Mrs. Rangle’s Boarding School for Young Girls

It was a marvelous October morning, and the Basiels were having their usual breakfast. Rachel Basiel, who was the eldest of the three children and also quite a pessimist, always believed it would be a horrid day. Mr. Basiel was ripping open an important envelope addressed to him when he accidentally knocked over his mug of warm water. Other than those unfortunate events, the morning had been off to a fine start. Mrs. Basiel, a delicate woman, daintily sipped her morning tea and smiled, watching her children. She was happy that she had such wonderful ones. 

Meanwhile, George and Violet Basiel, both three years old, were happily whacking their green plastic spoons and spraying lentils everywhere. 

Rachel was in a bit rather grumpy mood. After all, her perfect breakfast had been nastily ruined after George spilled his milk on her book report, but that was all because Violet was wildly waving around the hairdryer. And her parents hadn’t even noticed it happening. However, she had to admit that--

 “NOW JUST WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!” Mr. Basiel, who excelled at making things sound so dramatic and serious, was now waving around a piece of paper in the air. 

Rachel was now very annoyed at having her important thought process cut short by her father. So she decided to gived him a death glare. 

Now, dear reader, you must now understand that Rachel wasn’t the type of person who was very talented at giving a death glare. It wasn’t her fault that it somehow turned into a silly smile. Not understanding why the death glare didn’t work, she decided to try it again, this time aiming it at Violet. 

Mr. Basiel was now getting very impatient. 

“OH, STOP SMILING LIKE A FOOL! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE THIS TIME, RACHEL BASIEL?!”

Violet and George were now giggling even harder as they stacked more and more Cheerios onto their little Cheerio tower. 

Ms. Basiel patted her husband’s arm. 

“Oh, it can’t be that bad. Rachel wouldn’t do something horrible.” 

Rachel looked hopefully at her parents. Maybe she would be off the hook. 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN NOT BAD?! SHE’S BEEN EXPELLED FROM ST. RICHARD’S ACADEMY!” Mr. Basiel furiously smacked the piece of paper onto the dining table. Suddenly, a look of horror struck Mrs. Basiel’s face as she finally realized the meaning of her husband’s words. 

“Expelled? Why, what did she do?” 

Mr. Basiel said indignantly, “Here, you can read it aloud for Rachel herself to hear!” 

She worriedly twiddled her thumbs. Currently, Mother was also furious. She was going to get into deep, deep trouble if she didn’t do something soon. 

Mother shakily clutched the paper while she read the second section, 

“Due to an unfortunate event in which Ms. Rachel Margaret Basiel violated three of our nine laws of virtue, she is now expelled from St. Richards Academy. On October the fourteenth, at around twelve thirty-six, Rachel Basiel started a fight in the school cafeteria with Nicholaus Byker. However, according to various witnesses, it was due to Nicholaus’s provocations. After three minutes, more children joined the fight and began to throw food at each other. There were only minor injuries. The total cost of the damage amounts to approximately forty-two dollars that must be paid by each student that contributed to the incident. This concludes the report.” 

Mrs. Basiel lowered the sheet of paper and with her eyes filled with disappointment, she stared at her daughter. 

“Did you really do all this, Rachel?” 

Rachel picked at her sleeve, wishing that something could happen so that their attention would be taken off her. 

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. She feverishly smiled, and rushed off, saying,

“I’ll get the door, Mother!” 

When she opened the door, the very first thing she saw was a package on the doorstep which was waiting for her. 

“It’s just a package addressed to me!” 

In reply, she heard a humph, which was likely from Mr. Basiel.

Rachel quickly ran back into the dining room, lugged it onto the table, and opened the odd, blue box. Mr. Basiel tore it out of her hands and this time, Rachel wisely decided to be submissive. Mrs. Basiel peeked at it over her husband’s shoulder and wondered, 

“What could it be? We never receive packages, only letters!” 

Mr. Basiel replied with a “hmm”, and then after two minutes, he was finally able to cut through all the layers of plastic tape. Rachel was now quite relieved that the subject had changed. Inside the box, was a blue sticky note, some hardcover books, a letter, and some peculiar clothes. 

Mr. Basiel quickly opened the letter, and as he read it, his eyes grew wider and wider. Then he looked relieved. 

“Well, dear, what is it?” asked Mrs. Basiel. Rachel was as curious as her mother, but she kept silent. 

Mr. Basiel fumbled, “Well, you er, see… Rachel’s been accepted into Mrs. Rangle’s Boarding School for Young Girls! When did you ever apply for her?”  

Mrs. Basiel looked very surprised. “Me? I never applied for a school for Rachel! I would have asked you first!” She quickly grabbed the letter. 

Rachel twiddled her thumbs even faster. This was a chance she couldn’t miss! She could tell them that she had applied! 

“Oh… well, I did it. I was the one that applied! I didn’t really like um… uh… St. Richard’s school because I thought th-that the boys were always very mean to me! And I never had any friends!” 

At this point, she decided to shed some pretend tears. Then she continued “I h-heard from other students that there was a uh… er, a very good boarding school which was only for girls. I wanted to go t-to there but I knew you would never let me…” 

Her voice trailed off as she sniffed some more and struggled to spin a persuasive story. 

“And so I decided to send in the application papers and then purposely be expelled from here... I knew it was so very wrong but… oh! I just couldn’t bear the bullying from the boys! So I let loose my emotions at them… ” 

Rachel blew her nose again. 

“Oh, you poor poor child! Why didn’t you ever tell us?” 

Mrs. Basiel looked worriedly at her while Rachel fumbled to think of a lie. 

“I-I just! Oh, I’m so terribly sorry for keeping it from you!” 

Her mother quickly wrapped her into a hug while her father patted her back. Now she was beginning to feel very, very guilty. 

“Well, that still doesn’t excuse you for punching and fighting a boy. You’ll have to write an apology letter to him and the teachers too. But first of all, I don’t know if your mother and I could stop worrying about you being so far away and all.” Mr. Basiel said. 

“I think I’ll be safe and fine. You won’t have to worry about me,” Rachel lied. “I did lots and lots of research on the school too!” 

“Doens’t Trisha, Ms. Waren’s daughter, also go to that school? If her mother lets her go there, than I think it will be safe enough.” 

Mrs. Basiel happily smiled. 

“You’ll have to leave in five days. The uniform and textbooks are all here in the box. Are you sure you want to go? You’ll only be able to come back in December.” 

What had she gotten herself into? Rachel twiddled her thumbs. Here she was, about to go into unknown territory in five days, and who knew what they would make her do in that school? There was no turning back now. 

She sighed and managed to smile a bit. 

“Yes, I’m sure.” 

Mr. Basiel sadly smiled. “Well, there really isn’t any other option.” 

The room gradually became quiet, and Rachel’s brain whirred on and on. 

Who had sent the package? 

How did they know where she lived? 

And so one by one, the days swiftly crept past, until the day to leave for the boarding school came. 

Rachel kissed her goodbyes, lugged her suitcase in her scratchy uniform, and then stepped into the train. Girls about the same age as her that were wearing the same uniform swept past. Rachel found a compartment near the front and decided to slip inside. A girl with golden ringlets wearing a blue bow smiled at her. She turned away and stared out of the train window, watching the station become smaller and smaller. Now that Rachel actually thought about it, she really didn’t have any friends - not that she needed any. But… it would be nice if there was someone she could confide in. Rachel After two hours, she counted twelve tunnels, seven steep hills, and four forests. She never thought she would be homesick this soon. She sank deeper and deeper into the cushioned seats. Just as her eyelids were beginning to droop, the conductor called out, “We have arrived at the destination!” 

Rachel opened her eyes. And there it was. Mrs. Rangle’s Boarding School for Young Girls.