Longview School of Elegance and Espionage

Chapter 1

    Oliver Jackfield was not having a good day. It wasn’t because he had the same initials as orange juice, he had come to terms with that many years ago. And it wasn’t because it was the last week of summer, he was more than ready to return to school and see his friends again. It wasn’t even the meager amount of jelly spread across a burnt piece of toast that had Oliver upset. No, it was none of these normal things that would make a normal teenager’s day less than ideal, but something completely strange. Something no sixteen year old boy would have thought could ruin his mood.

   He was sitting on his flowery couch, across an old mahogany coffee table from his parents, who were squished into the love seat. Well, squished is an unfortunate choice of words, as is parents. Rather, Oliver’s father was forced to the side of the love seat by his enormous wife, Oliver’s step-mother. The woman was completely gargantuan, with arms twice as thick as Oliver’s thighs and a voice that made the china in the cupboards vibrate. Her eyes, nearly black and deeply rooted in her square skull, showed signs of sympathy for her step son. To anyone else, the expression would have seemed odd coming from such a large woman, but Oliver knew that she was an absolute sweetheart, and had been nothing but that since the day they had first met. Oliver’s father, by comparison, was a mere shrew. A slender man with spidery fingers and glasses that magnified his eyes to comical proportions, George Jackfield and his wife, Victoria, were a pair worthy of a newspaper cartoon.

    In George’s hand was an envelope. A regular envelope. The only thing Oliver found strange about the envelope was it’s color, a stark silver. It shined like stainless steel under the yellow glow of the midday sunlight, casting a beam onto the wall behind Oliver. If the family cat, Tony (who had been named after the leading man of West Side Story), had been awake he would have no doubt pawed at the beam being produced by the envelope, but as it was Tony was fast asleep on the windowsill.
This envelope was the cause of Oliver’s bad mood. The words “Longview School for Gifted Individuals” were sprawled in thick, black ink on the front of it, and it was sealed with red wax. Oliver glared at the envelope, wishing it would go back to whatever hairy legged postman in too-small khaki shorts had dropped it off this morning.

“Olly, I know this is a difficult decision for you, but think of the benefits,” his father said finally, breaking the layer of silence that had fallen over the living room since Victoria had picked up the envelope. “Longview is a very well regarded school. The kids who go there always get into nice universities.”

“Your father and I just want you to be successful,” added Victoria. Oliver’s feet tingled as her voice vibrated the floor. Her tone was soft, despite her booming voice, and Oliver felt oddly comforted. However, he remained resolute in the argument he had previously presented.

“I don’t want to go. My friends all go to West High, dad. You can’t expect me to just leave and start my Junior year at an entirely new school,” he said, placing both hands on top his head. George bit his lip, and Victoria took his bony hand in her massive one.

“I’m afraid we’ve already enrolled you, Olly.” George said, rubbing his neck, “This is just the acceptance letter.”
*                *        *                *

A few day’s later, Oliver was standing in front of the fully body mirror in his room. Victoria stood behind him, a hulking figure helping his tie his bowtie. Longview had a strict uniform policy. Oliver felt more like he was going to a black tie event than to school. His suitcases sat on his unmade bed, contents spilled all over the room. Notebooks, textbooks with odd names, clothes, among other things. It was as if an overnight study group has thrown up onto his carpet.

“Are you nervous sweetie?” Victoria asked, finishing the bow and placing her enormous hands on his shoulders. It felt like he had just put on a backpack made of cement, but he found it very comfortably despite that. Victoria knew her own strength, and was careful to be gentle with the skinny men in the house. Oliver, with a great deal of effort, shrugged. Tony padded into the room, springing onto the messy bed and laying down on top of a suitcase. The tabby yawned, blinking lazily and staring at the humans in the room. Victoria bit her lip.