Chapter 7: The Golden Trap
MEREDITH
My hands roughly scrambled through the paper, which I needed to submit before the next period.
I hadn't noticed someone approaching me.
"Miss Gwen."
I heard a voice call, and I abruptly looked up. I was shocked to see the Principal himself staring at me, his face cold and expressionless as I rolled my eyes.
It was obvious he was still mad at me for wasting the form and filling it out with what he considered "inappropriate details."
He wasn't sure if he should send the form out, but he knew not to.
The Apex weren't ones to mess with. Especially not on something that was considered to be limited, and it had been a week now. I knew not to expect any form of approval from them.
"To my office now."
He said, ignoring the stares he was receiving from the other students, and then he walked out.
I watched him disappear from the door, and I quickly grabbed my stuff, ready to leave, when my favorite fans approached me.
Lois and her minions.
I rolled my eyes as they stood in front of me, blocking my path, and I turned to glare at her.
"What do you want now? Your boyfriend isn't here with me, you know, so shush."
I said, not giving her a chance to break the ice.
"Oh really, you think because you fucking laid your stinky hands on me, you can act the way you wish? Trust me, this isn't the end. I will ensure you fucking suffer, and I hope you have enough issues already."
She said, huffing as she swiped her long blonde ponytail, making the tail hit my face and causing me to wince. I cursed her so hard. She had fucking intentionally done that.
I took heavy steps to the principal's office.
And I glared at the signpost post which, as always, glared down at me.
"Here I come, Principal."
I muttered, pushing the door open as I felt the cool breeze coming from above. I looked up—was that a fan blowing heavily on the ceiling?
The principal never had a fan in his office.
It was a luxury; I found it hard to have.
"New changes?"
I asked, looking around at the office and noticing how much had changed, too.
There were new carpets and also a new table and a cushion standing a little before me.
"Sit down, Miss Gwen."
I gave him a quick look, then I went to sit in the chair facing him.
"Why am I here, Mr. Mathew?"
I asked, and I heard him chuckle before he proceeded to place his hands on his chin, his elbows pressing on the table as he looked forward with those bulging eyeglasses—a habit of his.
"You pulled off a huge stunt by writing those things on the form. Do you know how much that could implicate you?"
He asked, and I rolled my eyes, again wondering if this was the reason I was called in here.
"I thought we had spoken about this, and I told you I followed my mother's words... are we going to go through all this, Mr. Mathew..."
"You passed the application, and you, Miss Gwen, have been offered a scholarship to the prestigious Apex Academy."
I wasn't sure I listened to half of what he was saying because his first words shocked me. How the fuck had I been accepted to the prestigious Academy? But of course, I didn't let the principal know how shocked I was.
I watched him bring out a file and hand it to me. The file was thicker than the previous one.
I slowly peeked into the contents; seeing the acceptance form inside made a shudder run through me. I still couldn't believe that I was accepted into the school.
But deep down, something gnawed at me. Something didn't feel right, and I always trusted my instincts.
"Thank you, Mr. Mathew. I will send the acceptance form your way."
I said, standing up and walking towards the door, but his voice stopped me.
"You need to accept this in three days, or it will be terminated."
The word "terminated" made me recoil. My father had rejected me because I wasn't something he wanted. Staring back at that file, the acceptance form, I wondered if being in that almighty school could change my life for good and maybe have a good, sweet revenge. All I needed was to...
"Don't worry, Mr. Principal. It shall be accepted and delivered to you as soon as possible, and you don't need to come visit my mother and tell her the news. I will perfectly handle that."
I said, giving him a fake smile, my teeth flashing down at him, as I watched him flinch at my words, and then I closed the door shut.
The moment I stepped out, I took in a deep breath of fresh air as always, and then I looked around, happy to see that no students were around, especially Lois and her minions. I quickly turned left, moving towards the direction of home.
The moment I reached home, it was almost evening, and I'd be damned if my mother was home. She had taken up jobs to work as a waitress somewhere close to the city, and I should have been proud of her, but I wasn't.
"Hey, Meredith."
I heard my mom's voice break the moment I opened the door to our container. I froze in my steps. She was sitting and eating some mashed potatoes and...
"What... what are you doing here, Mother? Aren't you supposed to be working, or did you get fired already?"
I asked, not hiding my disappointment on my face at finding out she was around.
"You can despise me as long as you want, but I am still your mother, and by the way, my job has what we call a day off, and I was given a week off."
She said, ignoring me as her eyes slowly drifted to the file in my hands. I could see the curiosity forming in them already.
"What's in there?"
She asked.
"I passed the application. I was offered the scholarship to the Apex Academy."
I watched her eyes widen in shock, and then a smile that I hadn't seen in ages formed on her face, which made her look so much younger than her age.
My mother was undeniably attractive. As much as I hated to admit it... especially with all the resentment I held toward her—I had to acknowledge she had a great body. And whether I liked it or not, I seemed to have inherited it.
"Great, now come sit down. Let's accept it."
She said, pushing herself up as she dragged me down.
My mother's attitude towards me felt strange. She had never shown me any form of affection growing up. She had never been in any part of my life. I always got support from her mother, my grandmother, who had taken care of me after my mother viewed me as her nemesis. But watching her, wanting to be a part of something life-changing in my life, made me feel... strange.
It didn't sit well with me, but I couldn't help it. I would just work with the flow for now.
I watched her grab the file as she slowly removed the thick form from the file—almost the same thing as the application form, but this one was thicker and looked more ridiculously luxurious.
"Great, the form says you need to sign this, and once you do that, you are to leave in five days."
My mom said, the excitement on her face was glaring, but it wasn't her excitement that made me hesitate. It was what my instincts were revealing to me—that there was more to this acceptance, that something was wrong here, but I couldn't grasp it. So I only did the thing I could do.
"I will not sign the acceptance, Mother."