Unfolding the letter with shaking hands, brown eyes skimming over the boring parts, before growing excited when she read the part where the school had accepted her application. A wide smile loaded with happiness overcame the teen face.
"Lisa, I got accepted! Quick, open yours and see what it says!" Dia urgently suggested. Reaching for her letter, Lisa didn't show the same hype reaction as her shorter best friend, opened the letter, she read what was inside.
"They accepted me too." Lisa's lukewarm response confused her pigtailed best friend.
"Lisa, what's wrong? Isn't this good news?" Dia asked Lisa, wondering the reason behind her best friend's lacking reaction. She asked herself, haven't they both been fretting over this same issue since the beginning of their last year as ninth graders?
Hoping that after graduation they would still be attending the same school which is why they applied to all the same schools, but so far none of them responded back to them, which was odd as the majority of their ex-classmates already received response letters from the school of their choosing.
"It's good news, but Dia... I don't recall us applying to Arcane Boarding Academy?" confessed Lisa. The joy Dia felt immediately died with those words.
"Plus, what kind of lame name is Arcane Boarding Academy? Sound like something you'll read in those cheesy romance supernatural books with a bunch of beefy hot guys and a mary sue female lead!" joked Lisa, but Dia wasn't laughing as she began to ponder on this issue and realized Lisa spoke the truth.
"You're right. I don't remember sending an application for this school, so how did we get accepted?" Uncertainty laced the brunette voice.
"Hey, don't sweat too much over it. Besides, this could be a miracle! None of the other schools replied! School season picks back up next month, and look–" Lisa pointed to the words from the letter "--School will begin the first of August, which is next week like when all other schools in this city began their school year. Meaning, Dia, we are left without options."
"True..." Dia began reading over the letter and noticed some fine print she had skipped over in the beginning.
"But Lisa this is a boarding school! This means we have to live on campus! I don't think my brother will take the news too well." Dia nervously fiddled with the edge of her pink checkered plaid skirt.
"Yeah, I don't think big bro is gonna take the news too well." Lisa stared sympathetically at her friend, whose eyes continued to stare at the name of the school listed on the letter.
__
Walking home together, the best friends parted ways as Lisa's house, where she lived with her dad, was two houses down from where Dia lived with her brother. When she saw her brother's motorcycle parked outside, the nerves in her stomach started to cramp, taking a deep breath before going inside.
After passing the living room, a handsome head stuck itself out from the kitchen and brown eyes spotted Dia. "You're back! What do you want to eat?"
Entering the kitchen, she sat down at the table. "Bro, we need to talk."
Dia's older brother Adrian grew worried, seeing the tense look on his little sister's face. Adrian was seven years older than his little sister. Standing at six feet, filled out with muscles that came from working long hours at his construction job, both Dia and her brother shared similar features, such as brown skin, eyes, and hair.
"Why the serious look?" Walking over to the table to take a seat, he asked his younger sister. Dia had overheard many girls over the years call her brother cute and handsome, but the stern expression he currently wore on his face ruined it.
"I got accepted into a school." Dia stared down at the wooden table.
"That sounds like good news to me?" He was concerned now, knowing how much his sister had been stressing out over this situation. Such news should've brought a smile to her face.
"Why the long face Dia?" Adrian grew worried, watching when she pull out a folded piece of paper and handed it to him. Unraveling it, he read the letter. Dia nervously watched her brother expression, noting when his brows furrowed. Minutes that felt like hours ticked by until he finally lifted his head and responded.
"A boarding school?" The expression on his face told Dia that he definitely was not happy.
"Listen, this was not my intention! If I was considering leaving home, I would've talked to you first, but school is around the corner, and so far, this is the only place that has accepted me!" She blurted out in one big breath, hoping her brother wouldn't believe she was unintentionally trying to run away from home without telling him.
While her brother understood his little sister's situation, the idea of her staying away from home did not sit right with him.
"Listen, Dia-"
"Hello? Hello! How are my two favorite nieces and nephews in the whole wide world?!" Gracing the kitchen with her presence stood an attractive woman who looked to be in her late thirties with a great sense of style.
"Aunt Vicky!"
Dia got up from her chair and hugged her favorite aunt. After their parents died in a horrific car incident, the brother and sister were left as orphans. The only one willing to step up was their mom's younger sister, who took the brother and sister duo into her home until her brother became independent enough to take care of Dia.
Despite her aunt begging her brother to go to college and achieve big things, Adrian was stubborn. The only thing she could talk him into was accepting this house under her name. After returning the hug, Aunt Vicky stepped toward the table and saw the letter.
"Oh, what's this?" Picking it up, she read it over, a big smile spreading across her face.
"Congratulations, Dia!" Unlike her brother, Aunt Vicky was joyful at the news. Her brother cleared his voice to bring her attention to him.
"Hello, my favorite nephew!"
"I'm your only nephew. Aunt Vicky, what brings you here?"
Standing timidly on the sidelines, Dia could never understand why her brother tended to put his guard up around their aunt despite everything she had done for them. She was certainly better than their other aunt, their dad's younger sister, who always had a mean look on her face every time she saw them back when their parents were still alive.
After their parent's death, the last time they saw this aunt was at their parent's funeral and that was not a memory Dia was in the mood for reliving. Since then they never saw her again and was it probably for the best.
"Nephew, you are too cute to be making such a long face! Cheer up! Smile more! Or you'll never find a girlfriend!" Aunt Vickey playfully threw these words at her brother, taking a seat at the table.
"I've had five girlfriends in the past!"
"And none of them stayed! My point is to loosen up some! Relax and stop trying to take on so many responsibilities and over-worrying about Dia. I have heard wonderful things about Arcane Boarding Academy. A very prestigious school that only accepted the best students. I always knew our smart Dia would achieve big things~!"
Her aunt's praise made Dia feel bashful, but upon hearing the word 'prestigious' her worries were stirred again, wondering why such a school had accepted her. Dia made good grades, but she wasn't a perfect honored student. When she thought of Lisa, things definitely didn't add up as her best friend grades could be horrible at times, but that was because she refused to study most time.
"I don't like the idea of Dia staying away from home." Adrian firmly expressed his opinion, but Aunt Vicky waved it off.
"School is starting soon, and Dia has nowhere else to go. So suck it up 'cause she's going!" Aunt Vicky ignored her brother, who looked ready to erupt, and turned her attention onto her niece.
"Dia, why don't you go to your room while I talk to your brick of a wall brother, okay?" Knowing things were about to get heated between her aunt and brother, she quickly left for her room.
"I know you had a hand in this! Why are you doing this?!" Adrian raised his voice, demanding answers.
"Watch your tone, nephew. Don't forget I'm still your elder, and despite our different opinions, you will show me respect." Aunt Vicky, known for her easy-going personality, did a complete flip. The tone of her voice was chilled, eyes demanding respect from her nephew. Made Adrian understand his mistake, and quickly apologized.
"Sorry auntie, but that still doesn't explain why you are continually trying to push Dia down 'that' path! I promised mom and dad to always protect her, but what you're doing will only place her in danger!" argued the young man.
Aunt Vicky mockingly laughed at Adrian's words. "I'm in the wrong? You shielding her will not protect Dia forever! You won't always be around to be her knight in shining armor! Dia must realize what she 'is' so that she can protect herself!" She tried to reason with her stubborn nephew.