by Rachel Angel
“Nothing to do?” I said. “How about helping around the place. Wash the dishes, do the laundry. Those chores are safe enough for a kid your age to handle.”
“I already do all that,” Lily said.
“I know,” I hugged her. “You’re a big help to me, Lily. Thank you.”
“Aww, Tempest,” Lily said. “You’re gonna make me cry again.”
“Don’t cry!” I said. “Mom and Dad from Heaven wouldn’t want to see you cry all the time.”
“I know,” Lily said.
“Not to mention, we come from a long line of strong women, Lily. Before our ancestors came over to America, the women in our family line were leaders in their countries and communities. Even after they came to America, the women in our family did some amazing things. Mom, for instance, won the equivalent of a Nobel Prize in Science in a few countries for her inventions. And our grandmothers founded some global charities to help women and children. We have to live up to that.”
I put away the envelope and cleared the table. For a space as small of our trailer, keeping it clutter-free was a must. So was it necessary for us to have cheerful colors and happy sayings to keep up our spirits. It was small. It lacked all the rooms we had in our previous house, but Lilly and I were proud of the little silver steel Airstream trailer since we made it our home. After losing our parents and the luxurious life they gave us, the Airstream trailer was a new start.
From a luxury mansion to homeless to a cute little trailer, all within 2 years.
Now everything would change.
A knock came at the door, and I went to get it. Mr. Nichols had been our family’s lawyer since I was born. He was practically an uncle. Seeing him would be like seeing family again. I opened the door and stopped.
Helen, the single old lady who lived across from us was at our door. The nicest person around, she took us under her wings when we first moved in. Said she missed her grandchildren and family but they had their busy lives, and were too far away to visit often so Lily and I reminded her of them.
“Hello Dears,” she said smiling. “Look who I found wandering around, lost as a sheep.” She pointed at Mr. Nichols, who straightened his tie and looked embarrassed. She looked expectantly at me, as though she wanted me to introduce him to her and to come in herself.
“Helen,” I said. “This is Mr. Nichols. He’s friend of the family. I’ve known him since I was a baby.”
Mr. Nichols turned to Helen and extended his hand. “Hi, thank you for directing me to the Ryans.”
“Helen,” Helen said, smiling at him. She must be at least a decade older than him, but she was unabashedly flirting with him. “Do you care for some lemonade?” she asked him.
“Well,” he said, “It is hot today.”
Helen rushed past me into our trailer, walked to the cupboard, pull out two glasses, and proceeded to prepare the lemonade she promised him.
“Come on in,” I said. “It’s much smaller than our family home, but Lily and I did the best we could with it.”
“Ta da!” Lily said, waving her hands.
“Lily!” Mr. Nichols said, hugging her. “My you’ve grown. It’s been two years since I’ve seen you, and now you’re almost as tall as Helen!”
Lily laughed as the petite Helen walked over with a tray of glasses and a pitcher of lemonade. “The girls should be proud of themselves,” she said. “The wonders they did fixing up the old rusty trailer they started with and now, it’s da bomb.”
I laughed. Helen was quite a character with her loud flower-print dresses, big cheerful personality, and loving hospitality, she became our instant Aunt. She was also a big help for me in taking care of Lily. “Helen is like the Aunt we never knew,” I told Mr. Nichols. “We love her like family. She takes care of us, and we watch out for her, too.”
Mr. Nichols relaxed, letting his guard down. He smiled at Helen and said, “The girls are fortunate to have a wonderful neighbor like you in their lives.”
Helen came over to stand behind me and Lily, placing her arms behind our chairs. “They are good kids, Mr. Nichols. I’ve never seen siblings care for each other and stand by each other through thick and thin as these Ryan girls."
Mr. Nichols beamed proudly at me and Lily. “They are pretty special, aren’t they?”
“Tempest works harder than anyone I know, and she’s only 18 years old. She’s so young. She needs to be having fun, going to parties, meeting nice boys…but she’s out working herself to the bone to make ends meet. Makes me ashamed of my good-for-nothing spoil brat son and his kids. I’m so mad at them, I couldn’t stand living with them in their noisy, always fighting household. So, I packed my things up, and said, “Adios! I’m going to America, the land of the free, and a place far from you spoiled ungrateful brats.”
“That’s pretty drastic,” Mr. Nichols said, taking a sip of the lemonade and exclaiming, “This is the best lemonade I’ve ever had.”
“Thank you,” Helen said. “I taught myself how to cook. How to take care of myself and not have to rely on others. When I came to America, I found independence at last.”
Mr. Nichols chuckled, finally completely relaxed. “So you like it here?”
“Been here for over 10 years now,” Helen said proudly. “Now enough about me, how about you? Are you married?”
If Helen was truly my Aunt, I’d say, “Helen!”
But I wasn’t.
“No, I’m not married,” Mr. Nichols said. “Haven’t found the right person. But well…I could explain that to you at another time, not in front of the girls.”
Helen winked and smiled. “Okay, some other time. I look forward to it. Now I think Mr. Nichols came over to see you two for some reasons so I’ll just be at my own place across from here, tending my garden.”
She got up and sashayed her way out of the trailer, waved at us from outside and proceeded to dance her way back into her trailer.
“Helen is great!” I laughed. “If everyone was like her, the world will be a better place.”
“I love Helen!” Lily said. “Our grandparents died before we were born so she’s like a grandmother to us.”
“I’m glad to see you two so happy,” Mr. Nichols said.
“We are,” I smiled widely. “And things are going to be better.”
Mr. Nichols nodded. “They are.” He looked over at Lily and me. “So, Tempest, why did you call me over?”
“Last night, I participated in a tournament. I ended up winning. I also became pretty popular on their online version. Luckily, their online version was so blurry, you couldn’t tell who was in the actual video. I guess you have to subscribe to their channel or pay to view it. Anyways, to make this story short, the crowd rated me very high so the organizers offered me a contract. I’ve read through it myself, but wanted your professional legal opinion on it. I’d like to run it by you to see if it’s a good idea or not.”
I handed the contract to him and waited.
After going through the entire pitcher of lemonade while going over the contract, Mr. Nichols said, “I understand you were in a fighting tournament?”
I nodded, not wanting him to know more about it than I had explained earlier.
“I’m glad you didn’t get killed, Tempest. But I’m going to push aside my personal judgement and opinions of fight clubs so I could help you decide on this opportunity. Normally I would advise against it. But you’re no normal 18-year-old girl. I’ve learned that since you were 13 years old, going on international flights to make deals for your parents’ company. My question is, do you want this opportunity?” he asked. “I know you’re trying to raise money for…” he looked towards Lily, who was busy surfing the internet, “college,” he lied so Lily wouldn’t know, “and getting the fight sponsorships is the rare opportunity for you to raise enough for that.”
“I know. I would accept it right away if it was just me to think about, but this involves Lily too so I’m worried about not being able to care for Lily, if I do it.”
/> Lily’s head perked up. “What? What’s going on? Why wouldn’t you be able to care for me? What are you worried about?”
I sighed. Keeping anything a secret from Lily was hard. She had an uncanny way of sniffing out the truth.
“The tournament’s organizers would like to sponsor me as one of their fighters. It would be once a year, for the big fight since I am now their champion. I would do endorsements and videos for them once in a while. In the meantime, they would pay for our living expenses, my travels, and more.”
Lily’s face lit up. “That’s terrific. You should do it!”
“It means I’ll have to travel and leave you behind, and…”
“I can stay with Helen,” Lily said. “And besides, I don’t want you to miss out on opportunities for you, because of me.”
“Nonsense,” I said. “You’re my sister, I’m supposed to watch out for you.”
“And I’m looking out for your future,” Lily said.
There was a knock on the door, and Helen was outside again. I went to open the door and Helen was there with a tray of lemon bar cookies. The man in shorts and a cap handed me an envelope.
“Thanks,” I said. I looked at the heavy envelope with the gilded gold embossed lettering. “No one sends envelopes like this anymore,” I said.
Lily, Helen, and Mr. Nichols looked over at me as I walked inside and sat down at the table. My contract from the tournament organizers was set aside. Probably by Helen, who had placed her tray of cookies on the table.
“Who is it from?” Lily asked.
“Kingsbury Prep Academy,” I said.
Lily’s eyes opened in surprise. “They responded!”
“What? Why?” I said. “I have no idea why a prep school would send me a letter.”
“Kingsbury Prep,” Helen said. “Even I have heard of it. So elite. So posh. Only those with royal blood can attend.”
“Then why would I get a letter from them?” I asked. “It’s probably a joke.”
Mr. Nichols took the envelope, tapped it, turned it around, and examined the embossed address. “Looks real. I have a client who went there years ago.”
“Open it,” Lily said, smiling.
I opened the envelope and took out the folded cream-colored letter printed on beautiful linen paper.
“Dear Tempest Ryan,
It is our pleasure to inform you of your acceptance into Kingsbury Prep Academy. Your achievements, grades, and personal adversity led to you being our top pick for the first student in over 500 years of history at Kingsbury Prep Academy to be accepted without the requirement of being of royal blood. This is a tremendous opportunity for you and for us as we march forward into the future. Your tuition, room and board, transportation to the school and back to your home in California to visit with family and friends would be covered as part of a scholarship. We understand you would be giving up your ability to work to attend this school, therefore we will provide you with a stipend to use freely.
We hope you will accept our invitation.”
I stopped there. “I don’t remember ever applying to this school,” I said. “I don’t understand how I was chosen when I didn’t even applied. Sounds too unreal to be real.” I was about to tear up the letter and trash it.
“Guilty,” Mr. Nichols said.
“Me, too,” Helen looked uncomfortable.
“I did it!” Lily cried out. “I submitted an application for you when I saw the announcement and search for the first student they would accept.”
“I’ll talk to you later,” I said. “But Mr. Nichols? Helen? What is your excuse?”
“I vouched for you,” Mr. Nichols said. “They called me for reference, and I gave a glowing account of you, what you did for your parents’ company, how you practically ran one division, and how you were mature enough to be deemed by the court to be your little sister’s guardian.”
“And you, Helen…what do you have to do with this?”
Helen shrugged and said, “I was a reference too. I said you were wonderful and if Kingsbury Prep was going to search for that special student to walk into their school for the first time without royal blood, Tempest Ryan should be that student.” Helen beamed, “And I sent my lemon bar cookies to their President.”
I gave each of them my harsh glare before breaking down and hugging them. “Since all of you believe I should go and be their first commoner student, I’ll go. But only if Lily can go.”
“I’m afraid they don’t have elementary school level education there,” Mr. Nichols said.
“Who will look after Lily?” I asked.
Lily smiled and said. “I thought about that, too when I sent in your application.” She handed me a brochure with a cover showing girls Lily’s age smiling and wearing plaid skirts, navy blazers, and red ties. Skylark Academy for Girls. “There’s an All-Girls Boarding School here in San Francisco that I’ve wanted to attend. Their academics are challenging, and they have all the advanced classes I want to take. Plus the dorm rooms look so nice. They have a cafeteria where they serve three meals a day plus snacks. My teachers at school said if I applied, I would get in because I’m way more advanced than the kids in my grade. And I qualify for a scholarship so you don’t have to worry about me. I got accepted into Skylark Academy a few weeks ago full scholarship. I didn’t tell you until you were taken care of. I just wanted to make sure you have a place too.”
“I could stay here,” I said.
“By yourself?” Lily asked. “No you wouldn’t. I won’t let you, Temp. Think of the most rarest opportunity you will have attending a school like that. No one who isn’t royalty will ever have that chance, Temp…the same elite education and training as future Kings, Queens, and rulers.”
Mr. Nichols and Helen both nodded.
“I’d take this opportunity to attend Kingsbury Prep over the sponsorship opportunity, Tempest,” he said. “Attending the right school and meeting the right people can help you for the rest of your life. Meanwhile, the sponsorship opportunity, it’s just dangerous.”
“But, Mr. Nichols…I still need to save up a lot for college. It’s right around the corner, and I don’t have much time.” I shot him a look out of the corner of my eye towards Lily.
“You never know if you’ll come out alive,” Mr. Nichols nodded. “I’d find another way to earn money for college. But right now, it seems Lily needs you to go to Kingsbury so she can feel okay with attending the Academy of her dreams.”
Lily shook her head and said, “After all that hard work I did to get you in, Temp, at least be grateful enough to accept it.”
“Gracious,” I said. “But I guess you could say ‘grateful’. And I am. I’m very grateful to have a thoughtful and unselfish little sister like you.”
“Then accept the invitation,” Lily said.
“Alright, I’ll reply to Kingsbury and let them know I’ve accepted.”
“Yay!” Helen cheered!
“Yay!” Lily jumped up and down.
“Good decision,” Mr. Nichols said. “Your parents wouldn’t even hesitate to send you there if they could. They even said they would if Kingsbury would ever open its doors to non-royals.”
I smiled at all of them. So this trailer girl was going to be hobnobbing with the royals. In less than 24 hours, I went from Tempest Ryan to Tempest Storm to Tempest at the Academy.
Chapter 2
A month later after I sent off Lily to Skylark Academy, I said good-bye to Helen who had volunteered to help watch Lily and the Airstream and was on my way to Kingsbury Prep.
Kingsbury Prep was the most imposing school I’ve ever seen. Built on top of a mountain, the converted medieval castle turned academy was everything you thought academies would look like from the towering turrets to the moats, to the keeps and vast woodlands. A school only for royals, Kingsbury had been the training ground for many ruling monarchs throughout the centuries. Steeped in tradition and history, the castle was once a fortress overseeing the sea from a vantage point on top
of a mountain. From one side, the castle was edged to a sandy white beach. On the other side, the castle bordered a vast forest.
“Is Kingsbury Prep the only building on the island?” I asked Ricky, the young man powering the speedboat headed towards the island. I sat up close to the front, wanting to get a good bearing on my location. Plus, I was the only passenger on the boat besides Ricky, who spoke perfect English and had informed me everyone on the island we were heading to spoke English. It was the law since Kingsbury Prep was an immersion school in English and other major languages, and the Royal family who ruled this island along with the network of islands around it had deemed the island to be part of the training grounds for Kingsbury Prep.
Ricky was dressed in plaid shorts, a navy t-shirt and deck shoes. With sun-kissed blonde hair, green eyes and tanned skin, he even looked and sounded like a cute California surfer boy rather than an island boy somewhere in the middle of a network of islands.
“No, the school for royals, is the only building on the Mountain of Wright, but there is an entire city on this island. Not a large one, but it’s large enough to have one public high school, three middle schools, and five elementary schools. There is even a top-tier university.” He turned to smile at me. “And a shopping mall.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yes,” he grinned. “I knew you would like that fact.”
“There is a God,” I said. “For a moment there, I thought I was going to be locked up in a monastery. I heard Kingsbury Prep was located in some secret location no one outside the school would know. Only those who attended or knew someone who attended would know the exact location. Like some kind of James Bond film, I had to keep changing different modes of transportation. From getting on the plane in San Francisco, to landing in Heathrow, to taking the train, and then a bus. Then to the landing where I found your water taxi service.” I took a sip from my water bottle. “I feel like I’ve been traveling for a week.”
“Where did you come from?” Ricky asked.
