Hi guys, Bell here! So this is my first story that I've written heree being a newbie and honestly, any feedback is welcome. Sorry this first chapter is so short, the second one's a bit longer but by the third we're going at proper chapter length. So, please enjoy!
I sit on the edge of the pew, eyes closed, hands clasped in prayer. I'm not religious, but as I sit in silence, alone, I feel a calm wash over me.
Please Lord, if you exist, please let me become a pâtissière.
I head on home, my feet crunching through snow and gravel, and I stare at the house I was raised in.
By house, I really mean mansion. Or dream-deprived emotionless castle of nightmares, if you're melodramatic like me.
The turret rooms and balconies, swirling architecture and long, spiralled staircases cloaked in red carpet have never felt like home to me, but maybe that's just my family's influence on my view of the place.
" I'm home. " I say unenthusiastic, to the empty hall.
"Ah, Mistress Kaoru-sama, how good to see you are back safely. " The foreign maid Louise, who dotes on me, says. "Madam Hatsune is, ah, attending to something in the dining room. She doesn't seem to be in a very sociable mood. "
"Honestly, Louise, is she ever? " I swing my rucksack from my arm and hang it on the gold banister.
" Not really, Ru-chan! " Louise whispers, grinning at me. A year older than me, the Irish girl works here to pay for her tuition fees. She's trying to make it in the world, starting a computer company here in Japan, but my mother doesn't make even part-time work easy for her.
I head up to my room, and flop down on the lush purple bed.
I stare at my ceiling. My family is a bunch of professional lawyers. They own their own firm which is really popular and well paid. Shame it made Mother so strict and unloving, Dad stay at work till crazy-o'clock and my brothers are really amazing at arguing.
I mean REALLY amazing. They turn a bicker over a card game into a full blown debate about how it's not possible to have had that card at that time, yaddah yaddah yaddah. Don't get me wrong, I love my brothers and dad, but Mother? She's a whole different ball game, and one I don't know the rules of.
Mother wants me to be a lawyer like the rest of them, but I've never felt that way. Ever since nursery, when we made krispie cakes, I've wanted to be a pâtissière. Thing is, I've been looked down on by Mother since forever for it.
An all-too-familiar screech fills the house.
"KAORU! MOVE YOUR BAG NOW! YOU LAZY EXCUSE FOR A GIRL, YOU'LL NEVER GET INTO LAW SCHOOL LIKE THAT!"
"Shut the hell up." I mutter, enraged. But I'm too afraid of Mother to yell.
"Get down here now." Mother's voice is now soft and dangerous. It's worse than yelling.
I gulp, but instead of heading down meekly like normal, I pull my laptop out from under my bed. I open the St. Marie Academy online application form and fill it out.
Name: Hatsune Kaoru...
I send it off.
A few days later...
I pull out my laptop. Since I applied for St. Marie, I've been researching ideas for pastries every day. As I open it up, a notification pops up at the bottom of the screen. An email.
Dear Hatsune Kaoru,
You have been accepted for interview and examination at St. Marie Academy, Japan branch. Please attend your meeting at 12:30, 5th December, in the Main Hall of St. Marie Academy. You will be tested at St. Marie Academy on theoretical knowledge of pâtissèrie work, practical cookery skills and on your palate at St. Marie Academy. We eagerly await your attendance at St. Marie Academy.
Yours sincerely,
Chairman, St. Marie Academy
My first thought - Wow, they really like to say St. Marie Academy. I know who you are already!
My second thought - Ohhh Jesus. What should I do? It sounds really difficult! How'll I pass the tests? I can't tell a Mont Blanc from a mountain goat!
Just then Louise knocks on my door.
"Ru-chan? Your mother's out now, want to play hockey?" She asks, ever eager to skive polishing the five twisted banisters to a honey coloured shine.
"Can't, Lou-san. Things to do, cakes to bake." I reply.
"Ah, has the academy got back to you then?" I told Louise about my application form yesterday.
Instead of replying, I spin the laptop round to her. She scans the email quickly, frowning to read the kanji in her English-thinking mind.
"Sorry, what's that say?"
"Hmm? Oh, application. "
"And that?"
"Examination."
"And this?"
"Meetin- oh, you know what, pass it here."
"Thanks, Japanese characters confuse me. They all look a bit like sheep, don't they?"
"What?"
"You know, the things that say baa?"
"I know what sheep are, thanks, Lou-san."
"You never know. I'm talking English in my mind, I don't know what I'm saying. Or I'm talking Gaelic, depends whether I'm feeling patriotic to Ireland that day."
"You're nuts," I laugh. "Remeber when you accidentally called Mother a prostitute? "
"I'd rather not. I swear I meant genius!"
"Genius and prostitute don't sound remotely alike!"
"Serves me right for being a suck-up. Trying to get out of ironing never works. Anyway, what does the email say?"
"Oh, right, I forgot." I read it out.
"Crikey, that sounds high-class! What'll you make?"
"I don't know. I was thinking something with lots of cinnamon, since I love it so much..."
"Seasonal too! They're bound to love a warm cinnamon roll in this cold, or a cinnamon and apple pie..."
"But I've not studied for the theory! And I still don't know exactly what to make!"
Louise points at the photo on my dressing table. "Remember when that photo was taken?"
I follow her finger. It points to a photo of me and Louise sitting on the grass, books and textbooks and leaflets in front of us. We're smiling at the camera, my green eyes shining, my medium brown hair long in a braid, before I chopped it to just above my shoulder roughly with a pair of rusty scissors. Louise has her hand holding open a book, the pages clean and bright.
"Yeah. You'd just moved here and were studying computing instead of mowing the lawn."
"Mm-hmm. I thought I'd never get to run my own company and was thinking of all that could go wrong, how I couldn't do it..."
"But you could! You've been working hard since!"
"You cheered me on that day, Ru-chan, and every day since. Now it's my turn to return the favour."
"Huh?"
"You're full of doubt now, about your own abilities in the kitchen. Yet everyday you're baking something in the kitchen, or at night if you've been grounded."
"Busted, I guess. "
"And everytime somebody tastes it, they can't help but say that it's delicious. It's the only time I've seen your mother smile. She tries to hide it but she can't. So why are you so down on yourself?" Louise asks.
"I guess... Thank you." I say.
"So you'll do your best?" Louise asks.
"Yeah! I'm not giving up!"
"That's the spirit!"
We hear a lock clicking downstairs.
"Ahh! Pretend I've cleaned the banisters if anyone asks, okay?" Louise whisper-yells as she runs downstairs.
I raise my hand. "See you later." I whisper.
But my friend is out of sight.
My favourite is cinnamon, and Louise loves peaches...
I think I know what I'll make for the entrance exam.
