she would have ever imagined was necessary, and after counting over 15 clothing racks, she believed it to be highly unlikely that Ashford Academy clothes and merchandise were the only things that were going to be on those racks in a month.

“Hmmm….Well…There’s not really anything to do but wander around I guess…” Kateri grumbled, annoyed that she had so much time to kill and debating on whether she wanted to go  all the way back to the apartments and do nothing for three hours, or wander around the school and do nothing for three hours.

Sighing, Kateri sat down on a bench and played on her phone for a while, playing Solitaire until her back began to ache from being hunched over. Solitaire became Candy Crush and then an outdated mobile version of Final Fantasy 6 that she kept on her device as a means of killing time whenever she could. Still, she’d done these things time and time again when she was bored on the rez, especially after her friends from high school moved away. Kateri was glad to finally be on her own and at college, but she missed them terribly despite the fact that neither Sachiko nor Emefa had made even the slightest attempt to contact her after they went off to their own schools in who-knows-what-state. Their social media profiles were both mysteriously gone too, making Kateri even more nervous for them.

Having breached mental territory that she hadn’t wanted to go to, Kateri stood up and began wandering again, trying to put the thought of why both of them would suddenly vanish fromsocial media from her mind.

She failed to do so.

The answer that she allowed herself was that both of them were independently and at separate times either killed or kidnapped. Granted it was a bit grim, but it was the better of the options she had available to her. She rounded the corner of the student rec center where still more large, empty rooms awaited clubs and students to fill them and give them an identifiable purpose, still unable to push her real worries from her mind. What scared her more than either of her friends being in trouble was the idea that they either simply forgot about her while on their new adventures in their interesting new lives, or worse: they simply stopped liking her and she’d been blocked by both of them. Throughout her entire life, Kateri had put up a macho front in order to avoid being abused by one person or another, but underneath the tough exterior, she really was a lonely girl who only ever had two REAL friends growing up. Most of the people she knew on the rez were either her parents or wound up trapped in a cycle of fried food, boredom, and extreme drinking, causing most of the teens her age to turn into degenerate jerks or at least look down on her for being too straight edged to be fun.

At the end of the hallway, Kateri looked at one of the doors and noticed for just the briefest moment that it wasn’t completely closed. It was supposed to be, she thought, noticing that it was still mostly shut save for the last little bit of the mechanism only half pressed in. She moved to close it out of habitual helpfulness, but curiosity took hold of her instead. Kateri walked over and after looking over her shoulder both ways, opened the door and peeped her head in to see what was inside.

For the most part, the room was dark and filled with extra desks as if it were just an unused classroom, devoid of the grandeur and extravagance that the rest of the campus seemed to have in spades. As the door crept slowly and quietly open, Kateri could hear a low, but melodic sound coming from the room just behind the door. Wary, but curious, she tried to poke her head around the corner to see who or what was making the sound only to see a sharp pair of eyes dart over in her direction. Kateri panicked and slammed the door as hard as she could, pressing her body against the door as if whatever she’d just seen was going to try to break it down to come after her.

Her moment of respite however was cut short as a sudden impact slammed into the door with a loud “THWACK” before the sound of metal clattering to the ground rattled through the thick, steel door.

“OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR.” Called a deep, but feminine voice with a heavy accent that the shocked young woman was too surprised to even register as something to be identified.

“I saw you. And I can see your shadow under the door. Open it the fuck up.” The voice demanded.

Caught and afraid, Kateri hesitated before opening the door back up, trying to put on a brave face again before she became visible. With a determined breath and a reinforced scowl, Kateri turned the lever on the door and opened it back up before stepping entirely into the darkened room. Sitting on a desk was a mysterious woman with dark, tawny skin and long, flowing dreadlocks that fell down past the swell of her tight, round butt. She was a sort of dark beauty that took Kateri by surprise, and though she wasn’t into girls, there was something powerful about seeing her rebelliously posed the way she was in a secret hideaway at such a preppy, bright place. Kateri only realized she was staring when the woman’s venomous, sideways gaze found her again. Not knowing what to do, Kateri stepped inside quickly and shut the door, drawing yet another annoyed sigh from the woman.

(2)

“....Okay, so now what are you doing?” The woman droned irritatedly, once again looking away from Kateri as she bounced her leg up and down impatiently.

“...What do you mean?” Kateri asked, now becoming apprehensive as well and preparing for a fight that she might be more ready for now that she wasn’t so startled.

Kateri looked the girl up and down, analyzing her size and muscle tone. She was tall, for certain, but that was about it. Kateri was pretty sure that barring some kind of martial arts training (unlikely, she thought, given how little tone the skinny woman had to her arms), she could take her if things got violent.

“You, asshole. I came in here to be alone and then you open the door and start playing peekaboo around the corner like you’re spying on me. I told you to fuck the fuck off and your first instinct is to come in here with me, putting you exactly where I don’t fucking want you. So what I am asking is: WHY ARE YOU IN HERE WITH ME?!” The woman snarled.

“Bitch, don’t fucking yell at me like that!” Kateri responded indignantly, admittedly more comfortable in an open conflict than in the middle of an honest mistake. “I didn’t know anyone was in here. I just saw that the door was open and looked inside. I only freaked out because you fuckin yelled at me and I didn’t know what the hell to do! Sorry I scared you or interrupted whatever the fuck it is you were doing, but how the fuck was I even supposed to know this was your little fucking hidey-hole and no one was allowed inside? Cuz honestly bitch, I don’t give a fuck who you are or what your parents did to get you into this place. I’m from the fucking Morongo rez and I don’t give a shit; I will beat your bitchy, rivethead rich girl ass right fucking here if you yell at me one more god damn time.”

The native girl had barely even realized that she had begun swinging her arms back and forth slightly with her fists balled up, preparing for a fight. The interaction was so sudden and she’d felt so off her guard and off her game for the last few days that she was completely taken by surprise by the woman’s nasty attitude. Once she had the opportunity to collect herself and stand her ground, she felt better, but that didn’t mean she could stop herself from shaking afterward from the adrenaline. However, when the woman turned towards Kateri, her smirking expression was anything but hostile.

“Ohhhh, holy shit? Okay then. Hey, uhh….I think we might have gotten off on the wrong foot?” The woman said.

“I thought you were some prep school narc coming to yell at me for singing here. I didn’t realize you got here without your daddy’s paycheck.” The woman said.

Kateri stared at the girl for a moment.
“Yeah. Well…Same. I didn’t expect to see someone like you here. Then again, I wouldn’t expect to see me here either. My name’s Kateri if you’re interested.”

The other girl smiled, chuckling at the sudden civility.

“Samira. What language is that by the way?” The woman asked, standing up to shake Kateri’s hand in an appreciably bro-ish manner befitting a tomboy.

“Serrano. It's Native American. Serrano is also my last name, so that’s pretty cool.” Kateri said, now grinning back almost shyly at the realization that the two may have just become fast friends.

“Ooh, nice to meet a fellow Indian then.” Samira said playfully.

Kateri blinked and shook her head briefly. “Wait, you’re native too?”

“Yeah. Native to India. I was born in Mumbai and moved with my parents to Cali when I was six. But I won’t hold your disenfranchised brownness against you if you don’t mine.” Samira said, now shimmying her hips as she stood in place.

Kateri thought it to be a unique and cute habit and smiled in amusement.

“Sure. I suppose I’ll allow you to be Indian with me. But I need you to know that according to the school…..”

Kateri paused for dramatic effect as she made a show of looking around to ‘make sure the coast was clear’.

“...I’m not just an Indian…..” She said before dropping to a lower whisper with a sarcastically earnest, doe-eyed look on her face.

“...I’m A Princess.”

The moment was meant to be a funny one that mocked the school’s rather “unique” password generation system, but the moment she’d said the words, the urge to vomit flooded upward from her suddenly clenched stomach and up her throat. She was able to hold it back, but the sudden pounding in her head was almost too much to bear. Then, just as quickly as it had come on, the feeling was gone.

“Ohhhhh nooooooo! Is that what you got???” Samira laughed sympathetically.

“That’s awful! I thought I was the only one who got a weird password at first when I read it online. Turns out I actually got off easy. Mine’s just Baby Girl.-”

For a moment, the world seemed to spin again, but Kateri felt no pain or cramping in her stomach. There was no nausea or dry heaving. Just a momentary twisting of her vision that made her rub her eyes a little.

“-Sufficiently sexist and infantilizing, but still not the worst thing they could have given me. Damn. Do you REALLY have to go around telling everyone you’re a princess all the time? Is that even true? I mean, you have the same last name as your like, tribal language, right? I mean, for all I know, you really could be.” Samira gushed, her lightly accented voice sounding detectably Hindi tinted, but only just enough to be noticeable.

Kateri shook the dizziness off and glanced at her phone, the numbers 1:01 P M displayed prominently on her screen.

“Oh, shit!” Kateri yelped.

Samira stood up and shook her head, causing her braids to shake loose and stop clinging to her back as she did. She was actually very beautiful with whatever kind of industrial rivethead look she had going on, Kateri thought, with a nice ass too.

(3)
 
“You alright?” Samira asked over her shoulder.

“Yeah, I uhh…I just need to go. You’re super cool and all that but I REALLY lost track of time. I was hoping the student store stocked like eyeliner and concealer or something so I could unfuck my face a little bit before my appointment but they aren’t even open for business for another couple days. Then I walked in here, got to talking, and just spaced. Sorry to do this to you, but you’re super cool and I REALLY need to go like RIGHT NOW.” Kateri rambled.

“Halt, princess. Don’t move an inch. I got you.” Said the taller, darker girl.

Within seconds, Samira descended upon Kateri with an eyeliner applicator and a tube of eyeliner, effortlessly cleaning her up within under a minute.

“It’s not the best job, but it’s good enough for a school counselor. Now go. Fly! Be free!” Samira cheered, shooing Kateri out of the door with big, sweeping motions of her arms.

“Thank you!” Kateri called as she rushed out of the classroom and toward the office.

As she made her way through the halls, she couldn’t help but smile. With girls like that also attending the school, Kateri felt like this whole college thing may not be such a lonely endeavor after all.

(4)