Who Corey Was

1

            Dumped. Ditched. Abandoned. Again. I watched the old Buick drive away, taking my foster parents to their fabulous new life ahead and leaving me behind. "We'll only be gone a few weeks!" they'd said. Then they'd just driven away, no backwards glances, no second thoughts. At least they'd had the decency to lie. Unlike some of my foster families. I knew for a fact they wouldn't be back though. This place was famous for taking in teenaged orphans, mainly fourteen and older, the ones who were now unlikely to ever get adopted.

And now I'd been dumped here, just another forgotten orphan.

I stood out front in black jeans and a hoodie, watching as the car rounded the bend, out of my sight and never to return. Thank god. I took a deep breath and turned to face the gates of the fresh hell before me. Mary St. Catherine's Boarding Academy.

I scowled as I eyed the huge red brick building before me, only a black wrought iron gate between us. With a sigh of resignation, I pulled my long auburn hair into a ponytail, hoisted my bags off the ground, readjusting various straps, and approached the fence. There was an intercom on a pillar there. I pressed the buzzer.

"Yes?" a male voice squawked.

I rolled my eyes, not in the mood to interact with this asshole. In case it wasn't obvious, my patience was fairly non-existent. Some called it an "attitude problem". I preferred kiss-my-ass syndrome. I buzzed again.

"Yes? Can I help you?" the voice came again.

I hit the buzzer two more times, resulting in the voice on the other end yelling, "If you don't stop, I'm going to have to call security to come remove you from the premises."

This time I replied. "Oh, please do! Or better yet, call a cab, and get me the hell out of here."

There was a long pause and for a moment I actually dared to hope that they were sending security, but then there was a loud buzz and the gates began to open. A woman was approaching me from the school. She wore a hideous tweed skirt/blazer combo of vomit green.

"You must be Miss Cochiti," she said as she neared me. Her cheerful voice immediately struck me as that of a pushover. I flashed my nastiest smile, teeth glinting like fangs.

"So what if I am?" I challenged. Her smile faltered a little.

"Welcome to Mary St. Catherine's. I'm Ms. Doe. I'm the secretary here. It's very nice to meet you," she said, extending her hand.

I snickered. "Doe? What's your first name? Jane?" I continued to laugh as her hand and smile simultaneously dropped.

She cleared her throat and lowered her eyes to my attire. "Oh, dear," she mumbled, studying my dark, fitted outfit. After a moment, her face lit up again. "Come. Let's get you a uniform."

She offered to take one of my bags. I rolled my eyes, merely brushing past her into the schoolyard. I was not a fan of people touching my stuff. If I had to be stuck here, then at least my things were remaining mine and mine alone.

As we walked towards the massive building, Ms. Doe rambled on and on about the school's fantastic history and amazing success rate regarding education. No matter how loud she spoke though, there was no way I could miss the loud clang of the gates closing and the lock hitting home. For a moment I wondered what they had to be hiding to have to lock us in. The thought passed the moment we entered the extravagant double doors and a single Westminster chime rang through the air.

I barely had time to take in the monotone colour scheme before the halls were filled with students of all ages. And they were all staring at the new girl out of uniform. This day just kept getting better and better.