The Trials and Tribulations of a so-called Trouble Teen

Chapter 1

I remember being expelled like it was yesterday. Well, it was exactly 2 months ago today.

It was meant to be the end of my first year at sixth form, the last day to be exact. This was an extremely difficult year for me because not only was I behind in all of my subjects, I had terrible mental health issues throughout and I just could not keep up both academically and socially. There was a lot of times I considered just running away to Berlin or somewhere like that, but I knew it wouldn't be worth it. I had the chance to show everyone that I was as capable as everyone else, but I guess I'm not. I never will be. I'm too dumb for any of that anyway.

So what really happened? Well, the best way to put it is that I had a really bad idea. I damaged school property. As a sort of prank, I thought it would be a GREAT idea to destroy Gomez's, the principal of the school, office alongside a few of my classmates. I personally trashed her files, damaging the drawers and throwing them everywhere. She also has this drawer full of nail polish that I managed to loot and hide in the art department. I just let all of the negative energy leave my body. I never felt more relieved in my life. For so many years I've held this negative energy in me because of that school. I have never been happy there, and with my friends having to "change" every year, I never felt stable. I get having an international school with an international range of students is gonna create a lot of movement, but the sudden constant changes just added up. On top of all this, I felt like I was never given adequate support for my learning difficulties and the sheer frustration and tears I was going through was not happening anymore.

I have never really been able to "cope" in the school environment, and I think going straight from globetrotting home school that was flexible and worked according to my needs, to this real competitive and academically selective school that I never really felt supported in. I'm not really sure how I got into Marino High School to begin with, considering that I barely passed the entrance exam and my grades have consistently been terrible, but I suppose when money talks, you can get what you want quite easily.

Home life played a major part in this too. My dad married Priscilla, an ableist, someone who hates my guts, someone who would constantly talk me down, someone who was always insulting me in front of her friends, someone who was constantly thumping her "ideals" into me, someone who has expressed desire to ship me off and never let me back into my own house. Thankfully, she is gone now because she was found to have been part of this "criminal" gang that was scamming lots of families and individuals in difficult circumstances to benefit herself and her peers.

My dad, Graham, is a wonderful man who unfortunately was misled for years. Ever since my mother left us, he desperately wanted someone to fill the gap she left, but he rushed into things far too quickly and as he has said himself, he feels even more hurt than before. Dad is the CEO of a large building firm that has projects across the UK and continental Europe. The main focus here is improving buildings to make them more eco-friendly, but also affordable. He studied originally as an environmental engineer but through an apprenticeship, he joined what is now effectively his company. More than often he jokes about how he's just keeping the seat warm for whoever comes next, but I know he doesn't want to give up his position because he doesn't really trust other people's motives in creating a better, more sustainable world.

I have a sister called Val. She's 6 years older than me and she is hoping to join the scientific research world partially inspired by my dad's environmental concerns. Right now she's not in the country - in fact, she is inter railing across Europe in as much of a sustainable way as possible. Through commitment and her desire to make change in the world, Val studied biological sciences at Oxford to be able to do what she wants. It took a few tries, but she eventually was accepted. I know Val wants to help people get better and fight disease, but she doesn't feel as if the current methods are that environmentally friendly. She's concerned about the reliance on disposable plastics in a lot of labs and hospitals, but to be honest, I don't think there's enough eco-friendly alternatives as of yet.