Glowpeak Academy- Chapter Six

Veronica felt horrible. She'd lied before, but not to Charles and not about something like this. She'd never experienced something like this. Granted, she wasn't entirely sure what this was, but it seemed serious. She knew something she shouldn't and she didn't know what to do about it. It was her fault for listening at her parents' door that night. Eavesdropping was definitely something she never wanted to do again. She didn't think she should be there one to tell Charles, but she also didn't think it was right for her to go to the school with him. She wasn't sure how the two were related, but for some reason she couldn't explain, it felt like they were.

So she'd made up some excuse. Charles had asked her why and she said she didn't want to go. He'd offered not to go, to stay home with her, but she'd told him they couldn't stay together forever and they needed to find their own paths. When he was still reluctant she'd said it would make her feel bad if she knew she was responsible for making him unhappy and for taking a remarkable opportunity away from him. He'd been sad, but he'd been sad before. He would get over it. But she wasn't sure she'd get over what she'd done.

He hadn't gone to school that day. He'd spent the entire day packing and making sure he had all the supplies he needed. There were some things he wouldn't get until he got to the school, but he had most of it already or he could get it at a department store in New Rochelle. Someone would be by to pick him up the next morning to bring him up to the school, so he had to be ready to go. Veronica would miss him, but it was all for the best.

Charles would miss her too. He didn't understand why she didn't want to go or why she was so adamant about him going without her. But since he was going alone, he was determined to have a good time and to do his best. He knew his family supported him, including Veronica, even if she didn't want to go. He was afraid though. He wasn't sure if he would be able to make friends there and it was hard to be happy when you were so alone. He'd never really had any friends other than Veronica. There was Paul, but Charles was pretty sure he only became friends with him in the first place because he had a massive crush on Veronica.

What if he couldn't make friends? What if he was just a bad friend and everyone could tell just by looking at him? Charles shook off the doubt that was filling his mind and zipped up his duffle bag. It didn't really matter what anyone thought of him, except for his family. If no one wanted to be his friend they'd be missing out, not him.

Charles had two bags: a duffle bag and a messenger bag. The duffle bag contained his clothes, hygiene products and entertainment. The messenger bag held all of his school supplies. The drive to Glowpeak Village, Vermont was estimated at five and a half hours, so he planned to bring a book with him to read on the way. A man named Alexandre Durand was supposed to pick him up at eight o'clock the next morning. Apparently he was already going to Glowpeak to bring his own son to school and didn't mind making an extra stop. Charles wondered what the Durands were like.

None of Charles's younger siblings had been told that zombies were real; only Charles, Veronica, and Jared knew the truth. Jared has seemed much less surprised than Charles had expected him to. Mostly he just looked confused. All that the younger kids knew was that Charles was going off to a really nice school in Vermont and they wouldn't see him again until Thanksgiving. Judith wasn't really aware of the situation at all. She sang to herself softly just the same way she had before, but she would notice when Charles left. None of them would really find out about zombies until they were old enough to go to school at Glowpeak. Once they were old enough, the opportunity would be extended to them, just as it had been to Charles and Veronica. Unfortunately, Jared had missed his chance. It didn't bother him though. He already had elaborate plans for his life and they didn't involve going to a zombie school.

"Charles," called Mrs. Brooks from the kitchen.

"Yeah?" said Charles.

"It's time for dinner," she said. "Jared, can you find Judith.

Charles walked into the dining room a couple minutes later, breathing in the smell of roasted chicken. He began to set the table as the rest of his family slowly tricked into the room, or dove, in the case of Frank. He turned around in the doorway and stuck out his tongue.

"Ha," he said, "I beat you!"

Zoe entered the room gracefully, folding her arms and glaring at her brother. "I said I want racing," she said and plopped down at the table.

Frank shrugged. "I was. And I still beat you."

Mrs. Brooks walked in wearing an apron and oven mitts and carrying a casserole dish, which she set down on the end of the table. It held a large roasted chicken surrounded by potatoes and carrots. Veronica followed her mother into the dining room. She was carrying a bowl of salad and a couple bottles of salad dressing. Jared carried a giggling Judith into the room and Mr. Brooks strode in after them with his hands in his pockets.

When they were all seated they began to dish up food, and then to eat. It was quiet. The family would not be all together again until Charles returned for Thanksgiving and none of them knew what to say. They'd never been separated like that for so long. They say in deep thought for a while. Frank started at everyone, wondering what they were all thinking. Finally, fed up with the silence, Frank sighed and spoke.

"Has your new school ever had a shooter?"

Charles shrugged. "Frank, that doesn't usually come up in casual conversation. Except with you."

"Oh," Frank said. "When that detective guy comes back, I'm gonna ask him. Can I go with you?"

Mrs. Brooks laughed. "You aren't old enough, silly. You can go there when you're eleven, just like Charles.”

Frank looked incredulous. "I have to wait that long?"

Mrs. Brooks smiled sadly. "We're all going to miss Charles."

There silence renewed and the entire Brooks family sat quietly eating their food for the rest of the meal. Even Judith seemed to feel the mood and she too sat quietly, if not eating her food, at least playing with it.

After dinner they watched a movie together, then everyone went to bed early. They all wanted to get up to see Charles off. Veronica, Jared, Frank, and Zoe were all skipping the first part of school. Charles laid awake in bed for hours. He couldn't stop thinking and wondering. He had so many questions still. Too many questions and no way of finding the answers. He dozed off, still worried he wouldn't fit in. Without Veronica he would be completely alone and it seemed like they were all counting on him to be great and to succeed at this school. The fear of not being able to meet his family's expectations exhausted him and finally he fell asleep.

Charles's mom woke him up at 6:30. After double checking his luggage and scouring his whole room, he finally decided he had all he needed. He jumped in the shower and was dressed and ready to go by 7:30. Mr. Brooks was in the kitchen flipping pancakes when Charles walked in.

"Bacon?" Charles asked hopefully.

"We ran out," said Mr. Brooks. "Sorry. But we do have sausage.

Charles grumbled, opening the refrigerator. "We always have sausage and we never have bacon."

He pulled the sausage out of the refrigerator and tossed it to his dad. Mr. Brooks cut open the package and squeezed the meat on to a frying pan. Then, cutting it up into irregular chunks with a metal spatula, he turned the stove on to medium heat. He turned to Charles as he flipped another pancake.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Yeah," Charles nodded. "I think so."

The rest of the family entered the kitchen and helped carry things out to the dining room. Judith shuffled into the room wrapped in a blanket and guided by Zoe.

"Mom," she said to Mrs. Brooks, who was rushing around the room getting breakfast together.

"Yes, darling?" said Mrs. Brooks.

"Frank won't get up. He said if he doesn't sleep longer, he'll die in the zombie 'pocalypse. What is that?"

Charles and his parents looked at each other in alarm. Then Mrs. Brooks left the room. They heard her stomping down the hallway to Frank's room. Charles was staring out into the hallway watching her bang on Frank's door when he felt a cold hand on his arm. He looked behind him and saw Zoe grasping his arm.

“Charles,” she said, “what's a 'pocalypse?”

“It's the end of the world. It's okay though. It's not happening yet. Well, maybe it is for Frank.”

Charles heard his mother's voice out in the hall and peeked back out the doorway to see what was going on. She had opened the door and was going into the room. With the door open, Charles could now hear Frank's voice too.

“I'm getting up, I'm getting up!” he said.

Mrs. Brooks came back into the hallway. “You better be,” she said as she closed the door.

“What's going on?” asked Veronica, coming out of the dining room.

“It's Frank,” Charles told her with a grin. “He just survived the Mommy Apocalypse.”

Mrs. Brooks narrowed her eyes at him and raised her eyebrow as she passed him on her way into the kitchen. “You better watch out, or you're going to experience the Mommy Apocalypse for yourself.”

After a quick breakfast, the Brooks family went outside to wait with Charles and to say their goodbyes. Just before eight o’clock, a car pulled up to the flat and a man got out.

“Charles Brooks?” he inquired.

Charles stepped forward, clutching his duffle bag and carrying his messenger bag. Veronica stopped him on the first stair step.

“Charles, you know I'm going to miss you, don't you?” asked Veronica.

Charles nodded. “Yeah, of course. I'm going to miss you too.”

Veronica hugged him, then stepped back. Charles descended the steps to the Durands’ car. Mr. Durand, the man who had gotten out of the car, came around the side and opened the back door for him, taking his luggage around to the trunk of the car. Charles sat down inside and closed the door. He waved to his family and they waved back, then shuffled into the flat as the car drove away. Charles looked it the window watching the houses pass by and already beginning to miss the people and the places that he was leaving behind.

“You're Charles?” asked a voice close by.

Charles looked around. There was a boy sitting in the seat behind the driver's seat. Mr. Durand's son. He had blond hair and blue eyes. His hair was almost long enough to reach his shoulders and cover his eyes. He wore a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and was clutching a book. He looked really nervous, but he was the spitting image of a generic, overconfident jock. It didn't seem like he was really a jock though, the way he was clutching that book. At least not a generic jock. The boy repeated his question and Charles noticed a faint accent, but he didn't recognize it. He hadn't heard very many real accents though outside of movies.

“Yeah,” said Charles.

The boy smiled. “I'm Louis Durand. I guess we'll be hanging out a lot this weekend.”

“What?” asked Charles.

“We missed orientation week, so we have to take the entrance exams this weekend,” Louis explained.

“What?” Charles said again.

“No one's told you about the entrance exams?”

“No. I was only enrolled two days ago.”

“Oh, well. It's not that big of a deal. They just want to know where we're at. I'm pretty sure they don't throw anyone out over it. They also placed you based on your tests.”

“Place you? Like in classes?”

“No. On teams. No one told you about the teams? They really prepared you, didn't they?” Louis looked surprised by Charles's cluelessness.

“What do I need to know?”

“What do you already know?”

“I'm not sure if this will answer your question, but I didn't even know zombies existed three days ago,” said Charles.

“Fair enough,” said Louis. “You'll learn about the history in class, and I don't know a whole lot about it to begin with. I'll just tell you about the school as much as I can, or at least what to expect when we get there. First there are the entrance exams. They're just tests to find out how much we already know and how we would fit in it each team. There's history, English, math, and science general exams, then there's a zombie history test and a physical exam. There are five teams. The most notable of the teams are the black and red teams. A lot of famous zombie slayers and war heroes were on those teams. Though I think the red team is actually called Maroon. The other teams are Team Olive, the green team, Team Navy, the blue team, and Team Brown, which most of the other teams call Team Dirt. It's kind of mean, but Team Brown has always been known for being the trouble team, so no one really cares. The most famous traitor Tommy Everett came from Team Brown. A lot of people make fun of then, but I don't think they really care. If they did care they probably wouldn't cause trouble.

“Anyway, there are actually six of each team. Most of the seniors go off on internships or fields training throughout the year and some graduate early, so Team A for each color is made up of Juniors. We're going to be party of the F teams since it's our first year. I think that's basically all you really need to know for now.”

Charles nodded. “That's pretty simple. It makes sense.”

“I'm really excited. Aren't you? I just hope I don't get onto Team Brown F. My dad said that the only teams with available spots are Team Navy, Team Brown, and Team Maroon. Team Maroon is like that most years though because they're usually really selective, so there's a pretty good chance one of us will end up on Team Brown. Good luck.”

“Yeah, you too,” said Charles.

The boys fell silent for a short time and it didn't surprise Charles that it was Louis that broke the silence.

“Who was that girl who hugged you when we picked you up?” he asked.

“Oh. That was my twin sister, Veronica.”

“She's really pretty.”

“She is? I mean I've never thought of her that way. She's my sister.”

“Why isn't she coming to Glowpeak? If she's your twin, she should be going this year too.”

“She didn't want to. She wanted to stay home,” said Charles, looking away.

“Why?” asked Louis.

Charles stared at the window, pretty sure that he and Louis has the same expression on each of their faces.

“I don't know,” he said.

The rest of the drive went by so fast that Charles and Louis were both surprised when they finally pulled up to the school. Charles had told Louis about his siblings and about the lockdown and his discovery of zombies and then how he was invited to Glowpeak by the detectives. Louis told Charles about how his parents worked at the UN as diplomats for the Flesheater Defense Division and that he was an only child. Charles also learned that the Durands had moved to America from France when Louis was three. That was why he had a very faint French accent.

The boys had just been guessing what they'd be eating for lunch when Mr. Durand announced that they were about to find out. It was close on one o'clock and they were all hungry. Charles and Louis looked excitedly out of Louis’s window. There was a wrought iron fence and behind it, trees. That was all they could see for the moment. Then they saw a light, warm and golden and poking through the trees. They turned the corner and found a gate blocking the car's progress and a winding road that was slowly crawling in up a mountain beyond that.

The first thing they noticed were the lanterns. They were glass and metal boxes with lightbulbs hanging inside and shining around. Louis whispered that they were modeled after the lanterns that had given the mountain its name, even though those lanterns contained candles, not lightbulbs.

The lanterns were held by two stone men, one on each side of the road. One of them seemed to be young and the other was an older man. The statues each bore an inscription at their base, but the letters were too far away and too small for the boys to read.

There was a car waiting just inside the gate. As they pulled up to the gate, a person got out of the car and punched a code into the gate, then stepped back as the gate swung open and Mr. Durand Drive his car onto the school's grounds. He pulled up beside the person, who Charles now realized was a man. He was dressed nicely and clean shaven. Charles guessed that he was a teacher from the school. The man approached the car and Mr. Durand rolled down his window.

“How are you, Felix?” asked Mr. Durand.

“Oh, it's a fine day,” said the man. “Headmaster Percival sent me to meet you. He's awfully busy right now and they're not finished preparing for our surprise student. Is that him, then?”

The man looked into the backseat where Louis and Charles were sitting. Mr. Durand nodded.

“This is my son Louis,” he said, gesturing to Louis, then pointing to Charles he said, “This is your surprise student, Charles Brooks. Boys, this is Mr. Simmons. He'll be your English teacher. He's over the first four years.”

The boys shook his hand through the open window. Mr. Simmons glanced at a watch on his wrist.

“We'd better get going. The food should be ready by now and I'm sure you're all hungry,” he said, returning to his own vehicle.

They followed Mr. Simmons up the winding road. Sometimes they caught brief glimpses of windows reflecting sunlight through the trees. At last the treeline broke and the road opened into an enormous clearing. In the very center of the clearing was a great, almost magical building that could only be the school.

Glowpeak Academy.