Light.

Schooled

The morning came quickly and I found Alec sleeping soundly next to me.  I crawled out of bed and threw on a pair of old ugg slippers and some shorts.  I found my way through the long hallways to what Will and I called 'The art room'.  He was waiting there impatiently, like a giddy child about to go on a roller coaster.

"Hey."  I said with a smile while silently closing the door behind me.

"Hey, I finished it."  Will said excitedly.

"Finished what?"  I asked raising an eyebrow.

Will stepped to the side to reveal the finished portrait he had started painting the first time we met in this room.

"Wow."  Was all I could say as I gazed at the painting.  The sky was a swirled mixture of pinks, oranges and purples, the sand was a bleached white and looked like silk.  The water had sparkling rippled in it and a dolphin jumped in the horizon.  The dunes had various shades of green grasses mixed with sand and a pale brown fence had colorful pales hanging off it.

"Thanks.  It took me all night to finish."  He rubbed the back of his neck.  I was surprised he hadn't heard me screaming bloody murder in the night.

"Ara?"  I heard Mrs. Kensington call from outside.

"Crap."  I heard Will say.  I shrugged it off and crept out into the hall.

"Oh Mrs. Kensington, I apologize I got a little lo-"

"No time for excuses.  Please come here!"  She called.  I turned the corner down the hall and found Mr. and Mrs. Kensington in bathrobes and coffee cups in hand.

"Yes miss?"  I asked curtsying.

"James and I have been talking, and we think that it's time you go to school."  Mrs. Kensington said.

"Oh, I thought I was here to work?"

"Well, the kids begged me and begged me and I finally got James to agree.  We don't need you much during the day, so we'll let you attend classes but you must promise us something."

"Anything."

"You must get straight A's, anything lower will have you back in the kitchen like this."   Mrs. Kensington said snapping.  I nodded and eyed Mr. Kensington who looked like Arron with the grumpy scowl across his face.

"This means that you must do very very well in school."  She said.  "Now throw this on, we're enrolling you today."  She tossed me the same uniform that I saw Kristi and Kayla formally wear.

"Thank you miss."  I nodded and hurried up to my room to get changed.

I threw on the outfit and decided to get help with the tie, then tied my hair into a long Fench braid.

"Look who's getting schooled."  I was startled to hear Alec's voice form the doorway.

"Uh yeah.  Your parents were kind enough to let me."  I said.  Alec laughed, I think he forgot about the night before.

"Need help with that?"  He asked towards my tie.  I nodded and he stepped forward.

"My dad thinks it's totally necessary for his 4-year old kids to know how to tie ties."  Alec joked as he looped the blue silky fabric around each other.  He tucked it in my blazer then stepped back.

"Thanks."  I squeaked.

"No problem, see ya at the breakfast table."  He exited into the hall and left me to stand there alone.

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"Please sign this."  Headmaster Brown, the headmaster of NYC Academy for boys and girls, slid a paper with three ink pens before me, Mrs. Kensinton and Mr. Kensington.  I was first to sign. In my best cursive I wrote,