The Last Year of Innocence

Kara:

Why won’t anyone help me? Kara screamed the words in her head.

Hundreds of kids streamed past her, but no one cared about the tiny girl lost in the mountains. Even if it wasn’t crumpled beyond recognition, the map clutched in her fingers wouldn’t have helped her. Reading maps wasn’t her thing. Reading music, on the other hand, was something she could do in her sleep.

 This was all her father’s fault. It was his idea for her to go to this stupid school. Of course, he tried to make it sound like the greatest thing that could’ve happened to her. Her already awesome musical talent was only going to get better, blah, blah, blah. Kara knew better. The real reason her father wanted her to go to the Bernard Academy of Arts and Academics was that it was a boarding school in the Yosemite Mountains. Having her on the other side of the country meant she wouldn’t be able to interfere with his life. Her father might have thought going to Bernard would be great, but Kara was absolutely revolted by going to a high school with the initials B.A.A.A. whose mascot was a sheep. Her father waved away her concern, calling it a ridiculous reason to pass up the opportunity of a lifetime.

“Are you lost?”

Kara looked up. A tall girl with a wide smile stood in front of her.

“What?” 

“I was wondering if you were lost.” 

“Sort of. I can’t find the girls’ dorm.”

The girl widened her smile and pointed over Kara’s shoulder. “It’s right there.”

“Oh, thanks,” Kara mumbled.

The building stretched four stories into the sky. Kara stared at it for a moment before she realized how stupid she must look standing there open mouthed. The hint of a blush covered her cheeks as she scurried inside to look for room thirteen. Finding her first floor room turned out to be the easiest thing she’d done so far at Bernard.

“It’s about time you got here.”

 A girl with chocolate brown skin and matching eyes stared at Kara as if she’d been doing nothing but waiting for someone to come through the door.

            “I guess we’re roomies.”

            “I guess.”

             “I’m Shirelle Gardner.”

            “Kara.”

            “Are your parents here, or did they drop you off?”

            “I got dropped off.”

            “By your parents?”

            “No, my dad was too busy to bring me.”

            “What about your mom?”

            God this girl’s nosy! Kara thought. “She’s dead.”  

            “I don’t have a mom or a dad. So, what are you?”

            “What?” 

            “Are you a singer or a dancer or an actor or a brainiac or what?” 

            “Oh, I sing,” Kara said, and Shirelle broadened her smile.

            “Me too. Mostly pop and R&B, even though my grandma would rather see me singing gospel.”

            “I’m an opera singer.”