Forest Lake

Chapter 1

Emma POV

I was standing in my dorm room with a small smile on my face.

The room was very cozy. On my left, there was a nice closet. It was big enough to fit everything I had. Next to the closet, there was a bed with a nightstand on the right. On my right, there was a huge window overlooking the forest. Under the window, there were a desk and a chair.

The other side of the room mirrored mine, except for all the stuff that had already been neatly put away.

Mrs. Porter, the teacher who accompanied me to my room, told me my new roommate’s name, but I was so nervous I didn’t really listen to her.

Just as I was trying to remember my roommate’s name, the door to the room opened and a girl walked inside. A huge smile spread across her face as soon as she saw me.

“Hi!” she exclaimed, closing the distance between us and reaching out for my hand. “You must be my new roomie! My name is Hazel.”

Hazel! Right.

“Hi.” I smiled, taking her hand in mine and shaking it. “Emma.”

“It’s so nice to meet you, Emma.” she smiled and looked behind me at my bags. “Do you need help unpacking?”

“It’s okay, thank you.” I smiled. “I would rather have you tell me something about this place while I put my things away. Is it nice?”

“Well, most of the time.” she sighed, sitting down at my desk. “The teachers are nice, and the work is not that hard if you study regularly. We have popular kids, bitchy girls, jocks, nerds. You know the drill.”

“I do.” I chuckled, unzipping my bag. “Where do you belong?”

“Oh, I am a quiet girl who loves to read.” she grinned. “I guess that would make me a nerd.”

Oh, thank God. That makes the two of us.

She studied my face for a second and laughed. “You look relieved.”

“I am.” I laughed. “I’m a quiet girl who loves to read too. I was afraid you were popular.”

“Nope.” she chuckled. “You are safe.”

I started folding my clothing and putting it in my closet.

“So, how come you joined Forest Lake Boarding School in your senior year?” Hazel asked me, checking the titles of some books I brought with me.

I gulped and tried to think of a reason. The real one was that my mom and my stepfather wanted to get rid of me. My mom stopped being the wonderful mother she was the moment she divorced my dad. She became cold and disinterested, and I often wondered why she took me with her if she clearly didn’t want me. I thought that things would get better when she married my stepfather, but they’ve only gotten worse.

My stepfather never wanted children, so my mother decided to act like I didn’t exist. They were either working or traveling without me. For the past 6 years, I’ve been alone. I taught myself how to do everything. She didn’t even want to help me when I got my first period. YouTube taught me how to put on a pad and which one to buy.

Three months ago, my mother told me she and my stepfather were moving to Europe because of work. They didn’t want to take me with them, and they couldn’t leave me alone at home. The principal of my old school was already getting suspicious of them because they missed every important school event, and my mom was afraid they would send Child Protective Services to check on us. She couldn’t allow that to happen, of course. She would lose a lot of friends and a lot of important business partners if they found out she was a negligent mother.