Chapter One – It Might be Time for You to Start Going to School

Fionna IRL

Fionna's POV

My eyes slowly opened, still bleary with sleep. I sat up, stretched and opened my mouth in a giant yawn. I noticed that my sister, Catherine, affectionately nicknamed Cake, wasn't in her bed on the other side of the bedroom we shared. I opened the door, made my way along the narrow corridor and walked into the kitchen-diner. I smiled as I saw Cake asleep at the table, her head laid next to her dinner plate, her hands still resting on top of her laptop keyboard. I made sure not to wake her as I got a bowl of cereal and headed back to the bedroom to eat.

After I finished, I changed into my favourite blue tank top and sweatpants before pulling my white beanie over my shoulder length blonde hair. I heard a slight knock at the bedroom and opened it to a ruffled looking Cake. Her usually neat and smooth pale coffee coloured hair was in a mess, sticking out all over, and her eyes were still half closed. She smiled wearily at me, and pulled me into a one armed hug to say good morning before walking in and collapsing on her bed.

"You fell asleep working on the book again, didn't you?" Cake was an author, and her first book had been pretty successful, though you couldn't tell from our poky city apartment which we just couldn't bring ourselves to move out of. I guess we had just grown fond of it.

Cake groaned, nodding as she ran her hands over her face. "There's this one part I can't get right. I was up 'till 3am rewriting it."

"What part is it?" I asked.

"The two sisters return the candy prince home safely, and he thanks them for their hard work," She sighed. "It sounds simple, I know, but I can't get the feeling into his words."

I loved Cake's stories. They were about two sisters, Fionna and Cake, based on us, but in that world I was an adventurer, fearless and strong, and she was a magical cat. We fought monsters, saved the candy Prince Gumball from danger and threw awesome parties with all of our friends in our mega rad tree house.

"You will," I said. "You always do." She sat up and smiled.

"Thanks, hon." Cake and I were close, even more so than most sisters. We told each other everything, and loved each other more than anything. We hadn't always been so close, but since our parents had passed away in a train crash four years ago we had grown closer and closer.

I could never forget the day when we heard the news that changed our lives forever; that our parents were gone and were never coming back. I was twelve, and Cake was eighteen. I was home-schooled, so was at home doing schoolwork as usual, with Cake just starting her first novel. She had left home, but had come over to take care of me whilst our parents had left for the weekend on a business trip. I remember hearing the doorbell ring, and Cake answering it to a man I had never seen before. He informed us, with sincere regret and deepest condolences, that the train that Jaycie and Marcus Hall had been on had crashed, and were both dead.

I remember feeling like the world was falling apart around me, and ran away to my bedroom, hiding under the covers and telling myself it wasn't true. For weeks, Cake and I just lay in bed, not wanting to do anything or talk to anyone. Eventually, we started taking action, trying to get our lives back together. Cake became my legal guardian, and we moved out of our house in the suburbs to the small apartment in the city centre. When I was old enough, I got a part time job to help contribute to our bills, which I kept even after the release of Cake's book. Although our lives still weren't by any stretch of the imagination close to what they were before, we had definitely come a long way from where we had been three years ago, when we were only just buying our new apartment and still stuck in misery.

"Look, sugar," Cake turned serious, patting the space on the bed next to her. I sat down, worried by her expression. "There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about for a while now… I thought now would be as good a time as any."

"What is it?" I swallowed anxiously.

"I… I think that it might be time for you to start going to school." I jumped up, my mouth open, and started aghast at Cake.

"What?" I opened and closed my mouth a few times, so shocked I couldn't think of what to say. "School? No, definitely not, no way. I want to stay here, with you, like I always have!"

"Honey, you're gonna be seventeen this year, and you're going to university soon. You need to get used to being away from home, even if it's only in the days, and you could meet other people, make new friends…" I started crying before I could stop myself.

"I don't want that, Cake! I'm happy here, with you!" Cake wrapped her arm around my shoulder with a slight sigh.

"How about this; you go to school for a term, and if at the end of the term you really can't stand it then you can come home?" I sniffed, wiping away a tear that was rolling down my cheek. I knew my sister well enough to know that when she got an idea into her head then she wouldn't budge, we were both stubborn as mules, so I nodded.

"I'll… I'll try it… I guess." Cake let out a long, relieved breath.

"Thanks, hon," She turned my so I was looking at her. "I sent in an application to a school near here already and they agreed to take you."

"Without telling me?" I said, for one of the first times feeling furious with my sister. She had applied to a school without even telling me! She nodded guiltily, and I sighed through my nose, frustrated. "Which school is it?"

"Westridge High." She confessed. My mouth fell open. I may never have gone to school, but I had definitely heard to Westridge.

"You mean that snobby private school that only millionaires go to?"

"Fionna, it's a very good high school!"

"But we don't have the money!"

"Sugar, we have plenty from my writing. We may not live in a big house, or buy fancy clothes like the other kids there, but we've got enough to send you there. I want you to have the best, no expense spared."

"But…" I tried to find a protest. "But… what if I hate it? What if they don't offer the kind of subjects I want to do?"

"Well, hon, I had a talk to the headmistress and she showed me around. They have a huge science lab, and you can do all sorts of extra sports. Rock-climbing, fencing, basketball, football, running…" I weakened slightly. Cake knew how much I loved sport.

"Well…" I hesitated. "Maybe… maybe it won't be too bad. But only for a term." Cake hugged me.

"That's my girl. The term starts in September, so you've got a couple of weeks to get the uniform. And," She smiled mischievously. "Makeovers! We can go to the hairdressers and get you a manicure!" I pulled away, and looked at Cake with a confused expression.

"What do I need those for?" Cake giggled, playfully pinching my cheeks.

"No harm in looking fabulous for your first day!" I sighed and rolled my eyes, but grinned in spite of myself.

QOTD: Have any of you guys ever been home-schooled/gone to an alternative to school?

AOTD: I was home-schooled for most of my life, going to school for years two and seven (Australian school system) and starting school again in year ten (English school system). I'm currently at school in England, and have just started Lower Sixth, which is pretty crazy.