The Boarding School

Chapter 9: Backstory

I needed to figure out why Dallas and Wesley hated each other. Of course they would both tell me different stories, but I'll ask others as well. I hoped the next day of school was a lot better than the first. That's usually the case. But this was different. I was laying on my bed that night thinking of my family and how they were doing. I missed Bells. She would always wake me up in the middle of the night and a tell me the dream that she had. It didn't matter if it was good or bad. I missed that. The little things that bothered me were making sad.

I hadn't texted Bells since Tuesday and today was Thursday.

I couldn't sleep that night. I kept thinking about me and Dallas's story. We probably should've worked on it tonight, but I wanted to let him cool down for a bit. Maybe our character should have abilities like I do. I have a little experience with mind reading. It wouldn't be so hard to do. She could move to a small cliché southern town where everyone is prejudice. Those are always my favorite stories. Cliché is always easy to write.

I still couldn't sleep so I decided to get a glass of water. The stairs were old and creaky and I was scared I was going to wake someone up. And I did.

A man in his mid-60's came out of the office that separated the boys' side of the house from the girls' side. He looked really grumpy and mean.

"What are you doing up this late?" the man grumbled.

"I couldn't sleep so I came down to get a glass of water," I said.

"Well hurry up. You have school in the morning," he walked back in his office and shut the door behind him and locked it. I was kind of scared of him. I think he was the house father.

I walked into the kitchen and tried to find my way to the light switch. Then I heard a noise and grabbed a bottle of water and tried to run back upstairs. But then I ran into a tall figure. I would've fell down the stairs but the figure caught me.

"Careful," the figure said.

"Dallas!" I was shocked. What was he doing up this late?

"What are you doing up this late?" he asked.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," I giggled. Giggled? I don't giggle.

"Well, I asked first," he laughed a little and let go of my hand. I forgot he was holding my hand. It felt nice.

"I couldn't sleep and I wanted some water so I got some water," I answered, "What about you?"

"Same," he yawned, "Well I'm gonna go to bed. Goodnight."

"Wait you didn't get any water," I said.

"Yeah I did," he held up a bottle of water, smiled, and walked up the stairs ad to his room.

He took my bottle of water without me realizing it.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Me and Dallas worked on the book the next day in English and it was com...ing along well. I asked him about the prejudice town and he told me he had the same idea. At least we were agreeing with each other. We decided that the main character would be a girl and she just moved to the town and she had special abilities to read minds. I was happy. He was happy. It was all good.

Then it was time for science. I'm scared that I will get stuck with someone and the other one will get mad.

Mrs. Arkan had the seating chart posted on the board in the front of the room. I ran up and looked and I almost fainted. I would be sitting next to Wesley. could ask him why hated Dallas. I needed to know.

I sat down at the table and sighed. This won't end well.

"Hey lab partner!" Wesley grinned as he sat down next to me.

"Hey, Wesley," I smiled, "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot," he smiled. Let's pray this goes well.

"Why do you hate Dallas so much?"

"Well, it started in middle school. . . Ask Dallas. He probably remembers it better than I do," he sighed. Great; he doesn't even know why there arguing!

"So do you even know why your arguing?" I asked.

"Yeah, but Dallas knows it better. It's personal. He might now even tell you."

"Ok, guys, we have a project that we will be doing this quarter. It's worth half of your grade, so don't screw up," Mrs. Arkan said as she walked to the whiteboard and wrote down some things. "This will be a solo project. All you have to do is get your blood tested. We will send home a permission to your parents. Any questions?"

She called on a girl in the front row, "Yes, Kara?"

"What if we already had blood tested?" she asked.

"If you have the paperwork at home your parents can send it in and have a substitute assignment. Any other question? No? Alrighty then. You will get the rubrics on Monday and start it on Tuesday," Mrs. Arkan said.

The bell rang and we left the room to go to our next. Mine was math. I had a good schedule!

I found a seat in the front of the room and sighed. I just had to get through this class and the we had lunch and a free period which lasted and hour and a half. I thought it was too long, but when you live at least one hundred feet from the school, you can have a longer day. Math was boring. All we did was get or books and talk about this year. Nothing fun.

During lunch we could go anywhere on school grounds except the classrooms, of course. I wanted to read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets again since it was my favorite. I was walking toward the student lounge and I bumped into someone while reading. They probably thought I was an idiot because I kept muttering: "Uncle Vernon doesn't understand. Hedwig needs to fly!"

"Who's Hedwig?"

I almost cried, "Hedwig happens to be Harry Potter's owl in both series, you idiot!"

I probably should've looked up. I would've shut up and not called Dallas an idiot, but he didn't know who Hedwig was. Who doesn't?

"Well, I've never seen or read any of the books or movies. Maybe we should watch them sometime," Dallas offered. I didn't know what to think. Was he asking me on a date? Or just a friendly offer?

"Well I think I might take you up on that offer," I smile.

I like boarding school!