Snippet #2299220

“Jude, you’ll be late for school!” His mother, Leona shouted up the stairs. “Jude… Jude… JUDE!” Agitated and mumbling to herself, she intently stomped on each stair and on each step to his bedroom door. Without charge she flung the door open, “Jude I know you heard me!” she yelled, but he wasn’t in his room or in the house she soon realized.

In fact, Jude had left his house a couple hours earlier wearing dark khaki pants, with a white button up short sleeve shirt, a casual black jacket, and his black and grey shoes. More something he would have to wear on one of those rare days his parents managed to drag him to a church service. With him he carried a backpack. Inside was every basic thing he could think of bringing, most importantly the acceptance letter that had blown into his lap. He also carried a small duffle bag with several changed of clothes. After all, this was a live in school. But before going to the academy, he intended to grab some breakfast.

“What is with that boy?” Leona asked her husband as she entered the kitchen and sat down at the table. “He is hardly ever here and when he isn’t I have no idea where he is.”

Casually sipping his coffee, Gregory nodded his head in understanding. “I know the feeling. Before last night I hadn’t seen him for nearly three days.” This filled both of them with much fear, imagining their son was getting involved with the wrong people. “I’ll talk to him when he comes home tonight.” He said, but was thinking ‘if he comes home’.

Jude made his way to the academy shortly after finishing breakfast. He was in no rush and the academy was still a ways away, so he walked casually. Besides he figured this would only be a good laugh and that there was no way he was going to actually be accepted. But if you were going to skip the first day of school anyways… might as well have some fun. Once he arrived, the mass of girls at the entrance seemed an impassable obstacle. There chit-chat filled the air so thick that he couldn’t tell what was being said, it was just a loud noise to him. But as he made his way forward and the girls took notice of him they all became eerily silent.

Jude, without a word made his way through the mass, their silence a bit unsettling, and their stares even more so. With every step he began to feel more and more like he had entered no man’s land. The grounds were truly impressive though and so without delay he briskly made his way across the campus, not paying any attention to the girls whispering and pointing. Where to go? He thought to himself as he looked around the once more