It wasn't ideal to spend thirty-two hours in the sky, cramped in economy on an aeroplane with barely any leg room for her tall brothers and father, but they wanted what was best for her, and they found it in Vermont.
Her father, Maximus Paradis, had attended Welton Academy, and so had her older two brothers who slept peacefully with their heads back and their mouths open, so there was no doubt that her grandfather had attended Welton Academy, too. The only problem was Mr Nolan (a husky man in his early sixties with a sour face, no matter how many times he smiled and softened his eyes) had made it quite clear over the many years the school had been standing that no females were to attend. Thirteen-year-old Lana Paradis had questioned and thought about if it came to a misogyny antic or if Welton was just strictly a rare all-male school in Vermont, just like there are all-female schools. So, why didn't she get sent to one of those? She had asked this question at least thirty times since boarding the first aeroplane.
Her father sighed, keeping his eyes on the newspaper with a drastic headline that the press had definitely overdramatised. He leaned forward, peering at his only daughter who was sitting next to the window with his two sons in the remaining seats between, and spoke with a thick accent, "Lana, Welton Academy is the best school in Vermont. You'll do good there."
"But I won't fit in." Lana's accent wasn't as thick as her father's and brothers, but she spoke French just as well, if not better. "I could have continued school in Paris. There are all-girl schools in Vermont!" The annoyance was clear in her voice, but she kept her tone quiet, not wanting to disturb anyone around her.
"I only want what's best for you, Lana. Welton is the best. Besides, Mr Nolan promised me that he would offer you a position no matter your grades. He wants what's best for you, too."
He doesn't even know me. Lana had to fight back the argument she wanted to declare. She sank in her seat and pulled her eyes toward the window, seeing the sun of late July beginning to set. Admittedly, her father was right. Mr Nolan had promised Lana a position no matter the impressiveness of her grades. Mr Nolan had made an exception for her considering her father is the Minister of the Education System in America and often visits Welton and uses it as an example of 'outstanding education' in other stares, meaning he travels to and fro quite often and leaves Lana in the protection of her older two brothers, who were beginning to snore in sync.
Her father sighed and continued, "You're a powerful young girl, Lana. Far too smart for your age--" She didn't know if she should take that as a compliment or not, but she continued to listen.
"Mr Nolan has promised me that he will treat you equal to the boys at Welton. He won't ban you from any activities or prevent you from learning, okay?"
Lana bit the inside of her cheek. "I don't belong there."
"Outside, you don't belong. But inside? Oh, Lana." Her father smiled at her and winked. "À l'intérieur, nous sommes tous pareils."
Inside we are all the same. Lana had heard that saying leave her father's lips far too often back home. He used it every chance he could to shut down any conversation he and Lana had about expressing emotions. She supposed that her grandfather raised her father 'by hand' and kept a strict and solitary atmosphere while raising him, and she supposed that her father hadn't broken out of the habit of disregarding any emotion and feeling other than wrath, envy, and pride. Those emotions he found acceptable. Those emotions he found human.
Inside we are all the same.
Just as Lana was about to swim in her thoughts, the lights flickered and the aeroplane jolted. She looked around the plane, noticing a few people doing the same. Again, the aeroplane jolted. This time, the noise of shock escaped some mouths of the passengers.
"Que se passe-t-il?" Her oldest brother questioned in confusion as he woke up, with no familiarity with anything around him. Her other brother woke up with the next jolt.
Lana looked out of the window. She should have seen the sun beginning to set, but what she saw was the glass covered in thick raindrops, white hail hitting the wing of the aeroplane and quick flashes of lightning spewing from dark grey clouds. They had wandered into a storm. She didn't know how long or how far she was into her flight, she didn't like to check.
"Nous sommes dans une tempête." Lana brought her brothers' attention toward the storm once she stated the obvious; we're in a storm.
"A storm?" Her oldest brother, Clark didn't sound too worried. He didn't look worried either. France tended to constantly be in a storm. In the summer, it was sweltering and muggy, and in the winter, it was quite cold, but instead of snow it was mostly rain, so harsh weather conditions were something the Paradis family was used to. But flying in harsh weather conditions, was the thing Lana was worried about as soon as they stepped into the airport for their first flight.
A soft 'ding' caught everyone's attention. They looked up at the ceiling and waited. A voice spoke over the tannoy. "We are experiencing some slight turbulence as we pass through a storm, please keep your seatbelts on. We may have to make an emergency landing if the weather continues to deteriorate."
Many people didn't hesitate to click their seatbelts across their bodies and hold the hands of the people that sat around them, and other's covered their heads with their hands, some praying. Lana looked at her father for guidance as her brothers clicked in their seatbelts. The aircraft shook and the lights went out, only the sparks of lightning illuminating everything in grey shadows.
She struggled to tear her eyes away from the window. Grey clouds were swirling around the aircraft, and lightning was beginning to strike closer. She watched as the aeroplane tilted up and then tilted down. Everyone screamed, being able to feel gravity pulling everyone to the ground.
People clutched onto each other. Strangers cried on each other's shoulders.
Closing her eyes tight, she pushed herself into the side of her brother, who flung his arm securely around her.
She didn't want to die. She may have done in the past but she didn't want to die. She wanted to get a better education and work alongside her brothers in their law firm. She wanted to send letters from America and receive letters from France, smiling when they were signed off by her grandmother (who doesn't believe in telephones). She wanted to taste the infamous Mystery Meat at Welton Academy her brothers had warned her about, and enjoy the endless choices of rowing, soccer, and a range of clubs for her extra curriculum that Mr Nolan had sent a document of so her father could tick and cross the ones she wanted to do. She wanted to set up her dorm room, full of photographs of her large family in France, excessive amounts of stationary, and pour half of the library across her floor. She wanted to find her own group of friends who welcomed her with friendly faces. She wanted to get her first achievement pin and often bring Mr Nolan a bag of lemon sweets that her Uncle made whenever she returned home to France as a thank-you for her acceptance at Welton Academy. She wanted to indulge herself in the academic atmosphere of the grade-driven boys and pretend that she wasn't the outcast.
She wanted to live.
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Wretched Power | 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐏𝐎𝐄𝐓𝐒 𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐓𝐘 (BOOK ONE)
Fanfiction(BOOK ONE) Death can cause people to do the unpredictable. Welton Academy didn't house girls. There were no exceptions. Generation after generation after generation of grade-hypnotised men and their sons walked the halls, slept in the beds, and a...
