Splinters: Part One

Part One | 3

Principal Atkinson seemed hesitant. "That sounds admirable. I can assume Brayden will have a tutor?"

Melissa pressed her lips together. "Not now, Principal Atkinson. Like I said, I don't think Brayden should be overwhelmed with school."

The principal shifted in her chair. "I understand, Mrs. Pierson, but I believe Brayden should get started as soon as possible." She glanced at the papers before her. "From the looks of these files, Brayden's never attended an actual school."

Melissa let out a short, fake laugh. "With all due respect, Principal Atkinson," Melissa began, smiling in a way that wasn't so genuine. "I assure you my children's academic careers are incredibly important to me. I think... You of all people know how much I put into this school."

I wondered if Melissa was referring to money, but I wasn't sure. The two women had an awkward staring contest before the principal finally let up. 

Melissa smiled. "We'll see you next week."

Either the principal didn't have anything to say or we left the room too fast for her to answer because we heard no reply. As much as the principal said I would, I didn't get the feeling I'd like Constance the way everyone made it seem. 

...

"Those look a bit baggy." Melissa commented.

"They feel baggy," I admitted.

She nodded and left to go find some other pants that would fit me better.

After we left Constance Private Charter Academy, Melissa had driven me down to a small store that sold uniforms. There were small sections of distinct schools and their uniforms carefully spread out on the floor. Even though the options for Constance was abundant, it was only easy to find myself a reasonable shirt size but was extremely difficult to find any decent pants

Finally, Melissa returned with a new pair. I re-entered my dressing room and for what felt like the millionth time, tried them on. I sighed. Too tight.

I peered my head outside the dressing room. "I don't think these ones will work either."

"Let me see," she encouraged. Awkwardly, I exited the dressing room.

"Absolutely not!" she said.

"I can't really breathe..." I said, tugging at them. 

"My goodness! How hard is this?!"

She left again and searched for some more pants. Again, she came back and handed me a new pair.

"Here, try these."

"I'm sorry..." I mumbled.

"No," she said quickly. "It's not your fault. We'll find a good size."

I nodded, and once again, tried them on. They didn't look great, but they were the most comfortable so far. I showed Melissa. 

"Are those okay?" she asked, not sure of what to think as she looked at the pants. I could tell they didn't look good on me. 

"Best ones so far." 

"Wanna just go with those then for now?"

I nodded.

"Okay, let's put all of those back, though." She stepped into my dressing room and picked up all of the pants that I had previously tried on. I felt bad for whoever had to put them all back. 

And apparently, so did Melissa because we ended up returning the pants back to their places in poor folding style and then went to purchase the ones that fit. I tried not to think about the outrageous price and how that could possibly affect Melissa and Greg.