Blue Money | Nick Robinson

Chapter One: Rich

You know when you're dreaming and everything feels sort of fuzzy? Like you're not quite sure what's going on, everything feels like it's covered in saran wrap and your mouth feels like cotton?

That's how I feel right now, except I'm awake and I also feel like I'm stepping into the mouth of a very hungry lion.

The hungry lion being Vale Amare Boarding School or more accurately, the students inside.

The building is a giant castle; it might as well have a moat too. It's dated looking, medieval times. There are new people walking across the green grass going to their new rooms with boxes of things and large suitcases.

The air is cold enough to snap me from my dream like state as I step out of the car and onto the crisp world. My arms start to shiver and my legs fill with goose bumps.

"Well, it's certainly big," My mother's voice rings in my ears. She smells like bran muffins and is dressed like a kindergarten teacher.

My parents start deciding what to bring into my new room first and I feel like I've been thrown into a pool of ice water.

They're sweet but here I was, a girl from a tiny little town in New Jersey about to go into a whole new world. A rich kid's world.

I had spent the last couple weeks of summer watching gossip girl to prepare myself and I was sure of it, if anyone was like Blair Waldorf I was going to be eaten alive.

"Anna?" My dad says my name. I ignore him.

I'm not like these kids, I'm not rich, I'm not beautiful, and I don't have anything they have. The amount of money Vale Amare is per year is more than I'm going to make in my whole life. Maybe my smarts have finally kicked me in the ass; I wish I hadn't gotten this scholarship.

"I changed my mind," I blurt out, facing my parents.

My mom with her curly hair and bright clothes and my dad with his tucked in t shirt and cheap khakis. They look at me like I'm crazy.

"I don't want to go here anymore."

"Anna, we drove seven hours," My mom places a hand on her forehead as if I'm stressing her out to no end. "You're going. This is a great opportunity."

"I'm going to throw up," I say, gesturing everywhere with my hands. "Everywhere just everywhere there's going to be puke and I am going to choke in front of all these rich boys and girls and holy, excuse my French, shit!"

"Anna!" My dad scolds me.

"I hope I die," I mumble looking at my very scuffed up black doc martens. "Please, just let me pass out on this ground and die."

"Stop being dramatic," My mom says.

I know I'm being dramatic but I can't stop once I start I don't fucking shut up, I'm like a broken radio. The knobs broken and sound just crackling from the speakers.

"Here is where I will die," I point to the ground. "On this rich person concrete where 200 dollar heels that belong to people named Tiffany Amber The third have walked. I will vomit and then die in this spot."

My parents ignore my rambling like usual and just as I am about to take the extra step and literally lay on the ground, a girl rolls up in a golf cart.

"Hey there!" Her voice is like a really annoying doorbell. Her hair is pulled into a blonde ponytail and her skin is a tanned bronze.

"Yikes," I blurt. She looks like an ugly version of Barbie.

"Sorry, what? I didn't catch that?" She gets out of the golf cart, holding a clip bored. She flashes her smile at me. I'm blind now I think.

"Nothing, just have a cough," I fake cough.