章 14: Back to School

After leaving Glue, Eli visited her two other part-time jobs to turn in her resignations and get back what they owed her. While the management team were not as bad as Glue's, they did not treat the previous host fairly either. Lucky for them, they did not try to cheat her out of her pay, so they parted ways amicably.

By the time she got back home, it was already past ten o'clock at night. She was worn out, hungry and her shoulder ached from the weight of carrying her backpack all day. She took a hot shower, had a bowl of ramen and then headed to bed.

-----

The rest of the week flew by very quickly. Eli spent a little part of it going back and forth with Secretary Kim on the contract terms and conditions, sorting out her finances and restoring the previous host grandma's flower shop.

Outside of this, Eli spent the majority of her time doing nothing but lazing about. She could not remember when last she had this much free time, even when she was lying in her sickbed in her previous life, she still had the heavy workload of sorting out her finances and last will and testament.

Within the past week, her shoulder had also healed, and she no longer needed a sling. Eventually, when Sunday came around, Eli had to come to terms with the fact that she had to return to school.

When Monday rolled by, Eli grudgingly woke up to prepare for school. She had not attended high school or college in her former life. Now that she thought of it, she never really had any form of formal education.

Her family was massacred in a staged accident when she was only six years old and she, the only survivor, almost drowned at sea. She was later rescued by two local fishermen who then sold her to traffickers for some loose change. Eventually, she ended up in the possession of a prominent Italian Mafia gang.

Unlike most female children, she matured rather early and had her first period at the tender age of eight. To celebrate her womanhood, she was sexually assaulted by her then Capo.

Life back then provided her with limited options. It was either- becoming a killer or continuing as a plaything.

She chose the former.

She had plotted her way into being selected to work as a server so she could have access to the spaces shared by the higher commanders. She had also kept her ears to the ground waiting for her chance to climb up the ladder and it came three years later when Eli had overheard her capo talk about how their Don wanted a rival gang's boss dead.

Seeing a chance, she took it. To prove she was useful to her Don, she started off by poisoning his enemy at a friendly dinner event and framing a different rival for it.

It was a gamble that paid off.

Her Don had taken an interest in her and her life as a strategist started there. While her body was weak her mind was sharp. Her IQ was in no way lower than the previous host, if not sharper. Her Don had groomed her and provided her with the best resources -from private classes to top tutors, and field jobs.

She had studied a wide range of topics- business, history, law, art, hoplology, linguistics, computer sciences and even dabbled in medicine. All in the aim to make herself indispensable to him.

She had come up with elaborate plots time and time again that brought down her Don's enemies. It was how she rose to power by his side and how she was able to take her revenge. While her methods were dirty, scheming and to some even heartless, all could agree that they were brilliant.

Now, the concept of having to go to formal school, pretend to take notes and listen to lectures seemed like a waste of her time. Eli cracked the sides of her neck and stretched before getting out of bed. There was no point in dwelling on the past. It was mostly traumatic anyways.

She wanted a clean, normal, and boring life this time around and if having to attend high school and college like everybody else was the way to go, then she would do it.

'The previous host was almost done with the high school phase anyways'. She thought to herself in consolation.

Eli took a short shower before picking out her uniform from the closet. She had looked at it the night before and was pleasantly surprised by the quality and style. It was the standard shirt, skirt and blazer look that most private schools sported.

However, Green City High, being the top high school in Green city and standing as the fifth-best in the country, provided better quality uniforms for their students, putting them apart from the crowd. Eli was even more pleased with the fact that the previous host chose pants over skirts.

She put on the uniform set and walked to the mirror to put on her tie. Pleased with the overall look, she headed out.

----

It was peak hour by the time Eli arrived at school. The school entrance and driveway were packed with one luxurious car followed by the next. Students littered the sidewalk while chatting amongst themselves and a few teachers could be seen guiding the crowd and some chatting with parents and butlers.

Yes, butlers.

Green City High was a school where the heirs of Green City upper class converged. The students here fell in one of four categories; the first being they were mostly from wealthy homes, the second being they had politically inclined parents, the third being they had parents in important government positions and the last being that they had excellent grades and could attend on a scholarship. Here, there was no room for the regular Joe.

"Mister, drop me off here, this will do."

After paying her cab fare, Eli thanked the driver and came down from the cab.

Eli was sauntering into the building when she suddenly stopped her footsteps. Not even ten steps in, Eli could feel the shift in the air. The loud conversations between students dialled down and silent mutterings between clicks began with all eyes trained in her direction.

To say that she felt like an animal in the zoo would be an understatement. Adjusting her backpack over her right shoulder, she placed her hands in her pockets and emitted an aura of dominance.

Even though she was wearing the same dark blue uniform as the rest of the students, she looked like she just got off a runway with the first button of her white dress shirt open and a tie loosely hanging around her neck.

With her cold and indifferent facial expression and stylishly stalled hair, she unconsciously gave off the bad boy feel her stylist- Claire was going for.

Taking just a glance at her made one unable to move their gaze away!

Eli turned a blind eye towards the staring crowd of students and continued on her way. As soon as she was out of earshot, loud chattering exploded among the students.

"Fuck!"

"Who is that?"

"Is that a new student?"

"My Gosh! He's so hot"

"Someone please pinch me, I think I just fell in love!"

"I wonder what class he is, I hope it's ours. Would it be weird if we followed him?"

"He looks like a freshman but he can be my daddy!"

"Dream on! I could swear our eyes met just now"

While most of the female population fangirled, a few of the male population had distressed looks in their eyes with a hint of envy. There was already an overflow of handsome guys at school, they did not appreciate the entrance of another one.

"What's so great about his looks, he looks like a sissy." one said.

"Right?!" another added in agreement.

News of the 'new student' quickly spread on the school online chat platform. By the time Eli got to her class floor. Word of her arrival had reached there and the students were buzzing with questions and guesses.

Eli walked to her class door which read 'class 12A' and slid the door open.