[Leopard]

Evie

A cute young girl in a black t-shirt and pants, with a black apron came over, distracting Evie from the two girls in the corner.

'Evening, girls - what'll it be?' she asked.

'Hey, Katie,' Emily replied to the waitress. 'Two hot chocolates for me and Han, please.'

Evie noted that the girls must come here quite a bit to know the waitress on a first person basis.

'The usual for me, thanks, Katie – black, two sugars.' Jenna said.

'Gotchya,' Katie replied, then turned to Evie. 'And who's this fine new catch?' she asked, her eyes roaming over Evie.

Evie blushed. While she'd always been amongst the popular groups, she'd never had quite so much attention on her – especially such direct attention – from so many different girls in one day. It was doing mayhem on her cheeks.

'I'm Evie,' she told the young waitress.

'Welcome, Evie,' Katie smiled. 'And what can I get you?'

'A mocha, please. With four sugars.'

'Coming right up.' Katie paused, looking over to where Alyssa still sat cradling Nicole. 'Think I should make her a hot chocolate?' she asked. 'I've never seen her upset before.'

'I think a hot chocolate would do her a lot of good, actually,' Jenna said. 'Remember Alyssa likes hers with extra milk, too.'

'Of course,' Katie said, waving her finger at Jenna. 'How impolite, suggesting I'd forget any of my favourite customers' usual orders.'

Katie bustled off to make the girls' drinks.

Evie continued to glance over to Alyssa, who was stroking Nicole's hair softly, still holding her close.

'Are you sure she's going to be okay?' Evie asked again, still feeling to blame for upsetting Nicole.

'She just needs some chocolate, a lot of cuddles, and a good night's sleep,' Emily said. 'Perfect cure for a crash.'

'Crash?' Evie asked.

'Yeah, you know ... where you have a ... really big day, and then at the end before you realise how exhausted you are, your mood just falls through the floor all of a sudden. Like it crashes,' Emily replied.

The pauses and the uncomfortable expressions on the girls' faces didn't help reassure Evie, but she decided to let it lie, inwardly hoping that Nicole didn't hate her for acting like such a slut earlier.

The waitress Katie returned with their drinks after a few minutes, then went over to give Nicole and Alyssa theirs.

Evie watched as Alyssa thanked the girl, then sat Nicole up properly, coaxing her to drink the hot chocolate. Nicole picked up the mug with both hands, blowing on it, and while she kept her eyes on the mug before her, as if unaware that anyone else was in the cafe, Evie could see that the area around Nicole's eyes was red and puffy.

'So where are you transferring from?' Jenna asked as the waitress Katie returned with the girls' drinks and was setting them down around the table.

'Paris,' Evie replied. 'I've been in schools there all my life.'

'You're ... French?' Emily asked, sounding somewhat disbelieving. 'You don't look or sound very French.'

'I was born here,' Evie replied. 'So was my mother. But she's been working in Paris ever since then. She attended St. Krystal's too; she was an alumnus of Sapphire House. That's why I came here. I wanted to go to the same school she did. I would have come when I was eleven, but she wouldn't let me until now.'

'Ah, I see,' Emily said, then sipped her drink. 'Sapphire house, huh?'
Evie nodded.

'Gonna be tough.'

'I know,' Evie said quietly. 'Especially for someone who's only just transferred. But I'm not going to give up that easily.'

Sapphire House was one of the four exclusive student houses at St. Krystal's. Each of the houses were located just outside of school grounds, and were run entirely by students: a seventh year, affiliated with the student council, was in charge of each house, making sure that everything ran smoothly within the house and that each student was card for. Places were extremely limited, each house traditionally only having twelve members at a time, four from each of the final three year levels.

Selection into the houses was also run by them, and while there were certain openly listed conditions on applying, such as cost and school activities, everyone - even distant outsiders like Evie - knew that there were all sorts of mysterious secret trials and conditions that an applicant must overcome before being accepted.

Still, Evie was nothing if not stubborn, and she'd been determined that she would never stand in her mother's shadow for a long time now. To Evie, that meant doing the things her mother had done, but better. If her mother had been an alumnus of the Sapphire House at the elite British school St. Krystal's, then she would do the same, as well as finish her final year as a captain of the house, or a champion of a club, or something. Evie was well aware that this was her one chance to completely outdo her mother at something that could be measured equally, and she was determined to achieve it.

'What about the other houses?' Jenna asked Evie. 'Are you going to apply for all of them?'

Evie shook her head. 'I'll look at all of them,' she said. 'But I'm certain that it has to be Sapphire. It won't mean anything if it's a different house to mother's.'

Jenna nodded, although her expression indicated that she thought Evie was mad.

Evie didn't care. She didn't care if she was mad, either. She had her goal and she would stick to it.

'What if you don't get in?' Emily asked her.

'Then I'll keep trying until I do get in,' Evie replied. 'I don't care what it takes. This is what I want.'

'Well they'll be impressed by your determination, if nothing else,' Jenna murmured. 'You're pretty enough, too. Though that might serve you better if you were applying to Ruby or Diamond.'

'What if they'll only let you in if you agree to be one of the members' sex slaves, having to serve them in all of your spare hours?' Hannah asked.

Both Jenna and Emily turned to stare at Hannah, raising their eyebrows.

'That's fine,' Evie said, slowly smiling. 'It'll get my foot in the door, and I'll show them how hard I can work and how valuable I am.'

Emily whistled. 'You really are determined.'

'So cool,' Hannah murmured.

'Speaking of sex slaves,' Emily said, 'ever been one?'