Andrew went to a private school based on his parents’ judgment. To them, it was a wonderful school. It was a perfect school, a normal school. Yet, Andrew didn’t feel the same way. It wasn’t fair that the school wasn’t perfect in his eyes, yet he was the one who had to attend for the next six years of his life. He thought that should have been his decision, especially now that he was of age. But he couldn’t convince his parents.
All the students at Union Academy either kept to themselves or were part of their own clique. Andrew was one of the kids who kept to himself. He didn’t make any new friends his first month of school and then came to terms that he just wasn’t going to fit in. He was just going to have to lay low for the next six years of his life. It didn’t seem as though it would be too difficult. He wasn’t interested in talking to any of those snobs anyway.
Then one day Susan knocked on his dorm room door. Believing she just had the wrong room number, Andrew opened the door.
“Andrew Keats,” Susan smiled. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
“Excuse me?” Andrew arched an eyebrow just about ready to slam the door in her face.
“I mean,” Susan chuckled, “I should have known that you were going to be here. You need to be in a normal environment for everything to work its way through.”
“I’m sorry… I think you have the wrong room number.” Andrew shook his head and closed the door.
Susan held out her hand keeping the door open. “You are Andrew Keats, right?”
“Yes…” Andrew said slowly wondering if he should have lied.
“Then I have the right room.” Susan pushed her way past Andrew and let herself into his room.
“Um, girls are not allowed in the boys’ dormitory.” Andrew looked down the hall to make sure that no one saw them.
“I won’t be long, as long as you listen to everything I have to say.” Susan stated sitting down on Andrew’s bed.
Andrew closed his door all the way and leaned against it. He didn’t speak on account he had no idea what he was supposed to say to her. She didn’t even introduce herself.
“Andrew Keats, you are not normal.” Susan said bluntly.
Andrew scoffed. “Well, I could have told you that.”
“You’re special. You don’t belong with these kinds of people.” Susan waved her hands motioning to the rest of the room even though the two of them were alone. Andrew looked around the room wondering what exactly she was talking about.
“You are destined to do great things, but not here.” Susan shook her head. “Yet, it’s best that you stay here anyway. There are some people here we need you to get close to.”
“We? Who’s we? And what do you mean I’m destined to do great things? You’re not making any sense.” Andrew put a hand to his forehead. Maybe he was running a fever and hallucinating.
“A new girl is supposed to arrive at the school tomorrow. You need to introduce yourself to her. Talk to her. Make her feel at home here. Become friends with her. Do you understand?” Susan asked.
“No,” Andrew grumbled.
“Her name is Zoey. Like you, she is not normal. Like you, it will be hard for her to understand. Together, the two of you will be able to…” Susan sighed. “Well, we’ll talk more about that later.”
Andrew looked all around the room. Surely he must have been dreaming. He had never even seen this woman around the school before. And how was she supposed to know that a girl named Zoey was going to be starting school the next day? The term openings were full, there was no way another student would be able to start school now. All new students had to wait until the next term.
Andrew closed his eyes hoping that he would wake up from whatever dream he was having. When he opened them, Susan was gone. He let out a sigh of relief and smiled. That would be the last time he ate out right before bed.
He walked over to his bed and noticed a picture of a young girl. Her skin was pale, but her eyes and hair were dark. He flipped the picture over and on the back was written, “Zoey.”
Andrew dropped the picture back onto his bed and grabbed his jacket. He needed to get some air.
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