Dad’s lips turned down. “Though, don’t you get your hopes up. She’s probably dicking around like she always tends to do. She’ll make her way back when she feels like it. Have fun waiting around while she gets her shit together.”
I’d blanch if this wasn’t expected, my sister “dicking around” to the point where even my aunt wasn’t concerned anymore. Paige and my dad got into things so much that her just up and leaving had become old hat for years since she came to live with him. It wasn’t unheard of for me to wake up with my sister on my aunt’s couch or even sleeping in my desk chair after she took a red-eye to get away from him. It also wasn’t unheard of for her just to leave town and ghost for days on end after she and Dad truly let into each other. She just needed space sometimes but she always popped up…
She’d never been gone an entire summer, though.
Two
The school uniform rode up my ass like a son of a bitch, a literal atomic wedgie which I endured the entirety of the trip inside a chauffeured car. Maywood Heights was a smaller city, but not a sleepy town by any means. People were alive and well, maple leaves of gold and umber tones being raked up in yards the size of football fields. What I’d dubbed as McMansions followed one after the other, a far cry from the graffiti apartment complexes and litter-filled streets I came from. I didn’t live exactly in the city, a suburb, and people didn’t care about their shit like they did here. I had a feeling they might have given awards out for some of this landscaping.
Jesus.
Paige never talked about where she lived much during her visits. Sure, she talked about the basic shit, who she was sleeping with or the crap that went down with her and Dad, but the actual town, not so much. Crossing my legs, I attempted to adjust my skirt again, bracing myself for the day to come. When Paige moved away, we’d been in different grades. I mean, she was a year older than me at nineteen, but her tendencies to miss classes and I guess “dick around,” as my dad would say, placed us both as seniors this year. At least, she would have been if she were here. The school had been told about this from what I understood. Though, my dad tended to keep his dirty laundry on the DL. As far as they knew, Paige simply wouldn’t be attending school for the time being and his other daughter, me, would be finishing out her senior year here instead.
“Windsor Preparatory Academy, Ms. Lindquist. Would you like me to pull up right to the doors or is the start of the quad to your liking?”
Passing through gates with a crest comprised of orange and navy sections, another football field presented itself in the form of the quad. These people had a quad, many other chauffeured cars such as mine dropping off students with navy and sun-kissed ties, as well as pleated skirts that rode just as mine. These girls seemed to be used to it, though, the tights. Rosanna actually laid out knee-highs for my ass, but I wasn’t having that. Putting up with nylons, I adjusted those, directing Hubert to take me to the main doors. The other kids seemed to get out early to meet each other for a longer walk, and hiding like a little bitch gave me time to gawk at them a little behind tinted glass.
What have I gotten myself into?
My plan was simple, be here and make myself known until my sister rescued me. She had a tendency of doing that, playing savior whenever I needed her. There’s a reason she’d been so quick to leave with Dad, take the brunt of his parenting and keep the focus off me, and I wasn’t unaware of the sacrifice she’d made all those years ago. Her dealing with our strict and sometimes cold father meant I never had to. She’d been there for me by ironically leaving me, so if I came here and word ultimately got back to her about it, she would be back.
She always showed up for me.
Hubert stopped in front of th
e large oak doors, and after handing me a bag filled with books, he directed me to see the headmaster first. There, I’d be told my schedule and instructed where to go. Basically, the baby bird would be thrown right out of the nest and into the prestigious halls of Windsor Prep.
“Your father instructed me to give you this card as well,” he stated, handing me plastic over the seat. Black and heavy, the credit card already had my name on it. Hubert formed a smile behind a gray mustache. “For your lunches.”
And I’d be sure to load it up with lots of Pop-Tarts and sugary crap. Just because he didn’t want it in his house didn’t mean I couldn’t keep a few boxes in my locker.
“Thanks, Hubert. And for the ride.”
“Of course. I’ll be here when you get out. Two thirty on the dot.”
I nearly made the man promise this, to save me from this place and what used to seem like a smart decision. Frankly, my sister would kill me if she knew I was at her school living with Dad. She really did always try to keep her life with Dad as separate as she could from me. I’d never been to visit her. She always came to me before I could, holidays and everything. When I did see my dad, it was because he came along for the ride. We really were the epitome of a “happy” family.
Gripping my bag, I scaled brick steps that matched the buildings situated in various sections of the quad. Students ventured to all facets of the place, but I’d been told the main building positioned at the center was where I needed to be. The fact that I didn’t have to bypass security and metal detectors floored me upon entry of a building that smelled uniquely rife with age and upper class, and following the signs, I easily found the headmaster’s office.
I think the large gorilla head had something to do with that.
I’d read the school’s mascot was “The King” in the pamphlets Dad gave me to prepare, but seeing the motherfucker straight on was a sight. It bared sharp white fangs like actual King Kong, a mock growl at anything that dared to pass its bust. The headmaster had it on a column before his office, and I was sure the life-size version dancing on the football field in a felt costume did exactly what these people hoped it would to anyone going against them in a game. It was truly terrifying, giving me chills as I shook my head and passed. Inside, I was told to take a seat, and eventually, the school’s headmaster, Principal Hastings, did see me. It took a sec. Apparently, he’d been in meetings most of the morning according to his secretary. By the time he saw me, I’d been more than ready to get this show on the road, shaking his hand and letting him welcome me into the institution. It was the traditional song and dance of a new student coming to a foreign school, but I’d honestly been surprised the person at the top of this place had to do something so arbitrary. I supposed the alumni dollars may have required it, so I sat for the introductions and, later, the handoff of my schedule. It was nothing fancy considering the grades I brought in here, and I was sure Dad had to make a couple phone calls just to get me into the place. I didn’t consider myself dumb by any means but I was sure the public school curriculum was leagues behind the place that sported King Kong as its mascot.
“We’re happy to have you here,” Principal Hastings concluded with, placing his hands together on a wide oak desk. “Though, we were very sad to see Paige won’t be joining us this year. Have you heard anything different about her?”
A town this size and school this elite, I wasn’t surprised he’d heard about my sister going AWOL. He was probably one of many I’d hear either asking or whispering about her whereabouts in the days to come.
I opened my hands. “Your guess is as good as mine.” Besides a few texts here and there at the beginning of the summer, I’d heard nothing from my sister, absolutely nothing, and I seemed to be the only one who worried about that. My sister may have had bouts of acting out, but never had she gone such an extended amount of time without word. Especially when it came to me. I shrugged. “I’m hoping with me being here she may come back.”
This really was the plan. Places like this talked, people busybodies. She’d hear I was around.
At least I hoped.
Principal Hastings said nothing to that, simply nodding when he stood. “I hope you’re right and she really will be missed around here in her absence. You’ll be sure to let us know if you hear any changes?”
I told him I would, and after a quick shake, our meeting concluded with him escorting me out of his office. I was told I’d have a guide coming for me to take me to class, and he waited with me for a moment before excusing himself.
“I’m afraid I have another meeting, but you should be all right?”