The New School

"It won't be that bad," Mrs. Timber said as she loaded up her troubled son into her Ford Escape. "A lot of people in history have been in a boarding school of some kind."

"Really? Like who," Timmy asked.

"There's plenty of people. I heard people in England go to boarding schools when they are around your age now," replied Mr. Timber.

"There's only one problem with that. We aren't in England, we are in the United States," Timmy spat.

Timmy was a twelve year old boy who always was picked on. The last time it happened, he retaliated by punching his bully in the face. However, things didn't go well because the bully went directly to the principal who had decided to expel Timmy without hearing the other side of the incident. Timmy's parents were frustrated by the expulsion and started looking into options for getting him back to school. They were successful in finding a boarding school nearly five hundred miles away from them. This school, Sanderson Academy for unruly children was what his parents thought they had wanted, and enrolled Timmy right away.

Timmy, who was tired of always being ignored, and of not being heard was stuck going to a school he didn't need to.

A moment later, the family pulled out of their home in the suburbs of Portland, Maine and began their long journey to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the first part of the trip, Timmy didn't speak and just ignored his parents as they talked on and on about the school.

"We are lucky that they had an opening available and we got in, Timmy. One day, you will thank us for this," Mrs. Timber was saying.

Mr. Timber agreed and said, "Even though you have been the victim for so long, it's good to separate you from the bullies that pushed too far."

The family stopped for lunch at a family run diner. While there, Timmy kept looking out the window. When the young waitress arrived at their table, they ordered the famous burger plates. Once they finished their food, about an hour later, they were back on the road.

That evening, they arrived at the school. The headmaster, Professor Elm was waiting their arrival. Professor Elm was a middle aged, soft spoken, but powerful looking man. When they arrived, he looked joyful.

"Welcome, welcome. You must be the Timber family. I hope you had a safe trip here," Professor Elm said.

"We did. How has the week been," Mr. Timber asked.

"Everything has been fine. Our students are just getting settled into their routine now. You folks must be tired. You can stay in the guest quarters here."

Unsure of what to do, Timmy grabbed his bags and followed the adults into the giant mansion of a school.

Once inside, Professor Elm led everyone to his office to finalize the enrollment process.

Mrs. Timber said, "We are so glad you accepted our Timmy. He was unfairly expelled from his old school. This place has quite the reputation for helping kids turn their lives around."

Mr. Timber added, I can hardly wait to see how you will help my son with his problem."

Professor Elm said, "We will help tremendously. It will take some time, but he will be even better at dealing with his problems with bullying."

An hour later, they were finished with the enrollment process and had taken Timmy to his sleeping quarters. Timmy, who was upset by this, was also feeling scared. He was scared about having to stay in an unfamiliar environment. After they ate their dinner of chicken noodle soup and fresh rolls, they went to bed early.

That night, Timmy tossed and turned all night. The next morning when he woke up, he started begging his parents to not make him stay to no avail.

His parents left right before breakfast that morning.

While at Breakfast, Timmy got his Class schedule from another kind looking teacher, Professor Smith of the science department. Timmy started looking at his schedule and soon realized that his first Class was in ten minutes. Professor Johnson, a young man who taught math, was his first Class. Timmy found some other students his own age to follow to class. Another student, Billy, called out, "Hey, are you ok?" Looking startled, Timmy asked, "Where is Professor Johnson's classroom?" Billy smiled and said, "Follow us. We are heading there ourselves." By the end of the first day, Timmy was feeling better, especially now that he got to meet his peers. When he went to bed that night, he fell asleep a little easier, now that he was past the initial shock factor.

The next day went a little easier for Timmy, now that he knew more of what to expect. His new friend, Billy was also happy to help him go in whatever direction he needed to go, as well as helped him with homework.

Once Timmy had been there a week, he was able to navigate his way through the halls by himself, and he was more familiar with what to expect from the teachers in regards to the normal homework load. Timmy also learned how to prepare his own food in Home Economics, math, science, English, History, and foreign language studies. Timmy was starting to feel good about himself and the quality of work he could do when he wasn't bothered by other students.

"Today was a good day," Timmy told Billy. "I got everything done that needed to be done. Plus I'm now more comfortable here now than during my first week here, and I have a new friend."

Billy smiled and said, "That's great. Did you understand what Professor Dimwit meant by our final grade in foreign language studies?"

"No, I didn't. I think he might've meant we will have to speak a different language to pass the class."

"I hope not," Billy said. "He teaches all kinds of languages here, and he might get confused with which language we are studying now. Imagine if he tests us on German when we have been learning Portuguese."

Timmy replied, "Has he done that kind of thing before?"

Billy answered, "Yes he has. One day last year, he was teaching us Spanish, got mixed up and started teaching us Japanese."

Timmy groaned, "That would be terrible. What can we do about it though?"

"Nothing," Billy replied. "We just need to sit there and take it. Besides that, we get exams like this every week."

On hearing the word exam, Timmy panicked and tried to bury himself in a history book.

"Billy, I don't do well with the tests. It's like I learn the stuff in class but freeze on test day," Timmy said feeling worried.

Billy replied, "Its ok. They do these tests just to catch us off guard so we can succeed under pressure. The rest of the exams are easy enough to complete. Thanks for helping me with my homework tonight, too."

Timmy, feeling relieved, answered, "Are you sure about that? I have no problem helping you, especially since you helped me find my way around this school. Thanks for being my friend here."

That night both boys went to bed feeling lighter because they had a friend who was able to help them out. Once the exams started the next day, they were feeling drained and could only manage to be prepared for the exam the next day. By the end of the week, both boys, and all other students were exhausted from their long week of study and exams, but they were pleased to learn that they passed everything. They decided to relax on Saturday and prepare for another week at school.