1st 5 Pages April Workshop - Lynn

Talynn Lynn
YA Contemporary (with Inspirational elements)
To Find A Way

I flipped through last year’s copy of Dance on Stage in the dreary waiting area of Stony Hill Priory. The monthly journal pictured a performance by Jeanne de le Pierre, the cover pristine and glossy, free from smudges and crinkled pages. I tossed it back to the table, not wanting to mess up the pretty pages, untouched for so many months now.

My stomach knotted with a thousand butterflies. This is not the way I envisioned my first week, already summoned to the office. I should be happy my mom said. I should appreciate the school and their willingness to teach me to keep my emotions hidden, as was the law. Instead, I gripped the gold plated chair arm, letting the cold ride up my arm inch by inch. One glance out the office window and I knew why I couldn’t shake the ominous feeling hanging in the air. The perfect storm threatened to dump massive amounts of rain. Black clouds pushed the wispy white out of the way helping to illuminate the streak of lightening falling from the sky.

Thunder boomed and the windows rattled but I kept telling myself that’s not why I jumped. The school pamphlets, with my name typed across the top, Prism Jamison, fell to the floor. I wanted to crawl under the chairs and disappear as magically as the lightening.

I picked up my papers and walked to the window, watching the rain splatter on the glass. I traced the droplets, guessing which way they’d slide and disappear into a puddle on the outside sill. Today, I wished I could be a raindrop and blend in with the droplets slipping into the pool of rain.

“Miss Jamison?” said a voice from behind. “Hello. I’m Mrs. Tolson.”

I jumped and dropped my papers again. So much for disappearing. Too late now.

“I don’t know why they send all those letters and pamphlets out to new students. We cover everything mentioned in them during orientation and then again during each personal welcome meeting. I’ve always thought it was a waste of money to keep printing them,” she said as she walked over to me and knelt down to pick up the papers. She stood, and handed them back.

“Why don’t we step into my office and get started? I’m sure you’ve got a lot of questions for me, don’t you.”

I followed her through a door with her name engraved in silver on a nameplate of gold. She motioned toward a red velvet cushioned chair and she walked around behind her desk and sat down in a red matching swiveled chair. The room was all glass, except for the back wall with the door with just walked through. All the shades were drawn, but the one right behind Mrs. Tolson’s desk was raised. Good. I could still watch the rain splatters roll down the glass.

For a moment, she examined me, her eyes moving from my head to my toes. She removed her glasses and let them hang loosely from the chain around her neck. She cleared her throat and I took that as a sign to say something. Anything to remove the awkward silence.

“Honestly, I don’t have much to say. My biggest question would be who paid for my schooling? Why did they do that for me?”

Mrs. Tolson looked at me with knitted eyebrows. I’m sure her job as a school counselor was to be kind, and if this was an act, I’d be able to see right through her. I wanted to know right from the beginning if she could convince me she was on my side. I stretched my legs out in front of me and crossed my arms, never taking my eyes from her face.

“This must all be so confusing to you. I hope it doesn’t make you feel lousy when I tell you I can’t say who your benefactor is. That, my dear, it strictly confidential.”

I raised an eyebrow, but never moved my eyes. “I’m sure it is. But can you at least tell me why?”

She smiled warmly. “I wasn’t told why. All I know is that you are here and now it’s my job to turn you into a proper socialite who can control her emotions.”

I dropped my jaw and rose up in the chair.

“What? Turn me into a proper socialite? What do you mean?”

There was a disturbing look of sympathy on Mrs. Tolson’s face.

“I’m aware of how difficult it is for a teen your age to move to a new school, start all over again, make new friends. It’s my job to help smooth the transition and teach you to fit in and be accepted.”

“Really? I’m trying to make sense all this, but this moves beyond my understanding. I am more than capable of making my own friends and fitting in where I need to fit in.” This is unbelievable. Where did she come off thinking I needed to change, be someone else? To fit in?

“Please hear me out, Miss Jamison.”

“My name is Prism. Miss Jamison is my mother.”

“Very well, Prism. I hope you don’t prove to be a drama queen hear at Stony Hill.”

How dare her!

I placed my hands on my knees and gulped in some fresh air. Calm down, Prism. Remember. You can disappear any time you want.

Mrs. Tolson wrote something on her paper stacked in front of her, and then reached into her desk draw and pulled out a brown colored envelope. I wasn’t going to let her get away with calling me a drama queen. I couldn’t be farther from her…that type of person.

“Mrs. Tolson, I'm not a drama queen. I’m just surprised at what you are saying. I wasn’t aware this was a charm school of sorts and I certainly didn’t know I was going to have a metamorphosis during my stay here. Maybe I’ve made the wrong decision.”

Mrs. Tolson laid the packet down on her desk. She fumbled with the chain around her neck before placing her glasses back on her face as if they were a magnifying glass.

“Prism, this is the greatest opportunity you will ever have in your life. Someone, a very generous and caring someone, has paid, upfront, for you to obtain the highest education in the state. Not only that, but this person has demanded a complete turn around in your presentation and social standing. This means, you will attend charm classes, you will learn to behave like a socialite and you will learn to dress like one, as well. And you will learn to control your emotions, which is the only reason you are here in the first place. We have a lot of work to do, and very little time to get it done. I hope to have your complete cooperation. Do I make myself clear?” She finished by pulling her glasses of her face. This gesture was getting on my nerves.

"Sure. Clear as crystal."

Demanded? Well, I’ll show her.