Jenny's Going To Boarding School

• Tara Tilly Cooling, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2021

Hello! My name is Jenny. I'm 12 years old and I have one younger sister. Her name is Bella and she is 3. I also have an older sister. She's 15 and her name is Amira. I also live with my mum and dad.
Guess what? I'm going to a boarding school. Sure, I’m going to miss my family, but I can't wait to go to boarding school to get away from my annoying sisters. On the other hand I am extremely nervous too.
The reason why I am going is because I am now old enough to go to high school and I live in the country. There is no high school close by, so that's why mum and dad apparently had no choice.
Today I’m heading off. The name of the boarding school is called Rosemore Academy. I'm going on a train and I'm so excited! I hear the looming sounds of the whistle drawing near. I have never been on a train before. I hope my sisters don't go into my room while I’m gone. My precious things travel everywhere with me.
A few minutes later, while still lost in thought, mum called for me. It was time to go, turning towards my town, my eyes welled up. The reality shattered me. I was going to miss my family and my friends, or so I thought. They weren't really ever my actual friends but for some reason I always thought they would be there for me.
Mum always reassured me that I was good enough and that I could be anything! I pleaded with her to not send me away, but she looked at me sympathetically and whispered, “I know you can do this, even though it might be hard.”
When I got to the train station, I was crying so much. I really didn’t want to go to Rosemore, not to learn, sleep, eat or anything! It was just too much and too hard. My mum never understood how hard it was for me and that I had mixed feelings about the whole thing.
Sure, at first, I was excited when I got a place at Rosemore but then, after a few days, I got so nervous and I couldn’t go to any other school. I had to go. As I travelled on the V Line, the clanking of the train wheels hitting the old rusty, wooden track were drowning my thoughts. Eventually, I got there. I couldn't let go of my mum and dad. I wouldn’t.
At that moment I knew mum realised there was no choice. She had to take me back home. I could be home schooled and still be with family and friends.
That night we stayed near Rosemore Academy and the next day we took the train home. Click! Clack! Click! Clack! The soothing rhythm of home, calling me. From that day I was home schooled and loved every minute of it!