Dickensen Academy

by Christine Grabowski

  We raced to A Rainbow Testament to the Class of 1972. Everyone knew that one since it was on the official tour. We posed under the giant sculpture while Ryan snapped a picture.

  He showed me his phone. I barely recognized myself in the group shot, and a surge of joy shot through me. My cheeks were flushed, and I wore a grin as I draped my arms around two classmates. Anyone studying the photo would say this girl belonged.

  Then my eyes refocused on the entire frame and my body chilled. The picture was eerily similar to the one in my dream. I hadn’t had one of those déjà vu moments since the first day here. I’d assumed all those feelings had passed as real memories replaced the ones from my dream.

  A teammate read the next clue, snapping me back to the present: A Quiet Place to Read on a Throne of Jewels.

  “I know that one!” Aditi said. “Ugh. It’s way out past the track.”

  Aditi and I were the only ones who’d been to the mosaic bench by the pond.

  “Why don’t we split up since we don’t need everyone in the photo?” I suggested. “It’s kind of hidden, so it might be best if a couple of us sneak down there to avoid advertising its location. Then the rest of you can work on the last clue, and we can meet up near the finish.”

  Everyone liked my idea, particularly Aditi—she’d been struggling to keep up with us thanks to the wedges she’d insisted on wearing. Ben volunteered to go with me.

  I tried to remain nonchalant, but all I could think was I had Ben to myself at last. As we jogged toward the far end of campus, I thought up ways to ask about his dream. Maybe the rainbow sculpture had felt familiar to him too. Once we got past the sports field, we slowed, and I casually led him to the pond. It was still as glass, reflecting the surrounding forest and mountains. We made our way down a steep dirt path through the cattails to where a few wooden benches and one covered in colorful glass circled the water’s edge.

  “This place is pretty cool,” Ben said. “Didn’t know you could get down here.”

  “Aditi and I discovered it yesterday. It’s my favorite spot on campus.”

  As soon as we took a selfie on the mosaic bench, several voices floated down to us. They were getting closer. Perhaps another scavenger hunt team looking for the path’s entrance. We remained silent, hoping they’d pass, so we could sneak away unseen.

  “So happy to be back,” a guy said. “It’s been a long summer.”

  “You’re kidding? Summer’s never long enough.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Thank God we’re at Dickensen. Couldn’t imagine going to a regular school.”

  I leaned toward the sounds, straining to hear.

  “Had to make up some good stories of why I like it out here. My friends think I’m nuts.”

  “I hear ya. They don’t know what they’re missing.”

  Laughter.

  “Wonder when the teachers will send us outside the fence.”

  “Probably a lot sooner than last year. I think it’s only freshmen who have to wait a month.”

  Ben looked at me and mouthed, “What?”

  “I’m going to send you outside the fence this year.”

  More laughter.

  “Good luck with that. Your skills are going to have to improve a lot to reach me. My room is way down the hall from yours.”

  Someone gasped loudly.

  Ben and I turned to the right. Two boys stared at us. Then a third popped into view. His eyes bulged when he spied us.

  “Now what do we do?” The second guy’s voice was full of panic.

  “Robbins is going to kill us,” the third boy said.

  “Calm down. He’ll never find out.” Then the first boy turned back to us. “So, what are you freshmen doing here?”

  I lifted my phone. “Just taking a picture of this bench. For the scavenger hunt.”

  “Uh-huh. Can I see?”

  I showed the boy in front the screen.

  He examined it. “Any video?”

  I shook my head.

  “Come on,” Ben said to me. “We have to get back.”

  The first guy opened his mouth, but words didn’t come out.

  We squeezed past them to hike up the path. I kept my head down. It was all very awkward, as if I’d mistakenly entered the men’s restroom.

  “Hey, Gabe,” Ben mumbled to the last boy we passed.

  “Hey, Ben.”

  “You know those freshmen?” the first guy asked.

  “Yeah,” Gabe said. “Ben’s cool. He won’t be a problem.”

  “You make sure of that.”

  I stiffened. It sounded like a threat. I didn’t dare turn back.

  When we got away from the pond, I asked, “Who were they?”

  “Sophomores. At least Gabe is. Met him playing flag football.” Ben hurried toward the field, obviously trying to put more distance between us and them.

  I had to jog to keep up with his longer strides. “What do you think got them so worked up?”

  “Give me a minute. I’m trying to remember what they said.”

  We walked in silence as bits and pieces of their conversation replayed in my mind. They’d mentioned a Robbins. I was pretty sure I’d read he was a teacher, but perhaps they were referring to some big shot on campus.

  “There you are!” Ryan shouted. “Did you find the jeweled throne?”

  Ben winked at me. “Yep.”

  “Great!” Ryan squished between us to peek at our photo. “Bet we get first place.”

  So much for my opportunity to ask Ben about his dream. Now I had even more I wished to discuss.

  Chapter: 3

  Monday evening, I joined Aditi, Ben, and Ryan in the Hayes Auditorium for the Freshman Welcome. The room hummed with conversations. Maybe I’d learn the answer to the question that’d been raging in my head for two weeks: why was I selected for such an elite school? Yes, I could write, but I wasn’t much of an artist. And my grades had never been anything to brag about. Everyone I’d met here seemed to have some sort of creative outlet from drama to art to writing, but there were no prodigies as far as I knew. In most respects, everyone appeared to be typical teenagers. So what made the recruiters reach out to us?

  And although chances were slim, perhaps the assembly would help me figure out what those students were chatting about near the pond. They’d clearly thought we had overheard something. I still hadn’t had a chance to speak to Ben about it, and I wasn’t about to mention it to Aditi. No need to stir up trouble with the upperclassmen by involving someone else. It was probably nothing, but it bugged me.

  At seven p.m. the lights dimmed, and a middle-aged woman walked onto the stage. She introduced herself as Joan Rothchild, the Dean of Students, and droned on about academics and responsibility while I stole glances at Ben, wondering if he’d come up with any theories about what we’d overheard. I couldn’t conceive any reason a group of students would be so worried a couple freshmen had overheard bits of a conversation. And the way they spoke about getting into trouble, presumably by a teacher, made it sound like it wasn’t their secret but the school’s. But what could a prep school be hiding?

  At last, the dean handed the microphone over to Principal Locke as a sigh of relief rippled through the auditorium.

  “Good evening, freshmen. Welcome to Dickensen Academy.” His voice boomed through the spacious room as if he knew he had to wake us up.

  I sat straighter. This guy’s animated voice was the opposite of the dean’s, and despite looking over fifty, he was in constant motion. When he wasn’t prancing across the stage, he was traipsing up and down the aisles like a kid hyped on sugar. I bobbed slightly in my seat as I took it all in. Not only did the school sound impressive, but he made us sound impressive. Still, even with his entertaining antics, my fingers itched to check my phone, maybe search outside the fence in case the phrase meant something. But I had to keep reminding myself we had no reception.

  When Aditi leaned forward with a slight frown wrinkling the corners of he
r eyes, I realized the principal’s speech was veering away from typical welcome territory. “We have been in contact with your teachers, friends, and family to determine you have a love for children and enjoy the everyday magic in what we call life.”

  I jerked my head back. Why would they care that we like kids? Magic?

  “Creativity is woven through the entire curriculum, and we’ll teach you to harness it to learn more from your classes and focus better on school and, um, extracurricular activities. Plus, we will use creativity to do things beyond your imagination.”

  I frowned. That was a little weird.

  At last, he stood still in the center of the stage and gazed out at us. “I promise, before long, you will understand what makes this academy so unique. Please be patient. Study hard. Make friends. Have fun.” He winked. “But not too much fun. Best of luck to you. Good night.”

  The lights flicked on. Everyone began talking at once, making it impossible to have a real conversation. I hadn’t learned much except we had a passionate, if a bit eccentric, principal. But as I shuffled behind Ryan, squished between him and Aditi, I couldn’t help but grin. Dickensen’s program sounded impressive and all, but just as remarkable, I already had my own group of friends—no help from Julia required.

  Once outside, the four of us separated from the crowd. “We scored big time on the principal.” Ryan pumped his arm. “I bet he makes this place tons of fun. For school that is.”

  “For sure,” Aditi said. “The principal at my last school was soooo boring.”

  “Imagine, he’s been living here for ten years straight,” Ben said. “It’s a huge campus for only two hundred students, but seriously, I’d go stir crazy. Don’t you think?”

  Aditi shrugged. “Maybe he has a wife and kids hidden over in Forest Circle.”

  “Or maybe he’s married to his job,” I suggested. Just like Dad.

  Ben opened the door to O’Reilly for us. “Why’d he leave us hanging there at the end and not say what makes this place unique after all the hype?” He sighed.

  “Loosen up, man,” Ryan said. “He’s just trying to get us excited about starting school. Hey, any of you guys want to play foosball?”

  “In a while,” Ben said. “I’ll find you.”

  Ryan nodded. “Later.” Then he took off toward the game room—a large room with a pool table, darts, foosball, and video games. Laughter and electronic bleeps from that direction pulled many of the surrounding kids toward it like a magnet, and Ryan joined their flow.

  Aditi motioned toward the elevator. I told her to go on ahead; I wasn’t in the mood to go upstairs yet.

  Ben turned to me. “Want to take a walk?”

  My breath hitched in my throat. With me? “Sure.”

  The sky was still light, although the setting sun cast a golden glow on the trees around us. The air had a slight chill, but I wasn’t about to spoil the moment by running off to grab a hoodie.

  Something about Ben put me at ease, kind of like my friend Drew, who I’d known forever. But at the same time, Ben made my heart flutter in a way it hadn’t before. Now alone with him, I kept my face straight ahead, only stealing a glance or two with my peripheral vision. I loved his big, blue eyes, mysteriously peeking out from under all his hair. I’d never had a boyfriend, only one crush in eighth grade, but the guy had never known I existed, so there was no comparison.

  He didn’t talk for a while, and an awkward silence developed.

  “So,” I began, “it sure is pretty up here. They picked a nice spot for this academy.” Everything I said sounded so lame.

  He only gave slight grunts in agreement.

  After we got to one of the paved paths meandering around campus, he broke his silence. “Sorry about that. I wanted to get away from everyone.”

  I suppressed a grin. Maybe he did like me.

  “I wanted to get your take on this school.”

  “Oh.” I raised my voice to mask my disappointment. So stupid. What was I thinking? A popular guy like Ben would never be attracted to me.

  “What do you think Gabe and his friends were talking about earlier?”

  I shrugged. “Couldn’t figure it out. Something about a fence.”

  “Yeah. They said outside the fence a couple of times. Almost like it was a figure of speech.”

  “It seems like they were trying to hide something. But it didn’t sound like much of a secret.”

  “I wouldn’t have thought anything of it except they were so shocked to see us. It could’ve all been an act.”

  I nodded. “True. But I’ve been thinking. They might’ve known some freshmen would be there. For the scavenger hunt.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Ryan says I’m paranoid. And Aditi, well, she’s so happy to be here. But you, you were there. You heard.”

  My jaw dropped. “Did you tell Ryan about them?”

  He shook his head. “No way.” He leaned in closer. “But I did tell him I feel like we’re being watched. Ever since I got here, I keep catching people looking at me. The upperclassmen. And some of the staff too.”

  I couldn’t help but giggle. “I haven’t noticed,” I lied. Actually I had but doubted it meant anything like he thought. Because of his height, Ben appeared much older than fourteen, and I’d seen some of the older girls whispering about him. The boys may have simply been checking out the new competition.

  “I feel like there’s something big we don’t know about. Something those students were protecting. I mean, really, why are we here?”

  I thought it was just me who was confused. “Well…the recruiters said we’re creative and focused.”

  “Yeah, that’s what Principal Locke said too.”

  “And we have the right personality.”

  Ben looked up at the sky, sighed, then turned toward the forest. “What did he say…something about how it will soon become clear why we’re here, and there’s some ultimate purpose for our creativity?”

  “I know. That whole creativity part was a bit bizarre.”

  He shrugged. “It seems everyone is going with the flow. But I have so many questions.” Then he touched my arm to stop me, so I turned toward him. “I’m thinking they’re isolating us for some special reason,” he admitted in an embarrassed tone.

  I tried not to laugh—he was acting paranoid. But I didn’t know Ben well. Maybe he was joking, trying to freak me out. Or was he hitting on me? The flutter in my chest moved to my stomach. I was already anxious about being away from home and whether or not I could hack the academics. I didn’t need to obsess about anything else. But I still had to know about Ben’s dream.

  “So…I also had a dream about Dickensen before I accepted the offer.”

  Ben’s head snapped toward me. “You did?”

  “Yeah. I was taking pictures of students on campus. Then when I went on the tour on Saturday, it all felt familiar. Kind of like déjà vu. I also felt the same way on the scavenger hunt today. Was yours anything like that?”

  “Not really. In my dream, I showed my mom, step-dad, and little brother around O’Reilly. But it wasn’t at all like the official tour.”

  So much for my theory. “Did the campus feel familiar when you got here?”

  Ben shook his head. “I don’t remember many specifics about the school from the dream. I mostly remember my family’s faces—they were all excited and happy. When I woke up, I was convinced I should come here. Before I’d been pretty worried, especially about leaving Calvin. He’s only five and has a few medical issues.” He turned to me. “I know it sounds rather basic. But what’s strange is I still remember lots of it.”

  A tingle went through me. Just like mine. “I didn’t see a little boy with you on the tour.”

  “No. Calvin stayed home with his dad. My mom was afraid he might throw a fit with me leaving and all. And there was this birthday party…”

  I nodded then bit my lip. “So how did I fit in?”

  His tanned skin went pink. Ryan’s dream girl comment must’ve g
otten to him. “That part’s a bit hazy. But pretty sure you were in our car as we drove home, so when I saw you on the tour, I knew I needed to get to know you.”

  I stared at the ground as I sorted out my thoughts. My palms began to sweat and my heart sped up. The only logical conclusion for the appearance of each other in our dreams was we had made an impression on each other at the testing center like Ryan had assumed. I had to smile. But I wasn’t about to add to our shared embarrassment by announcing I’d dreamed about him too.

  Chapter: 4

  I woke before dawn on the first day of school. The first week was always the best—meeting new teachers, learning their plans for the year, and none of the pressure of homework or tests. My fabulous new commute: a fifty-yard walk across the quad. It sure beat a long bus ride.

  Homeroom was first. A pudgy man welcomed me at the door with an enthusiastic greeting. I chose a desk near the window and doodled in my notebook while waiting for the bell. I willed it to be a good day. My parents, and even Josh, had instilled in me for as long as I could remember the importance of high school. From this point forward, my grades would count. Even if med school wasn’t at the top of my priority list, I wanted to get into a decent college.

  Once the bell rang, it was a whirlwind of introductions, announcements, and locker assignments followed by history, science, and PE. After lunch, I had Spanish, algebra, language arts, and Creative Core. Seven classes. They weren’t kidding. This school was going to be tough.

  All day I kept my eyes and ears open for something out of the ordinary. But no one seemed to pay extra attention to me or any other freshman. And nothing about the day strayed far from normal. Yes, the classes were small—most had fifteen to twenty students—but that was a selling point of the academy. Yes, they’d scheduled an unusual amount of field trips—particularly in Spanish—but again, a good thing. Who doesn’t like field trips? And yes, most of the teachers were passionate about their jobs, but I’d had zealous teachers before. All reasonable characteristics of a private school.