“Petra, I want you to go to high school.” Brandon said from where he sat at his desk.
“For god’s sake why?” she asked.
“You need to learn to socialize.”
“I know how to socialize.” she said, folding her arms over her chest.
“Think of it as a learning experience.” he continued.
“I don’t want to do this.” she complained.
“Why ever not? It could be fun.” he said, his smile slowly beginning to fade.
“Teenagers are exasperating.” she countered.
“This is an order and not up for negotiation.” he said, his expression one she knew not to challenge. Instead, she sighed, and took the paper he held out and looked it over.
“Please tell me it’s not a private school with a uniform.” she asked. It would be just like him to try to enroll her in a Catholic school as a bit of humor for himself, and she was hoping he hadn’t done that much. “The jokes from you and Vince are going to be bad enough without it.”
“Not at all, but they do have a dress code. Emilio has the rest of the information you need to look over.” he said, returning to his paperwork. “I haven’t told Vince.”
“Thank god for that.” she muttered.
“You may go now.”
“Good night Brandon.” she said.
“Good night, Petra.” he responded, giving a dismissive wave of his hand as he continued to work.
She left the office then, and went to find Emilio, who, upon being found, handed her several items that she would need. “Is he sane, or is he suffering from some kind of… I don’t know… Kindred dementia or something?”
“I believe he is undergoing a mid-life crisis, miss.” he said, placing a bagged lunch on top with a note stating Brandon had made it. “Again.”
“He does do that about once a century, doesn’t he?” she stated. Emilio nodded as she peeked into the lunch bag, looking askance. “Is it safe?”
“Yes miss. I supervised to make sure it was…palatable.”
“Thank you, Emilio.” she said. “Good night.”
“Good night, miss.”
She headed to her room, dumping everything on a chair before sitting down on her bed to look over things. She skimmed the code of conduct, student handbooks, and dress codes before looking at her schedule. Typical subjects for high school – Language Arts, Science, Math and so on. Elective wise, he’d at least spared her anything that even related to what used to be called Home Ec. After reading everything, she went to her closet to find something appropriate to wear, though she still wasn’t looking forward to the experience that lay ahead of her. Granted, it wasn’t the first time, and she doubted it would be the last.