Hager's Boarding School for Troubled Youth

Chapter Two

"Welcome! I am, as you know, Mr. Hager. Today I am here to introduce the school to you and you to the school." He chuckled at his joke, it wasn't that funny, but he seemed to enjoy it. "There are only a few rules, now let me just grab them...here..." He shuffled around in his pockets for thirty seconds before he pulled out a rolled-up paper from the back one. He released the end and let the roll unravel itself. It fell off the stage and continued down the middle aisle of chairs. I had to say, the theatrics were something else, but he was still a strange guy. He was so uppity and flamboyant, like it was on purpose to throw people off. Maybe I was wrong though, maybe he was just like that, it wasn't like there were no flamboyant men in existence.

"Get on with it already!" A girl from one of the other classes yelled out, I scanned the silhouettes, but it was too dark to tell where the voice came from.

"Oh, sorry. Sorry." He tipped his hat and jumped down from the lowered pedestal, "Anyway, there are only twenty rules in action at this school, but depending on your personal behavior," he winked, "more may be added in the future." He walked along the edge of the stage while he talked, "First rule: Never show up late to a class unless you have a note signed by me excusing you. Number two: No unauthorized use of your...talents. Number three...I'm bored, I will just have your teachers hand out a piece of paper with all the rules specified."

He jumped off the stage and strolled down the middle aisle, "Hm... Looks like a good group of students this time, wouldn't you say Miss Housman?" I turned around to look at our teacher, she nodded to him, her brows furrowed like she was angry at him for calling her out. Were they in on something together? I turned back to the front and watched Mr. Hager. "How about I start with a little history of this school. It all started way back in 1923, my grandfather, Mr. Hager, was the only one out of his entire twelve-member family to live after the Great Fire in a place that I forget the name of. Anyway, he started this school to help troubled kids become less of nuisance to society, by teaching them how to control themselves. Now, for some it worked wonders," he looked at Frederick then continued walking, "for others, it didn't do much."

Brandyn leaned over and whispered, "Is it just me, or is this guy completely nuts...?" I nodded, I agreed with him, but something about the man's voice was captivating, it pulled me in. The inflection? The slight high pitch to it? The way his mouth moved with every vowel? I didn't know what exactly drew me in, but it was hard to look away.

"Now that you know the history, why don't tell you a little bit about me. I became the head of this school a few years back when my father died. Sad, sad. Yes, but hey, our hearts give out eventually right?" He laughed, he wasn't right in the head, he made a joke about his father's death. "I turned this school right around after I took over, not a single student left here feeling unsatisfied. Truly a remarkable thing if I do say so myself. Well, that's enough of me talking, why don't I let your teachers take you around for a grand tour of the school." He turned to leave the stage, but turned around again, his index finger pointed up. "Oh, and don't forget, the west building is off-limits to everyone. There will be a deadly punishment for whoever even touches the door to that building. Got it?" He waved and ran out the exit door in a single swift motion.

The lights turned back on and I looked around the room, the food was gone. It was like it was never there, even our garbage that we were holding, was gone. No trace of it. I took out my notepad and flipped to a blank page, I wrote down what I noticed about the man on stage and the disappearing tables in the back. Miss Housman ordered us to stand up and to follow her, she said she was taking us to the North building first.

"Why do we have to do a stupid tour anyway, we aren't fucking invalents. I'm sure even the stupid ones will figure out how to go up and down the stairs like normal people." Frederick stomped his way to the front of the line, his arms swung stiff at his side.