Chapter 1
As her morning alarm went off, Callie shoved a pillow over her head. She was still so angry and confused about the recent turn of events, and she didnt want to think about any of it. All she wanted to do was sleep, and wake up to all this just being some kind of sick bad dream.
“Calista? Are you up?”, came the voice of her grandmother, Nana. Sighing deeply, she replied, “ Yeah, Nana, I’m up. I’m up.” Throwing her covers aside, she got out of bed and stumbled in to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, she told herself, “You look like shit. Ugh.” Turning away she went and used the toilet, then washed her hands and brushed her teeth. She then brushed out her long dark hair and, grabbing a hair tie, put it up in a ponytail, went into her room pulled her oversize nightshirt off, tossing it onto her bed, and grabbed her jeans and a long sleeve pullover, put them on, then pulled on her socks and boots and trudged downstairs.
“You’ll need to hurry up out there, get in, changed, and eat,” Nana said to her.
“Why,” asked Callie. “Where are we going?”
“We have a meeting with your old headmaster,” replied Nana. “He will need to send your records to your new school, and since youre leaving in a few weeks, we are going to try and make sure that your new school has them before you have to start. Now git,” she continues, “I can hear Mocha carrying on out there waiting for his breakfast.”
With a sigh, Callie walked out the back door and headed to the barn. As soon as she entered the barn, Mocha stuck his head over the stall door and nickered urgently at her. Callie grinned. “Ok, ok, buddy, I’m coming. Hang on.” She turned around and closed the barn door so when she let him out to pasture he wouldn’t escape out the front, then she grabbed a scoop and a half of his grain, and dumped into his corner feeder. Mocha immediately started noisily tearing into his grain. Callie laughed, patted his neck and said “You goofball, you act like I never feed your fat ass!” Mocha kept eating and just twitched his ear at her. Leaving Mocha to his grain she grabbed some hay and took it out to his pasture spreading it around in a circle. Satisfied with her work, she went back to see if her horse was ready to be turned out. Callie was not surprised to see he had eaten every morsel he could. She went ahead and turned him loose in his pasture, made sure all gates were secure, then walked back through the barn to the front sliding door and opened it back up. As she left the barn and walked back to the house, she was suddenly struck with thoughts of how much she would miss this. After this month she would only be back during the summer, and while that was usually the case while attending school at Ilvermorny, as she lived there while classes were in session, she was also able to come home at Easter, and Christmas breaks. Once she was in England, however, she would only be able to come back for the summer. She doubted that her father would pay for her to come back at Easter break and at Christmas, and she knew her grandparents couldnt afford to either. While she was gone, her friend Shelly would be keeping Mocha at her place with her family’s horses. She knew Shelly would take good care of him while she was gone, and she would make sure he got plenty of exercise. Unlike Calista, Shelly attended the local public school. While Callie was away at Ilvermorny, Callie’s grandpa would feed Mocha in the morning and turn him out. He paid Shelly to come over, clean Mocha’s stall, bring him in, in the evening and feed him. She also exercised him a few times a week. She lived just one farm over so it was not a problem for her.
Callie suddenly wanted to cry. This wasnt fair! Her father had never had anything to do with her except for the regular checks he sent for support and a few gifts on her birthday and Christmas. Why now? Why does he want me now? These thoughts churned around in her brain as she walked back to the house. She walked in, quickly went up to her room, changed, then came down to eat the breakfast her Nana had set out for her.
Callie sat down at the kitchen table, and her stomach started to rumble. In front of her was her favorite breakfast… over easy eggs, salted and peppered, with rye toast, smothered with extra butter, lots of thick sliced bacon, and some fried potatoes with onions, topped off with a large glass of pineapple orange juice.
As she starts to dig in, her grandmother gives a small laugh and says “Lord child, I have no idea how you eat like you do and never gain an ounce. All I have to do is LOOK at the refrigerator and my ass gains 4 pounds”
Calista nearly chokes on her food. “Nana, you said the word Ass! You never swear!”
Nana puts her hand on her hip. “I call your Pawpaw an ass all the time!”
Calista giggles. “ Yeah, but I’m not supposed to hear it”
“Oh you!” Nana flicks the dish towel at her, laughing. “ Finish your food. Dont forget to rinse your dishes. Im going to go get ready to go and to make sure your pawpaw is as well. Our appointment is in 2 hours”
Calista nods her head, but no longer feels like laughing. She finishes her breakfast, takes her dishes to the sink and rinses them off, then stacks them in the dishwasher. She takes a long look around the room. “Im going to miss this place so much,” she thinks to herself sadly.
She then climbs up the stairs, knocks on her Nana’s door and tells her, “I’ll be in my room reading. Let me know when its time to leave.”
