Saturday morning came, and the sunshine from her window finally woke her up. Her phone said it was nine already. That reminded her that she forgot to set up her clock radio.

There was a knock on her door and wondered who it could be. Grumpily, she got up, pulled on the robe that went with her nightie (she wore nighties now), some slippers, and shuffled to the door.

“Whaddaya want?” she said grumpily and was attacked with hugs.

It was Arianne and Momo-chan, and it was a cheerful reunion. After a short bow, Momo hugged Val – something other Japanese don’t do often. As for Arianne, right away, she went in for kisses on the cheeks and hugs.

They munched on some of the bagels from the previous night that she nuked in her new microwave, and updated each other, Afterwards, changing into shorts and a t-shirt, she helped her friends get settled in.

Arianne commented that Val looked fully recovered now, and Val said she was now fully functional. “Everywhere?” Arianne said, and Momo giggled.

At about lunchtime, Ashanti and Rose arrived, and, instead of helping them get settled in, the five girls decided to go out for lunch first. Val wondered where Jazz was, and Arianne said she’d probably be arriving tomorrow.

“That girl is always late for everything,” Arianne said in her sexy French accent, “do not worry about her. So! Let us have some lunch! My treat!”

Everyone changed into some warmer clothes and Val drove them in her jeep to a new place.

After lunch, they got down to some work and got Ashanti and Rose settled in as well and finished at around seven. Unlike her first visit, it was already dark by then. Jazz still wasn’t around but she called Momo earlier to say she’d be arriving Sunday afternoon.

With bath stuff and towels, they all trooped into the bathroom assigned to them and took a quick shower. Arianne didn’t shower this time – apparently, the French didn’t take showers as often as others, and Ashanti said she’d just shower later (because she takes a lot of time to get ready). Arianne and Ashanti just followed them in to continue chatting. Val thought that unusual, but judging by the reaction of the other girls, she thought it might not really be that unusual.

Val was a trifle shy, still, but tried not to be jittery and just act normally despite two pretty girls naked and showering to either side of her. Also, she was starting to react to the girls. But she did her best to not give in. She adjusted her shower and shivered at the suddenly-cold water.

“Hey, you’ve got more curves on you than last time, girl,” Rose commented as she looked at her frankly.

“Oui,” Arianne agreed. “Our girl is growing up.” She giggled.

“Not ‘under-developed’ anymore, then?” Val said.

Arianne stuck her tongue out at Val.

“Also,” Ashanti commented, “you look taller than before.”

“Hai,” Momo said. “How tall are you now, Vale-san? Do you know?”

“I’m almost 6 feet tall now…”

“Oooh! You are almost as tall as Arianne!”

“It’s a little awkward to be so tall. For a guy, it’s great. For a girl…”

Arianne sighed. “You are telling me, ma chere. I cannot recall the last time I have had a date.”

“How about Jerome Anderson at the year-end party?” Rose said. “Hmmm?” They all laughed.

“That does not count, Rose,” Arianne said. “I was just getting back at him for dropping me for Deepali.”

“Sure, sure,” Rose said in a mocking tone. “That kiss though looked really good.”

Arianne looked thoughtful. “Well, that boy was good in… other things, too.” And everyone giggled again.

“But you dropped him, right?” Momo asked.

“But of course! Un prete pour un rendu!”

“What?” Rose said.

“That is French for ‘tit for tat,’ Rosie-chan,” Momo said.

Val had a fun time with them, and it was just showering. “And thank god the cold water worked,” she thought. But she knew it wouldn’t last. She could feel it.

After their shower, all of them went to their rooms to get ready. Val decided on a simple outfit this time, and picked a nice, navy-blue sweater she wore over her black sports bra (she was now a definite B, but Ma said she was still growing… oh, boy), black thermal tights, and some uggs. She had hair down to the middle of her back now and it took just a little bit longer to blow-dry. Afterwards, she combed her hair straight back, put on a knitted black beanie, and shouldered her favorite Picnic backpack. But no one was coming - after a bit, she got a little impatient and went and knocked on Arianne’s door – the one next to hers.

“Entrez!”

“Hey, Arianne,” Val said as she came into the room. She found Arianne in a long wool skirt and nothing else. She was looking around her dresser for a top.

“Bonour, Val. Un moment, Entrez! Entrez!”

Val gulped and looked away. She looked out the window and focused on that. “You have a different view than mine,” she commented.

“This was not my old room. Mine was the room next door. But the view is pretty much the same. Boring, really. I mean all you can see is the car park in front of the school. Merde”.

“It looks okay to me…”

She walked to Val and stood beside her. She put her arm around Val’s shoulder, and Val felt Arianne’s left breast press against her upper left arm. Val gulped. They both looked at Saint John’s nightscape skyline in companionable silence.

”En effet,” Arianne said. “I was just joking a little bit. It is a pretty view, especially at night with all the city lights.” Val knew Arianne wasn’t doing anything deliberate, but she would find out later that among the five, Arianne and Ashanti had the least hangups about nudity. So Arianne wasn’t really trying anything and was just acting normally. She gave Val a quick kiss on the cheek and got herself dressed in a long-sleeved Henley and a loose warm cardigan.

Along with her free-wheeling nature, Arianne’s natural charisma made her the leader of their little group. And it was because of her that their little gang was one of the more formidable of all the little cliques in school, because she kept them highly visible to the student body, and hence a big part of the school’s zeitgeist. Even the boys tried not to cross them. But, their “power” was also because all of them were lookers – the better-looking ones in Troy, which was surprising since the senior class is always reputed to have the best-looking kids – something unique to Troy house, unlike the other nine Aristotle Endowment schools. (This year, Arianne and her friends were the seniors, thought, which helped to continue the reputation).

Their influence also comes from the fact that all five of them had Kodikos scores higher than fifty-six, whereas most of the other students of Troy House had scores between fifty-three to fifty-five. In a school where the student body put a lot of stock in the scores, that was a big deal.

Val would later learn that, in the other nine Endowment schools, the students had Kodikos scores of only fifty to fifty-two, because, on Dr. Castellanos’ orders from years ago, those who had scores higher than fifty-two were invited to Troy House. At this time, among the two hundred students in Troy (including the incoming fifty freshmen), Arianne and her four friends were part of the top twenty scorers: Arianne had fifty-nine, Momo-chan had fifty-seven, Ashanti and Rose had fifty-six, and Jazz had fifty-five. Later on, the girls would be pleased when they heard from Dr. Penny that Val has a fifty-eight score. And, on top of that, the girls had academic grades higher than most. The few that had scores higher than theirs had sixty or sixty-one: apparently, higher scores were very unusual.

In any case, they stepped out for dinner. Again, they left it to Arianne, and she picked a place called Port City Royal. It was a dimly lit basement restaurant with exposed brick on the walls. Being a date place, they served beer, wine, and cocktails, but Arianne stepped past any issues by ordering virgin sangrias for everyone. And despite being an alcohol-free dinner, they enjoyed the dinner and made a boisterous time of it.

Several guys approached them, but Arianne told them none of them were of legal age, and they just faded away back to their own tables. The girls probably wouldn’t have minded but they had to be careful and not jeopardize their stay at Troy House.

The girls decided to get some supplies, and Rose directed Val to yet another Circle K. And with the back full to the brim with assorted stuff, they went back.

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