The Letter

I slowly opened my eyes. There was a quiet murmur of the T.V. coming from downstairs. I rolled onto my side and glanced at the clock, it read 9:24. Suddenly, I sat upright in my bed; I had already missed over 9 hours of my thirteenth birthday!! I ran over to my dresser and got the cutest clothes I had. It was a strapless dark green top with dark blue skinny jeans.
I already knew I had my mother's bracelet on but I still looked down at my left wrist. There is was, my mother's bracelet that says: "Never give up!"
After I changed my clothes, I brushed my hair quickly and went downstairs to get breakfast.
When I got into the living room I glanced at my dad and saw he was drinking beer like usual and watching some show about s****y girls fighting over this ugly guy. "Morning." I murmur. His reply is a grunt that sounds identical to a pig.
"Breakfast?" I ask quietly.
"Go away!" he snaps at me, still not taking his eyes off the television screen.
Happy that I didn't have to make him anything, I walked into the kitchen. I took a frozen waffle out of the freezer and shoved it in the toaster.
After eating my waffle I walked back into the living room, "I'll be upstairs if you wa--"
My dad cut me off, "I thought I told you to--..." He was looking at my head with a weird look on his face. He looked confused and scared.
"What?!" I asked.
"What the #*%$ are those?!?!?!" He screamed, angrier than I have ever seen him.
I walked to the hallway mirror and looked at myself. There was nothing I noticed that was different at first. Then I saw them. Two small cat ears mostly back but white at the tips, protruding from my head! They were just three shades darker than my dark brown hair. But they still stuck out, A LOT!
Then, suddenly something hit my leg. I was afraid to look down and see what it was since it felt like some sort of animal brushed up against me and I knew there were never any animals in my dad's home. What I saw stunned me. It was a cat tail, mostly black except for some white on the tips just like my ears. And it was swaying back and forth without me even noticing it was there!!
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and sprinted upstairs. I ran into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. Then, I started examining the ears and tail, trying to find out if they were actually attached to me.
When I was about to start freaking out again I noticed a letter sitting on the counter. This was very odd since it was addressed to me and I have no friends. Almost nobody knows I exist. When I opened it, it read:
          Dear Nicole,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been invited to Lestings Schools for Mythological and Magical Creatures. The is school is home for many different kinds of half breeds. You are among them. You have become a Neko, this means that you are now half cat. While in our school you will be educated in many different subjects such as mathematics and history of magical peoples. Please look over the list of item you need throughout the year. The plane leaves on August 1^st and the term starts of August 10^th. Hope to see you there!
Sincerely,
Alice Findlor

Also in the envelope was a list that stated:

     All first years are to be equipped with enough paper to last 9 months

5 pens

5 pencils

Any clothes wanted for weekends.

One bag or backpack

One three ring binder

Anything the pupil will need to study efficiently

You are allowed to bring a tamed bird or a rat or a hamster/guinea pig

 

Wondering if this was some sort of joke or not, I ran downstairs to my dad to see what he thought. He read it about twice through then looked up at me. "Okay." He stated.
"Okay? What do you mean okay?" I asked.

     “I mean that I can tell you are a freak and, okay, that’s it, you’re leaving!” He said, his voice slowly rising. “Tomorrow I will drop you off at this airport and leave you there.”

     “Wha�"“

     “I have had enough of your abnormalities! Go up to your room and pack, I don’t want to see you until tomorrow morning when we leave for the airport!” He screamed the last words at me.

     Suddenly, very scared, I picked up the letter and bolted upstairs. I went into my room and closed to door once I got inside. For about two minutes I stood there staring at my boring room with white walls and a gray carpet, too shocked to do anything. Is this a dream? Could this be some sort of prank? Is this real? I asked myself. I reached over and pinched my left arm as hard as I could and nothing happened.

     As I trudged toward my bed I heard the T.V. downstairs shut off. My dad usually turned it off and retired to the computer around noon. Once I got to the edge of my bed I plopped down onto it. I rested my head on the one small white pillow but didn’t bother to get under the thin red blanket. After awhile I began to see the color draining out of my room. In what felt like 20 minutes it was pitch-black in my room and silent throughout my house. Eventually, I fell asleep.

     When I woke up my tiny clock was flashing, 6:30. My dad was banging on the door and yelling, “WE ARE LEAVING IN FIVE MINUTES!! GET UP!!”

     “Up.” I mumbled as I sat up.

     In five minutes I was ready to leave and sitting in the car. To hide my ears and tail I was wearing a hat and tucked my tail into my shorts. As my dad got into the car he threw a still-frozen waffle at me. “Breakfast.” He mumbled, avoiding eye contact.

     “Thank you.” I replied.

     Forty minutes later we were in front of the airport. As soon as I got out of the car with my luggage, my dad sped off. I glanced down at the ticked that had been attached to the letter. It said the plane left at 8:30. Not for another hour, so I went inside and found the entrance to the landing. The lady taking the tickets looked at me suspiciously. I handed her my ticket and she said, “Race?”

     “What?” I asked, confused.

     “What race are you?” She clarified, obviously annoyed.

     “Neko, I guess.” Now I was a little scared.

     “Hmm…Go ahead.”

     I walked through the door behind her and saw a huge plane. It was white and said Lestings School for Magical and Mystical Creatures. When I got to the bottom of the stairs that let into the plane a man took my suitcases.

     As I entered the plane I went over to the section of seats that had a sign stating first years above it. I guessed I would fall under that category.

     When I entered there was nobody there except one small boy sitting in the corner. He looked completely normal except he was mumbling to himself. I sat at a window seat near the back and waited.