The Boarding School

-11-

"So, I'm the headmistress here, at Leeron Boarding school. My name is Ms. Perison" The headmistress says. She has an odd voice, almost sounds robotic. I just stare at her.
"Any questions?" She asks. I just sit uncomfortably in my seat.
"Not really a question, more of a comment really" Dad says.
"What is it?"
"You know how I said that Maddie has an anger disorder, over the phone. Do you think you can handle that?" Dad asks.
"I'm sure she will be fine" Ms Perison says.
"She gets in a lot of fights and has random outbursts and feelings of anger... Are you sure she will be okay here?" Dad asks.
"I'm sure we can manage" She says, looking at me. I look away.
"How long will I be here?" I say, shyly, my voice kind of shaky.
"Well... Depends..." She says. That doesn't answer my question.  
"How many students are in this school?" Asks Aunt Lisa.
"About fifty girls" Ms. Perison says. She nods.
"Dad. I don't want to be here" I whisper to dad.
"You're giving it a try remember" Dad whispers back. I look down.
"Something wrong Maddie?" Asks Ms. Perison.
"Just a little nervous..." I say quietly.
"You'll be fine once you settle in. I promise you, you will like it here" she says. I slowly nod. A teacher walks in and hands me my uniform. Black sweater, white dress shirt, dark grey skirt, dark grey knee-high socks and black dress shoes. I sigh.
"I'm not sure about this place. My daughter has, needs" Dad says slowly.
"We can take care of it" Ms. Perison says. Dad and Aunt Lisa stand up. We all go to the foyer.
"This is a good school. It's for intelligent girls. I can tell Maddie is a smart one. She should do well here." She says. Dad sets down my suitcase. We all walk back outside. Dad starts walking to the car. I run over to him and hug him with a very tight grip, about to cry.
"Don't leave me here" I whisper. Dad hugs me back.
"You'll be okay Maddie," He says into my ear. Aunt Lisa gets into the car. Dad was about to get in but I grasp his arm.
"I don't want to stay here" I whine.
"I'll see you soon" he says and pulls his arm away, getting into the car. I watch them drive off. I wipe a couple tears from my eyes, Ms. Perison walks up to me and pats my back.
"Come on inside, I'll show you around" she says. I slowly nod. She walks me inside. I grab my suitcase. She shows me a room with about twenty beds.
"This is one of our bedrooms. We do not have dorm-like rooms. We have two bedrooms where everyone sleeps in their own bed" she says. She points to a bed, telling me that was mine. I put my suitcase on top of it.
"Please put on your uniform now, then I'll show you around more" Ms. Perison says and leaves the room. I sit down on my bed and put on the stupid uniform. I breathe deeply. This is really happening. I'm stuck at this stupid boarding school. I put on my shoes then slip my cell-phone in my sweater pocket, putting the phone on silence. I leave my iPod in my suitcase. I get up and go into the hallway, where Ms. Perison was waiting. She shows me a few classrooms, shows me the bathrooms and shower rooms. Then she shows me the lunchroom, where all the other girls currently were, all eating lunch.
"You hungry? You can grab something to eat, and maybe try meeting some of the other girls" she says. I walk over to the serving tables, grab myself a banana and a sandwich, then sit down at a random table. I look around, most of the girls ignore me. They just continue eating. I try talking to someone, they just say hi then continue to talk with other people. Then some girl walks up to me.
"Hey, a new girl" she laughs to her friends. "Whats your name, loser?" She asks. I can tell that this is one of those attention-seeking prep girls.
"I'm Maddie" I say impatiently.
"Maddie... Short for Madaline or Madison?" She asks.
"No" I say, not making eye-contact with this girl.
"I'm Alison by the way. Good luck at this school, you're probably too stupid to be successful here" she taunts. I ignore her. She keeps talking to me, annoying me but I continue to ignore. She gets mad and grabs my hair and pulls my head back.  
"You listen to me when I talk to you" She growls. I snarl and slap her hand to get her to stop pulling my hair. I was just about to scream at her, maybe hit her again, but I stopped myself. She growls then walks away. Ms. Perison was watching, I look at her, then look away quickly. It makes me uncomfortable the way shes watching me, but I ignore it. I sit in silence and just eat my lunch. After lunch, most of the girls left the room before me. Ms. Perison walks up to me.
"You don't have any classes today. Just take some time to settle in today" she says.
"Okay" I say quietly.
"Why didn't you try to make friends?"
"I did, no one talked to me"
"Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe once you are here for a little while, maybe then the girls would open up to you"
"Maybe"
"Also don't worry about Alison. She's a little rude at times, but she shouldn't bother you anymore"
"I guess..."
She takes me back to the bedroom.
"Maybe you can just relax and read today? I will check on you later and give you your class schedule" she says, leading me too the bedrooms then leaves. I sit down on my bed, smoothing out my blankets. I take out my laptop. The wifi connection is horrible here, but I'll deal. I browse sites. After a little while, I close my laptop and sigh. I really am at this boarding school.... It's gonna be a nightmare.