The Totally True Confessions of an Untrained Wizard

Chapter 2

On my first day of “freedom,” as Steven (and only Steven) called it, I was sitting at the table eating breakfast when Mom slammed a copy of the local newspaper onto the table.

“Page four,” she said grimly.

I opened to the fourth page and read the title of the article out loud.  “Local boy burns down historic warehouse.”  Underneath that were two pictures.  One was the building, covered in flames, and the other one was… me.

Mom grabbed the paper back and threw it into the trashcan before I had the chance to read the article.  “I’m done,” she announced.

“With what?”

“What do you think, Drew?  That’s the third time there’s been an article about you in the paper!”

“The time I won the third grade science fair doesn’t really count.”  I argued.

“That’s why I wasn’t counting it,” Mom agreed icily.  “And that’s also why I’m sending you to a boarding school.”

“In the city?”

“Nope.  In Wyoming.”

“Mom!  You can’t do that!”

“I just did.  Hurry up and pack, we have to be at the airport in a few hours.”

Two hours and a lot of arguing later, I crammed the last article of clothing into my already stuffed duffel bag.  Just as I did, the doorbell rang.  Not long after, Steven walked into my room, closing the door behind him.

“EXPELLED!?!?”  He exploded.  “How can you do this to me? Where are you going to go to school now?”

“Wyoming.”

“Oh, that’s cool, I guess.  Where’s that?”

“The state next to Colorado, dummy.”

“Wait, you mean… across the country?”

“Yes, idiot.”

“So, is your Mom going to drive you there every day?”

I sighed.  Honestly, sometimes I wonder how Steven ever managed to make it into the eleventh grade.

“Yes, Steven.  My mom is going to drive me thousands of miles every day in our nonexistent car.”

“Really?  Because that sounds pretty impossible.”

“It is impossible, Steven.  I’m going to a boarding school.”

“You mean, like, live there?  Oh, man, this is bad.  This is very bad.”

“And it takes you this long to figure that out.  Just this once, I would like to see inside of your head.”

“No, believe me, you really wouldn’t.”

And we both started laughing, enjoying the last of our time together.

“Are you Drew O’Leary?”  A man in sunglasses and a baseball cap asked in baggage claim.

“Yep.  Who are you?”

“Forgive me.  My name is Phillip Tillman, and I am the director of P.O.W. boarding school.  You can call me Phil.”

I fought to keep myself from laughing and possibly offending my “director,” whatever that meant.  “What does P.O.W. stand for?”

“Potentially Outstanding Wetheads.  Now, if you’ll please follow me, we have a long drive ahead of us.  I hope you don’t mind peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner.”

“Of course not,” I agreed.  “Peanut butter and jelly is my life.”

“Really?”

“Nope.”

After driving for roughly two and a half hours, Phil and I arrived at a very deserted group of buildings.

“I would give you a tour, but it’s getting very late and-“ he made a grand sweeping gesture toward the buildings as every single light inside of them turned off.

“What just happened?”  I asked.

“Every light at P.O.W. is connected to a single power source.  Every light goes on at 6:15 a.m. and turns off at 9:00 p.m.  It is impossible to manually turn on or off the lights.

“Doesn’t that… waste electricity?”

“Well, yes, yes it does.  Here we are.  Your dorm.  Good night, Drew.”

I stumbled through the darkened room to my bed and immediately fell asleep, fully clothed, without even bothering to look around at my “new home.”

Why is this so short? I swear it was longer when I typed it out on google drive.........