William
The bus ride over was slightly nerve-racking. I didn’t know how to feel about it all. I had a week's notice, but the whole thing still came as a surprise. Dad had just set the table for breakfast when Mom called for me.
“William, we have good news for you,” Mom said, looking over at my dad who looked just as confused as I.
“We do?” Dad asked before taking a swig of his coffee.
“Yes.” She said. Gritting her teeth she pushed back her annoyance,”Of course we do. Don’t you remember what we talked about?”
Dad remained silent.
A condemning smile born from vexatious intent spread across her face. “The conversation we had? Yesterday?”
“...”
He was rapidly losing chances at fixing this, and for once, he seemed to realize that. Choking on his drink, he turned to me. “Oh right. We do have some news. Will, you know how we couldn’t find any school to accept you?” I nodded my head, “Yeah.”
Ok, don’t get me wrong or anything. It’s not like I’m a bad kid! In fact, I used to be one of the top students. I used to get good grades and everything. So what went wrong? Well, believe it or not, I decided to be a rebel and prank a teacher. Yes, that's right. I, William Fallow, pranked a teacher. But it's not like I didn’t have a good reason! It was a teacher no one liked, not a single soul. Mr. Campo was always giving my classmates detention for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I didn’t care much about it until I was the one who got punished. And just like that, that was the last straw.
That night, I snuck into the school and poured a huge bottle of school-issued glue all over Mr. Campo’s desk. The next day, everyone knew about what happened and Campo was furious! I basked in the glory of that moment for about 5 minutes. 5 short, wonderful minutes. I hadn’t known that after all of that, I had been caught on camera. Everything I had done was on film for all to see. There was no use in denying it. Next thing I knew, I was in the principal's office with my parents, discussing my expulsion. Yeah...I thought I would have gotten a suspension at the most, but nope. My mom and dad tried to enroll me into some of the local schools but none of them would accept me (for obvious reasons). They didn’t want to have a miscreant in their ranks. And that’s how the tragic tale of William Fallow ended.
A thought struck me, “Wait! Were you still unable to find me a school? And if so…can’t I just be homeschooled for my Sophomore year?” My leg shook as I struggled to keep my ever-rising joy down. The corners of my lips curled slightly upwards.
“That’s the good news. We found a school that will accept you!”
WIth just those words, my joy was shattered. I sighed the sigh of a particularly aggrieved individual. “So…how is this good news?” My parents looked at each other then back at me and smiled. Mom spoke first, “Well it's good news for us!”
“Right. It’s a boarding school! Fancy, right? About a 4-hour drive from here.” I almost fell out of my chair, “4 hours!? Wait so- but- um...What if…what if I want to visit you guys?” I said innocently. This act of mine didn’t even get past auditions. My father cleared his throat, “Well we can video chat.” Now I was even more confused, “Why can’t I visit you?” They looked at each other again with cheesy grins. “Well, you see…” Mom interrupted, “We’re going on vacation! The school wants your undivided attention, so even if you wanted to visit us it would have to be on a specific day. We thought this would be the perfect opportunity to…enjoy ourselves!”
Dad sighed, “It’s been so long since we’ve been on a date. A real date.”
“Yes, a real date. One with no kid.” (Mother)
I stared unblinkingly. “You guys know I’m still here right? I can hear you.”
They spoke at the same time in an even more aggrieved way than I, “Yes we know.”
My mother got up from her chair, “This is why we are going on vacation.”
So that’s what happened. As of now, I was on the bus riding off to my new school in the middle of nowhere, while my parents were tanning in the Bahamas. An honestly boring and uneventful ride. I spent the time I had thinking about what my new school would be like. Being that it's a boarding school, I knew I’d be staying in dorms. Each dorm has 2 people in it so it's not overly crowded. I tried looking online to find out more about the school, but I couldn’t find anything. I only knew that the school was in a little town called Clearwater in California. The place was so remote that not many people knew about it. They don’t allow phones or other electronics, so when I call my parents it’d have to be on a school phone.
Other than living conditions, as far as I could tell, it might as well have been a boot camp. 15 years old in my sophomore year and I’m already on my own. Thought I’d at least have a few more years. I had to admit that I was slightly relieved that I would be away from my parents. This meant that I would finally have freedom, not that I didn’t have it already. It’s more so like…a sense of independence. Every kid seeks it out eventually. Well, most kids.
To pass the time I decided to make small talk with the bus driver. This made sense as we were the only two people on the bus.
“Um, so how much longer until we arrive?”
The driver looked plainly in the rearview mirror and grunted, “About an hour.”
“Oh, that’s great! So...How's your day?”
The driver turned his eyes back to the road, “Look kid. I don’t get paid to talk to you. All I do is drive you to the school. Understood?”
Ouch. I nodded my head solemnly and turned to look out of the window. Just by saying a few sentences, I had made this trip feel much, much longer.
I watched in awe as the bus pulled up to the school. The school itself seemed like a mansion. There was a tall black gate surrounding all sides. The building towered over the bus. The school was surrounded by a lush and dense forest. It looked fitting for a school of such high esteem. Students were coming in through the front gate with suitcases in hand and security guards on each side. Following ahead, I gathered my luggage, exited the bus, and headed for the front gates. After verifying that I was indeed a student at the school the security guards let me in. Checking the time, I saw that I had about 20 minutes left before the orientation meeting. Alright. I need to find where the Assembly Room is. Digging inside my backpack I pulled out my school map and schedule. This was all I needed for now. The problem I had was that the school was so big I didn’t even know how to read the map.
“Hey, do you know where the Assembly room is?” I stopped one of the students that had just come into the gates.
“Hm? Oh yeah. It's next to the Exhibition hall.”
I don’t know where that is either. “Do you mind if I go with you?”
He frowned, “I’m not going to the Assembly room right now. I still have to put my things in my room. Wouldn’t want to go to Orientation with your suitcase.”
“Oh. Right...Thanks anyway.”
“Sure thing.”
I would have put my things in my room too but I couldn’t risk being late to assembly. I tried using the map to find it myself, but that didn’t go very well. After searching for about 10 minutes I knew I was going to be late. I had found myself in a large, deserted, garage-like area. According to the sign, I saw that this was the… “training area.” Weird . There was metal on all sides and above me was a metal balcony. It looked like something you would see in a warehouse but why would a school have a room like this? I left my bags by the metal stairs and started looking around. I didn’t care anymore. I was going to be late anyway. That was when I heard the sharp creaking of metal and felt heat infiltrate the room. I didn’t even have time to react.
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