CHAPTER 1

Bullshit Town?

Awhile goes by with unnerving silence and Ivory reaches for the car radio, Kane comments hastily. "So this Bullworth Academy is a boarding school, huh?"

"Something like that. I don't know, I don't care."

"Well I wouldn't keep that attitude about it. You'll be just as miserable there as you were at home if you don't knock it off Ivy." The older sibling runs a hand through his red hair before propping his head up to lazily continue driving. "I mean it's not like you know what it's like there." Kane quickly added.

"It's not like I want to either." Ivory lashed, tone still harsh, her older brother rolled his eyes. She could hold a grudge for so long and it was tiring.

"We're almost there you know?"

"Yup..." She watched trees grow taller and housing placement widen, spacing out miles apart from each other. It would be nothing like New Jersey.

'Good' she tells herself reaching for her brother's pack of cigarettes. Taking one out she pushes her lighter out of her pocket intently eyeing the flame as it engulfed the cancer stick. A small smile overcomes her.

"These things will kill me."

"Nice life choices kid." Kane mocks reaching into his pack to take one along with his sister. She gently nudges him for scolding her only to take one himself.

"Loser." The insult is followed by the only laugh he'd heard from her the whole ride.

The car comes to a stop and Kane rolls down his window to peek out at the town sign. The large ply wood stood so tall he couldn't see it from inside of the vehicle, gold letters embodied a perfect royal blue signature with a caption that read "Bullworth Town"; or it used to.

He laughed inwardly and proceeded to step out of the car, "Ivy, come here."

Her face twists in confusion but she does so following behind her brother with careful intent.

"Check it out." Kane takes a puff off his cigarette until the cherry becomes as red as his hair. He exhales when he notices Ivory's expression of enjoyment, smoke stems from her nose when she tries to contain her laughter.

Clearly the town property had been tampered with, where it had once read "Bullworth Town" had now actually read "Bullshit Town". An ugly red spray paint had taken any civilized image the town tried to present itself and ripped it right out from under it.

"It's still art." Ivory muses in hysterics.

"Get back in the car." Kane motions his head to the side.

Focusing a steady gaze on the road through the thick glass of the windshield Ivory comes to see the road they are on stretches for miles before a visible dark tunnel casts into the mountains. Aside the guard rails that guided you was a lake as steady as the breeze of pine that had welcomed her when she emerged from the car.

'How inviting.'

The remainder of the ride was spent listening to the two siblings much preferred hard-rock radio station. Ivory mouthed the words to keep herself at ease while they went through the dark overpass. It only lasted long enough for a quick blink and there, right in front of her was Bullworth Town for the first time.

All the imagery unfolded and caught Ivory's eyes at every turn. The blond girl's first instinct was to sit up in her seat. She scoped her surroundings from inside the vehicle, even with that not being as easy as it sounded.

At her right a gated off sidewalk that stretched the length of the boardwalk. She couldn't directly see where it dropped but the ocean was visible enough that she was sure there was a fairly nice sandy beach that trailed along it.

On the left there had been department store after department store and so on. Ivory jotted down a mental note to hopefully go window shopping at some point.

Roads confusingly twisted and turned into one another leaving the young girl curious as to what might be at the end of each one.

"You know for someone who isn't very happy about boarding school you look pretty excited."

Ivory made note of his comment and carelessly sank back into her stoic position keeping focus with the floor momentarily. The sight of the town's residents caught her attention once more however.

Mostly the adults, but she could see some kids her age too. All of which were wearing somewhat uncomfortable blue pladed looking uniforms.

They reached the bridge that slightly bowed upright into a hill, slowing down as they did so. More children could be seen, ones of all shapes and sizes that only differenced from each other by looks and more uniforms.

"Just think you get a pea green sweater vest too." Kane half-joked pointing at one of the bigger students who wobbled into a road that stretches beside the school building.

The car came to its last stop, Ivory's voice saddens.

"I'm going to miss you."

"I know. I'll call as much as I can and visit." He placed his large hand on her shoulder with a sense of softness that made her want to cry again.

"Don't let anyone push you around. You've got more common sense in your whole body then these chumps do in their parent's wallets."

Her older brother added in haste, "Oh yeah! Speaking of wallet, I almost forgot." He rose out of his seat for his back pocket to retrieve his own wallet, panning out any money he had for her. "There's got to be a good three to four hundred bucks there kid." The red head tossed his empty wallet on the dashboard.

"I can't take this. You need i-...For a thing. I don't need it for a thing." Kane interrupted wrinkling his nose at his sister.

She locked her brother in a warm embrace, arms tightly wound around him. "You have to go some time Ivy..." His sentence trailed off when she gingerly pulled back to look at him.

Her hands trembled when she reached for the door, the handle clicked, she stepped out. Coldness sweeping her features as she hoped to present herself as she was, tough.

Brown eyes locked with an older woman who approached her with grace and an eerie nature.

"Miss Ivory Boone. Welcome to Bullworth Academy." Even her voice was startling. She took on the appearance of an older woman, even her taste in clothing. She had a delicate face, visible wrinkles but not nearly enough for her age. Her hair was brown and styled in a similar fifties pinup model and lastly, light eyes that pierced and judged Ivory. They were her most disturbing feature; seeming as though they always watched you.

The young teen approaches the elder woman in hesitance and stops to stare.

She picks up on Ivory's caution attempting to speak more clearly, a coy smile playing at her lips. "Feel honored you were selected to enroll into our marvelous Academy. We do not allow such privileges to just anyone."

Kane made a disturbing appearance behind his sister and nudges her. "Don't be rude Ivory."

"Aren't 'you' going to introduce yourself, hag?"

"Feisty as all of them have been, you will be broken of this habit. I'm Miss Danvers. I follow the orders of the brilliant, Dr. Crabblesnitch." An almost unheard dreamy sigh accompanies the statement.

"Now, let's get you cleaned up and changed into your uniform. I will assign you one of our top students to tour the campus."

"Are there any more people starting here today?" Ivory seems to have lost her rude tone.

Miss Danvers scowls at the young girl's constant questioning. "Let's move on, shall we?" Any strains she held in her face quickly swept away by a soothing sense of false calmness.

As the two of them stepped to enter the school Miss Danvers peers over her shoulder, "You can leave now. Visitation's are strictly for holiday's only and you will be asked to pay for all calls towards our school."

Kane became a mere visual as Ivory continued to step inside the school entrance.