BH

Burning Hearts: Two

Sapphire

 


It was three days until Jules and Tony were supposed to leave for France when Mum decided to enroll Raie and Libby into our private girls school, Dartley Prep. She hadn’t been worried about them not getting in; they had amazing grades and were a wealthy family who could easily pay the tuition, but one thing neither of us had thought about was availability, so we left it until the last moment to enroll them.

We walked into the school reception room and sat in the plastic seats (the ones that no matter how many different positions you sit in, will never be comfortable, although they look great). We had taken a number- that's how busy it was- and sat, waiting. Raie and Libby hadn't come because of Jules's packing rules, but I was still able to text her, and we were planning their new room- Jamie's old room. The time we spent discussing it was overkill.

Me: How about black/white theme? It would look so good with your old furniture!

 

Raie: Nah I kind of want a plain white room but Libs likes pink.

 

Me: How about half half? You have white and Libs can have pink on the other, it would look great!

 

Raie: Yeah let me go ask her...

 

Raie: She likes it!

 

Me: Gotta go, ticket got called...finally!

 


Mum and I got up and went over to the receptionist with the forms, all 50 of them, perfectly filled out my perfectionist of a Mother. I handed them to the receptionist and she went through all the pages, reading at the speed of a turtle and when she was finished pushed them back across the desk to us.

'No availability, sorry. Next!' she said and motioned to the next ticket holder.

'Wait, wait, wait, what?' I said, 'How can there be no availabilities? We only had 4 new students a month ago and 10 students left this year! Check again...please?' I pleaded to her.

Yet again, she looked over at me over her glasses, in the most annoying way, and sighed then got up and went to the nearest filing cabinet to her, and pulled out a stuffed folder.

She flicked through the pages for a minute or so then looked back at me and said again, 'Sorry, all places are filled.'

Mum pulled me outside and we went and sat on a nearby bench.

'What are we going to do?' I asked her desperately.

For possibly the first time ever, my Mother was at a loss for words, then got her phone out and googled the nearest private schools around the Dartley area. The page came up with schools in Rosemont and Carter Hill, which were at least an hour away. My Mother sighed and looked at me. We both knew she wouldn’t be able to take us all to two different schools an hour apart, and pick us up every day, with her full time job.