The Secrets of the Dupont Family

Chapter 3

Present

Waking up in my new bed was something I could get used too. It was all so soft. The mattress, covers and pillows. A month ago I didn't even get to sleep on a real mattress, just a hard camping mattress.

It was around nine in the morning so I decided to get up. I was eager to explore the place a little more. It felt odd to have so much free time, with no one screaming orders at me.

I was at a boot camp in Mexico for the last six months. Which my new family obviously didn't know about, along with what boarding school I was actually send at.

They all fell into to the same category, Which is the Troubled Teen Industry. They were behavioral boarding schools, wilderness camps, boot camps and other places that parents could send their children to.

Kids from all over the country could be sent there. All with different kind of problems. Sometimes the kids weren't even the problem, but the parents were. However that didn't matter because those organizations would take any kid, as long as the parents paid them of course.

I always found it weird how my mum could afford to send me to these programs. We were never rich. The cost of sending your kid to one of these places was around 50.000 a year. Of course after meeting my new family it was quite clear who actually paid for it.

My mom just didn't show them the real report cards of my school and my new family had no idea where the money actually went.

So right now I had to play a whole different role. These people thought I went to some fancy boarding school for smart kids. Instead I am a girl who didn't receive a proper education the last few years.

Even though those programs were required to give us an education, they were not really committed to actually teaching us. The lessons that I did receive started out in Spanish, a language I didn't even speak nor understand the first few months of being in Mexico. Along with that I wasn't allowed to speak in English with anyone. So I quickly had to learn Spanish to understand anything.

They made us do tests, but never bothered to grade them. They just gave us back our test and said to grade it ourselves. Everyone gave themself a passing grade and moved on.

So as I was making my way to the kitchen I pondered on how I could pass these actual classes next semester. I had to at least get close to the grades Alexander was expecting of me. Otherwise there would be a lot of questions I had to answer.

When I walked into the kitchen there was someone else already sitting at the table. This table wasn't as grand as the table in the dining room, but could still fit about six people comfortably.

A man around the same age as Alexander was eating his breakfast. So this must be the last brother I had to meet.

"Good morning." He greeted me with a smile and stood up from his seat.

"Hello." I said back shyly.

"My name is Sebastian, I am the second eldest of the bunch." He gave me a little smile.

"Lyra, but you probably already knew that." I replied giving him a small smile in return. He seemed nice. Just like Miles he had a different energy than Alexander, Noah and Lucian.

He seemed confident but not arrogant like the other three. He was dressed in a suit just like Alexander yesterday. Their jobs must be important, if they cared that much about their presentation.

"Would you like some breakfast?" He asked me and already started to walk towards the fridge.

"Uh sure." I answered.