A few days later we were in a car driving to our new home. James had left early because he said he had business in Jersey that he had to take care of. So, it had just been my mom and I on the road. She drove in her old Volvo. It made noises along the highway. The engine check sign was on, but i knew my mom was one to push things to the limit, like she pushed me. She even pushed the speed limit to the limit.
"Slow down mom geez." I said noticing the sign said sixty five, but she was going eighty. "You'll see your boyfriend soon enough." I relaxed my head against the window. She slowed down a bit so that we were only ten over the speed limit.
"I just rather get there by Sunday so you can take a tour of the new school." She had her lips pursed as she stared at the road. Her blue eyes were so beautiful. They always captured your attention. I wished I had gotten her genetics, but instead I was left with the image of my father.
I didn’t hate my father. I never met him. He was gone way before I was born. My mom told me that he got arrested and was sentenced to life in jail, but she never told me anymore than that. I just one day hoped he would come home and be my father, but instead my mom moved on to someone else.
"Great." I said. I forgot all about having to go to school and meeting new people. I hated meeting new people. I hated socializing, unless we were friends. I know, I know. You have to socialize to become friends, but couldn’t you just skip that part?
"James lives in a great neighborhood you can run around if you want." She said.
"What was wrong with our old one?" I asked. I knew I shouldn’t have been talking to my mother like that.
She gripped tighter on the steering wheel. "Don't give me attitude Benny." She said to me.
I huffed. "Sorry mama." I said. "I just, I don’t get it. Wasn’t our life perfect before?"
"It was." She said. "But you can't control who you fall in love with." A smile grew on her face as she thought of him again.
"Uh!" I said "Stop smiling like that. It's creepy."
"You'll understand one day." She said.
I never imagined falling in love, because i never met someone I liked. I dated of course, but that was because the relationships were literally forced onto me. Jose had a wide part in making sure i had a girlfriend for the whole freshman and sophomore year.
"Are we almost there?" I asked.
"Almost."
My mom's car slowed down and she turned into a big silver gate. The gates opened moments later and behind them was a long driveway of small rocks. It lead to a round about that was filled with expensive cars parked around it. There was a fountain in the center spewing clear water.
Beyond the roundabout was a house, no, that was an understatement. It was a brick mansion with columns lining the porch and east and west wings. There were windows wrapped all around the mansion and green ivy growing along the walls.
My mom parked on the roundabout. "What are we doing here?" I asked.
She got out of the car and smiled. Grabbing her keys she walked up the platform that was the porch. There was a big wooden door with carvings on it and a small glass window at the top. The door opened almost immediately.
James stood behind the door. He wore a white shirt and gray sweats. Never had I seen him so causal. He smiled and hugged my mom like he hadn’t seen her in years.
I pushed them apart with all my strength so I could walk into the house. There was a huge chandelier on the ceiling, and marble floors. The walls were covered with paintings and the corners were filled with statues. A huge staircase lead upstairs. I noticed boxes of stuff in the huge entry way.
"Is this where we're moving." I turned around to see my mom and James watching me like they wanted a reaction.
James nodded. "Do you like it." He said with a smile. He was expecting me to.
I looked around. "What exactly do you do for a living Mr. Morlen?" I asked.
"Software developing." He answered. You could get this much money from that! I think I'm cutting my dream of becoming a cross country star. "So..?" He waited for my answer.
I shrugged. "It's a it overboard." I said. "For a single man."
"Well now i have you and May." He snaked his arm around my mom's waist.
I gave him a short fake smile. "Yeah, so you don't take your many one night stands here to woo them?"
My mom raised her eyebrows, but James just chuckled. "Well your room is upstairs. Second door down."
I looked up the stairs. Just going up them would be an exercise. I took my flip phone out and dialed for Jose as I jogged up the stairs. It was Sunday and I knew he'd be in Church. His family was very religious. It rang as I made my way down the hall to the fourth room down. "Pick up." I said into the phone.
He answered last minute. "Sweet cheeks!" he said. He was shushed by someone with him.
"Jose, you would not believe where I am right now." I said. I opened the door to my room and was met with an even bigger surprise.
There were two parts to the room. The right side was an entertainment area with a flat screen TV, video games, and a small library. On the other side was my living area. There was a big bed and wardrobe next to it. There was a trophy case with all of my trophies in it, like James said he'd buy me.
I huffed. "James is filthy rich, like seriously." I said as I explored the two doors that were in my room. On led to a bathroom, and the other led to a closet, even if I had a wardrobe. The closet was already filled with clothes. Expensive clothes might i add.
"Damn. You're mom scored big!" He said.
I rolled my eyes. What was James doing? Was he my sugar daddy, literally? I knew that wasn’t why my mom loved him. She isn’t shallow. I threw myself on the bed and spoke into the phone.
"Well him being rich doesn’t change that I dislike him." I said.
"I don’t know." Jose said. "If my dad married someone with that much dough I’d be mooching my ass off."
"I know you would." I said.
"I have to get back to church." He said. "You know my dad freaks out about these things."
I smiled and nodded. "Bye."
"Bye." he said back.
Someone knocked on my door. I sat up on my bed and walked over to the door. Behind it was my mom. "How you holding honey?" She asked me.
"I'm holding great mom. How was your reunion with your one true love?"
She gave me a bitter smile. "Get ready in a nice suit. You're going on a tour of the school, now." She said.
"A suit? What is this, Harvard?"
She ruffled my hair. "Just get ready."
I ran my fingers through my hair and closed the door.
I took a steaming hot shower that lasted than ten minutes. Usually, because of our cheap shower, the hot water would go off by then, but this time I could stay as long as I wanted. I decided this was going to be a new place for me to release stress and relax.
I stepped into the deep walk in closet and found a suit that didn’t look like I was going to a presidential inauguration. It was a simple white button up and navy blue button up. I wore tan slacks and black Oxfords. I brushed my hair until it looked good enough and exited my room.
I made my way downstairs and found that my mom wasn’t waiting for me in the atrium. Instead James was there. He looked up at me with a smile. He wore a nice black suit that complemented him. Even though I hated the guy I couldn’t deny he was good looking.
"Ben, you look handsome."
"It's Benedict." I looked around for my mom as i went further and further into the atrium. "Where's my mom?" I asked.
"She's working." He said. "I'll be taking you."
I froze, my mouth gaped. "This isn’t what I agreed to." I said.
He frowned. "Well things came up last minute." he lied.
I bit my bottom lip. James opened the front door and motioned for me to come out. The cold bit at my ears and nose. It easily penetrated the slacks and dress shirt. James lead me to an expensive black BMW. He unlocked it and opened the passenger side door for me. I got in and he entered through the drivers side.
"You're going to love St. Emerson Preparatory." He told me.
Wait. Did he just say preparatory? As in a prep school with snobs, and rich kids. My head was spinning. "You're sending me to a prep school!" I shouted.
He started the car with the push of a button and buckled up. "It's where I went, and I thought you might like it." He started driving.
I relaxed back in my seat. Control yourself Benny. You don’t need to fight another adult in your life. "Have you ever thought that maybe I didn’t want to go to some snobby pretentious school?" I spat.
"It was your mom's final decision." He said. "A kid like you will fit in just fine."
"What do you want with my mom?" I said. "You're old, surely you've already had enough of romance."
His thin lips curled into a frown. "I thought so too, until i met your mom." I hated him.
"Well if you wanted to do any good you'd leave her and I alone."
He stopped talking after that. Either he was extremely hurt and couldn’t bare to speak again, or he was exhausted with trying. Either way, he left me alone. Even though I should have felt happy, it was eating me inside.