by M.D. James
Chapter 3
I woke up in a dark room, thankful that I must have just been having a nightmare. I quickly realized it was a real-life nightmare when I got up to use the bathroom, and my feet touched the cold, wooden floor instead of the soft, carpet from my previous room. I used the bathroom and fell back to sleep.
“Wake up, Jimbo-Slice!” my new brother Zack said as he shook me awake. I opened my eyes to see Zack, already dressed in his prep school jacket, and tie.
“What time is it?” I groggily mumbled as I ground the sleep from my eyes.
“It’s time to wake up,” he answered. “I got up a little early today, so I could help you get ready. Hurry up though. It’s almost six thirty and you never want to be late for breakfast!”
“Let me guess,” I asked, sarcastically “…Grandfather?”
“You got it!” Zack said, while grinning from ear to ear. “Now, get up!” He sure seemed to have a lot of energy for that time of the morning. I had to admit, his grin was contagious. And, maybe school wouldn’t be so bad. At least I wouldn’t be stuck at the house with Grandfather.
I got up, and showered. Zack was in the bedroom, talking to me the whole time. He told me what to expect from the school, and the headmaster. After my shower, he helped me get dressed. The tie had to be tied a specific way, and to perfection, or you’d receive a demerit, according to Zack. He rambled on about his friends, Mark and Chris, and how cool they were. Between being nervous, and feeling like I was starved, it was very difficult to remember all of the information he gave me.
We got to breakfast just in time. Grandfather was waiting, as I expected. He looked me over from head to foot to see if I met his approval. Instead of speaking to me, he informed Zack that we were late. “It is better to be early, than on time,” he chided when Zack informed him we were actually on time.
Can anyone please this tyrant?
Our breakfast was served by Ms. Barker, the housekeeper and cook. It consisted of an egg white omelet, some berries with yogurt, half a slice of plain, wheat toast, and some orange juice. I decided to make the day a better day than the last. I wouldn’t let Grandfather get to me. So, I ate every bite…a little too fast. Grandfather, of course, made his disgust known. “Didn’t that horrid woman feed you? You eat like a starving bum.”
Normally, I would’ve argued back…and the comment about my Mom stung, but I was determined to not let Grandfather see that he had wounded me. Instead, I asked Zack about some of the teachers, since he informed me that we’d have the same schedule. Apparently, he was less than a year younger than me, and in the same grade.
We finished eating and met Mr. Bryant at the car. “Good morning, Mr. Zachary and Mr. James. I trust you slept well.” I guess I will have to get used to the name, James, as well as my new last name…Muse. I felt like a stranger to myself.
Mr. Bryant was a friendly man, and you could tell he was being genuine, so I answered him politely, “I had an okay night, considering. Thank you for asking.” He nodded, with a smile, and took his place in the driver’s seat. The car was already warmed up. Even though we were in Georgia, it was still cold in the mornings.
After forty-five minutes in the car, we finally arrived at the school. It was nothing like my old high school. This school looked like something from the Harry Potter movies. I didn’t even have time to look around before being ushered from the car to the headmaster’s office. Mr. Greene, the headmaster, reminded me a lot of Grandfather. He had the same steel posture and cold look in his eyes. He gave me a speech about the history of the school…one which Zack must’ve heard many times if the smirk on his face was any indication.
Next, he informed me of what was expected from me as far as my classes were concerned. “I saw you were an ‘A’ student in your last school, Mr. Muse. BUT, I think you will find classes here at Langly Academy slightly more challenging.” He added, “that’s no excuse for your grades to fall, though. We expect excellence here and will tolerate no less. Is that clear, Mr. Muse?”
It took a second to register that he was addressing me. I’m used to being called Jimmy, or Mr. Nelson. But, I needed to resign myself to being known as Mr. James Muse. “Yes, Sir,” I answered.
My little brother was given the job of showing me to our first class. Contrary to what Mr. Greene thought or expected, most of the classes were focused on the same things as I had been learning at my old school. So, keeping up wouldn’t be too hard. In fact, Zack was in a lower-level Math class than I was, in Washington…so, in that class, I’d be ahead.
We had a few classes with Chris and Mark, Zack’s best friends. They reminded me of Mikey a little. They were both rich, like Mikey, and seemed to tease each other just as much. They were fraternal twins, but Chris was the quieter of the two. He also seemed to be the smarter of the two. They instantly made me feel like one of the guys, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, I actually had a genuine smile on my face.
The smile didn’t last long, though. A boy came up to us at lunch and knocked my new book bag off the table, purposely. “I guess this is the kidnapper’s boy…” he said loudly to everyone sitting close by. Apparently there was a story on the news, so my life was the talk of the school. “You’d better watch your stuff…he’s probably a filthy thief, just like her,” he continued. I wanted so much to punch him out, but Zack and the twins stepped in and told the bully to get lost. They told me that his name was Horace, and that he was in two of our classes at the end of the day. Great!
“Thanks, guys. I definitely don’t need to be in a fight my first day.”
“No problem, Jimbo…” offered Zack,”…we got your back.”
Luckily, Horace sat far from me in my last two classes of the day. I could still feel him staring me down, from behind, but I tried to just ignore it. I could swear I also felt a few spitballs hit me, that I’m positive were a gift from my new admirer, Horace.
At dinner, Grandfather was missing from the table. We were told by Ms. Barker that he had an appointment with his lawyer. With Grandfather’s absence, I figured it was a good time to bring up my Mom and sister. “Do you know anything about my Mom?” I asked my father.
“She’s right here, silly,” father playfully stated, as if I must’ve lost my mind.
“No, my Mom in Washington, I mean?” I corrected. “I haven’t heard how she is or what has happened to my sister,” I explained. “Surely they’ve tried to contact me.”
“I’m sure Mrs. Nelson has more trouble on her mind right now than she can handle, and you know that girl wasn’t really your sister, right?” my father asked.
“She was to me! And, I want to know how she is…where she is!”
“Okay, okay…” my father re-assured me, “we’ll see what we can find out for you. Maybe you can write to Mrs. Nelson, and we will see that she gets your letters.”
That made me feel better, and I was able to enjoy our meal. Dinner that night was glazed pigeon, with roasted, rosemary potatoes, and asparagus. I had to tip my hat to Ms. Barker….she definitely knew her way around a kitchen.
My mother barely said a word, but often smiled quickly at me. I think she was afraid she couldn’t live up to my Mom in Washington. It wasn’t her fault that we were all in this situation, so I tried to extend a friendly smile in her direction in return.
After dinner, Zack and I went to his room to do homework together. The moment I stepped into his room, my mouth dropped. It looked like a catalog. He had the best of everything: A Bose stereo with wireless speakers throughout his room, a 3D laptop, not to mention an iPad 2. As he took his shoes off and went to place them in his closet, I saw he must’ve had twenty different pairs of sneakers. His closet was about as big as my whole room back home…and it was filled with the best clothes.
“Yeah, I like clothes,” he said when he saw me eyeing his wardrobe. “I’d let you borrow some, but I’m smal
ler than you, so I doubt they’d fit.” I asked him why he was smaller but almost the same age as me. After all, I was just average sized. He explained that he was born premature, and pretty small. In fact, all of his blood was poisoned when he was born, and the umbilical cord was choking him. It was a miracle he was born at all.
We studied and did our homework while laughing and talking. I hated having to leave my other family behind, but it was nice to have someone I could call a friend. It was still too weird to think of him as my brother.
“Can I ask you something, Jimmy?” he asked with a serious look on his face.
“Sure,” I answered, wondering what I was about to get into.
“What was it like? I mean, what was it like before you came here?” I guess I could understand his curiosity. He was led to believe my Mom was some horrible woman, and probably thought I was being held hostage all those years.
I explained that we had a good life, and that my Mom was very loving. “Every night, she would kiss my forehead goodnight and bring me a glass of water in case I got thirsty through the night.” He was glued to every word I was saying. “I don’t believe she could kidnap anyone…it must be a mistake,” I added.
“What about your sister, what was her name?” he asked instead of arguing with me over whether or not my Mom was a kidnapper. I told him her name was Sarah and that she was three years older than me, and mostly a pain in the butt…but, that I loved and missed her.
We stayed up talking like that for a while, and eventually fell asleep. I remember waking up once in the night, and Zack had his head snuggled under my shoulder, and his right arm was draped over my chest. It felt good, just to have some human contact again. I didn’t want to disturb him, but I really had to go pee, so I gently moved his arm off of me and moved his head to the pillow. I did my business and then put our books and stuff up, so there’d be more room in the bed to sleep. I draped a blanket over Zack and got back into the bed. It didn’t take long to fall back to sleep.