ocean eyes [ l.s ]

~3~

Harry spent all of Saturday packing his belongings into cardboard boxes. He carried the boxes outside where Robin was cramming them inside their SUV.

As he was starting classes on Monday, he'd asked to be there before just to get settled in and get used to the surroundings and the school building.

"I think that's the last one," he said, wiping sweat off his forehead and fixed the bandana that was tied in his messy curls.

"Okay, I'll get your mother. I guess you'll be good without me, right?"

"Thanks," Harry replied awkwardly, not sure what to say "I guess I won't be coming home every weekend, since Fleetwood's quite a trip away on the train."

"Yeah, we can always visit. We'll miss you around, kid," Robin patted Harry on the back before heading towards the house.

"Sure you will," Harry muttered with a hint of sarcasm Robin didn't catch on to. That's when his mother came outside, looking like she'd been crying a bit.

"I was just looking at your room," she explained, wiping her nose into a tissue "it looks so empty."

Harry put his long arm around her small shoulders and gave her a squeeze, pulling her into his side.

"When did you get so big?" she wondered, looking up at him and patting his chest "Okay, best be off."

Harry gave Robin, who was still hovering on the front porch of their house, a quick hug and waved his hand just before getting in the passengers seat.

**

It was an hour and a half long drive up towards the coast to Fleetwood. Harry had never been there but, from what his mother was telling him, it sounded beautiful. He was already looking forward to going for a walk around in the surroundings of the school.

The GPS said 2 minutes as they started to drive up an alley, fringed by large and ancient looking oak trees all growing in a neat row by the road. Harry caught a glimpse of the school at the end of the alley. It was a scenic view, one you'd see in movies. The buildings were made of red brick, laced with ivory bricks around the windows. As they drove closer, Harry realised just how big the school was. It consisted of various buildings, forming a square with probably a courtyard in the middle. The entrance had two pointed towers and there was an archway leading into the courtyard. The walls were covered in luscious dark purple and green grapevines on some parts of the building.

Harry realised his mouth was hanging open as he was taking in the surroundings in astonishment. He didn't want to know how much money Robin had to pay for the school as a wave of guilt washed over him.

Robin had his own law firm, but he was struggling a bit to find big clients. He parted ways with his former business partner years ago and after that, he lost many big and important clients and never seemed to succeed in gaining new ones. His mum wasn't currently working, only helping Robin at the firm with bookkeeping, so it wasn't like he was from a rich family or something. He didn't think his parents could really afford for him to be this cocky about everything. And that realisation only just hit him. He needed to get his act together. He wasn't planning on staying at this school for long. But he thought he was slowly starting to understand why Robin was so insistent on him focusing on school.

Anne parked the car and they sat, stunned in silence for a moment, taking in the gorgeous scenery.

"Well, this is definitely something." she finally said, turning off the ignition and unbuckling her seatbelt "Come on, let's find the sleeping quarters."

Harry and Anne grabbed a couple of smaller bags and headed towards the largest building and, luckily, there was a map outside pointing them in the right direction. They entered what seemed to be the main entrance.