G'Day, Alethea here.
I would like to welcome you to the first edition of 'One Day More'.
This story is completely my own and was written as a present for Miss Meagan. Happy Birthday.
Enjoy.
Ch 1: Rude Awakening and Lemons.
They say that life throws challenges in your way to teach you right from wrong, good from bad, this one from that one, left from right. But this is just ridiculous. Life was supposed to be teaching me, not preparing my funeral. How am I meant to survive this year, honestly?
My parents' separated last summer. Dad won custody. A month later we moved from North Yorkshire to here, West Sussex. He said we needed a change. He was sick of the country and a bright new start will do us some good. Normal parents would have moved to the suburbs or the city. Not my dad, he takes me to the other end of the country. New surroundings, he says. New job and school, he says. A place where you know no one. A place where you can be who ever you wanted to be.
They say that people change with their environment, or at least it brings out a different side of you. So does that mean that I might change a bit? But I don't want to change. I like the old me, the old Melgen. It's a shocking name I know. I should have changed it years ago, but I like it. It's different, unique, especially for a girl.
I bet you weren't expecting that. My new school didn't either.
An ivy covered brick wall that supported a pair of large metal gates stood in front of me. In amongst the ivy a big metal plaque was cemented into the brickwork. It read:
'Merchiston Castle: Private Boarding School for Boys'
'YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!'
'Dad. Dad, pick up. Pick up.'
Beep. Beep. Beep.
'Damn.' I turned off my phone hard. What has he done now? He told me that I was going to a CO-educational boarding school. Instead it turns out that I am the new enrolment at Merchiston Castle. A big, old, turn of the century, castle. Could it be that there is another one near by with the same name? I was fishing from barrels; I knew I was screwed.
I tried ringing my dad again but I was too far out of range. Merchiston was in the middle of the countryside and dad was currently in London somewhere starting his new job. What am I going to do? I'm in the middle of no-where, all my clothes are packed in a trunk, just enough money to last a week and my taxi was probably in the next town by now. Oh and did I mention that Merchiston was in the middle of the countryside?
They say when life hands you apples make lemonade. Well all I had to work with was a few oranges and a pear. I was out numbered, so I let the fruit win.