Prologue: A Word Before I Part.
"Palmer," my father said from the other end of the phone line, "give it until Christmas, okay son? Tallahassee will still be here for Christmas. We just need to reassess our options for your education, and just because I endorse the Common Core system, it doesn't mean that I want you exposed to it. Just take it day by day, and if it doesn't work, well, we'll find a solution."
That was all the warning I got. Needless to say, when I arrived at home from a day at the country club, the message in my voicemail required a phone call and a proper fit.
"Daddy!" I exclaimed when the phone finally connected to his office, "what is the meaning of this? A new school? Where? I already have friends at school and my freshman year of high school was to be the year that you said I could try out for sports! I don't want to change schools! I don't, I don't, I DON'T!"
"Palmer," he said, "are you going to listen or are you just going to throw a tantrum?"
My breathing hastened, tears may well have been on their way.
"I'm weighing my options right now, thank you!" I said as my throat began to close up.
"Well, as you inch closer to a decision, let me explain to you exactly why I'm doing this: something, in the future, may happen where I could possibly come under fire for doing one thing and publicly endorsing another, as I said in the message. I want what is best for you, Palmer. It's what your mother would want, and I know that this is best for you. Son, you're, if we're being completely honest, a bit of a crybaby. I think that some time away with some boys your age will toughen you up a little."
A little bit of a crybaby. I couldn't have made the last part up if I tried. My name is Palmer Carrington Glass II and I'm the only child of the current governor of Florida, Carrington Glass Jr. If you happen to be politically conscious, you'll recognize my daddy as the poster-child for neoconservative trust-funders everywhere; a 'my father was a Senator, now I plan to make my name in the family-business too' read-by-wrote piece who's been championing social and financial conservatism since he first canvassed for his father's first re-election bid. Everyone from One Million Moms to the National Rifle Association just loves my father and, as such, I've never had to work for anything in my entire life. But, there are certain 'do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do' instances that have even caught my attention, and could take everything away from my family and I if they got out.
When my father got home, he handed me a welcome packet for my newest social upheaval and left me to pour over the literature while he went to visit my mother and, perhaps, a church group if there was time on the drive home. I'm not the kind of person who gets off on reading paperwork, but, from what I could gather, the place looked like a total dump. Well, that might have just been me reading in between the lines, but it definitely wasn't something I was going to enjoy. On the bright side, the packet came with a copy of the previous year's facebook that had the potential to occupy me for a little while. The school had more varsity sports teams than they needed, or so it seemed, and enough extracurricular activities to use a different set on each of the fifteen college applications I planned on sending out and never repeat the same one twice.
"Sailing and Yacht Club, Young Republicans, Varsity Soccer, Varsity Golf, and... Hot Rod Club?" I mumbled as I scanned the expansive list in the packet while I made mental notes to look up their corresponding members in the facebook later, "well, at least I can potentially keep myself occupied until I go home for Christmas."
I played travel soccer and on youth league teams for most of my childhood. My most recent season turned out to be a breakout year for me as the starting forward for Seminole FC; I scored thirty goals and had fifteen assists by the season's end and impressed my father enough for him to rescind his ban on 'mixing academia and athletics.' Of course, academics would come first, or my father would more than likely send me to military school.
That night, I left a note on my father's nightstand. I would attend Bullworth Academy, but I was going to do so on my own terms.
(A/N: Thanks so much for reading. Leave any feedback you like and keep checking back as I post updates. Please go easy on me as this is my first bit of fanfiction that I felt brave enough to publish. Thank you!)