School of Secrets (The Perkins School for Self Improvement #1)

Chapter 1

Some guys I know are so arrogant that they have no idea when or how to admit they're not perfect.

I'd like to think I'm not like those dudes. I have shortcomings, and for the most part I'm able to identify them. I can admit when I've screwed something up, even though it tends to be hard sometimes.

Having said this, I know it was wrong of me to get in a fight with Justin Wilcox. I made a mistake by beating him up, I suppose, but I'll also admit that I had a perfectly valid reason for treating him the way I did.

No one harms my sister and gets away with it.

~*~

It was two weeks before my sophomore year was due to start, and the early-August heat was already taking its toll on pretty much everyone.

I'd walked the five minutes from my house to the movie theater on a mission my mother had assigned. I was supposed to wait for my sister and her boyfriend to appear from inside the building, at which point Mom expected me to walk my sister home. Both of my parents had an issue with my thirteen-year-old sis sort-of-dating, though up to this point trips to the movies hadn't been prohibited as long as I showed up at the end to bring her home.

Usually, I'd be standing outside in the heat for a good ten minutes waiting on Tara, but on this day I spotted her and Justin almost as soon as I showed up. It took me about two seconds to recognize them both, and only about five more to understand that some sort of argument was taking place.

My older brother instincts led me closer to the scene, and as I came to stand a few feet behind my sister, I picked up on what was going on.

"What are you saying?" Tara demanded, all but shouting at Justin.

"Calm down!" Tara's boyfriend complained. "It was just a kiss, a few kisses. It's nothing, but I thought you should-"

"Are you saying you cheated on me?" The fury was evident in every one of my sister's words.

"Yes, but-" The jerk had dared to open his mouth to try defending his crimes, but Tara wasn't about to listen.

"I can't believe you would ... How could you? I never would have thought you'd do something that stupid, Justin. You're just expecting everything to go back to normal? It's not going to happen. I don't have to listen to you anymore."

"If I'm talking, you're obligated to listen." Justin huffed. "I'm your boyfriend, that's how it works."

I'd stood there for about as long as I could stand to, and suddenly found my feet carrying me forward in a fit of uncontrollable rage. I'd do anything for my sister, and seeing the look on her face had me taking irrational but seemingly necessary action.

I skewered Justin with a death glare, my emerald green eyes narrowing as I surveyed his confident expression.

"You," I stepped in front of the douchebag, hands clenched in fists at my side. "Listen up. Don't talk to my sister like that."

The scrawny soon-to-be eighth-grader stared up at me, chin tilted in defiance.

"She's my girlfriend, man. I'll talk to her how I want to."

I took another step forward, glaring at him.

"So, this seems fine to you? It's okay for you to go ahead and cheat on my sister, then act like that's nothing?"

"Yah," Justin proclaimed, shrugging with a smirk. "It's not like I cared about that other girl, you know. I wanna be with your sister, which is why I thought she deserved to know about-"

It wasn't the smartest thing I'd ever done, but suddenly my fist was flying through the air. The kid's head snapped back, a response to the punch he'd just taken to the chin.

I took karate in middle school, and I found out pretty quickly that my moves were still intact. After the fact, I found out the scumbag had earned a broken nose and two black eyes because of me.

It was Tara who snapped me back to reality, stepping bravely between me and her douchebag boyfriend before I could do too much damage.

"Tim!" Tara squeaked, staring at me in complete dismay. "Mom'll kill you when she finds out about this."

It turned out that Tara was right. Not only was Mom upset, but Dad nearly blew a gasket when Justin's parents called that night.

Had it been my first offense, or even my second or third, I'd have probably managed to scrape by with a warning. I might have gotten grounded, had my phone and video games taken away for a month or so.

But I'd been down the road a few times before, getting into fights as a result of my temper since my seventh grade year.

"Timothy!" Mom lamented, one hand running through her hair. It was the same shade of dark brown that I'd inherited, though hers was already turning gray.

"What did we tell you?" Dad demanded. "What did I say about getting into fights?"

I sighed.

"If I got in one more fight, you'd send me to a 'reform school'." I quoted, crossing my arms and taking in their expressions from my position on the couch.

"That's right." Dad asserted, straightening his business suit like he was still at work. "I went to Harvard, your mother went to Harvard, and both of my parents went to Ivy League schools. You and Tara know how to act, yet for some reason you refuse to do what you're supposed to. You're supposed to inherit my company, Timothy. Every time I think of you doing that, my God, I'm afraid. You're too irrational, too irresponsible, and you need someone with more time to shape you into a young man."

"Honey," Mom sighed, looking at me with a fake smile. "This will be good for you. We've talked with faculty from the Perkins School before, when we considered sending you there last year-"

"Wait," I interrupted. "You've already looked at a school without asking me?"

Mom glared.

"Timothy," she continued. "We had to consider our options. Classes started there last week, but I'm sure we can make a few calls and get you accepted now. Your father and I have done all the research. The Perkins School has a wonderful headmaster, and the staff are all highly recommended. It'll be good for you, great for you! Plus, Maine is a beautiful state to spend time in. You'll be better off there, and you'll get a high-quality education."

Mom beamed, as though the prospect of moving from Missouri to Maine was any high school kid's dream.

"What the hell?" I fumed. "You can't just send me away. I'll work on it, Mom, Dad. I'll try. I'll, I don't know ... I'll do something. The last thing I want to do is be shipped across the country. I'm not going to some high-class boarding school filled with billionaires' douchey kids. I'd lose my mind out there, and you can't send me away from Tara."

Dad folded his hands in his lap, releasing a long breath.

"We're your parents," he asserted. "We can make decisions like this when we think you'll benefit from them. You aren't changing our minds now."

He glanced to Mom.

"Victoria, I have a conference tomorrow. Make sure you call the school and get the admission process taken care of."

Mom nodded, moving off into the kitchen to start dinner. Dad reached for the remote, turning on the six o'clock news like it'd been any ordinary conversation.

I fled the scene as quickly as possible, barricading myself in my locked room and ignoring my sister's persistent knocking. I only emerged when dinner was ready, eating the meal in silence while Mom and Dad discussed my changing circumstances with my incredulous sister.