Post by Darlah Knight on Nov 15, 2010 21:33:04 GMT -5
Junior Year :: Age 14 :: London, England
Class was a major bore and while she couldn’t argue that she would be even more bored in primary school, she couldn’t help but curse her mother for sending her to a boarding school as the choice of secondary school. She tapped her pencil almost annoyingly on the desk and heard her name, or rather, what was supposed to be her name. “Darlay? Darlay!” The fourteen-year-old looked up. It was Junior year, she’d skipped sophomore year like she had skilled the eighth grade and went straight to high school. The professor for the class she was now in - math - was Mrs. Jenkins, who Darlah couldn’t help but think had a big nose and funny eyebrows. She wasn’t one to look at people for their appearance but picking out the weird little things on people’s faces sometimes helped her remember names and it also made it look as though she were paying attention to class.
“It’s Darlah. Dar-lah. Not Lay. Not as in those funky United Statesian chips. Not as in time to lay down. Lah. Like Darlah. I don’t understand what’s so difficult about the name and I’ve been here for two years now. You’d think-” She was cut off, kids laughing and the teacher practically fuming as she wrote the little slip that would send her across campus and into the principal, Father Mathew‘s, office. Darlah took the note, grabbed her books, and made her way out the door with a peace sign.
“That’s not how your father raised you,” the Father was scolding the blond teenaged girl. “I know, but my father also raised me to be critical and know when I’m being treated unfairly.” The balding man gave her a strange look as though he didn’t trust anything Darlah was saying. The young girl sighed and crossed her legs until the man frowned and she straightened up in her seat. “The least the woman could do was pronounce my name correctly. Math isn’t my subject anyway. I’m far better at English. Maybe you could just let me skip the rest of math? It’s not like I’m going to nee-” She cut off because the old, well, older, man in black started glaring at her. “Or not.”
“Mrs. Jenkins said-” It was the Father’s turn to cut off now because Darlah had stood up and started pacing. “Mrs. Jenkins needs a good pair of tweezers and a facial. And she needs learn some proper English. My name does not have a ‘y’ on the end of it. It’s bloody common sense and a load of bollocks!”
At this point she was forced to call her mother, who scolded her for profanity and then handed the phone to her father who praised her for not letting the system walk all over her. Man, her parents contradicted each other like water and fire. It was probably why they balanced each other out so well but if Darlah was being honest she liked the father figure more than the motherly figure, who really wasn’t much of a mother aside from getting her into all of the things a young lady should have to take part in to acquire a decent young man. Darlah hadn’t had the heart to tell the woman that she was keeping her options open as far as the man part went.
Last year (which had been her freshman year instead of her sophomore year) she had shared a room with a young girl who had been about a year older than her. The two had had a sort of flirty relationship but it hadn’t lasted and this year Darlah had practically begged her father for a single room. Also last year the two had been victims of an almost rape, but Darlah had gotten them out of that situation. Apparently rumor had spread that the blond girl wasn’t to be messed with, which suited Darlah just fine.
Except later that afternoon, when she had gotten to her room after being sent to Father Mathew’s office, she noticed she had a missed call on her answering machine. “Uh, yeah, Darlah, it’s Kyle. Listen, you wanna go out tonight? Like a movie or something? Call me, back, k?” And then there was the beep. Darlah’s eyebrows pulled together. At fourteen, she didn’t think she’d be having a date so soon, especially since the Kyle who had called was sixteen. Okay, it was only two years, but her father would freak. She dialed his number slowly, planning on turning him down but when he answered what came out of her mouth was “So what movie are we seeing?”
