The Grover Girls - Chapter 22-24

CHAPTER 22
Before we knew it, Homecoming weekend was upon us. Lacey and I had faithfully been visiting Dr. Phillips’ office every night for the past two and a half weeks, studying history books and dividing responsibilities for Meet and Greet day. Since I had a better grasp on the history of the school, I would handle that part of the tour and field any questions about that. Lacey would handle the social side of Northwoods, discussing dorm life and extracurricular activities. We both would discuss academics and faculty involvement.
I would like to tell you that working with Lacey got easier as time passed, but that just was not the case. She seemed to get surlier as the days wore on, so that the day before our debut as the Rah Rah Squad, she had taken to grunting and grimacing at me rather than speaking. Dr. Phillips seemed happy, though. We each put on a little show for him, brightening and acting friendly towards each other whenever he entered the room. Lacey could not handle another black mark on her record, and I did not even want one mark messing up my perfect Northwoods record.
My parents had called the weekend before Homecoming and regrettably had some bad news for me. They would not be able to attend Homecoming this year. My great aunt had fallen ill and they needed to travel to Michigan to be with her. They were both very sad, but I understood. Considering I did not tell them the amount of trouble I was in, I was half-glad that they wouldn’t be around. What if Dr. Phillips or Ellen Bracken told them what had happened? I do not think they would be very happy about it.
The chorale had some special events planned for the weekend, also. We would be performing for the prospective students on Friday following dinner, and there would be another performance on Sunday evening, wrapping up the Homecoming weekend festivities. We had been working hard on the pieces for both performances, and were excited about getting to perform in front of an actual audience.
I thought about those performances as I made my way back to Grover from Dr. Phillips’ office on Thursday night. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day. The first group of prospective students and their families would be arriving at 9AM, and Lacey and I were supposed to arrive at Dr. Phillips’ office at eight. We were excused from classes for the day. I would have almost rather been in class. We each were supposed to wear our school uniform, which consisted of a knee-length plaid skirt, white collared shirt and a blue blazer with the Northwoods crest on it. Fancy. Uniforms were really only required once a month, when Northwoods held a formal dinner. Not by coincidence, this month’s formal dinner would be Friday evening with the prospective students and their families. Another one of those silly traditions I had been reading about.
I had made it back to Grover in record time. In fact, there were still a few minutes left of visitation, so I decided to go find Pete. I knew that he would be studying in his room, so I headed right for it when I stepped off the elevator.
He was very happy to see me, to say the least. We had missed each other more than we thought we would over the past three weeks. At first, we did not think much of it, but we really missed those few hours a day that we spent together at visitation. As soon as I showed up at his door, Pete greeted me with a hug and a kiss and led me out to the common room. Most of the boys in his suite were visiting girls in their suites or were down in the basement common room, so we had the room to ourselves. I caught him up on the Meet and Greet and what had been happening with Lacey, and he listened sympathetically.
“At least it’s almost over, Lex,” he said, smoothing my hair back. “Pretty soon it will all be a distant nightmare and we can get back to normal.”
I could not agree more. Since we were alone, Pete and I spent the next few minutes kissing on the couch. I missed him so much, I did not even care if an RA walked in and saw us. Things were getting pretty hot and heavy there on the common room couch when we heard a noise behind us. The boys from Pete’s suite were arriving back from visitation, my cue to head back to my room. We said a hasty goodbye with a quick kiss and I headed back to my room.
I only made it as far as the elevator lobby when Graham stopped me.
“I need to talk to you, Lexi.” He sounded serious and angry.
“I have nothing to say to you, Graham.” I answered quietly, determined to ignore him.
“Please, it’ll only take a minute. Really. C’mon Lex.” His voice softened. I stood for a minute and regarded him. Should I give him a chance to say what he needed to say? My curiosity got the better of me, and I rolled my eyes at him.
“Make it quick, I don’t want to miss curfew.” I folded my arms.
“Look, you need to lay off of Lacey. She comes to me in tears every day, saying that you are giving her a hard time. Saying you have been threatening to get her kicked out. She is all stressed out. Just leave her alone. What did she ever do to you?” I stared at him, openmouthed.
“Are you freaking kidding me?” I was trying to keep my voice down to a dull roar, so as not to alert the RA, but I was finding it difficult. “I don’t know why the two of you are insisting that I have the power to get anyone expelled. I absolutely have done NOTHING to Lacey that would get her expelled. The two of us have been working together for two and a half weeks on this Meet and Greet thing, and that is it! I have not so much as muttered a word to her about anything other than the History of this school or the Meet and Greet day. Why am I even talking to you? I don’t have to explain myself to you!” I was shouting now, so I knew it was time to make my exit. I left Graham gaping at me in the lobby as I stormed into my suite. I headed right for Chloe’s room.

CHAPTER 23
I was absolutely fuming as I retold the story to Chloe, Talia, and Maya. The three of them stared at me in disbelief. It was overwhelming how out of hand this whole mess had gotten. I had half a mind to tell Lacey the truth about Devin and her Northwoods demise. Of course, my friends had words of wisdom for me in that department, too.
“Oh, Lex. You know you cannot say anything about that to her. You know that would cause more trouble than it’s worth.” Maya reasoned.
I had to agree. If I were to tell Lacey the truth about Devin, it would open a whole can of worms that I was not prepared to deal with.
In the end, we decided it would be best just to forget about Graham. Let Lacey tell her lies. I just had to keep my nose clean and get through tomorrow’s Meet and Greet without incident and I could go back to ignoring Lacey as usual. Maybe she would take a page from my book and try ignoring me, too. That would be refreshing.


The next morning was bright and sunny, a perfect fall day. I awoke early to get dressed in my Rah Rah Girl uniform. Lovely.
I headed towards the admissions building early, hoping to avoid Lacey until the last possible second. Dr. Phillips would be meeting us there, and we would be going over the schedule for the day before the families arrived. As usual, I arrived early. I looked over my notes, trying to kill time before meeting with Lacey and Dr. Phillips. Thankfully, it was not a long wait. Lacey and Dr. Phillips arrived together, chatting like old buddies. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. She is so damn fake. It is a miracle the teachers buy into that crap.
“Good, good, we’re all here. Here is the schedule, girls. There are eighty prospective families coming to tour today. I have separated them into four groups. You will be leading the tours, so you will have a group of about twenty families for each tour. The other three groups will be here in the admissions building meeting with myself and other members of the faculty. Each tour should last about twenty to thirty minutes, and you will begin and end each tour back here at the admissions building. I have made sure that the first floor suites in the Thayer dorm are presentable, and they will be available for you to take families through. None of the doors will be locked, but please make sure you explain how the key card doors work and show them the RA apartment in the lobby. Every year, the parent’s biggest concern is for safety and supervision. When you finish all four tours, we will mingle here in the admissions building for a bit, snacking on sandwiches. Please make yourselves available to the families for questions. Make the children comfortable. It is your job during this time to act as gracious hostesses. There will then be some presentations by the guidance department, the athletic department, and the fine arts department. When the presentations are finished, we will escort the families to the dining hall for the evening meal. You will each mingle with the families in the dining room until the dinner bell rings. After that, you have each been assigned a seat with a prospective family. Lacey, you will be dining with Mr. and Mrs. Thaddeus Rimer and their twins Brandon and Tessa. Lexi, you will be dining with Dr. and Mrs. Bradley Schoemacher and their daughter Angelica. I have already given you both profiles for each of these families so that you are not at a loss as to what to chat about. I trust you have had time to at least glance at these profiles? The twelfth grade ladies and gentlemen have each been assigned a family to sit with, also. Am I correct in assuming that you will both be involved in the after dinner entertainment?” We each nodded. Lacey would be performing a scene from TSOM with Graham, while I would be singing a few songs with the Chorale.
“When the meal has ended, you may excuse yourselves and head to the CPA to ready yourselves for the evening program. When the program is over, I will expect you back at my office for coffee with the prospective parents, where there will be an informal question and answer session. The prospective students will be participating in an informal question and answer session with some members of the eleventh grade class. At 9PM, the students and parents will be reunited and you will both be relieved of your duties as ambassadors. It is going to be a very full and busy day, but I know you will do well, girls. I am proud of both of you for sticking to it. I know you have worked hard to learn Northwoods’ history and I appreciate your hard work. That said, I am going to trust that there will be no more incidents like we had a few weeks ago. A warning to you both: If there are any more incidents, there will be a hearing with the disciplinary committee and your school careers at Northwoods will be in serious jeopardy.” His tone was serious. I did not like the sound of my school career being in jeopardy. I am sure Lacey was thinking the same thing.
“Yes, sir. We won’t let you down.” Lacey answered. She sounded so adult and polite. I wished I had thought to answer Dr. Phillips first.
Dr. Phillips smiled and patted us on the back. He lead us to the front of the building, where the first families were arriving.

CHAPTER 24
My first thoughts at seeing the families arrive: “Was I EVER that tiny?” Sheesh. Fifth grade seemed so long ago. I put on my best Rah Rah Girl smile and greeted the families as they arrived. I introduced myself as Alexis, and directed them into the admissions building. I shook more hands that morning than I had in my entire lifetime. With each new handshake, my fake smile became broader, livelier, and less fake. This was actually kind of fun. It was no secret that I loved attending school at Northwoods and now I had a chance to share my enthusiasm with a whole new crop of students. If I kept my mind off Lacey and the reason that I was spending my Friday doing this, I truly was enjoying myself.
When we were sure that all of the families had arrived, Lacey and I retreated to the warmth of the admissions building and listened to Dr. Phillips’ welcoming speech. It had not changed much in five years. Dr. Phillips split up the families into four groups by having them choose colored papers as they arrived in the building. The yellow group would be the first to experience a tour with Lacey and me.
I recognized Graham’s sister Rachel and her parents. My stomach dropped to my knees, surprising me. Why did I feel that familiar brick in my stomach? Oh yeah, I recognized Graham’s sister from that picture in his room that I was staring at when we um…uh…you know. I had a few seconds to shake that yucky feeling while Lacey introduced herself and explained our route around campus. I distributed maps to each family while Lacey spoke. We began our tour at the admissions building and headed toward the library. I spoke briefly about Northwoods’ early history as a boy’s school in the 1920’s and how it was not until the late 1950’s that girls had been allowed at Northwoods. The adults asked thoughtful questions concerning the history of the school, while the kids remained mute. I knew it would not be until AT LEAST the evening meal that the kids would open up and have questions for us. I had been the same way at my Meet and Greet day five years earlier.
Upon entering the library, Lacey began her rehearsed speech concerning the Northwoods Job Program, which I had thankfully been excused from because of Chorale. Lacey talked about her various jobs, enthusiastically rambling on about her glorious afternoons in the library. I felt she was laying it on a little thick, but one look at the parent’s faces showed that they were eating it up. I could just hear their thoughts. They are teaching our children to be responsible adults! How fabulous! I had to hand it to Lacey, she was good at this Rah Rah Girl stuff. I briefly wondered if she would have been chosen as a Rah Rah Girl even if we hadn’t tried to kill each other that night.
From the library, we headed to the dorms, and Lacey continued her speech about life at Northwoods. She very briefly touched on open visitation, and I could see the smirks on some of the kids’ faces. Some of them turned bright red when Lacey mentioned visiting members of the opposite sex. Was I ever that young?
We headed towards the academic buildings and I spoke briefly about the way classes were divided at Northwoods.
“From the sixth grade to the eighth grade, you will be considered a lower cluster student. Your schedules will be prepared for you, and for the most part, you will be in classes with the same people. Ninth grade at Northwoods is called the transition year. Your schedule will still be prepared, but you will have the opportunity to try various electives. At the end of the transition year, there is an entrance exam required for you to continue on to the tenth thru twelfth grades, also called the upper cluster. In other words, just because you have been accepted to Northwoods this year, it does not necessarily mean that you will be a student here until you graduate and head to college.”
The students looked a little scared, but the parents appeared to be impressed. It was not my goal to scare them, but to remind them that once they are accepted, they still need to work hard to keep their spot.
We stopped the tour at this point to answer any questions, and there were several. Most parents wanted to know the credentials of the staff, the types of electives offered, and if the courses were going to be challenging enough for their little Einsteins. Most of the kids remained silent, but there was one question.
“Yeah, I’m Angelica Schoemacher. Like, can we have cell phones on campus? I totally need to keep in touch with my peeps.” She snapped her gum and stared at me with a bored look on her face.
Aha, so this was sweet little Angelica. I had been reading over her family profile and was anxious to meet her. Angelica and her family were whom I was to share this evening’s meal with. Dr. Bradley Schoemacher was a prominent New York City plastic surgeon. His clients were mostly actresses, models, and the wives of extremely rich New York royalty. His wife, Nina, was at least thirty years his junior, and from the look of it, his most faithful client. Her boobs and lips appeared so inflated; I was surprised she was not floating ten feet above the ground. She wore an outfit that was so NOT appropriate for November in Maine. It may have been appropriate for July in Cozumel. Angelica attended the most prestigious private girl’s school in the city, and spent her summers traveling the world with Nina. She was the apple of her parent’s eye, and was given every material possession she asked for. Now, Northwoods has its share of affluent students, but for the most part, it is not flaunted. I had learned from my recent studying that almost 50% of Northwoods students receive some type of financial aid, me included. This matter is not discussed. To this day, I could not tell you which students received aid and which did not. Angelica Schoemacher would be a very interesting addition to Northwoods if she were to accept. Extremely rich, extremely spoiled, and extremely snotty. Like a miniature Lacey in the making.
“No, Angelica, cell phones are not permitted on campus. There are telephones in each dorm room, and Lacey will explain more about that as we make our way towards Thayer, the sixth grade dormitory.” I motioned to Lacey to continue walking.
The parents seemed impressed with the accommodations in Thayer. Our dorm rooms are pretty big, as dorm rooms go. I made sure to talk about the key card doors and the RA apartments, and Lacey explained the telephone and email system, and we paused again for questions, knowing there would be plenty.
“Aren’t there private rooms for some students?” Nina Schoemacher wanted to know.
“No, ma’am. All Northwoods students share rooms with at least one other student. There is one triple room in each suite, also.” Lacey explained.
“So, like, even if we requested it, Angelica wouldn’t be able to have a private room?” Nina Schoemacher looked disgusted.
“To my knowledge, there are no single rooms assigned on our campus.” I answered diplomatically.
Nina and Dr. Bradley Schoemacher exchanged glances. Thankfully, Angelica was busy text messaging her “peeps” and was not paying attention. I knew from the exchanged glance that Angelica Schoemacher would not be a Northwoods Falcon next year. I was secretly glad. One Lacey was enough.