Learning to Disney

4 Years Ago...

"Jennifer Hollock! Get your lazy butt down here right now!" screamed her stepfather. Jennifer groaned and rolled over in her bed. Being the adolescent teen she was, there was no way she was getting out of bed.

"I can't!" she called back, "My legs have fused to the bedding!" 

Grinning to herself, Jenny curled up underneath her doona. So warm... so soft...

Suddenly, Jenny was awakened to the harsh, cold reality by her blanket being ripped off. Standing over her was her furious stepfather who, to Jenny's delight, had the look of someone who was beyond annoyed. Jenny's stepfather gripped her arm and yanked her out of bed. Oh no, Jennifer thought. Here it comes.

"You ungrateful, disgraceful human being!" he yelled at her.

"Your mother pays good money for you to go to your snotty school. I myself believe that you aren't worthy of it! She should be spending that money on me! Not an ungrateful, disgusting slob that we got stuck with!" he ranted, glaring at her through his piggy little eyes. Jenny grinned. With his red face and small piggy eyes, John Hollock looked like Vernon Dursley from Harry Potter. And we all know what happened to Harry, Jenny thought wistfully. He got whisked away from his horrible life with the Muggles and went to a magic school...

"Listen to me when I scream at you, you little brat!" John hollered. Panting, he grabbed Jenny's arm again and pulled her downstairs. Once they were down there, he sat her down in a rickety dining room chair. 

"Now see here," he whispered darkly, "I only have to deal with you another 4-5 years." Jenny nodded. She understood what her step-dad was trying to say. Once she was 18, she was moving out. Never coming back. Paying the own bills. Get the picture?

Standing up from the chair, she went to the door to collect the mail. Bending over, she picked up the pile of letters, shifting through them as she stood up. Flicking from letter to letter, her eyes glanced on the different names. John Hollock, Tracey Hollock, John Hollock, John Hollock again, Jennifer Hollock, Tracey Hollock, John Hollock... Wait, hold on! Jenny flipped back to the letter addressed to her, heart pounding. This was wayyyy too Harry Potter. Hands trembling, she dropped the other letters, having eyes only for the letter in her hand, addressed:

Miss Jennifer Hollock

She turned the letter over. On the back was a glittery seal, with the Disney Logo, emblazoned on it. Gulping, Jenny peeled off the seal, and slipped it gently into her pocket, careful not to damage the exquisite craftsmanship. She ripped open the letter. Breathing steadily, Jenny pulled out the letter typed neatly on shiny paper. Her large hazel eyes flicked over the words, as she silently read:

Dear Miss Jennifer Hollock,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Disney in Training School. You are to wait at your home for the arrival of this letter when a staff member will arrive to take you to school. Our school is, of course, a boarding school. In the holidays, you may choose if you would like to remain at school, or go home to your beloved parents or guardian-

Jenny stopped reading as the letter was yanked out of her hand. Glancing up, she noticed her hated stepdad reading the note. He sniggered.

"What's this here?" he asked. Jenny swallowed. She didn't want to tell him. Jenny reached out to take the letter back from him. He nabbed it away.

"Not a chance, brat," he snarled.

"If you think you're going away to another snotty school, you have another thing coming. A boarding school? HAH! As if. A Disney school?! What sort of thing is this? There is no such thing as a stupid prissy DISNEY school." John snorted. Jenny was about to respond when a sharp tearing noise distracted her. John Hollock was tearing her precious, one-way ticket to freedom right in front of her eyes. Jenny was suddenly filled with a boiling rage. She leapt at her stepdad with the fierceness of a tiger.