Fic: Boarding School (6?)
Author: nodoubtwywh
Disclaimer: None of the characters 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!
At 6 am Jessie was woken up by not only one screeching alarm clock, but two!
"Ugh" Jessie moaned as she rolled over and tried to ignore the loud noises. Apparently Grace had set her alarm for exactly one minute after Jessie's. This meant 'snoozing' was never going to happen. Finally, Grace and Jessie turned of their alarms and started getting ready for their first day of classes.
"I feel like an idiot in this stupid blazer," Grace complained.
"Yeah, well, at least the whole school is going to be filled with idiots in blazers," Jessie replied as she looked at herself in the school uniform.
"So, when do you have a break for lunch?"
"I get out of English at 11:15 and I don't have another class until 2. I guess I have a good break today," Jessie replied.
"I'll say," Grace said jealously "I only have a break from 11 until 11:30. It's because of this creative writing class I added that's only one day a week"
"Ok, so you ready?" Jessie asked as put her messenger bag on and got her keys.
"Yep, guess so"
The meeting at the chapel turned out to be exactly what Grace said it would be. They sang the school Alma Mater and then the headmaster spoke. Jessie felt like she was reliving a scene from a bad movie. 'I guess they had to get their material from somewhere' Jessie thought to herself as the singing ended.
"Well, good luck" Grace said as they were standing up to leave.
"Yeah, you, too" Jessie said as she made her way through the crowd.
"Jessie Sammler?" Someone called through the group of people. Jessie turned and tried to find the person who had called her name. A woman against the wall as waving at her.
Jessie finally made her way over to the wall and the woman wondering how she knew who she was.
"Hi Jessie, I'm Dr. Eliot."
"Um, hi," Jessie replied still not sure who this person was.
"I'm sorry I didn't get in touch with you earlier, but apparently there was a miscommunication in the main office. I'm going to be your advisor while you're here at school"
"Oh, okay," Jessie said not knowing what else to say.
"Well, I have another student that I'm advising coming to meet me at my house at 11:30. Why don't you come then, too?"
"Sure," Jessie said wondering if her new advisor knew that she didn't have class then "Where is your house?"
Dr. Eliot wrote down some directions for Jessie that seemed easy to follow. She explained that ninety percent of the teachers lived on campus. She also explained that advisors had copies of their students' schedules.
Surprisingly, Jessie found her first two classes not that horrible. School and homework were always things she could handle. Math and English were the same no matter where went to school; even if one school happened to give more work. Her last class of the morning got out a little late at 11:20, and Jessie wasn't sure how long it'd take her to walk to her advisor's.
At 11:35 Jessie found the house. She knocked on the door and someone inside yelled "Come in!"
"Hi," Jessie started as she walked in looking for someone "Sorry I'm late. My last class ran over a little bit."
"No problem," Dr. Eliot replied as she passed Jessie in the hallway going from one room to another. "Come into the living room. I was just getting some drinks for us."
"Hey!" some said brightly as Jessie was putting down her bag near the couch.
"Oh hey!" Jessie said as she turned around and saw Katie single cross legged near the coffee table.
"Great," Dr. Eliot replied "I thought you guys might know each other already"
"Yep, we go way back" Katie said jokingly
Jessie was glad to see Katie. Hanging out with adults who are trying to be your friend is easier if you have someone else with you.
"So, how were your classes this morning?" Dr. Eliot said making conversation.
Dr. Eliot turned out to be pretty cool. Jessie wondered if that was a prerequisite to being an advisor. She hadn't heard anyone say anything bad about their advisors yet. They hung out and drank some lemonade while Dr. Eliot explained what she was there for. Basically if they need help with anything, that's why she was there. If they needed to escape for a bit and come watch TV and study, she was there. Her husband loved to cook so she said they would never have to miss home cooking.
Katie and Jessie left Dr. Eliot's house 40 minutes later feeling comfortable about their advisor.
"Do you have a class now?" Katie asked as they started walking away from the house
"No, I don't have my next class until 2"
"Yeah, my next class isn't until 2:30"
"It's weird having classes that aren't back to back isn't it?" Jessie asked not used to having no bells and free time in the middle of the day
"Yeah," Katie agreed "But I think it's cool. Do you want to go grab some lunch and take it upstairs to eat?"
Jessie didn't have anyone to eat lunch with so this sounded like an okay plan to her. Jessie made it through the line quickly as she grabbed a salad. Katie, on other hand, was stopped by no less than ten people trying to talk to her.
"So, you didn't feel like eating the cafeteria?" Jessie asked as they walked into Katie's room
"Not really," Katie said "I like that I can come hang out in my room in the middle of the day. I guess it'll grow old eventually"
"Yeah, probably." Jessie agreed as she sat down on Katie's newly made up extra bed.
Katie took off her shows and reached for her CD player. She was one of those people who always had to have some music playing in the background. Today was no exception.
"Who is this?" Jessie asked since she'd never heard this song before
"It's Billie Holiday" Katie informed her "My Uncle got me into her. He knows everything cool. She has an amazing voice and I just love listening to her"
Jessie listened for a bit longer and finally decided that she liked this music.
"I can make you a copy if you want"
"Cool, thanks" Jessie answered as she laid down half way on the bed. "I love her voice."
"Yeah, I saw this movie on her life though once and I mean anything bad that could happen to someone happened to her" Katie started to explain and then remembered that Grace had mentioned something about Jessie liking to sing
"Hey, don't you sing?" Katie asked
"I, well, I mean I like, too" Jessie replied wondering how Katie could've known.
"Grace mentioned it last night when you and Tad were still hanging out at the bleachers" Katie explained and then kicked herself mentally for bringing up Tad. "Why don't you try singing this song?"
"What? Now?" Jessie asked clearly embarrassed
"Yeah, c'mon, I want to hear"
Finally Jessie gave in and picked up the song where she could remember the words.
Empty pockets don't ever make the grade
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own
Jessie stopped singing and started to giggle nervously. She loved singing so much that she'd nearly forgotten where she was. She stopped singing though because she didn't know all the words yet. Katie was just staring at her not saying anything, so Jessie suddenly got very self conscious and started to fidget.
"Wow," Katie finally managed to breathe. She'd never been entranced by anyone's voice like that before. Jessie's eyes shone more brightly than she'd ever seen while she was singing. Katie had heard people speak of angel's voices before, but it wasn't until this moment that she understood what they meant.
"Yeah, uh, well," Jessie stammered as her cheeks started to flush "I just, I don't know the rest of the words" Jessie explained trying to break the weird silence.
"Snap out of it, Singer!" Katie commanded herself silently.
"You have an amazing voice," Katie finally said still staring at Jessie.
"Thanks," Jessie said as she turned even redder "Well, I should probably get to class. Grace and I found the building yesterday, but it's way across campus so it's going to take me awhile to get there"
"Ok, that's cool" Katie said trying to pretend that she didn't mind that Jessie had to leave. But really the truth was that the nagging feeling she'd had in her stomach when they talked earlier had suddenly become a lot harder to ignore.
"Well, I'm sure I'll see you later" Jessie said as she left Katie's room.