The 12th day of Septus, 1248
I don't think my years at the academy would have been so bad if I hadn't made that first mistake. It was my own fault. I'd had a chip on my shoulder from the start. Looking back, I knew that. They say hindsight is 20/20, and no one knows that better than I do. If only I'd kept my mouth shut.
It, of course, started on the very first day of classes. The orientation went great, and even getting settled into the dorms was easier than I thought it would be. The hard part, was the realization that the academy was wrong. They had told me and my father that social class wasn't a factor in the day to day running of the school. I knew that first day that I was the lowest in social class that attended the school, and that I was the only one who had been forced to undergo all of the tests for acceptance into the academy.
The rest of them, the nobles, lords and ladies all, had simply paid the tuition and showed up. There were one or two others like me, but every one of them had blood bluer than my own. I was the lowest of the low here, practically nothing at all. Back at my home, in my village, I was the Mayors daughter. I was treated with respect by all the goodmen and housewives. My fathers uncle was married into a Dukes family, and my mothers great grandfather was second cousin to a Chancellor. That was all. The kids here, they were lords and ladies themselves.
I knew it was a deep honor that I was even considered for acceptance into the Wellstone Academy, as my father had reminded me daily until I finally left, but I felt so out of place and sad, that the honor was a bit lost in my young mind. The other girls in the dormitory had been mostly indifferent to me. They had all come from the kings court, and most of them had know each other prior to coming to Wellstone. I knew the boys in the other dorm would all be the same. They were all an inner circle that I was not a part of. They all had their own friends, and weren't interested in making one cast-out feel welcome. I didn't mind it so much at first, I was a bit resentful, but I knew time would warm them. It was what my father told me and I had believed him.
The first day of classes came, and still, no one had paid me any attention at all, and I was not the kind who went seeking it. So I went to class alone, following behind a group of girls who didn't know I was there. I noticed another girl, walking alone, with her head down, and I wondered about her, but did not speak.
I had had schooling in my own village, in a class, with other children, the very basics of learning. My father had brought a tutor in to teach me more, once it became clear that my aptitude was high for learning. Those classes did not prepare me for the classes at Wellstone. Each separate subject had its own large room, and we traveled from class to class across what the academy referred to as a campus.
That wasn't the only thing that was odd. I had expected the classes to be segregated, by gender, but they were not. Everyone filed into the rooms, sitting where they pleased, chatting casually with one another as if it were the most normal thing in the world. I wasn't a prude, but I had been raised differently, and had expected something different from such a respected academy.
The boys, for the most part, looked exactly like the village boys I was used to seeing, awkward and gangly, with trouble in their eyes. The only difference was finer clothes and a more educated dialogue. I knew many girls in my village who got silly and giggly around any boy, and it seemed these girls were no different. Boys did not really occupy my attention at the time though, so it was no real problem for me to ignore them and wander off by myself to sit alone. It was my small hope that another girl, perhaps the one I had seen earlier, would come sit by me, but this was not my luck.
It seems I had chosen to sit in the corner that some of the finer nobles had singled out. They sat around me, cutting me off from the rest of the room, and ignoring me utterly as they talked and gossiped among each other. So I sat alone, doing my best to ignore the kids around me as they were me. I was in such a foul temper when the scholar finally ended his speech, that I was ready to snap. I was still young after all, and I hadn't been bred as a lady, like all of the other girls had been. I stood impatiently, and waited for the kids to move so that I could leave, but they all just stood around, talking and laughing, not seeing me or my impatience. It seemed the girls were paying particularly close attention to one boy. He wasn't handsome to my eyes, or witty from what I could hear, but they all hung on his every word. I sighed in frustration and moved closer.
"Excuse me," I managed in something little better than a whisper.
Eyes swiveled to me, but no one moved. Most of them sneered, and some few even laughed. "Did that mouse just speak?" the un-witty boy asked mockingly. I felt my face go red.
"She did. A bare squeak," another boy said and they all laughed.
"A pity. I thought better of Wellstone than this. Vermin in their very halls. Imagine!" A girl with hair bigger than her head said lifting her nose in the air.
I turned to the boy that everyone was holding in such regard. His smirk was satisfied as he looked down at me. "I have found that vermin are among the high as well as the low. They can wear fancy dresses and fine adornments. They are no less vermin than those who do not wear the gaudy frivolities."
The boy stood straighter, his back going stiff, and there were gasps from the others. "How dare you!" one girl snapped, while another opened her mouth. The boy flung his hand up. "Do you know who I am?" he asked softly.
"I do not care." I answered darkly. "Move out of my way."
"Careful mouse," he said stepping back. "It is easy for the small to have their necks snapped when the mighty walk."
"You do not look very mighty," I said as I walked past.
And that was the start of my misery. At the next class, I sat among kids that were already there and seated. I knew that when the 'elites', as I would later learn they were called, arrived, there were some hard stares in my direction, but they sat off in their own corner again. I hurried out when the class ended, but it did me little good. By that time, it seemed everyone was watching me and whispering behind their hands. Even the scholars were scowling in my direction when I sat down in the dining hall. I didn't know what I had done, or why it was such a big deal, but I would soon find out.
I sat at a small table, where two others were already sitting, making sure that there was no room for anyone else to sit. I was beginning to think that at this point, I didn't really want friends at this place. I saw them when they came in. I dropped my eyes, but not before I saw at least three of them look at me. If I had seen them coming towards me, I would have had time to get up and walk away, but dropping my eyes had lost me that chance. I learned quickly not to drop my eyes, to always be wary.
"So. Mouse. Eating alone?" The un-witty boys voice was thick with amusement, with himself no doubt. I ignored him. "and here I thought mice traveled in little groups, scurrying and scrounging."
My eyes shot up, my face burning. "But they do," I said with an acid smile. "Just look around you. They are all following obediently." And then I stood and left, leaving my tray there, most of the meal untouched.
