It was already Thursday. Over four days summer vacation would end and she would have to go to school again. All Ellen wanted was to enjoy the last days of summer vacation, but her mother just couldn't let her have that, could she? 'Ellen! Can you go buy some carrots at the grocery?' 'Okay mom!' Ellen sighed. That week was pretty awful for her. If it were just the chores her mom made her do it would be alright, but she had the worst luck that week.
When her younger sister somehow convinced her to climb in a tree to reach her toy gun (how did it even end up there?) a branch suddenly snapped. If it wasn't for Ellen's sturdy build, she would've most likely died from the fall on her head. That was Monday.
On Tuesday her mom suddenly gave her a form with different math, language and anatomy questions that her school would most likely never even think of giving her because they were of an extremely hard level. Apparently it belonged to a brochure for a school somewhere in Italy as a minimum requirement for entering the school. If she didn't get at least a 90% on it she wouldn't have had dinner for the next two days. So when her mother corrected it with an answer key on the back of the brochure her stomach was happy she got a 91% on it.
The day after, she got dragged into a fight she had nothing to do with. Since she didn't want to get beat up herself she had no choice but to beat the other guys up. Ever since the thugs of her town started running once they saw her. Ellen sighed as she wondered what would go wrong that day. She had to remember to check that tree opposite her house. She had a feeling like she was being watched from that tree ever since she almost broke her neck on Monday. Who knows, maybe there lived evil spirits in it that brought bad luck to her?
To Ellen's relief the way to the grocery was peaceful. The only weird thing was that according to the grocer, her mother had called to also prepare some sausages. Hadn't her mother bought those the day before? On the way back she noticed some dog bark at her. The dog was always kept on a leash by its owners and Ellen had seen it so many times she wasn't scared of it anymore. But today she had a weird feeling, almost like the dog was closing in to her… Ellen sprinted away at Olympic speed. In all those years she passed there, that was the first time that mutt actually managed to break free from its leash! Normally it wouldn't have run after her, but sadly she had a bunch of sausages with her. She would've thrown them away, but she was more afraid of her mom than she was of the dog. That really wasn't her week.
'Why did you bring sausages?' Her mother asked when Ellen had finally managed to outrun the dog. 'The grocer said that you called to prepare some.' 'I didn't. Must have been some mistake, go bring them back.' 'What? Why?' 'Because: the person who ordered them will be mad if they aren't there when he/she comes to get them!' Ellen let out a big groan. 'Come on now, don't be lazy! If you have such an attitude for just bringing back some sausages, imagine how bad it will be when school starts again!' Sometimes Ellen just hated her mother. But, what could she do? Even if she was a complete bitch at times, she was still her mother. A mother, that decided whether Ellen would have dinner that evening or not.
The next morning Ellen decided she would just stay in bed for the rest of the day. So what if she wouldn't get any breakfast? She would gladly starve if that meant she could rest that day. This was the exact argument her mom had when Ellen refused to leave her bed. Sadly, her tummy didn't agree. So when her mother called, just to see if her daughter had changed her mind, Ellen got up and walked down the stairs to the kitchen, not even bothering changing out of her pyjamas since she would go back to bed after breakfast.
Breakfast existed out of orange juice, scrambled eggs and slightly burned pieces of bacon. 'Because you took so long', her mom said. Ellen brought her empty plate to the kitchen and was just about to return to her room when her mother called her again. 'What is it?' 'I forgot to mention it earlier, but there arrived a letter for you this morning.' Her mom yelled from inside the kitchen. Ellen picked up a letter from a small table where her mom always put the mail.
'What is it?' Ellen turned around to see her little sister standing on her tip toes to see the letter Ellen was holding in her hand. 'No idea, Tiny.' Tiny was Ellen's nickname for her little sister, whose name was actually Tilany. For her convenience Ellen always forgot to say the 'la' part. Her sister frowned a little, only to cheer up again when she realized her sister was playing with her name. Tilany was always a bit sensitive about her height, because she was surrounded by a mother and a sister who were both much taller than most people. Even though Ellen had explained countless times that Tilany's height was perfectly normal for someone her age, she refused to accept it.
'Are you leaving to your room already?' 'Yeah, I want to get a little more sleep.' 'Can you at least open the letter first?' Ellen looked at her little sister and let out an amused sigh. How could she say no to those puppy eyes? 'Alright then, fine.' 'Thanks sis!'
Ellen sat down at the table again, while Tiny started eating her breakfast. 'Mom, can you hand me the letter opener?' 'Okay sweetie!' Her mother opened a drawer, took out a letter opener with a cat-shaped end and threw it at Ellen, who caught it with little effort between her fingers. She opened the letter and took out an official looking document with two papers attached to it. 'What is it?' 'It's… An answer to an application for a school in Italy…' 'Oh, so they answered!' 'You knew about this?' 'Why, of course! You do remember that form I let you fill in the other day, right?' 'I didn't expect you to actually send it back.' 'What did you think I gave you that form for?' Ellen couldn't say that she had thought her mom had given it to her purely to irritate her. After a moment of silence her mom spoke again. 'What is their answer?' 'Wait, I'll read it out loud.'
"Dear Miss Hander,
We are proud to inform you that your daughter, Miss Ellen Hander, has passed the entrance exam for our school. We will send someone to escort your daughter to her new school soon after you receive this letter. There she will be staying until the holidays. Attached to this letter are two documents: One informing about the school rules and anything your daughter should surely bring along, and another one explaining what exactly your daughter will do on our school. We advice you to prepare the necessary luggage your daughter will need. We sincerely hope your daughter will enjoy her time at our school.
Sincerely: The Naples High School board of direction."
'What? Sis is leaving for Italy? Not while I'm around!' 'Calm down honey. This is a great opportunity for your sister. The Naples High School is very private, not everybody can enter it! Besides, you haven't even heard your sister's thought on it yet. She might very well decline.' Tiny and Miss Hander looked at Ellen, one person hoping she declines the other hoping she accepts. 'Hmmm, Naples is a town in Italy close to the coast. The view and food around there should be good, and anything is better than my current school.' She said after a long moment of silence. 'Yes!' 'No! I don't want you to leave, big sis!' 'Come on Tiny, I won't be gone forever. Besides, this gives you an excuse to come to Italy during the holidays.' 'I still don't want you to leave!' Ellen chuckled. She was going to miss her little sister for sure.
'They even pay tuition fees!' Ellen looked up from her sister and saw that her mom was reading one of the papers that were attached to the letter, with the emphasis on 'were'. She had removed the paperclip that had kept the papers together. She was reading the paper with information on the school and shoved the other one to Ellen. She carefully read the letter, making sure she wouldn't end up going to school while missing something important.
The next day Ellen woke up early. On one of the documents there was written Ellen would be picked up in the evening. Ellen ate a lot of breakfast so she wouldn't end up getting hungry just before she got picked up. She was going to die of embarrassment if her tummy would growl during the trip to Italy. She had made the larger part of her luggage the day before so she was in no hurry anyway.
After breakfast she put some stuff in her backpack for in the airplane. She looked on the clock. 16:34 it wasn't that late yet. She suddenly felt a bit nervous. At 18:00 she readied her luggage. According to the documents, she was going to leave soon. Ellen had asked her mom to let her see the other paper, but she had just said it was only interesting for the parents.
Tiny was trying to change her mind last minute when they heard the sound of a car stopping in front of their house. 'That must be them.' Her mom gave Ellen a small kiss on the cheek. 'Good luck darling.' Ellen hugged her little sister one last time before picking up her luggage and walking to the front door. 'Bye!' She said before closing the door behind her.
She was greeted by a warm evening breeze. In front of her house there stood a black car. The door flew open and a man with long, silver hair stepped out. He motioned for her to step inside the car. Ellen picked up her luggage and stepped inside. It looked like a pretty expensive car. She sat on a leather couch with opposite of her the silver haired man and next to him a boy with blond hair covering his eyes and a Cheshire grin. She looked at her house one last time before the car came into motion.