The Courtwells waited inside the terminal at Northeast Philadelphia airport for their flight to Boston. Helen Courtwell made sure Alison hadn't strayed too far. After waiting another five minutes, the flight was ready to board. West Air and their turboprop Hawker Siddeley HS-748 was taking them up to Boston on this drizzly Friday morning. Boarding the plane, they found their way to their seats. Alison sat in the window seat, her mother in the aisle. The drizzle began to fall heavier now. Alison looked out the window at the rainy terminal scene, the ground crew scurried about like ants. The aircraft's engines roared to life. The flight attendants began their mandatory safety demonstration.
"I'll be back this spring." Alison thought to herself. The aircraft began lumbering forward and towards the friendly skies. Twenty minutes later, the aircraft was somewhere over northern New Jersey. Staring down at the sea of clouds, Alison could only guess where they were. As far as she was concerned she could be a thousand miles from Doylestown and the trouble her brother, Patrick was in. Alison was no saint, but compared to her brother's drunk driving incident on the 27th of December; she was freed from his shame.
"I expect you to have a better semester, Alison. You did well last fall, but there is room for slight improvements." Helen purred. Alison had received mostly A's, with a B in History and lastly, a C in Mathematics. The plane hit some slight turbulence before the captain came over the PA.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we've begun our descent into Boston. We expect to be on the ground in fifteen minutes."
The plane continued to buck against wind as the clouds seemingly came up to greet them. Sinking into the soup, rain streaked along the windows. The approach to Logan Airport was shrouded in murk. The subsequent landing came with a great thud. Alison was in her home away from home. Over the fall semester, she'd come to love Massachusetts; it's a wonder why her family left New England at all.
An hour later, Helen and Alison were driving through the Sumner Tunnel heading towards Plymouth. The Central Artery proved to be relatively tame, if even for a moment. If Helen didn't have to attend the two appointments today, she'd have sent Alison back by herself; Helen's sister Catherine keeping in touch. Over the last two years, she and her husband, Jonathan had taught Alison and her brother how to use public transit.
"I get to meet the new student, tonight." Alison said to Helen as they drove further along. She'd heard about the encounter with the new girl last December from Sarah and Pamela; they seemed to like her.
"That's nice, Alison. You've seemed to make a lot of friends yourself." True, Alison herself had become enmeshed in her circle of friends; they looked to her to help them navigate Boston when they went on a field trip there last October.
"To be fair, mom, I have two close friends: Pamela Cordis and Sarah Newstead. The other students are afraid of us."
"That's better than none, dear. They're not afraid of you, Alison. Really, you should stop jumping to conclusions."
"I can't help it, mom. More often than not, they're correct."
"You just have the jitters. Tonight, you should get back into the routine of school. Tomorrow, I'm taking you up to Aunt Cathy's." Helen offered. Route 3 opened up in front of them as Helen put her foot on the gas.
"At least we're moving at a decent speed. If this were the Turnpike, we'd still be back up in Braintree." Helen laughed. Alison was grateful they hadn't driven up from Doylestown; she could only take so much time in the car with her mother. The exit for Cherry Street loomed ahead. Getting off of Route 3, Helen brought the car to a stop. The rain grew harder as they passed beneath the trees. They turned into the parking lot.
"We're here, Allie." Helen said coolly.
They sat in the waiting room for what seemed to be eternity. The door finally opened; a girl with black hair, worn in braids stalked past. She was followed by her mother, her black hair worn in a perm. She looked rather sternly at her daughter. The exasperated receptionist looked at Helen.
"Dr. Whitney will see you. Sorry she's running behind. Welcome back, Alison."
They walked into the office. By now, the stacks of paper that had sat in piles on both sides of Chloe had subsided into a more manageable mess.
"Good afternoon, please pardon the mess." Chloe said.
"How are you doing, Chloe?" Helen asked. This seemed to catch the psychiatrist off guard.
"I'm fine. Fighting the good fight." She replied. Chloe had attended the same school as Helen. What Helen hadn't let on, was that Chloe was one of the worst mean girls on campus. She'd only had problems with Chloe once; after her brother had died. The gossip had gotten to Chloe, and she ran with it. Helen's left hook took care of that.
"I'm increasing her Ritalin and introducing Lithium." Chloe uttered.
As they got up to leave, Helen offered one final parting shot
"All these years later, Chloe and I still remember what you said that day. He was my brother."
Dr. Whitney sat in stunned silence.
After dropping her stuff off in her room, Alison made her way to the student store located next to the cafeteria. She was still trying to comprehend what she'd just witnessed in Dr. Whitney's office. Apparently, her mother and Dr. Whitney went to school together. She shuddered at the thought, although from how it sounded Dr. Whitney was a mean girl. The student store, at least this branch of it was open. Heading inside, she was prepared to leave empty-handed. Behind the counter was a member of the staff. She asked for a cup of coffee.
Five minutes later, Alison found herself at one of the tables near the entrance. Deciding to go into the social hall, she finished her coffee and hurried along. She waited in line. Alison hated lines, but knew that to go against it would've been futile; especially here at Plymouth Rock. The school demanded a sort of mutual respect from its students; lines be damned. She hoped that Sarah and Pamela would be here tonight. Finally, the line had moved, and before she knew it, she was behind the tables.
She'd barely been in the social hall more than two minutes when she caught Sarah's attention.
"Hey, Sarah!" She shouted over the din. Sarah smiled and ran over; hugging Alison.
"Let's go find Pam." Alison suggested. Grabbing two cans of Coke off the table, they walked toward the corner of the room.
"Knowing how Pam is, she'll be over here in the corner." Sarah said. Sure enough, they saw Pamela sitting in a high back chair.
"Alison!" Pamela shouted. She seemed to be the happiest person to see her.
"Jennifer Hussey is here!" Sarah whispered.
"That paste-eater? Gross!" Pamela sneered.
"I know! I bet they have her shock collar set on high." Alison added.
"We're getting a new student." Pamela whispered. She seemed curious enough.
"Really? Is it the girl from New York?" Alison inquired.
"Yeah, her name is Amy. She seems cool." Sarah replied.
By now Quarterflash had been replaced by the sounds of Blondie's Heart of Glass. To Alison this song reminded her of her brother.
"This song reminds me of a family party I went to last week at my aunts house in Jenkintown. My brother who just got his first car, pulled up with his girlfriend. They were shitfaced." Alison laughed.
"Your brother is a dork, Alison!" Pamela teased, her grin revealing her braces. Alison agreed with her.
"Of course he is. He cares more about getting drunk and making out with his girlfriend, than anything else." She sighed. Pamela hadn't expected Alison to agree, but yet she did.
By now the consensus was that everyone was getting hungry and a trip to the cafeteria was in order. The pizza here was the crowd favorite. As they ambled their way through the crowd, they also had come to a silent consensus that they should go elsewhere afterward to catch up. Ahead, Pam briefly stopped. Alison had also heard the soft, quiet sobbing.
“Who is that?” Alison asked.
Pam and Sarah helped the new student onto her feet. Alison moved closer to them. Before she knew it, they were on their way to the cafeteria.
"You'll love the pizza here." Alison said enthusiastically. The girl smiled.
"I'm Amy Morrow and even though I've only been here for two hours, I think I found my people." The girl beamed.
The four of them entered the cafeteria.
The line moved at a reasonable pace. The four of them each handed a plate, loaded with two slices. To Amy, this was comparable to her favorite place back home
"This reminds me of Village Pizza back home in New York. Look at how the pepperoni cups!" She explained. Gone was the anxiety riddled person in the hallway; replaced by a vibrant and talkative young woman.
"Funnily enough, Friday night is pizza night back home. Mom orders it for my sister and I." Amy continued.
"You have a sister?" Alison asked. Amy nodded.
"Her name's Victoria. She's going to Briarwood. We're very close." Amy replied, taking a bite of her pizza.
"Don't say that too loudly. They make fun of 'Briarwood Babies' here." Pamela quipped, making quotes around the words Briarwood and Babies.
"That's not very cool. Why do they call them that?" Amy replied, curious as to why Briarwood seemed to be a four lettered word here.
"I'm not being mean, Amy. I'm looking out for you. Briarwood is where all the kids who need a lot of help go." Pamela continued. Amy paused.
"Is it a problem here?" Amy asked.
"Kind of. I don't like how people here make fun of people there. I don't think she's a baby." Pamela reassured.
"Why don't we go back to the salt box? I think the parlor is unoccupied." Sarah asked. She was getting kind of anxious.
"You're not so scary once you're out from under the blanket your mom keeps you under." Sarah remarked.
"What do you mean?" Amy asked, becoming even more confused.
"When you came to visit that one day, I noticed that whenever you were talking to Pam and me; you were super happy, then when your mom came back you became sad. She felt like a blanket." Sarah soothed. Amy shrugged her shoulders.
