I didn't want to go to boarding school

In fact, I would have much rather been anywhere else as the car twisted down the gravel path and towards the wrought iron gates. Michael drove and Mum sat beside him, turning her back on occasion to make sure I hadn't decided to open the car door and throw myself out onto the gravel. I'd be lying if I said the thought hadn't crossed my mind at least once since we set off from London.

The drive from London to the middle of nowhere had been an adventurous one, to say the least. All the roads and lanes twisted this way and that. A sickly-sweet smell hung in the air and filled the car through the gap in the open window. Trees lined the path and roads with fields that seemed to stretch on for miles. We had passed cows and sheep in their pens and farmers out ploughing the fields for the new crop. Everything was new, but not all of it was exciting.

London had always been so busy, so chaotic with smoke from chimneys clouding the sky. The countryside was a world away from the city I had grown up in.

Mum shifted around to face me as we drove through the gate and up another path that twisted just as much as all the others. I started to feel a little car sick.

"Don't look so nervous, Flick. You worked hard to be here, and your dad is really proud of you," Mum said. "He would be here if he could."

"I know. I just don't think boarding school is for me, especially not this one." I waved in the direction of the window.

"You'll be fine, trust me. Times are changing, and I doubt the girls here will see you as anything other than a friend regardless of how you got in."

"Somehow, I doubt it," I muttered.

"Do you reckon they'll let you stay over the holidays? I like this idea of constant silence," Michael said. I stuck my tongue out at him. Mum tapped him lightly on the back of the head.

"Enough, Michael." She turned back to me. "Maddox isn't as big or as scary as you think it is."

I turned away from her and looked out the window. The trees passed by in a blur and I wondered how Mum could be so sure about a place she had never been to. It had never been my choice to go to Maddox, Dad said that it would have been what was best for me, but I never liked the idea. I had agreed to it for him, but the further away we got from London, the more I wanted Michael to turn the car around and drive home. A new school, far away from my friend Janina and my family just didn't feel right. It was too much.

Michael whistled loudly as the car turned a corner into a massive oval-shaped driveway. At the edge of the drive stood a large stone building decorated with windows that looked out onto the surrounding fields. Several stone steps led up to an oak door that looked far too heavy to be opened and taller than any door I had seen. It looked like a castle, one that many years ago may have belonged to a Lord who ruled the surrounding farmland with an iron fist.

"So much for not being big and scary," I mumbled.

On the steps leading up to the front door stood a tall woman with dark brown hair that had been pinned up on the back of her head. She wore a dark blue pencil skirt, a white blouse and glasses that were perched on the edge of her nose and looked as though they would slide off if she moved her head too quickly. Beside her stood a shorter woman whose red hair had been pinned back in a knot. She wore a light green dress with an apron tied around the front. Neither of them looked like a welcoming committee.

The car came to a stop opposite the stone steps, and I stood staring at the building that would be my home until June. Vines had begun to creep up the side of the stones and along the side of the building. They tangled their way up to the roof where the black tiles appeared unstable and ready to fall at any moment.

After a few minutes, I rolled the window up and popped open the door. I could smell the same sickly-sweet smell as before and I pulled my cardigan a little tighter around my arms to protect from the winter chill. Michael walked around the car to the boot and pulled out the leather trunk that contained almost everything I owned. He lifted the trunk before placing it on the grave in front of the steps and closing the door.

"Welcome to Maddox Academy, Felicity! I'm Mrs Maddox and I am your headmistress," the taller woman said. She stepped off the stone and shook my hand.

"Most people call me Flick," I said.

"We're a little on the formal side here, so Felicity will do." Michael snorted behind me and Mrs Maddox glared at him. "This is Miss Jones, matron and your dormitory Mother. She is to be the person you go to if you have any difficulties here at the Academy."

"My office door is open for anything you may need during your time with us and if I'm not in there, you can find me in the infirmary."

"Our head girl should be here is as well, but she is dealing with an issue amongst the younger students, but I am sure you will meet her soon enough." She paused. "Now, we try and encourage independence from all of our girls from the moment they step through the doors. You may say your goodbyes now."

Mrs Maddox stuck her hand out towards Mum and Michael, shaking them briefly before returning to the top of the steps. Mum looked to be on the verge of tears so refused to look me in the eye as I said my final goodbye to Michael. He had always been someone on very few words of physical actions but pulled me into a tight hug that lasted all but three seconds before releasing me and turning back to the car.

It may not have seemed like much, but that brief hug meant everything to me.

Mum stepped forward and gripped me by the upper arms, her nails digging into my skin through the wool of my cardigan. Tears were starting to form in her eyes, but she blinked them away as fast as they came.

"If you need anything, telephone. Your dad and I have given you some money for making calls home, use it sparingly as you only have so much. I'll write when I can, and we'll try to visit around mine and Michael's work schedule. Remember, you earned this."

She released my arms and pulled a handkerchief out of her handbag, quickly dabbing her eyes and turning to Mrs Maddox. I watched as she waved goodbye and hurried off to the car with Michael before she started to sob. The two of them climbed into the car and drove back up the gravel path. Within seconds, the car drove through the gate, rounded the corner and disappeared.

I wanted to chase after them. To beg Mum to take me home so I could go back to my old school with Janina and we could have supper as a family. I might have earned my place at Maddox, but it would never beat home. Never.

Miss Jones stepped forward and lifted my trunk off the floor before gesturing me to the door which Mrs Maddox held open. I glanced back towards the gravel path, as though expecting to see the car turn around and come back for me. It didn't. Instead, I clasped my hands in front of me, trying to ignore the sweat that had built up on my palms, and walked up the steps and through the door into what seemed like a painting.

If the outside had been grand, the inside looked like a palace. The floors were hardwood with a grand staircase that twisted up the main hallway and peeled off in two different directions. Above the door sat a large, Stained-glass window that filled the entire entrance in a multi-coloured glow. Paintings lined the walls and there were electric lights perched beside them, brightening the hallway that much more.

My last school had been a simple brick building with a few classrooms and nothing more. Maddox appeared to be more of a castle or an old Abbey than a school. It all felt grand and important, certainly not a place that I would ever fit into.

I followed Mrs Maddox up the main staircase and to the right, along another large hallway that had been lined with small tables and vases of flowers. More paintings were hanging from the wall and the bannisters were perhaps the grandest I had seen. Everything about this school was far bigger than I thought it would be and much grander than anything I had ever laid eyes on in the past.

We walked down the hall and Mrs Maddox pushed open another wooden door, gesturing me into an office. A large desk sat in front of a window that looked out onto the entrance and the fields beyond the grounds. Books lined the walls and there was a typewriter perched on the desk with a sheet of paper wedged inside that Mrs Maddox must have been working on.

She walked around to the other side of the desk and took a seat in the chair, gesturing to the one opposite. I slid into the chair, failing to keep my eyes focused on her. My gaze kept darting around the small room, finding new and interesting things to stare at. Back home, everything had been simple, a basic way of living. Maddox would take some getting used to.

"First of all, I want to welcome you again to Maddox Academy, I am sure you will flourish under our guidance. As you no doubt know, getting a scholarship here is a remarkably difficult thing to do. The last person to pass the scholarship examinations attended the Academy almost ten years ago. You obviously worked hard to be here, and we expect that hard work to continue during your time here.

"We encourage our girls to be free-thinking, respectful, and above all else, hard-working. We do not tolerate acts of violence on our grounds and every issue must be handled democratically and through conversation. If you do not adhere to these rules, we have the right to terminate your scholarship. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mrs Maddox."

"Excellent. I do not doubt that you will follow our direction owing to the transcripts we received from your previous school." She stood up. "Right, you shall be sharing a room with the other girls in your year. Your bed is ready, and Miss Jones has already taken your trunk. If you would like to follow me, we shall get you introduced to your year group."

I stood up from my chair and knotted my hands together again, following her as she opened the door and gestured me back into the hallway. We walked away from the main staircase and down the hall. At the end of the hall sat a wooden staircase lit by bulbs that climbed the twisting wall. Mrs Maddox led me up the stairs and to another door which she pushed open and walked inside.

The room was lined with sixteen identical beds, eight on one side and eight on the other, all were nearly made with the corners straight and a green blanket lying across the end. I hope that wasn't a requirement, I had never been very good at keeping anything tidy. A large window at the far end of the room overlooked the back of the school and the vast fields that stretched beyond. I could see the tip of a church spire in the distance and the slight reflection of a pond nearby. We really were in the middle of nowhere

I looked around the room again, taking note of the girls that stood beside their beds with their hands behind their backs. All of them wore the Maddox uniform; a pale blue and white chequered dress with their hair neatly tied up. Not a single hair was out of place on any of them. I must have seemed like a street urchin from Victorian London to them. Just looking at them told me all I needed to know about the people I would be sharing a room with. They all had money and they had all been raised in a different sphere to me.

"Girls, this is Felicity Grieves. She is our scholarship winner and will be joining your year group for the rest of the term. I expect you to do Maddox Academy proud and make Felicity feel welcome."

"Yes, Mrs Maddox," the girls chorused.

"Good. I shall leave you to get settled in, Felicity. Tomorrow, I expect to see you in your uniform."

"Yes, Mrs Maddox," I muttered.

She smiled brightly before both she and Miss Jones left the room, closing the door behind them. The rest of the girls in the room broke from their stances moments after the door had closed. I walked the length of the room, feeling their eyes on me every step of the way. My trunk had been placed in front of a bed at the far end of the room, closest to the window that looked over the fields.

Despite everyone watching, I undid the latches and pulled out a small oval photograph frame containing a family photograph that had been taken only a few weeks before I left. I placed it on the nightstand beside the bed, my fingers lingering on it for a few seconds, before looking around the rest of the room. The other girls continued to stare at me.

From the other side of the room, a girl with dirty-blonde hair tied back in a plait stalked the length of the room and stood in front of me with her arms folded over her chest.

"What was your name again?"

"Felicity, but most people call me Flick."

"I'm Victoria, like the Queen. We don't get many, if any, scholarship students here anymore. All of us can afford to attend."

"I got lucky, I guess."

"Hm, lucky is one word for it." She looked me up and down. "You certainly don't look like a Maddox girl. We have certain standards here that I'm not sure you shall be able to live up to, but I suppose only time will tell."

"Leave her alone, Victoria. She only just got here," the girl on the bed beside me said.

"I think we'll keep Felicity. Flick isn't exactly a Maddox girl name. Follow the rules, and you'll do well here. Bring shame to the Maddox name, and you'll be sorry." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

She gave me another look and stalked back down the hallway to one of the other girls whose bed was beside her own. They both glanced at me as they spoke, but I paid them no mind and instead turned my attention back to the photograph on my nightstand.

I had made a promise to Dad that morning to try my hardest at Maddox regardless of how others looked at me. I may not have looked like the other girls or had the money they had, but I had a Dad who believed in me more than anyone else and I was determined to do him proud.

Boarding school may have been my idea of a nightmare, but I would never break my promise to Dad. I would just have to see where this new adventure took me and hoped that no one tried to get in my way.

~~~

First Published - May 3rd, 2020