Page 7 of Delilah In Discretion

“You guys looked like you’ve just witnessed trauma.”

Zachary shook his head, holding his temples. “Believe me. We have,” he uttered. Kimiko made the wise decision to not further question him. He, Jin and Ivory then said their goodbyes as they headed for our other driver, Leo’s, car to see Uncle Blaine’s and Uncle Eugene’s children. Kimiko and I turned as we entered the car and George, our driver, drove off.

After about ten minutes, we reached the middle school branch of the academy, and I watched faintly as Ivory, Jin, and the others all got out of the car ahead of us and went to their building. Just down the street, Leo dropped off Zachary at the high school branch, and Kimiko and I still had around five to ten minutes before we reached the university branch, which had a few streets to itself.

Highland Bridge Academy was an academy that was specifically, for lack of words to use, for “kids who had money.” It slowly became one of the most popular schools in the country and was well-known for its well-educated teachers and students. Our parents are key investors in this school, starting off by paying well over $10,000... for kindergarten, and as the grade goes up, so does the price for everything from semester fees to supplies to uniforms. They make a lot of profit off of their students, and that’s why the acceptance rate is less than five percent if you don’t have a fifty percent down payment.

Looking out of the window, I spoke softly, catching Kimiko’s attention. “I don’t suppose much has changed, since the last time I attended the academy?”

She sighed. “Dee, going back to the academy, especially for university—I don’t want to give you any false hope.”

I listened as she continued, “It’s not like high school or grade school... The students there are much more intense, and if we’re not together, I want you to keep to yourself or just stay clear of trouble,please.” She almost begged, and I could feel my heart beating a bit faster as we approached the school grounds. Aside from leaving the academy for my own personal reasons, I left specifically for the culture of the school.

From what I remembered, the almost classist system separated the students and divided them based on superficial aspects.

The place your family holds in the so-called hierarchy, or pecking order, if you will, determines how most of the students, even some of the administrators, view you.

Essentially, the more money your family makes and contributes to the academy, the more you are recognized as important. Some of the students even went as technical to label the class system and those in it.

Class A includes the families at the “elite” status, which has its own ranking within itself: The Russel family, the Porter family, the Lockwood family, the Crawford family, and the Masahiko family were just a few to name.

Class B comprises millionaires from professions such as surgeons, lawyers, business owners, and designers.

Class C consists of families with annual incomes over a million, including doctors, accountants, and architects.

Class D includes those earning between $200,000 and $1 million, while Classes E and F encompass those making less than $150,000 a year.

Without financial aid, some families could be left with close to nothing after paying for one or two semesters, not to mention the additional costs of mandatory extracurricular activities.

“Usually... I try to occupy myself so I don’t have to witness it, and if you stay clear of them, you won’t need to either,” Kimiko continued, and I felt the urge to question her more about what had changed, but before I could ask any more questions, we reached our destination. We both stepped out, and eyes immediately turned to us as the courtyard was silent with a few faint whispers.

“There’s Delilah, Killian Russel’s daughter.”

“She’s back!”

I continued to hear their whispers as we entered the building. As I ignored them, Kimi and I walked over to the temporary advisory homeroom that was designed for us just to get our first-week schedules that had to do with our regular classes. To stay in the school because all of their students were “well rounded,” as they put it, we had to have a few extracurricular activities that we would be able to choose next week along with our majors. From the looks of the current syllabus this week, we finished around one or two, and this was pretty common in our school system.

The days were short because we had other regulations to attend to with our family companies or businesses. Our school year was also different, consisting of three semesters that all lasted three months and a month interval for a break. Currently, we are in the winter semester, which starts in January and ends in March, giving us the month of April off. Much like every other aspect of our lives growing up with the families we did, everything was controlled and regulated.

Entering one of the many lecture halls, we took a seat, and other students started piling in as well. The professor began speaking and going over everything that was necessary. Eventually, we were allowed to leave and go to our first officialclass. Thankfully, Kimi and I had our first in Calculus and Statistics. However, we had to split afterward when she went to English, and I had Physics.

As I walked through the halls, I could still feel the discreet stares, but I simply minded my business as I went. As I looked down at my schedule to find my next class, I flinched slightly as he spoke beside me.

“Well, aren’t you popular?”

Looking over my shoulder, I bit my lip as I noticed his intense gaze on me. My hands felt clammy all of a sudden as I could practically feel him towering over me.

His chiseled jaw clenched slightly as his piercing green eyes glared daggers at me. For as huge as our university campus was, I was surprised he was still able to find me.

“Hi, Archer.” I turned to him fully and looked up as he stared down at me.

“You shouldn’t have come back,” he said out of nowhere, and I furrowed my eyebrows. “Things have changed ever since you left. It’s not the same as you remember.”

“It still looks and feels the same to me. Why did you stay if things have ‘changed’?” I asked bravely, and he didn’t say anything.

Slowly, he took footsteps towards me, and I slowly backed myself against the wall as I had nowhere else to go.

Discreetly, I gazed around the halls to see everyone had conveniently disappeared. Archer stepped in a bit closer, and I accidentally dropped my bag from my hand. He glanced down at my bag but ignored it, gazing back at me.

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