Fairytale High

Grim Beginings

"Remind me again what it is I've done to deserve this."

I was sitting in the back seat of my father's car next to all my worldly belongings. Well, the ones I cared about anyway - I had conveniently forgotten to pack the maroon sweater vest Grandma had sent me for my last birthday. The reason I was sitting there with everything I owned was still a bit of a mystery to me.

"What you've done, dear? You haven't done anything." Came my mother's oh so detailed reply.

"Then why am I being sent to an orphanage?" I demanded.

My mother sighed. "Crissy, for the seven-hundredth time, you are not being sent to an orphanage."

"Oh yeah? Let's see, I'm being kicked out of my house, by my own parents and I'm being sent to live in a building where there will be lots of other kids whose parents don't want them either. I don't know about you, but I'd call that an orphanage."

Just thinking about it made me shiver even though it was a fairly mild, late August day.

"Sweetie, why do you insist on being so negative about this? It's so unlike you."

She wasn't wrong. I was usually a reasonably positive, happy person but being told you're being sent to an orphanage, well, it does strange things to a person.

"I just don't understand why you're sending me away. This is just like the time I was sent to summer camp so that you guys could go visit Aunt Sophie in Italy."

In reality, it was nothing like that time but I feel it's always better to use examples to back up an argument.

"Look, Crissy, this is one of the best boarding schools -"

"Orphanage." I interjected, but she ignored me and carried on.

" - in the country. The exam results are good, the accommodation is great and the students are friendly."

I rolled my eyes. "You can't know that for sure. I mean, just 'cause Uncle Jake says - "

"It's not just Uncle Jake, it says the same thing here in this brochure."

She handed me back the brochure she was holding. The cover page was bright green with the heading 'William Jacob's Boarding School' and underneath that was a picture of a boy and girl, supposedly, going about their school day. It's true, the boy and girl in the picture did look happy but I wasn't about to go changing my whole perspective on the basis of a couple of fake, camera-induced smiles.

"Mom, these guys aren't happy, they're putting up a brave front." I sniffed and wiped a nonexistent tear from my eye. "Poor little soldiers."

My mom shook her head in an exasperated way. "It's not that bad."

"Tell that to poor Oliver and sweet, little Annie." I said, tossing back the brochure.

Dad chuckled. That might not have been his most strategic move as Mom, somehow not finding my joke funny, gave him, what I like to call, the ol' stink eye.  He immediately stopped laughing, you'd be a fool not to.

"Look honey, here's the thing, this is actually one of the best boarding schools in the country," he explained calmly, "and we're not abandoning you to fend for yourself. You won't be alone. At least you're not going in there without knowing anyone."

I grimaced. Ok, I know it seems like my dad was talking about a student, a peer, but he wasn't. No, I had the honour of entering William Jacob's Boarding School knowing one person, my uncle Jake. Don't get me wrong, I love my uncle Jake. It's just that being the niece of the principal of your new school doesn't do much for a girl's reputation. 

I sighed and sank back into the car seat. Maybe I could try getting expelled? It could work.

"Mom, Dad, I've decided I'm going to get myself expelled."

"I see. And how are you planning on doing that?" Dad asked calmly.

"Well, I thought I might raise some Cain."

"Any particular type of Cain?"

"No, just the usual kind."

"Hmm...interesting."

"Yeah, well, a girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do."

"I understand."

"Please, Henry," my mother cut in "don't encourage her."

"Well dear, I would like to be prepared."

"Yeah Mom," I added, "you may want to have a suitable story lined up for when you get that awkward phone call from Uncle Jake. Something along the lines of 'she's always been a troublemaker, we hoped you could set her straight, put her on the straight and narrow, must have been mistaken. Not your fault Jake, couldn't be helped. Don't forget to visit for Christmas - '"

"CRISSY!"

"Sorry, Mom."

"Christina, what do you expect to gain from explusion?"

"Closure?"

"I....what?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, that's usually what people gain from...stuff."

"Right. Well, I'll tell you what you'll gain. Nothing. You'll get expelled for something small, what was it you planned to do...using kanes or something?"

"Raising Cain?"

"Yes, that -"

"Means causing trouble."

"Whatever!"

"You should read more."

"Yes, well -"

"I just thought -"

"IT DOESN'T MATTER. All that matters is that it wouldn't stop there. First you're causing a bit of trouble in school and next thing you know you're doing five to ten years for a drunken brawl with some gangsters over where they put your stash and you haven't visited us in twelve years even though we're raising the twins you left on our doorstep all those years ago." She took a deep breath to signal the end of her tirade.

"Let's call that plan B then." I said, suppressing my laughter. It was easy to tell from whom I inherited my exaggeration tendencies.

Dad, also resisting the temptation to laugh, nodded. "Probably for the best."

I sighed again and rested my head on the seat. "I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

Dad shook his head. "Doesn't look promising, no."

I didn't open my mouth again until, half an hour later, we pulled around a corner into view of a vast and beautiful, old-fashioned building.

"Home, sweet home."  I grumbled as the car came to a stop right outside the ornate front door.

Ok, so this is a new story. The title may have to be reworked though. Let me know if you like, or even don't like, it. And please vote and such. Thanks.