Fontaine Academy

Chapter 18

Jules

I startle awake mid-fall. I don’t catch myself fast enough and end up sprawled on my back on the kitchen floor.

Someone lets out a surprised squeak.

“Juliana? What are you doing here so early? Don’t you usually help out in the evenings? Wait a minute, yesterday was your last day wasn’t it?” Matilde, one of the cooks, asks.

“What time is it?” I ask.

“It’s five in the morning.”

After making sure to grab my phone, I finally leave the storage room.

As I walk across campus I notice it is still dark out. I make sure to enter the dorm quietly.

When I enter our room, Amandla springs up from her bed. She looks like she barely slept a wink. The thought that she waited up for me because she was worried is weirdly comforting.

“Jules, thank god! I thought you disappeared too.” Amandla says, hugging the life out of me.

“Are you okay? What happened?” she asks holding me at arm’s length checking me all over.

“I am fine now.” I say pulling her into another hug.

After I plug in my phone, I check the quiz. It’s just as I expected, the quiz has expired.

“So what happened?”

“I got locked in the storage room. Someone must have been watching me from close by. When I went to put back the cleaning supplies, they took the chance to lock me in.”

“But why? I thought after what happened with Jenna everyone had kind of left you alone.”

“I thought so too. I guess there are still people that want to torment me.”

“Where you able to do the quiz before your battery ran out?” she asks.

“No, there was no service. My phone was basically useless, I couldn’t do the quiz or reach out for help.” I say miserably.

“That must be why I couldn’t get a hold of you. I tried texting and calling. Mara and I even thought you might have gone to the library and went there looking for you. We even checked the pool just in case. You were supposed to be done cleaning by then but we still peeked into the dining hall from the patio. The place was locked up and the lights were off so we assumed you had left already. If only we had checked more carefully…”

“That’s not your fault, you guys did your best. How would you have known some creep locked me in the storage room?”

“I just feel bad you missed the quiz. I know that sort of thing might affect your scholarship. I don’t know if we did the right thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“Mara and I wondered if you had gone missing like Maisie too and if we should tell the school. But in the end we chose not to in case you weren’t missing and reporting your absence would get you in trouble. Maybe if we had reported it they might have found you in time to still take the quiz.” Amandla says sadly.

“I know you were only trying to protect me and my scholarship, I appreciate that. Hopefully I can still explain everything and get a chance to make up for this quiz.”

Hours later I am called to the dean’s office.

“I heard you missed a quiz last night. You know you are here on an academic scholarship Jules, which means you need to maintain a good academic performance to keep it. We don’t expect you to be the absolute best in every class but at the very least we expect participation in every academic assessment. You can’t start slacking off now.” Ms. Jung cautions.

“I promise I am not slacking off Ms. Jung. The only reason I didn’t attempt the quiz is because I couldn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

I explain everything that happened the night before. She listens attentively and tells me she will investigate further and let me know what they decide.

Just before the last class for the day, she calls me back to her office. She tells me she couldn’t find any evidence to match my version of events. The security cameras in and around the dining hall were out from right after dinner until around 6 this morning.

So not only was there no proof I was locked in the storage room all night, there is also no evidence of who did it.The security cameras on the path to the dorms did catch me walking towards the dorms after 5 this morning but all that proves is that I didn’t sleep in the dorms.

Ms. Jung does seem to believe me though. Student discipline is one of her responsibilities but she says she won’t punish me for not sleeping in the dorms this time.

Unfortunately because there is no proof I was locked in the storage room overnight, it also means I have no excuse for missing the quiz. Mr. Landry is not giving me a chance to make up for missing the quiz. That’s 5% of my grade.

As I walk into my last class for the day, which just happens to be History, I can’t help but wonder if this was the point all along.

Did the golden boy of Fontaine Academy feel so threatened because I did better than him in math and decided to turn things in his favor? Or was it one of his minions?

I look over at his table where he is sat with his friends, they laugh at something Jenna says. Tiago is nowhere in sight.  Mr. Landry doesn’t say anything.

Towards the end of class the teacher puts up the results of the quiz. He spends 10 minutes highlighting and praising Patrick’s answers.

He also makes sure to mention how disappointed that “some people that get to attend because of the generosity of others aren’t taking the opportunity seriously”, making sure to add that “Patrick is a great role model to have because he is hardworking even when he doesn’t need to be.”

Subtle he is not. Everyone can tell it’s me he if referring to. Of all the names on the board only mine has a ‘did not attempt’ next to it and I am the only one here “because of the generosity of others”.

Later I am halfway through my run when I feel someone pull up next to me. I turn to my right and come face to face with my savior from the night of the party, Ethan.

“Hi Jules.” He says, not at all sounding winded.

“Hey, Ethan.”

“I heard you are have been having a rough couple of days.”

“I mean if that’s what you call missing an assessment that counts for 5% of your final grade because someone decided to lock you in a storage room overnight. Then yeah I am having a shitty day.”

Wow, I did not mean to unload all that.
“Sorry for the word vomit.”

“It’s okay, I kind of heard most of it already anyways. That’s why I came to find you. I have a proposition for you.”

“What is it?”

“Be my girlfriend.”

I trip over my feet and would have fallen flat on my face if it wasn’t for his quick reflexes.

“That’s not the reaction I usually get.” he says dimples appearing.

“I think I misheard you. How does being your girlfriend help solve any of my problems?”

“Give me five minutes and I will tell you.” He says, smile never leaving his face.

He is either pulling my leg or he is about to solve my biggest problem. Either way I have nothing to lose.

“Okay, your five minutes start now.”

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

A/N

Who do you think locked Jules in the storage room? And what do you think about Ethan's proposition?

Leave your thoughts here and don't forget to vote if you are enjoying this story!

- Oli 💌