There's Always Second Chances

Chapter 2

It was weeks before the letter came through the post. Mum was ecstatic that I'd qualified for the scholarship. Here I was standing at the airport terminal in front of Mum, Jess and the younger ones. 

When we got the letter, Mum was crying. None of us was expecting me to get in let alone get a response. "Addy don't go," cried Ella. I picked her up and cuddled her. I passed her over to my Mum and hugged my other siblings in turn. "Here, look after this," I murmured passing Ella my shark tooth necklace. 

I watched as her small hands grasped the necklace and cradle it to her chest. I turned around and headed for boarding. I was really going to miss them. I'll see them soon enough. Just a few years away and then I'll be right back looking after them like I'd want to. I had half a mind to just turn back and refuse the scholarship. Then again Mum was right, I needed this fresh start. I needed to get away from Dad and the people at school. 

I sat down in the plane seat next to the window and I looked out of it as the plane started taking off. This was it, no turning back now. As far as I knew in hours time, I'll be touching down in Germany and then catching a connecting flight to Florida. Then I'll be booking a hotel to sleep in for the night before going to the agreed housing. 

Closing my eyes, I decided to try and sleep my journey to Germany as best as I could. At least I'd want to if I want to have a chance at adapting to the time zone changes. When I opened my eyes, I heard the captain speaking about how we'll be landing soon. I knew I must've got hours of sleep in. I felt the plane descend into the German airport. 

As soon as we touched down, I waited for the people next to me to get out and get their overhead luggage. I got out from my seat and grabbed my bag before heading out to get my suitcase from the luggage carousel. 

The wait for the next plane was pretty boring. All I could do was go and get something to eat and then wait until the departure time. I pulled out the papers informing me of my scholarship and read over them. It was fully paid and they were going to pay for the housing, uniform and textbooks too. The only thing forked out of Mum's savings were the flight and money for when I'm over in America and here of course. 

"You're going to Lakeman High too?" asked a voice. It startled me out of my thoughts. I turned to face the strange and was met with a boy around my age. He was blond and had blue eyes. "Yeah, I'm Adrian Lawson." I responded. I managed to introduce myself to this strange. I hope we can become friends. At least then I'd know someone at this school. 

"Cool, I'm Søren Larsson." he introduced himself. His accent was strange. "Where you from?" he asked me a moment later. "Australia, how about you?" I asked. This was a pleasant conversation for once. "Denmark." he stated. I nodded. We picked up a conversation about how attractive the girls were going to be.

We boarded the plane hours later. Funnily enough we were sitting next to each other on the flight there. We talked about the reasons why we were going to the new school. "It's a rather boring reason but I'm just going there because I got transferred for good grades." he responded rubbing the back of his neck. He had a nervous smile as though I was going to say that was lame or he was boring. 

"That's really good. I'm being sent away because my Dad threatened to kill me and I kept getting into fights. My Mum thought it was better if I stayed away for a while." I responded. I almost regretted it. I never talk this openly with strangers. He gave me a sympathetic smile. "Sorry to hear that, I hope your family's okay," Søren wished my family well. It was so weird hearing someone concerned about it. 

I nodded in appreciation. When we touched down, I was pleasantly surprised that we were actually in airport closer to the school. I guess they really thought of everything huh. We got to the hotel and shared a room rather than getting two separate. Now all that's left to do is go to the accommodation set up for our time at the school. We slept like logs and almost slept too long. We hurried to get our stuff together and get in the taxi. 

It pulled up to this really nice looking house. Surely we were not going to be living here. We stepped out of the taxi and grabbed our bags. It promptly left after we stepped out. Walking up the pathway, we were left standing at the front door. "Are you knocking or am I?" Søren asked leaning towards me a little bit. I hesitantly stepped up to the front door and knocked. 

One minute later it opened and another blond haired man opened the door. "I take it that you're Søren Larsson and Adrian Lawson?" he questioned us. I nodded. He led us inside the house, instructing us to leave our bags at the foot of the stairs. "Where are you boys coming from?" he asked making small conversation as we settled down in the front room. 

He was arranging papers in front of us. I guess that was the rental agreement. "I'm from Denmark and Adrian's from Australia," Søren answered for the both of us. "Okei, Jeg er fra Norge." the landlord stated. I'm guessing he came from Norway. I've heard someone say Norge before. I think that's when we were watching a show that Jess wanted to watch. 

Søren seemed to understand it. "Nice to meet you both, I'm your landlord Anders. We'll go over your rental agreement and school time table." he remarked. What a normal introduction. He pushed some papers in front of us and pointed to his copy. "This tenancy is for 4 years. I've already one renter and please I hope for her sake you're not like her," he commented. I wonder he he's talking about. 

"School starts at 9 am and finishes at 5 pm depending on your schedule and how well you progress. I believe my sister, Andrea will be showing you around school tomorrow or later today depending on her schedule. I've put together a small package to show the events in the area and your available after school activities," he spoke showing the pieces of paper stapled together. How thorough of him to do this for us. 

"A couple more things. Make yourselves at home. You can paint your doors, decorate your room to your liking and use whatever you want. I'm going to be more lax with you because you're scholarship students. Remember that once a week we go grocery shopping and I'll need you to clarify any dietary requirements and to write down what you want," he clarified a few more things before picking up his papers and stuffing them back into the folder in his lap. 

Anders seemed pretty young to be a landlord. "For context, I'm 18. I'm retaking my last year so I hope to see you around school." Anders smiled at us and turned on his heel. "How about some lunch, you boys must be starving. You'll need to do a half day today. If that's okay with you," he muttered as he disappeared. I looked at the time on my phone. It was 12 already. So I guess we'll be going to school today after all. 

Søren and I weren't against it. I wanted to look around this new school. "Wanna make a wager?" asked Søren as I unpacked my bags. He'd finished and brought his uniform into my room to change into. I hummed. It wasn't a bad idea. "What sort?" I asked pulling my shirt over my head. "Who can get a girlfriend first," he mused. I didn't hate the sound of it but bets weren't my sort of thing. I shrugged in response to his proposal. 

It seemed like I blinked and we were already stood in front of a class. I could tell this school was inclusive. My eye caught a girl who seemed to be very deep in thought. Her curly, brown hair fell passed her shoulders. Mr Stratham I think his name is introduced us. "Class, we have two new males to welcome into our classroom," he said garnering the attention of the students. They looked up at us. 

The girl I was looking at seemed angry. "This is Adrian Lawson and Søren Larsson. They have come to our school to study and they want to make many friends." Mr Stratham said on our behalf. My eyes connected with that angry girl and I felt a little annoyed. That's such a babyish greeting. I didn't want to make friends with just anybody. I wanted to trust them and be friends because I like them and they like me. I looked over the classroom and my gaze settled on a girl with blonde hair. 

She looked friendly. I gestured to Søren to go and sit next to her. We sat down and immediately she gave us a fond smile. I won't lie, she's really pretty. "Hi, I'm Andrea, you must be the new housemates." she introduced herself. Even her voice sounded pretty. So this was Anders' sister.

"Oh god look at him, isn't he gorgeous?" cooed a girl from behind us. I couldn't tell whether she was talking about me or Søren or even the teacher. We sat through the lesson learning new stuff. I'm still not sure what he was teaching. "Please class before you go, remember to hand in tomorrow's assignment and please have a good day." remarked Mr Stratham. For the rest of the day, we sat in our assigned classes and got a tour of the school during our afternoon break. 

"Ready to go home?" asked Andrea walking us towards the gates of school. I nodded. I was already tired just from a half day. All I knew was there was a pretty girl in front of me and I already had an assignment to do from school. I think I'll enjoy it here.