Holbrook Academy

This is my first draft of this story I really like the characters personalities.

Chapter One

Hosting the ambassador tonight is going to be a dull affair, Matt’s older brother would bore them all with his vast knowledge of all things pertaining to finance. Henrick is everything that Matt isn’t, Henrick is smart, cunning and the perfect heir to succeed their father. During the last civil war, Matt’s father brought peace to the country, their nation is in very close proximity to Russia and many of their people support answering to a larger state, Matt’s father showed his people how to be self-sufficient, Krash isn’t the richest country in Eastern Europe but they are by no means the poorest either. Matt’s personal Valet dresses him in a tux, Matt puts on his own trousers, but his Valet named Barney slides the coat onto the young masters thin shoulders.

Once his coat is brushed for lint Matt looks at himself in the mirror, he has a long and thin frame, blonde hair, and a dimpled chin. Once presentable, Matt leaves his dressing room and makes for the dining hall. They live in a modest dwelling for ruling the country. 10 bedrooms, some Kings and Queens of other nations have hundreds of rooms in their palaces, then again Matt’s father General Simon Polk is a modest man, this modest living has allowed him 15 years in power and a high approval rating.

The simple walls of the manor show the artwork of their various countrymen. Soon Matt comes to the dining hall. Inside a table has been set for fourteen guests. The two guards for the Prime Minister linger along the wall, also standing at their posts are several of his father’s guards. Henrick is lingering near the fireplace with a glass of scotch in his hand. Next to him are the interior minister and the deputy prime minister. All three men appear to be deep in conversation.

The house butler enters the room after Matt. He announces the arrival of Matt’s father, the General is a man of middling height, his hands are firm and vice like. With a thick jaw his nose is narrow, which only makes the General serious eyes appear colder.

Trailing the General are his mother Elizabeth and his sisters Clair and Kasey. Both girls match his mother in similar style evening dresses. In their hands are their cellphones. Both girls hardly ever look up from them, Clair is fifteen, two years older than Matt and Kasey is eleven. His youngest brother is upstairs, the boy has been ill with a cold.

It was an uneventful dinner. Matt faintly listens to his brother speaking about various cash crops and the fluctuations of prices, as usual his father listens to his favorite son. The chocolate cake is brought out, Matt has been waiting for this cake all meal, not only did it signal the last ten minutes of this boring dinner, but they had the best desert baker in the country.

His mouth waters as a shiny piece of cake is placed in front of him, the flavor melts in his mouth as he takes several bites. Everyone else at the table seems to be enjoying the cake too. Matt would miss the food from home once the term started in a week. At boarding school, the food is tasteless, and mass produced. Chicken nuggets and frozen pizza, the thought of the food sends dread throughout his body.

A loud rolling rattle down the hall shakes him from his thoughts. His ears pick up the sound again it could almost be fireworks. Suddenly the guards against the wall rush forward, they dive on his father covering his body! Clair pulls Matt by the hand under the table, as she does, the double French doors to the hall burst open. Three guards inside the room rush forward.

Seeking shelter under the table the loud sounds of returning gunfire shakes the room. Matt closes his eyes as his heart races a mile per minute, he should do something but what? The only thing he could do is squeeze Clair’s hand. All too soon the sounds stop, in reality several minutes pass but time never ticked by so slowly, finally Matt hears one of the guards shout.

“All clear, tend to the wounded.”

“Henrick stay with me!” The voice of one of the guards cries out. Matt and Clair climb from under the table. Matt looks around and his stomach quakes at the carnage that has unfolded. The bodies of their guards and attackers lay around the entrance to the splintered French doors. Matt’s eyes only linger on the fallen for a moment, his attention is drawn to the bloodied body of his brother, he lays only a short distance from their mother who also bleeds out, it looks like Henrick tried to shield their mother with his body, only it didn’t matter, she looks up at the ceiling to the dining room, she takes her last breath and is now lifeless.

“Mom!” Matt shouts while pushing a guard out of his way, he drops to his knees and cradles her body, while his father crawls close.

“Damn them. My love, my son.” Whispers the General.

“The PM needs to get to the hospital, shouts the guard behind Matt.”

“Kasey no!” Clair shouts, Matt glances where he sat for dinner, in the chair next-door to his chair, with her face down on the table is the lifeless body of his 11-year-old sister. The guards force Matt and Clair from the room, they are ushered towards a safe room until an Evac could be organized.

Sitting inside the safe room there are two bunk beds, Matt and Clair are still in their evening clothes. They sit at a small wooden table; Styrofoam cups of cocoa are on the table in front of them. The liquid in the cups is stone cold, the shock of the evening had left them both numb to everything. They lost their mother and two siblings in the blink of an eye.

Around midnight their father enters the safe room, with him is the Deputy PM. “Children, tonight’s attack was horrible, and I will see to it that those responsible are brought to justice, Matthew, with Henricks death by the laws of succession you are next in line to lead this country.”

Matt shakes his head, no, no he didn’t want this. He wanted to study art in America his destiny is to be a spare nothing else, he has resigned himself to fill this roll knowing his brother was far more capable. He is so caught up in his panic that he doesn’t hear his father.

“Son did you hear me? With the enemy still unknown we need to send you somewhere safe; we are sending you to a boarding school that will keep you safe.”

Safe why did that matter; Matt didn’t care about being safe his family is ruined. Nonetheless Matt found himself on a plane an hour later. They fly to Munich to a small private airport, taxing towards another plane. The plane is bright yellow like those American school busses he sees in movies. Matt sees a man in a brown trench coat at the foot of the stairs to the yellow plane. The man is tall at six feet-four inches, with him are half a dozen men in black trench coats. The men have clear earpieces in their ears leading Matt to inference that these men are guards.

When they come to a stop, his younger brother Klaus pulls on Matt’s sleeve, “What kind of school has their own planes and guards?” Matt wishes he had an answer for Klaus, but he didn’t. Exiting the government aircraft, they approach the stairs to the school plane. The man in the brown coat walks towards them, it is chilly on the tarmac being January. Matt and Clair are still in their bloodied clothes from dinner.

“Hello Children, I am Dr. Harrison Yates. I am a Classics Professor at Holbrook Academy. Let’s get out of the cold you will find hot showers and fresh clothing on the plane, please follow the guards. Matt and his siblings climb up the stairs to the plane, they pass through the galley and enter an area with first class seats, there must be 30 seats, several children Matt and Clair’s age take up the seats, there are eight other children, they keep going until they approach an area that is set up like a living room. They see on the table are three changes of clothes in their sizes.

“Children please take your seats first we need to get into the air before you can change.” Dr. Yates informs them, the Pilot begins his spiel as the fasten seatbelt sign is turned on.

“Attention passengers our flight time to Holbrook Mississippi is roughly 9 hours, the flight crew have informed me that we will have a meal choice of Beef Wellington or Chicken Baharat, so I hope you kids brought your appetite, so please sit back and enjoy our nonstop trip to Holbrook academy.”

They were soon in the air, if they continued towards the back of the plane there are a dozen bunks against the windows and even two shower stalls. Matt allows his brother and sister to shower first. “Prince Matthew while we are waiting, I would like to speak with you. The headmaster informed me of what happened, it is our job from here on to see that you are safe while being educated. Our academy has 1,800 students between 7 grades. You are going to be a second year; your younger brother will be placed into our elementary program and your older sister will be a third year. Our school is surrounded by eleven square miles of land, we have forests, lakes and even a little town for the enjoyment of our student body. Every student is given an allowance for jobs that they work.”

“Wait I have to work?” Matt is at a loss for words, the closest thing he ever did that resembled manual labor is wiping his own ass.

“Yes, your siblings are considered V.I. P’s only because of your family name, inside our walls all students, whether the son of a billionaire or a gifted foster student, every child is equal. You may spend only the money you earn around the estate seeing as you kids are coming to school with nothing this should not be an issue, when we land you will test into your houses and given a dorm room along with extra clothing.” Clair emerges from the shower area fully dressed and ends Matts conversation with Dr. Yates.

After his shower, Matt dresses in a shirt and jeans, with white tennis shoes, over top he pulls on a sweater. Five hours have passed since the attack, Matt felt hungry again. His nose picks up the smell of roasted chicken as he enters the sitting area. Discovering the table has twelve place settings arranged.

“Matt, I told them you wanted the Chicken.” Clair whispers to Matt as he takes his seat.

“Thanks sis, I don’t know if I will be able to eat much.”

“So, Dr. Yates, tells me you three are from Prussia?” The speaker is a comely student with brown hair and an athletic physique and a dimpled chin, his jaw is so rigid that it appears to be chiseled out of stone.

“No, Mr. Peterson Prussia no longer exists. They are from kingdom of Krash between Belarus and Latvia.” Dr. Yates answers the student.

“That’s right, sorry guys I am not the best with geography.”

“Mr. Peterson plays Golf and Polo for the school and his house team. Mr. Peterson you were just returning from a holiday in Rome is that correct?” Dr. Yates inquires. Just then Matt’s meal is brought out, he starts by eating a ginger and carrot soup, the nectar warms his broken heart.

“Do you play sports Prince Matthew?” Ralph inquires after savoring his soup. Matt doesn’t feel like talking but he doesn’t want to be rude, he also hates to be called by his title.

“Please call me Matt, I like to play Polo and Golf.” Ralph smacks his hand excitedly on the table.

“No shit.”

“Mr. Peterson language… One more slip up and I will start deduct points from the Labradors.” The threat appears to calm Ralph’s excitement.

“Sorry Dr. Yates. But we have been needing a new team member for the golf team, you need to try out.”

“Mr. Peterson, they haven’t tested into their houses yet please don’t start offering spots on your roasters…”

“Are the Labradors a student social house?” Clair asks. Just then Matt’s Chicken Baharat is placed in front of him. He takes a bite of the rice minced with pieces of meat it is so savory.

“Yes, we are. I am a third year, there are 8 houses at Holbrook. Four houses for boys and four houses for girls. Putney and Gilroy here are also Lab’s. Lisa and Becca are Swans and Emma, and Darleen are Badgers.” Matt glances at the four girls they are all similar in age to him, they are pretty and look well kept, their teeth are straight or being straightened by braces.” Matt looks to the other two boys at the end of the table who have been more silent than the girls.

For the sake of conversation Matt kindly engages the other two boys. “What houses are you in?”

“I am a spider, this is my cousin Edward, he is also going to be Spider.”

“The Spiders are gross the only girls that like them are the Fox’s” One of the girls pipe up.

Ben’s cousin smirks at the girls, while Ben spits back an insult, “So the hot rich girls like us, I don’t see the problem. The Swans are stuck up and the Badgers are full of fat girls.” Matt looks at Emma and Darleen both girls were curvy for 14 but he could hardly consider them fat. But Emma looks to have taken offense. Matt is surprised to see Ralph rise to his feet.

“Ben Baker you better take that back or I am going to throw your head in the toilet.” Ben smirks and throws a hard roll at Ralph, his aim is off and the roll barrels towards Lisa, she has her mouth open to shout at the boys, the roll makes a direct hit on her teeth, her mouth has braces and Lisa had just gotten them tightened. The roll drives her gums into her braces, but that wasn’t the worse thing, the roll hit the top of her tooth and it cracks in half, her eyes swell with tears and her mouth fills with blood. Seeing Lisa hurt Ralph dives across the table, juice, and food falls to the floor with the boys. Ralph receives a hard uppercut to his jaw but undeterred he lands three heavy blows to Ben’s face. The guards pull him off, Dr. Yates is standing, his hair is messy, and his suit is wrinkled from pushing the boys apart.

“One hundred Points from the Labradors and the Spiders, guards take the Bakers to the front, Mr. Peterson you are to go to the back. If there is any more trouble out of you than you both will be cleaning chimneys for the duration of the upcoming semester!”

Matt is speechless, he didn’t understand why these schoolhouses mattered so much, he wouldn’t care, then again, he might have been more interested in it if he hadn’t witnessed half his family being murdered, by the time he lands the entire world will know of the tragedy, Matt only hopes this school is out of reach by paparazzi…