Chapter 4

An hour slipped by in no time. Just as the train pulled into the station, Christian's phone rang.

"Roger, I've arrived," he said as soon as he saw it was a call from Roger.

"I heard the arrival announcement. I'm waiting for you at the exit. You'll see me as soon as you come out," Roger said on the other end.

"Got it."

They hung up. Christian followed the crowd and walked toward the station exit. From a distance, he spotted Roger's big, stocky figure leaning over the railing, craning his neck and looking around.

Christian quickened his pace and waved. "Roger, over here!"

"Chris!" Roger grabbed him excitedly. "Look at you, huh? You actually dared to take the train by yourself."

"Heh, what's so hard about that? We all grew up in an orphanage. Who there didn't learn to take care of themselves from a young age?" Christian was just as excited to see him. It had been over half a year since they last met, back during the holidays.

"You're something else; way tougher than I was, at least. You're gonna do big things in the future. But seriously, Mama just let you come out here on your own like this?" Roger asked.

"No way. She said I couldn't come, so I snuck out," Christian said proudly.

"What? You snuck out?" Roger jumped.

"Relax. I left her a letter," Christian hurriedly reassured.

"Yeah, right. Don't give me that. You showed up here without telling anyone, and now I'm too scared to even go home for the holidays. Mama treats you like you're more precious than her own life. I'm not about to get on her bad side. I need to call her."

With that, before Christian could stop him, Roger called Imelda.

As soon as the call connected, Imelda's furious voice blasted through the speaker. "Roger Lane! Did Christian run off to find you? Where is he?"

Roger jerked the phone away from his ear, then said in a fawning tone, "Mama, don't worry. Christian's already with me. I just picked him up. I'll let him talk to you."

Without giving Christian any chance to refuse, Roger shoved the phone into his hand and retreated a safe distance.

Christian shot him a helpless look, having no choice but to hold the phone gingerly to his ear. He said nervously, "Hi, Mama. Uh, look how this all turned out. I was just about to call you, but my phone died."

"You little brat! You've got some nerve, running away from home! You think you're all grown up? You think you don't need me watching over you anymore? You turn around and get back here this instant!" Imelda's roar was so loud that it made Christian's head ring through the phone.

He gave an awkward laugh. "Mama, I'm not a kid anymore. I can live on my own now. I took the train all the way to Kellington by myself, and nothing happened. A baby bird has to leave the nest someday. Just let me go out and make my own way, okay?"

Imelda sighed. "You think I don't want you all to be independent? But it's too soon. You just graduated from middle school. You still have to pick a high school and keep studying."

Christian quickly explained, "I've already got plans for school, I promise. I won't delay my studies. Please don't worry. Just let me try living on my own for a bit. I'm begging you…"

"I really am getting old. None of you kids want to listen to this old lady nag anymore," she said with another sigh, her tone tinged with melancholy.

"That's not true at all. You're going to live to a hundred. When you hit that age, all of us are still going to be there to throw you a huge birthday party," Christian said, trying to appease her.

Imelda didn't know what to say anymore. No one knew Christian better than she did. Since childhood, he'd been as stubborn as a mule. Once he dug in his heels, no one could change his mind. In the end, all she could do was lay down some rules for him.

"Fine. Make sure you take care of yourself. Don't just trust whatever anyone tells you, and don't go wandering around like a horse that's broken loose. Keep some things to yourself when you talk to people. Don't be an idiot and spill every thought you have! And no matter what you eat, make sure you're full. Don't be too frugal!"

Christian listened closely and nodded along. Every now and then, he responded to her words.

"Alright, I've said all I can say. Just stay sharp and don't be careless. Now, put Roger on the phone," Imelda finally said, wrapping up her lecture.

"Roger, Mama wants to talk to you," Christian called out.

Roger took the phone and shot Christian a bewildered look, unable to believe he'd been on the phone with Imelda for over 20 minutes. He lifted the phone to his ears, bending over unconsciously as if humbling himself. "Mama, I'm here."

Imelda said, "Roger, you're older than Chris. Now that he's with you, you make sure you look after him, you hear me? Don't let anybody push him around. If anything happens, you call me right away. Got that?"

"Don't worry, Mama. I'll take good care of him and fatten him right up," Roger said, thumping his chest in assurance.

"Alright. Once you guys settle down and figure out accommodations, tell me right away. I'll have your hide if you dare keep anything from me!"

"I wouldn't dare. Once we're settled in, the first thing I'll do is report to you."

"Well, that's that. I'm hanging up."

When the call finally ended, Roger straightened up and gave Christian a complicated look.

Christian rubbed his nose. "Why are you looking at me like that? You're freaking me out."

"You've got some nerve. Running away from home is one thing, but you just had to drag me into it, too. You made me get chewed out along with you. You're gonna be the death of me," Roger said, full of exaggerated grief.

"Oh, come on. I'll treat you to a big meal later," Christian said, tugging on his arm in a placating way.

"Hmph. Keep your money and save it for yourself. I'll treat you instead. We'll find a nice restaurant and give you a proper welcome!"

Roger was the type whose mood flipped like the wind. One second, he was scowling, and the next, he was beaming.

They found a pretty decent family-style restaurant and ordered a few of Christian's favorite dishes.

"So what's your plan from here on out?" Roger asked while they ate. "You said you wanna go to school here, but how are you gonna handle your enrollment and student records?"

Christian didn't answer. Instead, he pulled his magnet school entrance exam results from his backpack and handed the paper to Roger.

Roger took it, puzzled. When he saw the score, his jaw dropped. Then, he practically exploded with excitement. "Holy crap. This is amazing! Out of a score of 100, you got 99? Damn, that's insane! That's my boy! I knew you wouldn't let me down!"

Good thing it was still early, and the restaurant was almost empty. Otherwise, with Roger yelling like that, people would've thought he'd lost his mind.

"Keep it down, keep it down," Christian hissed, quickly shushing him.

"Sorry, sorry. Got a little carried away," Roger said, lowering his voice. "With a score like this, every high school in Kellington is going to be fighting over you. As for your enrollment and student records, you won't need to worry about them. The schools will handle everything. You'll just have to sign some forms."

"That's what I figured, too. I mean, I was the city's top scorer back in Janverton. I'm pretty sure my score would be number one in Kellington, too," Christian said confidently.

"Alright, then. Let's hurry up and finish eating. Once we're done, we'll head straight to Kellington Prime High School," Roger urged.

They polished off their meal and checked the time. It wasn't even 10:00 am yet. Roger grabbed Christian by the arm. "Come on, it should be peak enrollment season for high schools right now. We'll head over and catch them while they're still admitting students."

When they arrived at Kellington Prime High School, the campus that was usually buzzing with students was now practically empty, with only a few teachers strolling in and out.

Roger, bold as ever, pulled Christian along and marched straight toward the campus gate.

"Hey, hey, hold up. What are you two doing?" A security guard stepped out and blocked their way.

"My little brother's thinking about applying here, but we don't know much about the school or the teachers. We came to check things out," Roger said, improvising smoothly.

The guard looked the two of them over. Roger wasn't even 20 yet and still a bit baby-faced despite his solid build. Christian looked younger and was clearly a middle-schooler. Every year, there were always early visitors coming to look around. After grumbling a few half-hearted warnings, the guard stepped aside.

Christian and Roger didn't linger on the grounds, heading straight for the administrative building instead. Compared to the quiet campus, the offices were actually busier than usual.

When they finally found the admissions office, a few teachers were bustling around inside.

Roger knocked on the door and asked, "Excuse me, is the admissions teacher here?"

"And you are…?" asked a balding teacher, Wilson Wells.

"Hello, sir. My name is Roger Lane," Roger said, gesturing to Christian. "And this is my relative, Christian Ashwood. He wants to transfer here to Kellington for high school. We were wondering what procedures we need to go through."

"You're not from Kellington?" Wilson asked.

"No, we're from Janverton, the neighboring city."

"Then why not stay in Janverton for school? What brings you to Kellington?"

"We're both orphans," Roger explained. "I'm working here in Kellington now, and I don't feel safe leaving my relative alone back in Janverton. I figured I'd bring him over here to study."

"Ms. Smith, do we still have any open spots for out-of-district students this year?" Wilson turned to ask another teacher, who was sorting through some files.

"We only have five out-of-district slots this year, and they're all taken," the other teacher, Carrie Smith, replied.

"Oh, I see." Wilson turned back to Roger and Christian. "You heard her. We've already filled all our out-of-district quota this year. Maybe you could try asking at some of the other schools?"

Roger hurriedly pulled out Christian's exam results and handed it over. "Sir, could you please take a look? This is Christian's magnet school entrance exam results. He's the top scorer in all of Janverton this year."

The teachers who'd been busy with their own work all stopped and stared at Christian in surprise. Wilson snatched up the results excitedly. The total score was 100, and Christian had only missed 1 point. Forget Janverton—this score could probably rank first in the entire Westmere state.

Wilson grew more excited the longer he stared at the results. Then, he looked at Christian like he was some kind of rare treasure.

"Mr. Wells, let us see, too," the other teachers said, unable to sit still anymore.

They took turns passing the result slip around, clicking their tongues in amazement.

Carrie was the first to speak up. "This kid's score is more than 5 points higher than Kellington's top scorer. Mr. Wells, we can't let him slip through our fingers."

The others chimed in with agreement.

"Of course, of course. Christian, as you can see, our school has a beautiful campus and a top-notch faculty. Once you're enrolled here, I guarantee you'll study well, eat well, and enjoy yourself," Wilson said, looking at Christian like a wolf eyeing a lamb.

Before Christian could reply, Roger jumped in, grinning like a shrewd businessman. "Here's the thing, Mr. Wells. Chris is an orphan. Ever since he started school, his tuition has always been fully waived, and he's been receiving financial aid and scholarships on top of that. So about those…"

"Waived. Everything is waived," Wilson said with a grand sweep of his hand. "His tuition will be completely free. The financial aid is set at 3,000 dollars a year—we can't increase that. As for a scholarship, as long as Christian keeps his grades up, he can get 5,000 dollars a year, no problem."

"Chris, what do you think?" Roger turned to him.

"I'm good with that," Christian said.

"Perfect. Then it's settled. We'll have to trouble you with handling Chris' enrollment and student records, Mr. Wells," Roger said, turning back to Wilson.

"Don't worry! We'll take care of everything. You'll just need to come back and sign some documents when the time comes. Ms. Smith, grab an enrollment form for Christian," Wilson said, then turned back to Christian. "You've already got your ID, right? We'll need it for a moment to make a copy of it."

"I've got everything right here." Christian handed over the documents and ID he'd prepared in advance.

Once Carrie finished making the copies, Christian had also completed the enrollment form.

Seeing that everything had been handled, Roger finally said, "Mr. Wells, we'll head out now. I work at Ruth's Table downtown. If there's anything else you need from us, just give us a call."

"Understood. We'll contact you right away if we need anything," Wilson said.