The Teaching Assistant, Part 48

As soon as Amelia stepped into the gym with Lily, she finally learned what was in store for her.

A volleyball net was set up on the far end of the room, and Summer was on one side with the rest of her clique. There were six other girls circled up and chatting on the other side, and it was a simple enough count for Amelia to see that she hadn’t been dragged along to this just because Summer enjoyed bossing the new girl around. Amelia actually rounded out their team. Not that she felt particularly flattered, as there were probably countless other options just a text away, and Summer had never seen her play the sport.

The only real experience Amelia had with volleyball, outside of doing a day or two of it for PE when she was younger, was the beach variety during a spring break trip with her friends a couple years ago. Amelia had decent hand-eye coordination, although that was more or less the extent of her athletic talents. She much preferred to spectate, and was already worried about the ball being served in her general direction when a girl like Summer was no doubt expecting a win against the other team.

This was clearly a casual game, but even a few encounters with the young blonde gave Amelia the impression that she didn’t like to lose.

Then again, would the other girls throw the game on purpose? Amelia didn’t have the time or energy to start thinking about the ‘politics’ of a bunch of teenage girls. She was still worried about fitting in for the sake of not causing trouble for herself.

Lily had once again linked their arms once Amelia was done changing, and she led them across the gym. “Sorry we took so long, Summer!” she said, “How does Millie look?”

Summer gave Amelia a cursory once-over, then nodded, “Fine, I guess. You can play in flats, bitch?”

Questionable. Wanting to avoid a repeat of the recent conversation with Lily, Amelia said, “That’s all I have with me, Ms. Summer.” Doing her best to ignore the rude nickname while simultaneously going along with the title for her, Amelia continued doing what she had to in order to not rock the boat. The sooner this game was over, the sooner she could start figuring things out again.

“New girl. Right,” Summer replied, “Someone remind me to add her to our text group after the game.”

Amelia’s athletics might have been weak, but her mind was still a strength despite what the aptitude test might have suggested. While she had refrained from asking Lily about borrowing her phone, the idea was still vaguely on Amelia’s mind. Jumping on the potential opportunity, Amelia said, “Umm, my phone was confiscated. I don’t know when I’m getting it back.”

“Huh. Well, we probably have a burner lying around that you can use in the meantime. Any bitch of mine needs to be accessible 24/7, yeah?”

“Yes, Ms. Summer,” Amelia agreed.

This time, she was more than okay demeaning herself by addressing the girl like she was an authority figure. Because as it turned out, her assumption had been correct. Earlier, Amelia had been more laptop-driven. Ever since she started thinking about phones, however, it had been a simple enough thought process to draw a line from one kind of technology to another. This was a school filled with girls from wealthy families, so there was a good probability that a couple students in this group would always be buying the latest smartphone. And since it was a boarding school, they probably wouldn’t be trading up.

Acquiring a phone that Ashley didn’t know about would be huge. Of course, it wasn’t a guaranteed solution to anything, either. For starters, it had to be a smartphone. Amelia was really hoping that Summer was using ‘burner’ in the spoiled teenager sense, rather than talking about the flip phones used on TV shows and movies. If it was the latter, that would hardly be progress. With no numbers memorized, her only foreseeable option on that front would be calling the cops. And considering how she currently looked and how Ashley had screwed with her file, that would likely end up being a girl-who-cried-wolf situation. She was the ‘compulsive liar,’ and anyone who showed up for such an emergency would likely be inclined to listen to the adults and/or prefects present rather than the petite blonde trying to explain how she was a teaching assistant currently trapped as a schoolgirl.

For the time being, Amelia would have to try and put it out of her mind. Pushing too hard would make Summer suspicious and perhaps less willing to offer something like that up. Less was more for the time being, and Lily ended up being inadvertently correct–serving as Summer’s bitch did have some unexpected benefits. Not that Amelia planned on seeing it through for a second longer than necessary.

“Who wants to start?” Summer asked, “It’s 4-v-4, by the way.”

“So two can rotate out and take breaks,” Lily murmured to Amelia who was still standing arm in arm with her. Of the six of them, the ‘transfer student’ was likely the only one who wasn’t familiar with their format. Then, for the rest of the girls to hear, the brunette beside her said, “Millie and I can start.”

“Fine by me,” Summer said, “I’ll start, too. Be our fourth, Julia?”

The mixed girl gave a confident smile, “Of course. I’ll take offense. What do you play, Millie?”

“Umm . . . ” Amelia flushed a bit as she saw that all five of the girls were looking at her expectantly. She definitely wasn’t to claim to be competent at a game when the reverse would be proven true almost immediately afterwards. “I don’t really play. I mean, I know the rules, but-”

“You’ll be fine,” Summer cut her off, “Just get the ball to one of us and we’ll do the rest. Lily, you play with your new girlfriend. I’ll play up with Julia. Hands in.”

Before Amelia knew it, everyone was circling up. Going with the flow, as well as with the peer pressure, she followed suit and placed her hand in the middle.

Summer gave a small smirk as she glanced from girl to girl. “‘Fuck those bitches’ on three. One . . .”

With how they were grouped up, it was tough to get eyes on the rest of the gym. Was Summer confident that no one was around to hear them break the handbook rule about inappropriate language? Or was it improper, or unladylike? It was tough to remember the book Amelia had crammed last night. Regardless, the ‘no swearing’ part was the part that mattered.

Lily muttered under her breath, “Loud and proud, Millie.”

Not noticing Amelia’s hesitation, or simply not caring, Summer proceeded to count, “ . . . Two, Three.”

“FUCK THOSE BITCHES,” Amelia shouted. She needed them to give her a phone, meaning she needed Summer’s approval. Of course, she hadn’t stopped to consider the idea that maybe Lily might have been screwing with her. Although the young brunette had been helpful in private, that didn’t mean she was above tricking the new girl around the others.

The rest of the circle said the phrase in unison much more quietly, making Amelia the odd one out in their team’s huddle as well as piercing the resonant gymnasium with her projected cheer.

Half the girls in the now broken broken circle gasped and/or chuckled in surprise, although Summer wasn’t one of them. “What the fuck, Millie??” she hissed. Whipping her head left and right, she said, “What if there was a prefect in here? Are you trying to get us all written up?”

“N-no!” Amelia protested, “I just-”

“Shut up. You’re lucky it’s just students. No one in here is going to rat on me, but you better not pull something like that again. Got it, bitch?”

Blushing more deeply now, Amelia glanced away and murmured, “Yes, Ms. Summer.”

“Good. Now, let’s play. Lily? Julia? You’re up.”

As they stepped onto the court, Amelia gave a look to the brunette who just baited her into such an embarrassing moment. Lily just shot her a smile and a wink. It seemed more playful than malicious, though that hardly meant much now that Amelia was back on Summer’s bad side. She also hadn’t forgotten the offhand ‘girlfriend’ comment, as that was wrong for a number of reasons. For now, however, Amelia needed to focus on the impending game.

The good news was, she was on a team of four. That meant that the others could carry her dead weight most of the time. When possible, Amelia stepped aside and let the closest girl take the ball. When she absolutely had to keep it from hitting the ground, she somehow managed to volley it vaguely in the direction of someone on her team. The bad news was, it didn’t take their opponents long to figure out that 25% of the opposing team was a little bit scared of the ball. Once they started targeting her with serves and attacks, Amelia wasn’t nearly as successful keeping the ball alive.

When the other team scored three points in a row merely by serving, Summer called out, “Hey! Hold up, we’re subbing someone in.” Then she turned to Amelia with an annoyed look. “Take a break, bitch. Watch what the rest of us are doing for a while, okay?”

Amelia didn’t need to be told twice. She was quite aware that she was the weak link on the team, and was more than happy to let one of the other girls play. As she stepped off the court, she was a little surprised at the fact that she was sweating. Her half game of volleyball hadn’t felt that cardio intensive, though the gym wasn’t particularly cool now that she was thinking about it. Wiping a few beads from her brow and wondering if it would be worth taking off her tight flats for a few minutes, Amelia sat down on the bench next to the other girl on their team who wasn’t currently playing.

The girl next to her brushed back her hair and said, “I really hope you didn’t just cost us the match.”

“Sorry,” Amelia replied, “I tried to tell Summer I didn’t play.”

“Let’s hope they make a comeback,” she said, “If we lose, we’re on the hook for the penalty.”