Chapter Text
|Noah's POV|
"Make sure you both have packed everything," my mother screamed from below.
"Yes, mom," my brother, Nicholas, melancholily replied back from his room. It's the middle of the semester, and dad decided to send us off to Bentzel Academy because he feels that our mom has failed as a mother. The failure here is me, their daughter. Well, one would be wondering what I did that made me 'their failure'. It wasn't like I was failing my classes or even misbehaving to the point where someone would want to disown me. My only sin is that I like girls.
As a kid, I would only play with cars and boys; then, in my preteens, I would still play with the boys; after all, I had known them for over ten years. And this made my parents think I was being spoiled by the group I hung out with. They think that by sending me to a boarding school, I would be surrounded by girls, and that would somehow 'fix me'. I mean, I should be thanking them instead.
After all, being packed We headed down. Dad was waiting in the car, while mom made sure we were all prepared. It was only me, my dad, and Nicholas. Once we had settled in, we headed to the airport.
We would be staying at my aunt's house for a couple of days before we attended school. Dad had managed to persuade Aunt Ava to let us stay with her on weekends or whenever we felt homesick. She can be quite annoying at times, especially given her partiality toward my brother Nick, who happened to be her favorite. In fact, Nicholas was everyone's favorite.
After a three-hour flight and almost an hour-long drive, we finally arrived at Aunt Ava's house. She was waiting outside with her driver. Without a moment's hesitation, my brother flung the car door open and sprinted toward her.
"HEY THERE, CHAMP! HOW IS MY LIL NICKY DOIN??" Aunt Ava exclaimed as she embraced him, playfully ruffling his hair. Nick looked up at her with a big smile. "GREATT!!" Friends and family call him Nick, short for Nicholas. Aunt sometimes call him Nicky too.
My aunt looked up at my dad and asked, "How was the journey?"
"Somehow it went smoothly; no hiccups," Dad chimed in, his gaze partly directed at me. It seemed like everyone expected me to cause problems.
"Go on, say hello to your aunt," he urged me.
"Hi," I replied, lacking enthusiasm.
"Hi to you too, pumpkin," she said with a smirk, well aware of how much I disliked that nickname. The nickname originated years ago, when I was about three or four years old. During one Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Ava's, my impatience got the better of me. I decided to skip the "thanksgiving dinner" part and go straight for dessert. I reached for the pumpkin pie on the counter and, in a misguided attempt to create makeshift stairs with the drawers, ended up causing the pie to fall all over me. Mom rushed into the kitchen, followed by the rest of the family. Nana asked me, "Sweetiepie, are you okay?" To which Aunt Ava remarked, "Mom, she's Pumpkin Pie."
Once we were inside Aunt Ava's house, her Great Dane, Duke, came running towards us. He first approached me and then went to sniff around everyone else. As Duke was about to jump on Nicholas, my aunt quickly intervened. "DUKE!! Down!" she commanded. Duke. If he stood on his hind legs, he would easily tower over Nick, and such an enthusiastic greeting could have been risky. With a lowered head, Duke came running over to me. He knew that Aunt Ava wouldn't stop him from jumping on me. I didn't mind him jumping on me, but I also knew that Aunt Ava did this on purpose, as she thought it would annoy me.
After settling into our rooms and freshening up, we gathered in the living room and began to chat and enjoy our time together. Then Aunt Ava asked the inevitable question.
"So, why are you sending them to Bentzel?"
The room fell silent, and I glanced at Dad, knowing what he was likely to say.
"Well, it's to teach them some important life lessons," he replied. Aunt Ava stared at him for a few moments, seemingly expecting a more detailed explanation.
"Well, it's mainly for Noah, but we thought Nicholas might as well learn how to grow up like the other boys," Dad added. It was clear that Aunt was not pleased with this response, but she chose not to press the issue further. "Hmm... well, I guess we should get dinner," she said, changing the subject.
~~~~~~
The next day, the three of us left for Bentzel. As we approached the campus, its sheer size became apparent. After all, it was a school attended by children from rich effluent families. There were two buildings that appeared quite old, with one being notably larger than the other. Additionally, there were four newer buildings on the premises. We got out of the car and were greeted by a lady who escorted us to the principal's office.
"Good morning, Mr. Jackson. I'm Mrs. Bells," she greeted my dad, motioning for him to take a seat. "And I assume you two lovely kids are Noah and Nicholas," she said, glancing at me and then at Nick. "As you know, the boys' and girls' schools are separate, including the dormitories, but the cafeteria is shared. I've arranged for the top students from each school to give you both a tour and help you settle in". She picked up her phone and instructed her assistant to summon the students.
A boy and a girl entered the room and greeted her in unison. "Good morning, Ma'am."
"Kyle, Ezra, please collect their schedules from Mrs. Brown's desk and show them around the school," she said with a smile. The four of us exited the building and stood on the lawn.
"Good morning, I'm Ezra Reeves," the girl said, with a slight bow. I smiled and introduced myself. "I'm Noah. Nice to meet you," I added. There was a brief pause as everyone anticipated Nicholas introducing himself. Being introverted and shy, getting him to open up was always a challenge. The boy, Kyle, extended his hand towards Nick. "I'm Kyle," he introduced himself, though Nick seemed somewhat hesitant to shake hands. In a sarcastic tone, Kyle remarked, "Wow, quite a grip," which annoyed me. I stepped forward, extended my hand, and, in a flirtatious voice, said, "Hey there, Kyle, nice meeting you. I hope we can get along well."
Kyle smirked and shook my hand. However, I tightened my grip, causing him to jerk up and retract his hand immediately. "Quite a grip, huh?" I asked him the same way he did with my brother. He quickly adjusted his demeanour and shot me a glare. The girl let out a slight giggle.
"Shall we begin the tour?" Ezra asked, trying to redirect the situation.
"I'm not going," Kyle abruptly announced.
Did I hurt his fragile ego?
"What do you mean? You're in charge of showing him the boys' dormitories and school," Ezra pointed out.
"It's a waste of time for me," Kyle retorted.
Ezra rolled her eyes. "Just admit you want to suck Makenzie's face and—"
"WOAH!! WOAHHH!! HOLD UP!" I interrupted, trying to shield my brother from inappropriate remarks. "There's a kid here."
"It won't matter. He'll learn everything in one day," Kyle scoffed, mischievously smirking at my brother, who clearly felt uncomfortable in this situation.
"Cut the crap," I snapped at him.
"Oh, it's okay to swear in front of him now?" Kyle feigned surprise, earning another glare from me.
If there were a way I could punch this kid and get away with it, I would have done it by now.
A passing student caught Kyle's attention, and he grabbed the kid by his shirt, pulling him back. "This is Noah," he said, pointing at my brother.
"It's Nicholas, actually." Nick tried to correct him, but Kyle just stared at him. "Yeah, fine. Take him around the campus, show him the classes and all," Kyle said dismissively, pushing him roughly towards my brother, almost causing a collision. I managed to catch the kid before he fell.
"KYLE!" Ezra called out, moving forward to assist the kid.
"Hey, WATCH IT!" I yelled at him.
Kyle simply turned and walked away. "And make sure Bells doesn't hear about this," he added, glancing at Ezra. "That includes you too, Reeves." I stood there, thinking if he's the top student amongst the boys, then wonder what the rest of them will be like. And here, my dear father sent us to Bentzel to 'teach us a lesson'.
A younger boy looked at us and timidly introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Jack Morris."
Ezra looked at him sympathetically and asked, "Won't you be missing classes?"
"It's alright; I can tell the dorm supervisor that I was sick and couldn't attend," Jack replied.
The two boys walked away, leaving me with the opportunity to voice what I had been thinking all along.
"He seems like a fine dickhead," I finally said.