Home Away From Home

Oh Come On.

           To say Maggie was not excited was an extreme understatement. She was vehemently against going. But her parents had insisted. They wanted her to go to this school because it was the best in the state. Maggie didn't want to go because she simply didn't want to go. Although in the back of her mind...Maybe it wasn't the worst decision, Maggie knew she was made for bigger things than this boring town, so at the end of the day, she packed her things and got into the car, with a miserable face on of course but in the car nonetheless.
       
           Maggie plugged in her AirPods and turned up the volume, she couldn't live without her music, and hoped her vinyls weren't getting ruined on the bumpy ride, so she could survive this place. She closed her eyes and sighed, how was she supposed to start a whole new school? Her goodbyes to her old friends: Alexa, Shannon, Fiona, and Joanne had been tearful, she promised to write letters back home and to see them during Christmas break. Still no matter how good of friends they were,it wouldn't help Maggie if they were an hour and a half away from her at all times.

            Maggie took a deep breath so the tears wouldn't spill out of her eyes, she could still recognize the scenery outside of the car so she assumed they were no where close to the school which was in the middle of nowhere. Maggie hoped the car ride would give her some time to prepare herself. Or maybe they would get a flat and she would be late to check in and they would expel her (best case scenario of course).

            Maggie's hopes were quickly squashed as the car-ride flew by. A deep frown found its way to her face as a bunch of fancy buildings came into view. And she loathed to admit it, but they were gorgeous, the whole campus really was. She had seen so many pictures on the website and brochure, but seeing it in person it was... just...wow. The buildings looked older and sophisticated. They were surrounded by big patches of land with things basketball and volleyball courts. The grass was well maintained and the bushes were trimmed to perfection.

             Perfection-there was no other way to describe the place.... And Maggie hated it. How could someplace she didn't want to be so desperately, look so beautiful? She would not let herself be dazzled by the outside facade of the school, she was 15 not stupid. She bet there were rats and clogged toilets just like every other school, nothing special. School is school, no matter what font it's put into.

             Despite how much she didn't want to be here, she decided she must lock in. Her parents were hoping for her to fulfill her full potential, and if they thought this school would help that... then maybe it would be worth a shot. And even if it won't help her too much, she still likes to try in school , as every sane person should.

   "Alright out of the car, love" Maggie's mom called. Maggie once again took a deep breath (she sure was breathing a lot) and started to get out of the car. "AirPods." She said as she raised one eyebrow. Maggie only deflated a bit before she took them out and handed them over.

"I still don't know how I'll survive without them" she whined

"Life must find a way hun" her mom shot back, Maggie cracked a little smile at that. But she couldn't let her mom see, she's still mad at her of course. Her mom locked the car and began to walk towards what appeared to be the main building.

     There were a bunch of tables set up, with people who had many papers in their hands. Maggie and her mother surveyed the area til the they found the W section. They walked over to it and joined the obnoxiously long line. As they waited in line for what seemed to be forever , Maggie fidgeted with the strap of her book bag. After about approximately 82 years, they reached the table.

"Last and first name please" the lady at the desk smiled.

"Winz, W I N Z, Margret." Her mother answered for her. The lady had to flip through her papers a bit, then she seemingly found what she was looking for and handed quite a few papers to her Maggie herself along with some keys. Which then reminded Maggie she would be living in a dorm. With no adults. Which meant one thing... She would have to do her own laundry. Crap.

"Here you go sweetheart, you're in building 7-b, I just handed you a map, your laundry card, student handbook, and the keys to your dorm. If you have any questions feel free to ask anyone around." The women said sweetly.

"Thank you so much," her mom said as Maggie nodded in thanks from behind her with a polite smile. They began to walk away to find the dorm. Maggie pulled out her new map and it turned out they had quite the walk to go.

*30 minutes later*

They had arrived at the dorm and as Maggie walked up the the third floor where her room was located, the reality of this all set in, she had never lived on her own before, how was she going to do all this?

       By the time her basics were unpacked and most things were set up Maggie was once again about ready to cry. She hugged her mom tightly and with a very long and teary goodbye, she was gone with a few words of encouragement:

"You're gonna do great, I love you, and please remember to turn your phone in before the cut off" She told her, also close to tears. And Maggie could only nod and watch her walk out the door. She turned and looked out the window and for the 300 billionth time, sighed.