The Great Escape

Preparation

"Beep, Beep, Beep"my alarm clock screams as I struggle to awake from my deep, dark, and gloomy dream. I slowly open my eyes midway only to see if it was actually Monday morning of August 18, 2010 and realize that this will be the last day of my glorious summer break. The positive side is that I will not only be attending a normal boring high school but instead, I will enroll in one of the nation's top ten prestigious boarding schools, The William Bradford Academy. An elite school, cute girls, five star cuisine, fine girls, parties weekly, cute girls, freedom, and did i mention the girls?!? Also, spending a whole ten months away from my annoying mom and sister who keeps raising hell around this small house daily. There's definitely not anything you can say to ruin my day or convince me to change my mind about this luxurious school. While gazing towards the ceiling, I couldn't help but to daydream about this paradise they call a school. Even the daydream about this paradise was promising until my door was kicked in so hard that it added another dent into the family of dents on my wall. Standing near the kicked in door, stood a 6ft tall dark object with a peachy silk robe, green paste face, and an afro that can nearly block out the Sun. This object reached towards the light and my covers simultaneously. As soon as the lights were flipped on, my covers were stolen from me before i could brace myself for the worst. Only to my surprise, it was my mom and only to her surprise, i was naked. I know I'm not the only one who sleeps that way so I wasn't entirely embarrassed. Of course she was disgusted but her biggest concern is to pack my items and make it to school before registration closes. She tells me "James Maurice Johnson, get your ass up, wash yourself, and pack your shit". My mom always had a profanity problem that she refuses to address. She tells me and my sister to remind her about her profanity, whenever she uses it but we wouldn't because getting cursed at is better than getting the shit slapped out of you. I showered, brushed my teeth, and packed everything i own into our 1997 Honda Accord. We departed our house in Jackson, Mississippi and set our navigational system to Birmingham, Alabama. After 3 hours on the road, we were passing through Meridian, Mississippi. I felt a sharp pain in my stomach which reminded me that i haven't eaten a damn thing all morning. I cried to my mom, "Ma, can we please grab a burger, pizza, or some food around here?" She responded "Why didn't you eat at home?!?", as if she had an attitude. Now my mom isn't a really big spender when it comes food. She believes it's a waste of money. I responded "Ma, the only thing we got in the fridge is mustard, hot sauce, tomatoes, potatoes,sugar, and bread". Mama said, "We got food at home, why didn't you eat?". I honestly didn't want to argue with her on my big day, so said the safety word that usually ends all arguments "I don't know". She finally took a deep breath and released it as if she was going to cave in. She turned her signal light on to drive off the interstate and onto a nearby burger joint called Mighty Burger. She parked the car and reached into her bag to pull out her wallet. When she pulled the wallet out, she grabbed to two bills that looked like ones. She tossed them to the back and told me to get something for my sister and me. I looked in disgust, realizing that I'm dealing with a professional cheapskate. I jumped out the car and slammed the door purposely. I was so pissed. I walked towards the restaurant's door saying to myself "What the fuck can I buy with two dollars? 6 packets of ketchup? Half a burger? Ice?!? This some bull shit!" I walked in the restaurant, frustrated and upset about my budget limit. There behind the counter stood a thin, red hair, tall, black girl who had a tight white t-shirt, red bra and the tightest pants. She says "Hello, my name is Destiny. How can I take your order?". Now i was never really the type of guy to automatically say the right group of words to a woman but I thought I'll never see her again anyway so fuck it. I respond "Baby wassup, I'm James Johnson". She says "What would you like James"in a sexy voice. I wanted to say you but I'm not that smooth, so i got straight to the point. I said while looking at the price board "Destiny, let me get the number................................................................". I froze after looking at the menu because everything was over my limit except the kid's meal. I couldn't order a kid's meal in front of a chick like this. She would think I'm a joke unless.....I say the kid's meal is for my little sister. Now that's a brilliant plan. She said "Do you need more time?". I said "Na, but baby let me get the kid's meal with the 4 piece chicken nuggets and a cola for the beverage." "Your total is $4.28" she said. I only had four dollars exactly, so I gave her four and reached around in my pockets hoping God would at least allow me to forget i had loose change in these pockets. After 120 seconds of searching for loose change, she told me she'll cover the 28 cents. I was grateful of course but i only got one kid's meal for two people. After 10 minutes of waiting, my order was finally ready.As i was walking out the door, she told me "Have a nice day". I checked the order to see if it was accurate but i could only help but notice that there were two extra nuggets in the bag. Now I'm the type of person who critiques every little detail and sign. She paid for the rest of my meal, she told me to have a nice day, and she gave me extra nuggets? There's no doubt that she likes me. When i got back into the car, my mom notices that i only have one bag. She asks "What did you get for your sister?" I responded "Ma, you gave me 2 dollars therefore we're just going to share." She shrugged her shoulders and started the engine. As we started driving, me and my sister shared the mini kid's meal which wasn't a problem until both of us were thirsty. I decided to be generous this time since this would be the last I would see her in a while. As the road trip continued, we eventually crossed into Alabama. I feel asleep after counting so many trees and big rigs. The rocking and shaking of the car woke me out of my sleep. Come to find out, we we're 20 miles away from the campus! I woke my sister, shaking and pushing her out of excitement. Finally, I'm leaving this hell hole and setting my feet on paradise but before I could so, I needed new threads because I can't be dressed like a bum on my first day school. Who gets chicks wearing rocawear, FUBU, and new balances? Nobody unless you plan to be a virgin for the next 4 years of your high school life. I begged my mom "Please, Please, Please mom I need some clothes, can we go to the mall???" She replied, "Son, we're on a budget and I don't have the type of money to be blowing on all these materialistic items you seek for." "We've been on a budget since I came from the wound" I stated. "If we go to mall, I will only give a certain you a certain amount to spend if go and therefore you can't complain about the amount I give you." she said. We drove to the nearest mall which was about 20 miles North from the school and it was a complete mess. The walls had graffiti on it, trash was thrown everywhere, and the mall itself made public libraries look like mansions. As soon as the car stopped, my mom handed me a wade of which looked like it could be $2oo dollars. I unfolded the cash and it turned out to be $50. Just when I thought she loved me, she told "$30 is for food to put in your fridge at the school and 20 goes towards your clothes" She kicked me out the car, while she and my sister drove off. "Twenty motherfucking dollars to spend on clothes at this fucked up mall in Birmingham, Alabama?!?" I said to myself with rage. I don't know if my mom notices or not but the price of living has gone up. I thought to myself, I could just use the whole 50 to get what I want, it might not be much but it's more than what I was going to start with. I walked inside this fucked up mall and searched inside this clothing store called Hollister. The prices were reasonable which persuaded me to buy a shirt for $40 dollars. I know it sounds reckless but swag isn't cheap around here. I waited on my mom to come back so I can finally get to school and register. She eventually gets her after a whole hour of waiting. I jumped back into the car, and she asks "What did you get?" I replied "A shirt that cost me $40 dollars". I knew immediately she was going be upset but she didn't. She started the engine and said "I told you what to do with that money, when time comes and your hungry, you better eat that damn shirt because you're not getting anything else from me James." Of I knew I was wrong but hey, who gives a shit, I have a slow metabolism anyways.We hit the road once again but only this time, we were heading straight towards the school. Finally, after hours of driving and listening to my mom's shit, I finally seen the sign "The William Bradford Academy is just 2.7 miles ahead". Seeing the sign made that 2.7 miles feel like it was going to take forever to get but just ahead, we seen a long white wooden fence that belonged to the school. On the other side of that mile long wooden fence, displayed hundreds of horses, multiple cattle, and an actual barn house. Further down that pearly white fence, displayed yet another sign saying "Welcome To The School Of William Bradford" which displayed on the gates of the entrance. The entrance only shared one road for which visitors exit off the campus and enter onto the campus. This one road had some of the most beautiful flowers and tallest pine trees we've ever seen before. Further down that beautiful dirt road stood a small house for which security was on duty 24/7. We approached the house and a female security officer approached our vehicle and asks" Are you all here registrar?". My mom replied "Yes, where are we suppose to go?". The officer pointed out directions and just basically told to stay on the main road. We told her thanks and we drove off slowly to observe the beauty of this campus that we were about to approach. As we drove past the trees, up ahead was literally something so beautiful that it was indescribable which made me stated "This is home now".