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Dear Mr. Joesph Mendel,

Congratulations! You have been accepted into Tristan Boarding School for Troubled Youth. Tristan Boarding School is located on San Nicolas Island in California. School begins August 15 at 7:00 A.M. It would be much appreciated if you arrive two days early, so you may find your dorm, learn your way around the school, and meet new students. You may bring what you want, with an exception of weapons or pets. More information will be given out when you arrive. Come join us!

Sincerely,
Tristan Solomon
Principal of Tristan Boarding School

When you get a letter like this, you usually start wailing on your parents and ask why they enrolled you into a dysfunctional school for weird kids. But my mom said she never enrolled me into this school, she didn't even know it existed. Now, she had just bailed my out of jail.. for the fifth time. So I couldn’t tell whether she was lying or not. I have to admit, it's pretty scary suddenly getting a letter saying you're going to a school on the other side of the country. Especially when it’s because of your behavior, its like there was someone watching you the whole time. At least I won't have to see Kathryn, my sister, until Thanksgiving. That's about two months away.
Since I got the letter a week before school started, as soon as I finished reading it my mom rushed me upstairs to start packing. I was at the airport saying my goodbyes to everyone when mom came up to me and hugged me. Mom hadn’t so much as smiled at me since I got arrested for having a sack of pot in the trunk of my car. When she pulled away there was a wet spot on my shoulder from her tears. I have never seen my mom cry before in my life but here she was, bawling her eyes out right in front of me. But what she said next hit me the most. "Goodbye, son. I love you." ... Son? Love? About a year ago she said I wasn't her son anymore before kicking me out of the house. She let me back in a few months later though. I guess she felt bad. But now, the words I thought I’d never hear from her she said just as I was getting on the plane. For once I didn’t want to leave my mom. I sank into my seat as the plane took off and watched as my family and friends waved to me as they got further and further away.
I was miserable during the plane ride. Every fifteen minutes I would start crying and all the nearby flight attendants would leave whoever they were helping to see what's wrong. It was embarrassing. I'm 17 years old and I have 3 attendants offering me pillows and candy to cheer me up while the surrounding adults gave me appalled looks. Why do I have to live in Manhattan!? Because I live there I had to drive an hour to get to an airport and then I have to sit on the plane for four hours before we land! Not to mention every time I think about my family I would start crying, which would attract a lot of attention.
It felt like I had spent the whole day on that plane before it landed. I guessing that there must have been more students there because there was a fairly tall man holding up a sign that read 'Tristan Boarding School'. I stood with the other students, waiting for the others to join us. A few more people joined the group before the man led us to a van and tried to squeeze us all in. I had to sit, pushed up against the window, for half an hour. My face was literally pressed against the window. The girl next to me was practically sitting on my lap.. or was she doing that on purpose? Anyways, I was hating this school before I even got there. I was hoping that the school would at least have good teachers but.. well, they're good but they're mental. Well, at least the guidance counselor was. The moment I walked through the front gate I was incased in someone's arms as they pulled me into a hug. Then she went on talking about something but it's hard to listen when your nose is sandwiched between her breasts.
"You're new here aren't you? What's your name?"
"What?" I say after finally prying my nose out of her chest.
"What's your name?" The red-haired woman said slowly and loudly, as if I had a hearing problem.
"Jeez, I'm not deaf. My name is Joseph Mendel." I reply and try to slip out of her arms but arms were like a belt holding me against her body.
"Well, I'm Lynn Ralston. I'll be you’re guidance counselor this year!" She replied and finally lets go of me. "Don't call me Mrs. Ralston. Call me Ms. Lynn or Madame Lynn.. or Master."
"Okay, Ms. Lynn, I'd like to go find my dorm now. I'll see you later." I say and walk right past her, down a path which led to a group of buildings.
"Oh please, call me Lynn! Let me give you a tour and show you to where your dorm is!" said Lynn as she grabbed my arm and dragged me down to where all the buildings are. "Don't worry about your luggage. Half the teachers got assigned to bring your luggage to the dorms for you! Ha, the losers!" She let go of my arm and turned toward the water fountain in front of us. "This water fountain marks the middle of the campus. I suggest if you ever get lost you go to this water fountain. It's easier to find your way around that way. Moving on!" When she finished explaining she grabbed my wrist again and pulled me to the other side of the fountain. "See that building right there?" Lynn asked while pointing to the main building in front of us. It wasn't very tall, probably only two floors but it took up a good portion of the campus.
"Uh.. It's kinda hard to miss." I reply.
"This is where the classrooms are held. As soon as you enter there's a staircase right in front of you. You go up those and right across the hall is my office. Come visit me sometime, okay?" Lynn said and smiled warmly.
"Sure." Yeah, right. Like I'll ever come.
"To the left of the main building is the dinning hall. You can eat outside or inside, your choice. To the left of the dinning hall is the boy's dorm. If I catch you stealing midnight snacks I'll hang you by your thumbs. Now, to the right of the main building is the gym and past the gym is the girls dorm. I think you know by now that you're not allowed to bring a member of the opposite sex into your room. Oh, and one more thing. Between the main building and the gym is a path, it leads to the garden. But whenever I go down there all I see is couples so... it’s not that fun. Especially since I just got over my divorce." Lynn explains and goes on about her ex-husband. I was surprised this woman had a life at one point. She talked like she didn't.
I tried to run off without her noticing but she stopped her endless babble long enough to see me.
"Where are you going?"
"Don't you have paperwork to do or something?"
"Crap, that's right! I have to go! See you in Health, Joseph!" She called as she scampered off to the main building.
I had finally gotten rid of Lynn but she wasn't as bad as what was about to happen.
Out of all the places, the first place I went was the cafeteria. I was pretty hungry since I only had a piece of toast for breakfast and I was too busy crying on the plane to eat. Unfortunately, the dinning hall was closed until dinner and I had missed lunch. Luckily, there was a snack machine and I happened to have some money with me. But there was another girl there. If you haven't realized yet, I'm at a co-ed boarding school. I first realized this while I was in the van, I was happy and fuming at the same time. What kind of boarding school is co-ed!? Anyways, the idiotic girl was blocking my way so I asked her, kindly, if she could get out of my way.
But then she gazed up at me with teary eyes and whined, "But.. I'm hungry and I have no money."
I bet some of you are wondering what's so bad about this girl, right? Actually, for the moment nothing is bad about her. It's not until much later during the school year that meeting her turned my life into never-ending hell. At the time, I didn't know that meeting a person like Ann Marie could make such a big impact in my life. Actually, there wasn't another person like Ann Marie. She was... special.

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