• Chapter 2 *Elena*

    Here we go, I thought, time to tell the biggest lie of the century.

    I raced out my room, holding my fake acceptance letter that I spent last night forging, over my head.

    “Mom, mom look!”

    I shoved the piece of paper in her face. She took a step back, allowing her eyes to focus and took the paper from my pale, cool hands.

    “What’s this?!” She asked, astonished and her eyes moving fast, scanning over the text.

    “It’s my acceptance letter!”

    “From Harvard?!”

    I glowered at her, “Yes, from Harvard. You act as if you thought I couldn’t do it. Is it that big of a shock?”

    Her cheeks turned pink.

    “Well honey lets be honest now, you haven’t always been the best student…”

    “Mom, it was one stinking F and it was freshman year! Give me a break will ya?” I said snatching the letter from her hands, being careful not to touch her.

    I turned on my heals and raced down the hallway.

    “Sweetheart, where are you going?!”

    “To get my stuff together, didn’t you read it? It said ‘semester starts soon, be sure to be prepared.’.”

    She sighed, leaning against my doorway, “So you’re leaving your old haggard mom to rot alone eh?”

    I turned to look at her and smiled meekly, “I thought you wanted me to go to collage…”

    “Well I did but I didn’t think you’d be leaving so soon.”

    I rolled my eyes and handed her a piece of paper. She looked at me, suspicious and then opened it.

    “A web address?”

    “Check it out mom, you’ll be surprised.”

    She stood there another moment and then walked to fetch her laptop to log on. I stifled a giggle as I continued to stuff clothes in my bag.

    “Elena! What the hell is this?!” I heard her cry a moment later.

    “It’s an eHarmony account ma. I thought maybe then you’d start dating and
    you wouldn’t be quite so lonely…”

    Now it was her turn to glower.

    “What are you saying?”

    I sighed and sat on the floor in front of her.

    “Mom, I hate seeing you so lonely all the time. And now that I’m going off to Harvard…” I just had to rub that one in her face, “it worries me a little.”

    “So you sign me up for online dating? Is this the thought that lulls you to sleep at night?!”

    I laughed at her sarcasm, “Just trust me on this one alright?”

    She sighed again and looked back at the computer screen.

    “Alright.”

    I stood up and brushed myself off.

    “Good, now I have a few phone calls to make and I need to finish packing. So…”

    “No dinner?” Mom asked, already knowing the answer to the question.

    “No thanks.”

    I walked out of the room and back into my own. As I finished packing I stared at my phone nervously biting my lip and then picking it up. I dialed the number that I had received on my real letter, the one for Silver Eyed Academy.

    The phone rang once.

    “Why, Miss Elena, we’ve been expecting you.”

    I shivered at the woman’s smooth voice on the other end.

    “Yeah, I got your letter, what do I need to bring?”

    “Anything you hold dear and you’d want to bring. Clothes, supplies, books, and a room will be provided for you.”

    I looked over at my bag stuffed full of clothes. I would need that to convince mom.

    “And about the parents?”

    “Taken care of.” She assured me.

    I sighed heavily, “I’ll be there soon.”

    “We’ll be awaiting your arrival.”

    Click.

    Well geez, that was friendly.

    I looked again over to my bag.

    And I’m off to creepy land. I sang in my head in a cheery, upbeat voice, taking the tune from the Wizard of Oz.