Elitism

You’d think you’d get a good night sleep in a comfortable memory foam queen size bed, but last night was restless for me. Perhaps because I took a nap earlier, or the fact that everyone’s lights were out by eleven and I thought I’d do the same, or maybe it was the environment that left me struggling to settle. By one in the morning, I had given on sleep and sat out on the balcony while listening to my iPod.

The sky was clear and the half moon was shinning brightly. The night was a little cool, but no hint of wind. The street was dead, only the lampposts preventing complete darkness. I began thinking and analyzing and reevaluating everything in life. I never really valued anything. My friends were the most important things. I didn’t even react when my old apartment caught fire. And yet thinking back, life didn’t suck. I just lived really differently than other people and it never bothered me. My upbringing had taught me how to hide in plain sight, how to protect myself, and who can be trusted. I wouldn’t trade that for all the money in the world.

I must have had sat out there for at least a couple of hours for the next time I looked at the time it was almost three in the morning. I got up and went back to bed. This time I slept a little better, despite tossing and turning every now and then.

You know you’re a light sleeper when you hear the doorknob turned and the door slowly creaked open. I instantly opened my eyes and was about to throw a pillow when I caught myself. Carmen was peeking from behind the door.

Geez, Spencer, you need to let your old habits go before you knock your little sister out cold.

When she saw I was awake, she pushed the door opened and made her way over to the bed. She climbed on top and sat legs crossed in front of me smiling. Gosh, she was freaking adorable.

“Can I help you?” I said with a stern look that only made her giggle.

“Daddy says to tell you that it’s breakfast time.”

“I see. And if I’m not hungry?”

She gasped as though I had said a bad word or something. She shook her head and said, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!”

“You’re right,” I said as I sat up. “You’re absolutely right. Shall we go?”

“Yes!” She stood up and carefully jumped down from the bed.

Wasn’t she just a bundle of joy? I smiled as I watched her skipped over to the door. I followed her and as we leave the room she took my hand. I felt something shifted inside of me. Warmth. This was my little sister.

It was crazy how life worked out sometimes. It could give you the worst gift, or the best gift. It depended on how you interpret the things in life.

Once I got to the kitchen, the first thing I noticed was the school uniforms my siblings were wearing. Each of them different. Three different schools. Then my eyes turned to the food on the table. Eggs, bacons, sausages, and pancakes… you name it. Wow. I felt my stomach slightly growled.

“Hello, darling,” Meredith greeted me with a smile as she cut the apples into pieces. “I hope you didn’t mind I sent Carmen up.”

I shook my head. “No, not at all. She was good.”

“Come sit next to me,” Carmen said loudly as she patted the empty chair beside her.

Meredith chuckled. I poured myself a glass of orange juice from the counter. Meredith leaned over and whispered to me.

“She’s happy you’re here. Lauren doesn’t pay much attention to her anymore.”

I looked over to see Lauren, once again, on her phone texting away as though she had a campaign to run. I wasn’t judging here, but she just rubbed me the wrong way. I wanted nothing more than to poke at her nerves, metaphorically speaking of course.

“Lauren, if I have to tell you one more time,” my father said as he joined the rest of us in the kitchen, “I’m taking that phone away for good.”

Lauren was quick to act when she put her phone in her school bag.

“Good morning,” my father said to me and kissed top of my head.

I moved over to the table and sat next to Carmen. I laughed as she began to fill my plate with a little bit of everything. She probably wanted to make sure I was eating something because she thought I wasn’t hungry. That wasn’t always the case, but when you’re poor, you eat what you could whenever you could. Breakfast wasn’t always available.

My father pulled into the large parking lot, even more so, there was garage parking nearby that was for students. Up ahead was a huge building of two floors that stretched one end to the other in the shape of a rectangle. This was ridiculous. What was it about this city and big buildings?

Soon enough I learned the building was just one of the many establishment on campus. This whole perimeter was huge. Talk about a private school. While my father and the principle were talking in his office, I checked out the pamphlet that was extremely well detailed for such a small thing. I wasn’t sure if it came in volumes or something.

There were approximately 4200 students ranging from ninth grade to twelfth. Apparently the school was big on cultural diversity and social dynamics as well. There were at least a dozen buildings dedicated to each subject: math, science, language, art, and so on. There were about a hundred different approved clubs and only one caught my eye. Archery.

I ended up reading the whole pamphlet merely out of curiosity, including the fun facts on the back. I would probably never understand why I was so fascinated by this school, but mysteries did exist and they didn’t always got solved.

My father came out with a uniform in a plastic bag, a school bag and a piece of paper. What just happened? I stood up as the principle approached me with ease. He held out a hand.

“Miss Moreno, welcome to Winchester Academy.”

I shook his hand firmly. “Pleasure to be here, Mr. Camelot.”

“If you have any questions, or concern, please, my door is always open to students.”

“Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind,” I smiled awkwardly. I wasn’t usually this polite, I didn’t know what to do or say.

“I saw your credits record and I hope you don’t mind, but I have placed you in advance classes. If you feel as though it’s too much, just say so and we can make the necessary changes,” he explained.

“Oh, that will be fine. I’m sure I’ll manage,” I said confidently.

I was pretty confident because despite how I lived my years with my mother, schooling had always being my priority and I had worked hard to get damn good grades. If taking advances class meant getting into a good college, I was doing it.

“Alright, first, you’ll have to change. There’s a bathroom just down this hall outside that door,” he pointed the main office entrance. “This sheet is your class schedule along with your locker number and the campus map.”

Oh dear. This was a lot to take in. I needed a smoke so badly.

“Best of luck, Miss Moreno,” he shook my hand again and returned to his office closing the door behind him.

I let out a long breath. Wow.

“Are you gonna be okay?” my father asked me.

I chuckled, “I’ll be fine.”

“Call me if you need anything.”

“With what? I don’t have a cell phone.”

He frowned. “We can talk about that when we get home.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

Yes! Finally. A cell phone.

I fidgeted with the school uniform trying to get comfortable in it. It wasn’t my usual clothes. I wore a plain white blouse tucked in the knee-length black skirt with the matching black blazer, which I didn’t bother to button it. Thankfully the white socks weren’t the kind that went up to your knees. They hid my ankles, but that was as high as it went. I slipped on the black shoes, which were surprisingly comfortable. I adjusted the green tie because that was what I saw in movies.

I looked at the sheet I was given and looked at the locker number written at the bottom. Then I looked at the campus map to figure out where the hell I was going. After wandering around the campus for five minutes, turning here and there, I finally arrived at my locker, which was located behind the main building on the left. The building belonged to the language department.

It was perfect too because my first class of the day was English. Yay. Note the sarcasm please.