Chapter One; A Forced Arrival

“We’re here!” My mother joyfully exclaimed as we pulled our beat up old red truck into the huge driveway of The Berwick Academy. Automatically it was clear that we didn’t belong here, that I didn’t belong here. The faded paint and one broken headlight of our faithful truck, Rusty, couldn’t compare with the shiny and elegant limos that seemed to be overtaking the parking lot.

I glanced at my mother and gulped as I saw that her facial expression still hadn’t changed, even with the evidence of my accusations completely surrounding us. It was clear that I really was going to spend the next ten months here. The thought brought prickles to my eyes and I turned my attention back to the window.

As my mother swung the car around and parked it into seemingly the only parking spot for miles, I fumbled with my seat belt and took at least five minutes to bring myself to even open the door. Trying to calm myself by taking deep breaths through my nose and letting them slowly out through my open mouth, I circled around to the back of the car to assist my mother in getting my trunk down to the ground. Together, we managed to hoist it out and shuffle ourselves to the front of the school.

I let out a strained breath as we both dropped my old trunk on the cement and stared up at the building. It didn’t seem possible a week ago that this place would appear even more intimidating than it did on its website, but standing there with my mother, watching chauffeurs drive off in flawless limos and getting sidestepped by preppy looking girls and chauvinistic looking boys, I knew that I had just proved myself wrong.

I glanced back at my mother, wishing and praying that she would take one look at the building before us and say that she was going to take me and my trunk back to our car and drive away, that she would say “Alex, I can’t believe we drove five hours for this.”, but it was no use. The look on her face almost exactly resembled the one she had worn the whole drive down, only now, it seemed like her eyes were sparkling even more. I sighed and decided to give up.

Completely turning to face her, I said,

“So, now what?” Shaking herself out of whatever daze she had been in, she turned to me, beamed, and then shrugged.

“I don’t really know. Do you think we should go and register you inside?” I shrugged back.

“It’s worth a try.” She let out a loud breath before the two of us picked up the trunk again and started towards the doors.

*~*~*~*~*~*

I loved my mother. I really did. Ever since my father passed away two years ago, it had been just the two of us. We both worked to keep up with the rent, we had one cat named Sophie, and our old truck named Rusty. We were living the perfect life. Pizza every Friday, chick flicks every Saturday, and going to the park with my best friend Max every Sunday. It was all I needed. And then the letter came. That damn letter that ruined everything.

Apparently my father, before he died, had sent in a registration form for me to get a scholarship to some snotty prep school (aka The Berwick Academy). Something my mother and I were oblivious about until about a month ago, when we got that damn letter saying that I had been accepted. We called of course and got the whole story, and even though I protested, slammed doors, and threw at least twenty hissy fits, my mother still insisted that I go.

She said it was a good opportunity and it was something that my father wanted me to do, even though we didn’t know about it. Max, of course, wanted to call out the National Guard and force my mother to let me stay in Bedfield, but no matter what we did, my mother stayed firm. And it didn’t really hit me that I wouldn’t get to see her or Max every day until we set foot into that building.

*~*~*~*~*~*