Fic: Boarding School (1?)

Author: nodoubtwywh

Disclaimer: None of the character of Once and Again belong to me. But if they were on ebay - watch out!

Summary: Jessie goes to boarding school not knowing that her life will never be the same. (haha sorry, i suck at this whole summary thing)

Feedback: Yes, please! If you want me to continue this story, please let me know!

Jessie thought of boarding school, she thought of only a few things. Kids with attitude problems who were sent away, books like A Separate Peace, and movies like School Ties. She never once pictured herself there. But since her father was going to be traveling a lot for work, and since her mother thought this school was one of the best academic opportunities she'd ever have - they both agreed to send her. It was funny to Jessie that her parents, who never get agree about anything, actually agreed about sending her away.

Going to boarding school was the last thing Jessie wanted. Everything around her keeps changing, and she was tired of it. She just got settled in at the Manning/Sammler house in the attic, and now they were telling her she had to move again? Jessie had a hard enough time in high school finding her niche. The last thing she wanted was to go away and be a new kid - yet again. And the only way her parents consoled her was that she wasn't going alone. That was the other part of the news. Not only was she going to boarding school, but so was Grace.

'Wonderful,' Jessie thought to herself sarcastically when her dad told her this. It wasn't that she hated Grace - she didn't. But she definitely wasn't her favorite person, and she was pretty sure Grace thought the same thing of her.

The month of August went by faster than Jessie wanted. She only had one day left before they were driving to school. She was supposed to be in the attic making sure they had bought everything she would need. So far, the only positive thing out of all of this was that her mom and dad bought her a laptop to take to school.

Jessie looked over the list she had typed on her new computer, and closed it with a heavy sigh as she heard her dad yell for her to come down and eat.

"Hey Jess" Lily started as she walked in the room "You think you have everything you're going to need at school?"

"Looks like it," Jessie said as she grabbed a plate from the counter and sat down.

"Mom, we still need to get a mini-fridge" Grace reminded her mother

"Oh, I picked one up today" Rick answered as he smiled at Jessie "I think it'll be big enough for you guys to have the basics in your room"

Jessie slowly picked at her spaghetti. Why did anyone ever think she would like going away to school and sharing a room with anyone - not to mention Grace.

"Aren't you hungry?" Rick asked his eyes suddenly narrowing at Jessie.

"Yeah, you'd better eat something here while you can. Cafeteria food all the time is going to suck," Grace said as she poured herself some more soda.

"Yeah, I guess I just ate a lot for lunch" Jessie said absentmindedly as she took another bite of food. The last thing she needed was her dad to make a big of deal of her eating habits at her new school.

The next night after dinner Jessie retreated quickly to her room. Dinner seemed to be even weirder knowing that she and Grace were leaving tomorrow. It was obvious that this same reality had hit Lily and Rick who were being strangely nice. Lily had made their favorite foods, but Jessie still didn't feel all that hungry. And the last thing she wanted was to have another fight about her eating habits before she left. She knew she wasn't eating enough, but she was nervous. "Can't anyone give me a break?" Jessie thought bitterly as she climbed the stairs to her room.

Just as she was about to get on the Internet someone knocked on the attic door.

"Come in" Jessie yelled putting down her laptop.

"Hey" Grace said quietly as she sat down on Jessie's bed.

"What's up?"

"Nothing really, " Grace answered in a tone that would prove to anyone that she was lying.

"OK..." Jessie said not knowing what else to say

"I'm just nervous about tomorrow. I mean, I know this school is supposed to be a good thing, and they obviously won our parents over," Grace continued as she got up and started pacing the floor "I just don't want to start over at a new school...y'know?"

Jessie was surprised that Grace had decided to confide to her, but she was glad that she wasn't the only worried about going to this place.

"Yeah, I'm not exactly calm about going tomorrow either, but at least you know a couple of people in your grade who are going there, too" Jessie reminded her.

"I know them, sure, but they weren't my close friends"

"Well," Jessie hesitated before going on "At least we know each other"

"Yeah," admitted Grace "It probably would be worse if I didn't know who they were going to stick with me as a roommate."

An awkward silence followed as Grace and Jessie realized they were going to have to depend on each other for the first time.

Grace got up and headed to the door, "Oh yeah, that reminds me, just as a fair warning, your mom and dad asked me to make sure you ate while we're at school."

"Just great" Jessie thought to herself as Grace yelled 'g'night' from the bottom of the attic stairs.

Her nerves didn't calm down all night, but finally around 2 am, Jessie drifted off to sleep.