chapter 1

Emma was a terrible student, and she'd just been expelled from yet another school.

This time, she'd finally given in to the curiosity and pulled the fire alarm. And with the amount of late assignments and absences that she'd accumulated over the few months she'd been there, the principal had enough.

As most would be, Emma's parents didn't know what to do with her. It seemed as though Emma simply couldn't care less about school. This would be the last straw though. There weren't any more schools to try in their district.

Emma knew this, so she was a little more nervous coming home than she normally was after getting kicked out of a school.

"Hey, mom..." she said quietly as she came in the house. Her mother could instantly tell something was up.

"Em, how was school?" She crossed her arms.

"It was... fine, I guess." Emma dropped her bag. "Igotexpelled..." she quickly muttered under her breath.

Her mother pretended she didn't hear. "What's that?"

Emma looked at the floor. "I got expelled..."

Her mother threw her hands up and started to pace around the room. "Alright! You know what, I'm not going to get mad. I know exactly what we're going to do."

Emma wasn't expecting this reaction. "Wait, what?"

"I'm sending you to that alternative boarding school. The one Samantha's parents sent her to."

Emma froze. Samantha was her best friend at her last school. The two girls both had a tendency for getting into trouble, and they'd actually been expelled together. Samantha's mother had just been a little harsher than Emma's.

They barely spoke anymore, and the last time Emma had seen Samantha was when she came home for a week over spring break. She had been absolutely shocked though. Samantha was simply huge, and she hadn't even been at the boarding school for long. Her parents had proudly told Emma's that she wasn't getting into trouble anymore though, and it had clearly stuck with them.

"Mom, no. You can't send me there. Please." Emma tried to plead with her.

"We've made our mind up. I spoke to the head teacher a while ago. She said that you've got a spot there, all I need to do is call. Which I'm going to do right now." Emma's mother turned and went up to her room.

Emma nervously sat down on the couch. She tried to relax and watch some TV, but she couldn't get the school out of her mind.

Her father came home from work a few hours later, and though Emma tried to plead with him, he agreed with her mother that the boarding school was the best option. Her mother had made the phone call, and Emma was going to be picked up tomorrow morning by the head teacher herself.

Emma reluctantly packed her suitcase and went to bed, but she had a hard time falling asleep.