Prep School Obsession - Prologue

While I'm working on my upcoming novel Prep School Obsession, enjoy this preview of the prologue chapter, featuring the secret origin of Cecelia Chang...

PROLOGUE

Cecelia Chang wanted love in her life more than anything. She had known precious little love in her fifteen years. Since she was a very young child, she had moved from place to place, but nowhere had ever felt like home. The dream of being loved gave her hope for a home someday. She believed that if she could find the love she was searching for, she would finally be safe from loneliness forever.

She never believed her parents were really in love. Alistair Chang, a concert violinist for the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, met Sophia Mendelssohn, a career officer in the American military, at a charity concert in Washington D.C. during his world tour. The marriage had been short-lived and unhappy. They separated when Cecelia was two-years old. The former Mrs. Chang, more often known as Captain Mendelssohn, always more comfortable with troopers than toddlers, gave her ex-husband full custody of the little girl. She died in Afghanistan shortly thereafter. The famous Mr. Chang, faced with an increasingly hectic performance schedule, left Cecelia with a succession of nannies at first, then in various boarding schools. After a dozen years touring, he finally settled down teaching at a small Jesuit university just outside Beaumont, Illinois, where he managed to secure a tenured position. Cecelia found herself enrolled as a freshman at Saint Catherine’s, the university’s affiliated high school. Her father was hardly more involved with her life than before, except to occasionally ask after her grades, which were always perfect anyway. 

Her first year at Saint Catherine’s, Cecelia made few friends. She had always been a shy and withdrawn girl, easily picked on and bullied. But sophomore year, she struck up a casual acquaintance in music class with a very talented young guitarist named Edgar Alexander. They found they had much in common, between dead mothers and emotionally absent fathers. Edgar was pleasant company, but it was his elder brother Richard, a senior at Saint Catherine’s, who excited Cecelia’s attention. Richard Alexander was everything she imagined her future love to be, handsome and kind, musical and athletic. Over the months of stealing glances at Richard in the hallways, and making hesitant conversation every now and then when she was invited to study with Edgar at gloomy old Alexander Manor, Cecelia slowly built up the courage to express her feelings for the very first time. 

She decided on the day of the big soccer game between Saint Catherine’s and their rival school, a weird little place called Prospere Academy, known to be full of either eggheads or misfits. Richard was always at his best on game days, full of confidence and vigor. She had spent many long hours watching him from the bleachers, running across the field in his red uniform, his auburn hair streaked gold by the sun, his smile warm and sincere. She chose her moment with care. She caught him just after the final period, after he had already changed for the game, but with plenty of time to spare. She knew he always took some time to decompress in the school’s medication garden between school and soccer. 

“Richard, may I talk to you for a minute?” She was pleased to find him alone in the garden. So few students appreciated the simple flowerbeds set around the small white gazebo. Maybe they were intimidated by the stone saints and martyrs that overlooked the scene. She certainly was not. Statues could not bother her, they could only stand witness. 

“Come sit with me.” Richard beckoned to her and she took a seat with him in the gazebo. This was perfect, just like all her dreams. The late afternoon sun even cast a glow on his pale face. His green eyes sparkled even more brightly than usual. 

“I have to tell you something.” 

“What is it?”

“Oh Richard, I love you.” She said it. She could not hold back her words. She closed her eyes. She hoped he would say it back before he took her in his arms.

“Cecelia, no.”

“What?” She felt paralyzed by the shock of his words. 

“You’re so sweet to say so, but you don’t love me.” Even rejecting her, his voice was measured and gentle. 

“But I do! Oh Richard, I do love you!” 

“You’re so young, Cecelia, you don’t even know what love means. I don’t want to make this difficult for you, but it’s better that you understand now. You don’t really know me. You may think you do, but you only know an idea of me. That’s not love, that’s just a fantasy. It’s okay. It’s perfectly natural to feel this way, but you need to recognize it for what it is.”

“I know how I feel!”

“Please, let’s not argue. Just trust me on this. I think you’re a wonderful girl, but all I can ever be to you is a friend. I could be like your older brother, but never a boyfriend. One day, when you experience real love, you’ll understand the difference.”

“Do you know the difference? Do you know what real love is? Are you in love with somebody else?” Cecelia asked desperately. 

“Richard, I’ve been looking for you. It’s almost time for the game!” The voice of Edgar interrupted them. Richard’s brother stood at the threshold of the gazebo.

“Let’s go, Cecelia,” Richard said. “You can sit with Edgar at the game and then we’ll all go out afterwards for some dinner. We can talk more then.” 

As Richard walked away from her, Cecelia saw, for just an instant, his hand brushed that of Edgar in passing. A strange feeling passed over her, revulsion verging on nausea. There was something in that momentary touch that sickened her. She felt he previous passion for Richard drain away into a cold antipathy. She had no idea her emotions could shift so suddenly. She did not want to follow the brothers towards the soccer field, but Edgar ran back to her, took her arm in his and led her out of the garden. 

A crowd of parents and students had gathered at the field by the time Cecelia and the two brothers arrived. A curly haired boy in a flair covered hoodie greeted them at once. Cecelia remembered him as Richard’s friend Marco Strieber. 

“I almost didn’t make it!” Marco gushed breathlessly, throwing his arms around Richard, ignoring Cecelia and Edgar. “My afternoon shift at the coffeeshop ran late and I had to run all the way to the bus stop. But I couldn’t miss the big game, Richard! I have to be here to cheer you on!” 

“Marco is my brother’s number one fan,” Edgar whispered to Cecelia.

“Coffee shop?” Cecelia wondered aloud. She thought Marco was their age. “Don’t you have school in the afternoons?”

“I’m homeschooled,” Marco said proudly. “My mother says we don’t need to spend all that money on tuition like you prep school kids. I do most of my studying at our Christian coffeeshop. Besides, I feel sorry for you all going to a Catholic school like Saint Catherine’s. My bible study group says that Catholics are all going to hell because they worship the pope, saints, and statues instead of Jesus Christ. And those Jesuits are the worst. My mother’s Christian life magazine did a big expose on how they started both world wars.” 

“Your mother has some odd ideas,” Richard sighed, ruffling Marco’s curly hair before running off to take his place on the field. He did not even bother saying goodbye to Cecelia. 

“Let’s all sit together!” Marco pointed out some open space on the bleachers surrounding the soccer field. “We can all cheer for Richard! I made up a new one last night. Do you want to hear it?”

“Sure,” Edgar indulged him. 

“Richard, Richard, he’s our guy,” Marco chanted too loudly for Cecelia’s comfort. “When he kicks the ball it’s gonna touch the sky!” 

Edgar could only wince. Cecelia politely excused herself and left the two boys. She mingled for a while in the growing crowd. The press of so many people disoriented her. She felt a cold sweat soaking through her red Saint Catherine’s school uniform. This day had not gone according to plan.

“Why did we have to come here, Rachel? Sports are so boring,” a slightly pudgy boy in a navy blue Prospere Academy blazer whined to his blonde companion. 

“Show some school spirit,” the blonde girl urged her friend. “If only Coach Chardonnay would let girls on the soccer team, you’d see me out there too!”

Cecelia moved further into the crowd, away from that annoying pair. She could not stand the noise all around her. She wanted to go home, but her father was not picking her up until after the game. She could not call him. She was sure he would be with his evening students already. He would be displeased if she interrupted his lessons. 

Dazed by her distress, she ran headfirst into the chest of a tall redheaded boy in a blue soccer uniform. 

“I’m sorry.” She tried to scoot past, keeping her eyes lowered to the ground, but the redhead out an arm to stop her.

“You look sad, little girl,” he cupped her chin and lifted her eyes to his. “Maybe I can help? I’m Brandon O’Reilly.”

“Don’t you have to be on the field?” She indicated his outfit.

“Not for a few minutes.” He grinned. “Come with me.”

Against her better judgement, she followed him behind the bleachers. He produced a handful of white pills from his pocket. 

“What are those?” Cecelia asked innocently.

“Happy pills.” Brandon held one between two fingers and brought it to her mouth. “Just try one. The first is free. Or even a few more for a pretty girl like you.”

She felt scared, but excited too. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before. She had always been such a good girl. Could she really do drugs? She didn’t even know what the pills were, but she liked the sound of happy anything. She let Brandon put it in her mouth and swallowed the white pill. 

“I don’t feel anything,” she said after a few moments. 

“Wait for it.” He stepped away. “The game’s starting. Ask around for me if you want more…”

Cecelia waited for a while behind the bleachers before she made her way back to the game. She wondered if the pills were even drugs at all. Maybe that Brandon had just been messing with her. She did feel calmer though. The large crowd and all the noise did not bother her as much. Maybe it was working? 

She did not want to rejoin Edgar and Marco. She stood at the edge of the field, watching the game now in progress. She saw Richard running past, noting her own newfound distaste for him. She hated to admit it, but he had been right. What she had felt for Richard had not been love. 

It was then that she saw him for the first time. She knew in an instant that he was the one. She loved him from the very first. The tall, dark haired boy in the blue soccer uniform who heroically stood up to Richard’s onslaught on the field. This mystery boy dodged Richard easily and kicked the ball right into the net of the Saint Catherine’s side, scoring the first point of the game. A few people in the crowd cheered. 

A lanky big nosed Indian boy on the Prospere team clapped the goal scorer on the back. “Way to go, Larsen!”

Larsen smiled at his Indian friend and basked at the cheers from his classmates. 

“Larsen,” Cecelia whispered to herself. “His name is Larsen.”