Thirteen Summers

five

J O S I E

The ride to school was a dull one. I'd been giving Cameron the silent treatment since the other night, not that he'd noticed, he was a busy man.

Cameron was leaving for a business trip today so he decided to be the one to drop me off at school, this annoyed me greatly.

I even decided to sit in the back seat, away from him. I flashed him a sharp look through the rear view mirror and when he briefly locked eyes with me, I immediately looked away.

I crossed my arms and looked out the window, noticing that we had now pulled into the high school grounds. Lush green gardens enclosed the grand building that seemed more and more daunting as we got closer.

A door slammed and another opened, I turned to see my Cameron's long legs stood waiting there. I let out a big sigh, making my way out of the car.

I followed behind my eldest brother quietly as we made our way in, Cameron walked into the building like he owned the place.

A plum, balding older man stood with his hands crossed, an auburn haired younger lady by his side.

"Mr St. Claire." The elder greeted, extending his hand.

"Principal Graham." My brother greeted him, firmly shaking his hand and then nodding to the woman by his side, who blushed but kept a straight face.

"It's an honour to have another one of your siblings here at Windsor Academy."

Cameron thanked him and they spoke about boring stuff to which I tuned out until I heard my name.

"Betty- Miss Addison will take Josephine to her classroom."

I looked at the only other female who was there, assuming that was Miss Addison and she smiled at me.

Cameron pulled me to the side and spoke to me, "I want you to have a good day and do your best today, okay?"

I nodded, still staying silent.

"And this attitude? I want it gone by the time I'm back from my trip."

He left no room for discussion with that one, giving me a stern look.

After saying his goodbyes to Principal Graham and Miss Addison, Cameron turned to leave.

I watched him leave, sadly. Suddenly, I realised that I was now going to spend the better part of my day with strange people I didn't know, my palms sweating at the thought.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I shrugged it off immediately, turning to see Miss Addison staring at me in surprise. It was just the two of us in the hallway now.

"I'll take you to class, shall I?"

I followed her and we reached a classroom where three other students, all around my age, were already sitting scattered around the room.

I walked in and found a seat at the back of the class while we waited for the teacher to finish setting up. I briefly glanced at the other students in the room, none long enough for me to properly inspect them but I did know there were two boys and only one other girl.

"Woke up late, sorry." A random voice announced as they entered the room.

I looked up to see another boy. He had short, curly hair and a concentrated look on his face as he walked past to sit at the very back, on the row opposite from me.

The boy unpacked his backpack onto the desk and I watched him out of curiosity. He was dressed neatly like it wasn't just summer school, wearing slacks, a polo shirt and a sweater vest over it.