Highmore Manor

How come when we try to do the right thing for one person it always ends up being something very bad for another person?

That's what I wondered as I sat on the edge of my bed watching my best friend, Payton Lewis, pace up and down in front of me listing off reasons why I couldn't leave my hometown, Ferncreek.

I partly blame my mother for this happening because if it weren't for her great idea that I should move I wouldn't have to deal with leaving Payton.

But I also have to partly blame myself for going along with it.

She had came home from work one day, started chopping up carrots and out of the blue exclaimed, "I think it's time you transferred to a better school, Hayley!"

I remember staring at her over the back of the couch like she'd asked me to go jump off a cliff. She just stared back at me with a pleasant and slightly thoughtful look on her face.

"Uh," I had managed to get out after about 5 minutes.

"Why are you staring at me like that, Hayley?" she asked.

"Why do you think, Mum? Where did this come from?" I asked getting slightly confused and wondering if she was playing an April Fools joke on me - in August.

"Well I got your report in the mail a few days ago, and I'm not saying that you aren't doing well it's just that - well you've done the same thing in your Maths class for more then 3 months now," she said.

"That's because some of the people in our class don't understand it yet, we have to go over it until they do," I replied.

"Exactly!" she cried coming round the bench to sit on the couch beside me. "That's exactly my point! You probably picked it up as soon as your teacher said it, or you knew it already," she said pointing her knife at me. I snatched the knife off her before she did some harm to herself, or worse, me.

"I know what you're thinking, Mum. You think that because the teacher is focusing her time on those people she's not helping me advance, don't you?" I said; she stared at me dumbfounded.

"How could you have known exactly what I was going to say?" she said surprised.

"Well, because I've been thinking about it a bit myself," I said looking down at the knife in my hands.

"I should of known, you're always one step ahead of me," she said shaking her head.

My mum's a bit of ditz, she's always tripping over nothing and not getting jokes until the next day. She's forgetful too. As she was having this conversation with me she had a chicken in the oven, we had to eat vegetables and tuna straight out of the can that night because she left the chicken in too long. Thankfully she didn't pass anything onto me but I do have the tendency to trip over things sometimes.

"Mum, I don't think I should have to leave school though," I said. "I'll just ask the teacher for extra work."

"Well I'm not having you feel bored in class," she said looking back up at me.

"I'm not bored in class, I have Payton to talk to," I said.

"And how is talking to Payton going to help you get anywhere in life?" she asked, and I had to admit she made a good point with that one.

She jumped off the couch, went over to her work desk and pulled some booklets out of a drawer. She dropped them in my lap.

"Just think about it Hayley, I think it would help if you went to a better school with people just as advanced you," she said grabbing the knife off me and walking back into the kitchen.

I sighed.
I've always been kind of brainy, that's what she meant by 'people just as advanced as you'. I just manage to soak things in like a sponge and then remember them in almost perfect detail. I'm not the kind of person that relays one thousand words per minute on a subject if I'm asked a simple question about it, but I could if you wanted me to.

I looked down at the books in my hands. I read the names of the schools. The front covers read Highmore Manor, John Charles High School, St James' College and Mount Simon Academy.

Suddenly I realized something.

I live in the small town of Ferncreek, New Zealand. Yes you heard right, I said New Zealand. If you don't know of it then it’s the one down the bottom of the world right beside and below Australia, the second closest country to Antarctica. As you can see if you have a map we are pretty far away from the big places like America and Europe.

All these schools my mother had given to me to choose from, if I actually decided to go along with her crazy idea, were in England.

"Mum! You have to be kidding me!" I cried jumping up.

"What?" she asked surprised, looking up at me with wide eyes.

"England? England, Mum?" I cried, almost hysterically.

"I thought it would be a nice change, no distractions from life back here," she said.

"A nice change? Mum, did you know that England is approximately 11,684 miles from here? It's 28 hours and 35 minutes flying time from here to there? The flight crosses 12 different time zones; can you imagine the jet lag that will go with that? Plus I cannot go that far away from you or Payton, Mum!" I cried. I have a tendency to let the facts flow from my mouth when I'm hyped up. Mum just stared at me.

"Those are the best schools in the world, darling," she said gently.

"But they're in England," I whined. Normally I would be excited by going to somewhere like England but the fact that I had to leave everything behind just to go to school wasn't exactly my idea of a fun time away.

"Just think about what you're options will be if you go to one of them," Mum said. I sat down and took a deep breath. Mum went back to chopping carrots.

"How would we pay for it?" I asked after a few minutes.

"I'm hoping your intelligence will earn you a scholarship," Mum answered. I nodded.

"I'll think about it but I still don't want to leave New Zealand yet," I said. Mum nodded and smiled slightly, she knew that now that I'd said that, I would never be able to stop thinking about it.
I went back to watching TV but couldn't keep my mind off the idea.

That night I had read through the booklets, they sounded like amazing schools. I decided I liked Highmore Manor the best; it had more extra curriculum activities. The description in the book went like this.

Highmore Manor

The school is for children aged 12-18, and although it is co-educational the classes are not, with a few exceptions.
Highmore Manor sits on a small peninsula off the East Coast of Kent, England. Highmore Manor is a large, restored Manor house from the late 19th Century with additional buildings and freestanding rooms for classrooms. The front of the manor looks out on the front lawn, which leads right to edge of the peninsula and a very high cliff, also known as Devils Slide. Surrounding Highmore Manor is a large oak wood, great for strolling around at free time or taking long guided hikes. Highmore Manor boasts its great sports and recreation facilities which includes two large tennis courts, a soccer field, indoor squash, badminton and basketball courts, a two lane outdoor pool and a large eight lane indoor pool and a gym, archery and shooting ranges and a horse stable not too far down the road, all of which can be used in the students free time and weekends.
The manor is also close to a small beach, round the corner from the cliffs. We take camping trips to the beach and have bonfires there on sunny days. Students are allowed down to the beach as long as they have a pass and one or more people accompanying them.
The inside has been redecorated recently and is nicely furnished and luxurious. Rooms are large and all have nicely sized en suites. Rooms house four students each with their own double bed. Students are allowed to hang up pictures/posters on the walls as long as they are suitable. Rooms are checked every Friday for unsuitable pictures and for untidiness.
Out the back of the manor is a large parking space for students to bring their cars, and a long winding driveway, which leads to the main road. A few miles away is the small town of Highmore, which the students are allowed into every fortnight weekend.
Uniform is a blue, red and white tartan skirt for summer and a blue, red and white kilt for winter, white blouse, the option of a deep blue cardigan or blazer, white socks and covered black shoes for girls. Grey pants or shorts, white shirt, option of a deep blue cardigan or blazer, tan socks and covered black shoes for boys.
Students are required to take English and PE right through schooling. Junior students (aged 12 - 14) are required to take English, Maths, Science and PE with four electives, the students take two electives in the first half of the year and the other two in the last half of the year. Senior students (aged 15 - 18) must take a least one science. For lists on all class options please see page 20…

Somehow the school sounded great but not as strict as the other schools. I ended up sending away an application for Highmore Manor and St James' College. A month later a letter arrived in my letterbox from Highmore Manor, I had snatched it up eagerly and ripped it open. I read it out to my mother and sister who watched my face in anticipation. It had read:

Dear Hayley Everett; (in the same font as the booklet)

I am very pleased to inform you of your acceptance into Highmore Manor as a senior student. Your school term commences at the end August. You are required to bring all the stationary stated on the Classes Selected sheet attached and have bought a full school uniform. Attached is a list of rules…

It went on to tell me everything I was allowed and not allowed to do and a few final instructions for my mother.

The package included a school map and a list of tasks I had to do on arrival.
I had achieved myself a scholarship for a year and a half as well, so that was most of the costs accounted for.

That was only a week ago that I received the letter.
It had taken me a week to suck up enough courage to show Payton. I had invited her over, we had gone up to my room and before the day could start properly I had pulled the letter out and let her read it in silence. She had jumped up and screamed, causing my mum to yell out to see if we were ok, which I was but Payton looked like she was going to have a heart attack. Then she had launched into the list of reasons why I couldn't leave, which lead me to realize you can never do something right for someone without upsetting someone else.

"Are you even listening to me?" Payton snapped. I looked up at her abruptly.

"Uhh, yes," I said. She glared at me.

"What was my last reason?" she said.

"Uhh, umm, it was..." I started.

"It was because I will have no friends if you go," Payton said shaking her head at me.

"Of course you will, Pay, you'll have Ricky," I said looking up at her.

"You don't care, you weren't even listening," she sighed. "A seven year friendship wasted."

"Pay!" I whined. "It wasn't wasted. It's just time for me to move on, it was bound to happen and anyway I still haven't written back to say I accept it," I said.

"Yeah but it wasn't meant to happen halfway through my perfect summer holidays," she said.

"I'm sorry. Talking about my acceptance letter…will you help?" I asked.

"Sure I will," Payton said striding purposefully over to my desk and pulling out a piece of paper and pen. "Dear Sir/Madam, I am afraid I can't accept your letter of acceptance, another offer has come up. This offer is from my bestest friend in the whole wide world, Payton, who has chained me to my bed and declared she is not leaving, ever!" Payton read out as she wrote.

"Pay, you can't say that. It's not formal enough, and bestest isn't even a word," I laughed.

She glared me.

"Miss Smarty-pants is looking at Miss I-don't-care-if-bestest-isn't-a-word! You are not leaving me here all alone with Ricky and all those other dumbass people in our class, I can't believe you just asked me to help write your acceptance letter - you shouldn't even think about going," she said striding back over to me.

"Payton, it's kind of a once in a lifetime thing. I'll be back in the holidays and I only have to be there for two years," I said, Payton sighed and sat down beside me.

"You don't get it do you, Hayley? There are 10 weeks in between holidays, and two years is a long time anyway," she said turning to look at me.

"You'll find other friends, and once I'm gone maybe Ricky will realize he likes you and not me," I said with a huge grin. She ducked her head and blushed bright red.

"You said you wouldn't bring that up!" she protested looking down at her lap.

"I'm not going to tell him or anything, but I was just saying you might get a chance with him," I said kindly. She jumped up and pointed at me, she looked angry.

"You!" she cried. "You're just trying to distract me while you sneak off and write your letter to that school! Ricky will never like me, you have got to be crazy!"

"Payton, calm down. I still have to decide whether I want to go myself. And if things don't work out with you and Ricky I'll take you over to England and introduce you to some hot English boys. Ok?" I said, she narrowed her eyes at me and then realized what I had said and started to smile.

"Oh, yummy. I just love English accents. Oh my god, you're doing it again, Hayls!" she cried turning back to me. We sat in silence for a few minutes, Payton went over to my desk and picked up the booklet about Highmore and started to read. About 5 minutes later she looked up.

"It does sound like a great school," she said quietly.

"It does, ae," I agreed kind of sadly.

"And I agree with your mother, just talking to me isn't going to get you anywhere, with a brain like yours," she said.

"Mmmm," I said.

"You know, Hayls, it is up to you whether or not you go, it'd be a great thing for you," Payton said looking at me straight in the eye.

"Pay, I don't have to go if you really don't want me to," I said.

"No, I do want you to go. And you're right I might find some new friends, I'm always so stuck to you that I never branch out apart from with Ricky," she said very sure of herself, looking slightly thoughtful.

"You're confusing me, a minute ago you were going to chain me to my bed and now you want me to go?" I asked raising my eyebrow.

"If I was smarter I'd want to go too, I'd be so excited to have a chance like that, so you shouldn't miss out on it," she said with a small smile.

She seriously is my best friend in the world.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Pay," I said going over to her and giving her a hug. "But you've still got to help me with the letter." She grinned and nodded enthusiastically.