Online Love, Offline Hate

Chapter Three: Kameron

Three weeks to the date of resumption, Kameron received an email from the Student Administration Department of Pristine High School.

“What did it say?” His father asked, when he informed them at dinner later that night.

“They want me to visit the school one week from now. With at least one of my parents. The email said they’ll be a formal interview for me and whoever I bring with me. Yeah and something about sizing for the uniform.”

“Maybe I should go. What do you think, honey?” His mother asked his father.

“Uhmm, I wouldn’t want to stress you. I should go.”

“It wouldn’t be any trouble. I’ll go.”

“You have an appointment that day, right?” “I’ll postpone it.”  

Katy shook her head. Her parents just wanted to see the school. They’ve been excited since the news arrived. “If it’s one week from now, we can all go.”

“Yeah, let’s make it into a field trip. It’ll be fun.” Kameron said.

Kameron’s father gave it a thought and nodded. “It’ll be fun. It’s been a long time since we had a trip together.”

“Yeah, the last time was…”

“Did the email ask you to bring anything?” Katy interrupted Kameron and kept the discussion on track. “Like credentials? Anything?”

“They asked for some documents for registration. Birth certificate, some documents from Rivers High and some other stuff.”

Katy rolled her eyes. It was just like her brother to focus on the unimportant things and forget the important ones.

“Make a list of the documents, Kam.” His mother said. “We’ll make sure we get them ready this week.”

“And we also have to get you things you’ll need in your dorm. Make a list of that too.” His father said.

“That won’t be a problem.” Kameron said.

Pristine ran a day and boarding school system. The boarding school was mainly for the students that lived far from the premises while the day school was for students that lived close to the school. Kameron belonged to the former, therefore, he would enroll in the school’s boarding system.

The school provided board and lodging to these students at an additional fee. Due to the nature of the facilities at Pristine, the boarding school fees were almost twice that of the day school fees. For Kameron, the scholarship waived the board and lodging fees. All he had to do was get ready and move in.

“I won’t need much. The school will take care of almost everything.”

“I wonder if they’ll allow us to take a tour of the school when we get there.” Katy said. “I’d like to see the school in detail.”

“I’ve shown you pictures. What more do you need?” Kameron said.

“I don’t trust all those promotion pictures. You don’t know how much they’ve edited them. I want to see the real thing.”

Kameron rolled his eyes. “You’re too skeptical.”

“Not really. I just believe it when I see it.”

“Too skeptical.”

When they arrived at Pristine a week later, the entire family was full of anticipation. Two hours of driving got them to the state where the school was and after another hour, they were in front of the school.

The first thing that astounded them was the entrance to the school. The entrance was a large stone and marble building with PRISTINE written with big, bold, silver letters on the building.

The building had different large archways and under each archway was a lane for cars to enter the school. Some were marked for special staff. The Abel family was currently in the lane that was marked for visitors. There was a security checkpoint in the building and after providing the appropriate information, they were allowed in.

They stared out the windows as the car sped down the road. The road was lined on both sides with massive evergreen oak trees. There were no other cars on the road with them, so they decided to take their time to marvel at the beautiful scenery. Having seen the stone entrance and the avenue-like road, the Abels felt they were a bit prepared for what the school itself would look like. 

Nothing could have prepared them for Pristine High School main building.

The Pristine school building was simply too beautiful to describe. The structure gleamed in the bright sunlight, stone-white with polished marble lining the edges of the building. It was the same stone-marble combination they had seen at the entrance but on a much grander scale.

The expanse of white was reminiscent of a 19th century castle but with a hint of the glass and steel that defined modern structures. 

Kameron had been waiting for this moment to say “I told you so” to Katy but his mouth had fallen open and it wasn’t closing anytime soon.

“Wow. Wow…it’s…wow.” Kameron was finally able to speak but his words made no sense.

“This…this is a school?” Katy couldn’t believe that the elegant structure was simply a high school. It looked like it was more suited to house a monarch than for teaching teenagers.

Kameron nodded but didn’t say anything. He didn’t trust his ability to speak now. He looked around the family car and found he was already outside the car. When did he leave? He didn’t know.

Kameron’s parents still had their mouths open. This was the effect seeing Pristine for the first time had on many people. Especially the scholarship students.

Once the shock died down, they entered the building and made their way to the front desk. Somehow, the inside of the building was even more beautiful than the outside but there were people inside so the Abels tried not to ogle. They failed.

Kameron stared at the massive golden chandelier while the rest of the family spun around in circles until the weird looks and muffled laughter from people in the room alerted them to their behaviour. Faces red, they walked up to front desk and asked how to get to the Student Administration Department building.

The receptionist gave them a map of the school and showed them how to get there with the map. Thanking her, they put on the visitors tags they were given and headed in direction she indicated.

“It’s here. The Student Administration Department Building.” Everyone looked to the building Katy pointed to. It was indeed the one they were searching for. Now they had found the building, another issue arose.

“Where in the building are we headed to?” Kameron’s father said.

“I’ll go ask. There’s a front desk.” His mother said, heading towards the receptionist. She explained why they were there and was given the room number of the office they required. She thanked the receptionist and related the information to her family.

“Okay then. Katy, you can wait here. Kameron, your mom and I will head to the office. Hopefully, we’ll be done soon.” His father said.

“Can I walk around?” Katy asked. She didn’t want to waste the time just waiting. Her father felt it was fine.

“Take the map with you. We’ll call you if anything happens.”

“No problem. Bye.”

“Bye.” With that, they turned and walked towards the stairs. The office they needed to summit the documents to was on the first floor while the office where the interview will be held was on the second floor. Depositing the documents, they were heading to the second floor when Kameron’s mom noticed her son’s behaviour.

“Nervous?” she asked.

“Not really.” Kameron replied, wiping the sweat on his hands on his jeans.

Kameron’s mom chuckled softly. It was at times like this that her son resembled his father the most. They were both adorable puppies but always felt the need to act tougher than they really were. She knew how much the admission to Pristine meant to Kameron. It meant a lot to her too.

As a mother, she hoped and prayed and worked for her children’s success. She wanted the best for them and if she and her husband could afford it, they would have sent their children to Pristine in order for them to get the best education possible.

But the reality was they couldn’t and so Kameron had to struggle for that elusive scholarship.

The past three years had been rough. Seeing her son stress over the scholarship had severely impacted her. The sleepless nights he had spent studying to improve his chances broke her. She frequently found herself wishing she could sell her heart to pay his tuition.

But today, as she watched her son nervousness, she realized something. She didn’t have to worry about him.

Her son was brave and persistent. He told her that he applied on a whim but to try again, even after three failures showed his indomitable spirit. Becoming a construction engineer was extremely difficult and she didn’t know if his dream would be accomplished. But she knew that he would keep trying and that he would never give up.

She had nothing to worry about.

“Hey soldier.”

Kameron felt an arm curl around his shoulder, turned and saw his mom smiling up at him. She beckoned with her hand and he bent his head, offering her his ear.

“No matter what, I will always be proud of you. I will always be here for you and I will always love you.” It was nothing but a whisper; his dad standing less than a metre beside them couldn’t hear. But Kameron could feel intense emotion in the words. He was a bit shocked but he responded.

“Thank you. I love you too.”

Kameron’s father didn’t know what was going on but he allowed the duo to have their moment. They had arrived at the office door. Once they separated, he smiled at them and knocked on the door.

“Come in.” They heard the faint approval through the door.

Kameron watched as his father turned the knob and opened the door, knowing at the same time a new life was opening up to him.