Never the Same [Boarding School]

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 

Three months passed and I was still in the orphanage. Every day was the same. Every night passed the same. Every moment in between was the same. Then, this one Thursday was different. I got up and got dressed. I walked down the stairs to the breakfast hall. When I got there, Matron pulled me over to the head table. Then she went away. When she came back, she had a plate on a sunny yellow tray. She put the tray in front of me and said loudly,

 

“Happy birthday Jenna.”

 

She then led the entire hall in an off key rendition of happy birthday. Today I was 16. It was a bitter sweet day. After I ate breakfast, she took me up the stairs back into my room. She pulled something black out of the closet and held it up for me to see. I took it from her and looked at it. Slowly, I took the things off of the hanger and laid them on the bed. I looked down at them. A short black skirt, a skinny black tie and a black jacket lay in front of me. Then Matron took a white hanger out of the closet. I did the same with the white hanger. When I was done, a white shirt had joined the pile on my bed. She took my hand and said to me exuberantly,

 

“You’re going to school.”

 

I looked at her cautiously.

 

“School? What do you mean Matron?”

 

“Well, you’re 16 now so the nuns and I decided to send you to school.” she replied happily.

 

“But Matron, I go to school here. What do you mean I’m going to school?”

“You’re going to public school.”

I looked up at her in shock.

 

“Are you serious? I’m going to school?”

 

She smiled at me,

“Yes Jenna. You’re going to school. Are you excited?” she asked.

 

“Are you kidding me? I’m ecstatic.” I shouted joyously.

 

“And there’s more news. You are going to go to the Collin’s Academy.”

 

“That sounds amazing Matron.” I laughed happily.

 

“There’s more. You’re going to be there with Dennis.” She stated.

 

The smile slid off of my face. My laughter died into silence. I looked up at her with wide eyes and said in a monotonous voice,

 

“Really, that’s great Matron.”

 

“I know. You’ll love it. It’s a boarding school. Therefore, you’ll be there for the entire year. You’ll get a few weeks away in December for the Christmas time. We’ll schedule all of your interviews for that time. You’ll have to wear this uniform on Monday’s and Friday’s.

 

She continued telling me the rules of this new school but I stopped listening. Dennis was going to be there. How could I concentrate on school with him hanging around? Especially after what happened when he was leaving. What was I going to do?

 

When I snapped out of my reverie, Matron was gone. I looked over at my desk and saw the clock there. It flashed. 11:59. I looked out of the window and saw that outside was pitch black. I slowly took off my clothes and lay down on top of my covers. Then I fell into the dark arms of sleep.