American All Boys Boarding School [2]

My stupid, stubborn mother

         We were landing in America. I could see the ground as it came nearer and we landed on it. I squealed in anticipation. This was too much and I was super excited. I knew that a limo would be taking me to the boarding school – yes, it was that nice. I walked out from the plane and immediately saw a man holding a sign with my name on it. I walked over to him, grinning.
         “Well hello there Miss Elisabeth. My name is Gordon and I will be driving you to school.” After a firm handshake and we finding my bags, I walked out with Gordon to the limo.
         “So Gordon, what do you do in the school?” I asked out of curiosity. We were about 30 minutes away from the school and I wanted to find out as much about it as I could. 
         Gordon chuckled. “Well I manage the front desk. It is a very exciting job.” I laughed hearing the sarcasm in his words.
         “So what are the names of the ladies I will be staying with?” I asked. I hoped they liked me, and didn’t gossip. I hoped that they wouldn’t judge me for being from a different country! Gordon looked uncomfortable and didn’t answer, nor did I force him to. He probably didn’t know yet. It was the beginning of summer – I wouldn’t expect him to know. We drove in silence for the rest of the ride. It wasn’t awkward, just…silent. Eventually we arrived and I have to say I was pumped. I sprung from the limo the exact second it stopped, not waiting for Gordon to open the door from me. I also got my bags from the back before he was even out.
         “After you Miss Elisabeth,” Gordon grinned, motioning with his arm for me to go forward. I started toward the giant gates at the front of the school. I had never seen anything like this in all of my life. It was beautiful, and just as I was about to touch it, Gordon grabbed my hand.
           “Don’t do that Miss Elisabeth! The alarm will go off. Let me call in first.” I nodded, understanding. Gordon went over to a small box and pressed the red button, telling his name first, and then mine. The gate slowly swung open and we were allowed to enter.
         “That was pretty cool Gordon! Will I ever be able to do that?” I asked curiously. Gordon smiled and nodded. “Yes!” I yelled, jumping in the air and pumping my fist. When I was done messing around, I turned back to Gordon, picked up my bags, and kept on walking. America was really influencing me. Once we entered, Gordon took my bags from me. I protested a bit, but he said that it was fine. It was all part of the job. We got my room assignments and headed over to an elevator. I was beginning to think that this was a hotel instead of a school, but I saw traces of a school everywhere.
         “Well I must leave you now Miss Elisabeth, but hopefully I will see you soon.” Gordon gave me my bags and left me with a small wave. I smiled back then entered my dorm. Inside there was music playing from a band I knew pretty well. All Time Low – The Beach. I immediately dropped my bags and started dancing around crazily. I was curious to where the music was coming from, but didn’t ponder on it when I had to dance to this song.
         “Um, who are you?” I heard the voice come from my right. I straightened myself out after a few moments of wobbling and smiled at the person in my room.
         “I’m Elisabeth, and can I ask what you’re doing in my dorm?” I asked him. What was he doing on the girl’s side of campus?
         “Hello Elisabeth, I’m Caleb, and I would like to ask you the same thing.” I hadn’t noticed before, but Caleb was gorgeous! His hair is black and his eyes a dark green for which I fell in love with.
         “At-on jamais dit que vous avez de superbes vous êtes?” (Has anyone ever told you how gorgeous you are?) I asked Caleb, staring. He looked at me confused. I slammed my hand over my mouth. Thank god I had said it in French. “Sorry! I sometimes answer in French. I’m the exchange student from France that’s supposed to be coming here. Why are you on the girls side of campus anyway?” I asked and amended.
         Caleb’s face scrunched up – he was still confused. “Um, I live in this dorm. I didn’t know that they were accepting girls this year.” Quickly Caleb took out his cell and began to text to someone. Now was my chance to explore around the dorm. This is what it had: posters, 4 beds, a closet, 1 bathroom 2 dressers, no color on the walls, and a small TV. This was going to be fun. I thought about what Caleb had said before – about how he didn’t know they were accepting girls this year – and it made me think that there haven’t been girls in this school. I don’t see how that‘s possible. I mean, I come from France people! You aren’t going to just put some girl in an all boys’ school. Plus, I don’t even think they have all boys’ schools here in America.
         “You know, my dorm is pretty boring. I wonder when the other girls are going to get here. Do you think they’ll bring furniture? We need some color on the walls too,” I yelled to Caleb. He walked into the room I was in and grabbed my arm, dragging me toward the door.
         “Come on. We’re going to sort this out with the principal.”
         “Alright!” I squeaked, barely making any sound come out of my mouth. I SO wasn’t used to being bossed around by a guy and it was sort of scary. Soon we arrived at the principal’s office. Caleb knocked and that was followed by a muffled ‘come in.’ Caleb stormed in there with me cowering behind him.
         “Is there a problem here Caleb?” the principal asked him. Caleb glanced over at me, then back to the principal. He must mean I’m the problem. “Yes, Miss Elisabeth is standing in the room with us. Of what significance is this Caleb?” the principal then asked, leaning forward on his desk.
         “Why the hell is there a girl here!” he screamed. I cowered behind him again. I never knew how angry Americans could get and it was scary. Then a second guy ran into the room, completely out of breath.
         “I…heard…girl…living…,” then his eyes turned to me and widened. I smiled and waved a small wave. I was shy. The newest guy walked over to me and smiled. “Hi, I’m James. It’s nice to meet you,” the boy named James said to me, and he kissed my hand. I giggled a bit. James walked over to Caleb for a moment and said something to him too low for me to hear. Caleb nodded to James and James walked back over to me.
         “Come on. We’re going to leave for awhile while the principal and Caleb talk.” I nodded, not wanting to speak because I was…well…scared. I had no idea who in the world this boy was and where we were going. I’m sure that would make you scared too. James grabbed my hand and we started walking back toward my dorm. We went in silence the whole way until we arrived at my dorm.
         “How did you know where my dorm was?” I asked James. He just met me; we hadn’t had the time to become friends and he already knows where my dorm is.
         James, as with Caleb, gave me a confused look and said, “This is my dorm.” I must be on the wrong side of campus then. I was going to have to talk to the principal about getting my dorm switched. Once inside James jumped on one of the beds and just stared at me. I was standing in the middle of the room not moving and looking down at my feet.
         When I looked up he was still staring. “Parlez-vous français?” (Do you speak French?) I asked him. James smiled.
         “Juste un peu.” (Just a little bit.) James answered me. I grinned. I could help him with his French. I walked slowly over to him and sat on the extreme edge of the bed.
         “I could teach you some more, if you like,” I told him slowly, a small quiver detectable in my voice. Again I wasn’t looking at James when I said this. I felt the bed move and James right beside of me. I tried to move away, but as I said before I was on the EXTREME EDGE of the bed.
         “That would be awesome,” he whispered, then sat back on the bed again. After a few moments of awkward silence, James asked, “Have you unpacked yet?” I looked over at him alarmed.
         “I-I’m not staying here. I’m moving to the girl’s side of campus as soon as Caleb gets back so I can talk to the principal.” At that moment Caleb walked in and slammed the door behind him. James jumped up.
         “Dude! What happened?” James yelled at Caleb.
         “That stupid principal is letting a girl go here,” was all Caleb said before landing on one of the beds. He glared at me. I shrank back, his gaze intimidating. I didn’t know Americans could be so violent.
         After another few moments of awkward silence I had to break it. “Please, don’t hurt me,” I whispered quietly. I had my knees pulled up to my chest and my head halfway in them. James walked over and put his arms around my shoulders.
         “Nobody is going to hurt you while you’re here, right Caleb,” James whispered to me, saying Caleb’s name a bit louder and throwing daggers at him. Caleb rolled his eyes, but nodded. Then, the door slammed open and 2 more guys ran in.
         “Dude,” one of them said, “we heard a girl was going here and staying in our room.” They both looked around and saw me. I waved to them and smiled. They too were cute.
         “Ryan, David,” James began as he gestured to me, “this is Elisabeth. We’re her bodyguards for the year.” Both Ryan and David jumped in the air and pumped their fists.
         “Hell yes!” Ryan said, “I’ve always wanted to be a bodyguard!”
         “Well guys,” I laughed, getting up, “I have to go and talk to the principal about getting a dorm on the girl’s side of campus. I can’t live with boys.” I walked to the door and it was deathly quiet. But when I tried to open the door, it wouldn’t budge. I groaned. Now I was locked in the room. When I turned back to the guys to have them open it, they all looked, well, shocked.
         “What’s wrong wit you all?” I asked curiously. I hadn’t seen them so still since I got here.
         “Um, Eli, there’s something we need to tell you,” David whispered quietly. Now I was confused. James walked up to me and picked me up.
         “What are you doing! Put me downnnn!!!” I wailed. Quickly I was put on one of the 4 beds. Now I pouted. “I’m not a play thing. You can’t just pick me up whenever you want you. Now just tell me what you have to say and then let me go sort this out with the principal.”
         Caleb groaned. “Don’t you get it Elisabeth; this is an all boys school.” I bit my lip. This wasn’t adding up at all.
         “I thought they didn’t have those in America,” I mumbled, a bit embarrassed. “My mom signed me up for here. I thought that there was no way I would get into an all boys school because, well I’m a girl. Apparently I was wrong though.” Then I paused. “David did you just call me Eli?” David shifted uncomfortably against the wall. I had my answer right there.
         Caleb sat right in front of me as he continued. “You see, you have such potential that the principal decided to let you come here. I’m guessing that your mom can’t read English, so she thought she was sending you to just a plain boarding school. That, as you can clearly see, is not the case.”
         Abruptly I stood up. “Comment ma mère pouvait être si stupide! Je ne peux même pas partir! Argh! C'est tellement stupide!” (How could my mother be so stupid! I can’t even leave! Argh! This is so stupid!) I ranted. I was pacing around the room, well, more like stomping around the room. I had never had a temper tantrum since I turned 5, so I was surprised when this one came on so quickly. When I looked up at the guys, they were all glancing around nervously at each other. I sighed. “Well, it looks like we’re roomies. Where in the world am I going to sleep?”