Eret's Cousin (Phil's Kid universe)

Ch-8-School-?

. . .

The boy I meet then threatened at lunch today said something I couldn't get out of my mind for the rest of the day. "I heard it's a good school, but it must be rough having your sister do such horrible things, then being sent to a school like that."

It's a good school? But also not good to "be sent to a school like that". So was it a good school or not? Why didn't I look it up earlier? All I did all weekend was do nothing. How could I even forget? I should have looked it up before Lindsey left! I should have asked her what school she was going to first!

It's fine she mentioned it in the letter. She said the school name and said she wouldn't mind going there. But since mom picked it out... I need to do my research when I get home.

. . .

I spent the rest of the day trying to distract myself with school and classes, but my mind kept wondering back off to; what kind of school Lindsey went to. And what kind of school would accept her right after what happened?

When I got home I went straight to my room as usual. But instead of going straight to drowning myself out in homework I opened my laptop and went straight to my research.

I remember where the college was, a few hours away. So I just had to look up a collage with that name in that area and it should pop up. It did. So I went to a link for the school. The homepage for the 1stthrough 12thgrade school seemed alright. Except for the text.

The first thing was the school's name in the center at the top of the screen. Right under it in bugger text was the sentence. "Make your kid acceptable for society."

That was the first thing that ticked me off. What did they mean by it? Did they mean smart for society? They had to right? But Lindsey was already pretty smart.

Scrolling down a bit was a small about section underneath the bigger text that ticked me off the wrong way. What they were known for was that they had classes that would help teach kids what was and wasn't acceptable. Except on a more serious scale, like don't hit people because they tick you off. That also connected to an emotional control class.

So is that why mom picked the school? Because they could tell Lindsey one day a week why not to hurt people? I think she already knows that. Is it a bad idea? It sounds alright. Just because it sounds all right doesn't mean that's actually how they are in classes.

Was this all just a school to correct kids and help them control their emotions that could get a bit out there sometimes? That doesn't sound too bad for Lindsey. She did have randomly strong emotions sometimes. Is that such a bad thing? She just feels more strongly about some things than others, like everyone else.

Did that strong emotion towards me get to string and ended up hurting someone? Yeah. Did she get in trouble? Yeah. But that was one time. It could have happened again. No, I trust her. I like Lindsey the way she is.

She won't change too much because of that school. She's just getting a new start. I wish I could have gone with her and escaped this place.

.   .   .

"Maybe your mom was thinking about what schools could help Lindsey?" I rolled my eyes. "Why would she do that? All she seems to care about is our grades. And that school doesn't really focus on grades." "Maybe she's making sure Lindsey is better, before thinking about grades." "That'd be a first." I scoffed.

Eret sighed on the other end of our call. "I know she's not the best parent out there, but she's what you've got. She just cares about you both in her own way." Eret explained to me. "I know, I know, thanks. But sometimes I can't help but wonder-." I stop, feeling bad about what I was thinking.

"Wonder what?" Eret asks me. "I don't like how I think this way sometimes." I admitted not wanting to say my previous thought out loud. "It's alright, it was just a thought, I have random thoughts too sometimes." Eret says making me feel slightly better.

"I wonder if she does it on purpose." I mumble without thinking too much about whether I should have said that or not. After I said it. I regretted it. Just like after I thought about it. I regretted it.

"Does what on purpose?" Eret asked worldly. There's no getting out of it now. "Everything." I say quietly. Why am I like this? It was just a thought. A bad one. And now I'm blaming her? I know she does good things too. It's not like she's always that bad.

It was silent for a bit.

"Sorry." I quickly apologize. "No that's alright." Eret quickly says after me. "It's just, people usually do act on purpose. We just didn't know why they do things sometimes." Eret paused to think for a moment. "Why did something happen?" They quickly ask.

"Well, Lindsey pretty much got kicked out." I say sadly and a bit annoyed. I was still upset with mom about the whole thing. "Right, sorry. I mean, anything else besides that? Anything new? Or more recent? I'm just wondering why you'd think that." Eret sounded confused and generally a bit worried.

"I-" I couldn't find what words to say at first. How was I supposed to say it? Is this not normal? Judging by Eret's voice it might not be. But it's normal for me. What's normal? How do normal families act? I don't they act anything like mine. Is that such a bad thing? What happened to Lindsey, and how she got sent away, has made me start to question things again. And not very polite questions. Maybe Eret will have some answers. He's had problems and arguments with his parents before like everyone else. Maybe I need some outside advice? See how Eret sees the situation?

I finally thought of what words to say, how to word it. I hope it just made sense. "Sometimes I think she does everything on purpose, then she acts nice, does something nice, so I feel bad for thinking these things."

Talking about it suddenly makes me feel a bit upset. "Then it's like the whole cycle repeats over again, every time."

. . .