This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events and persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used. Except for review purposes, the reproduction of this book in whole or part, electronically or mechanically, constitutes a copyright violation.

Copyright 2011 Tadoshi Chang

“What the hell are you doing? Don’t just lay there go hide somewhere or you’re going to die!” Those are always the last words “he” says to me before I wake up. Oh, sorry I am talking about the dreams I have been having since my father passed away when I was 10. It’s always a different situation of the same dream; I am in a courtyard, my throat hurts from screaming, I have tears streaming down my face, while I’m running away from a man dressed up as Dracula. I then trip over something and that’s when “he, the fearless hero” comes and stabs Dracula in the heart with a wooden stake. Then the dream ends but not before the hero who I’ve yet to actually see recite his famous line, “What the hell are you doing? Don’t just lay there go hide somewhere or you’re going to die!”

I know this must sound like the set of a Hollywood production, but these dreams couldn’t possibly be a glimpse of my future. I could never be an amazing actress, or an amazing anything for that matter. My name is Madison Liang and I just turned 15 years old 2 days ago on March 17th. Yep, that’s St. Patrick’s Day, but I guess all my “friends” were too busy to show up for my birthday party. So on my 15th birthday the attendees were the following; Lily my annoying 11 year old little sister who has successfully won first place in every beauty pageant she has entered since she was 3 years old, Aiden the most arrogant person on this earth not to mention the pride and joy of our family name. It does not matter anything that he does from sports, school, music, even fashion. Aiden is perfect at any and everything he attempts. I am sorry Mom I can’t be as amazing as my younger siblings, why can’t she accept me for me? Speaking about Mary Jane, she is the worst I swear. She pretended to be a loving wife until my poor daddy was diagnosed with cancer and passed away 5 years ago. Not even 6 months after he passed she was engaged to my daddy’s boss my step-father, Adrian Smoke. Sure he may be handsome and rich, but he is definitely hiding something behind that perfect smile of his. I may not have any way to prove it but I know that she was cheating on my daddy with that slime ball! Why did my loving daddy have to die, I wish it’d been Mary Jane instead.

“So did you figure out what you wanted for your birthday yet, kiddo?” Adrian said. Without looking at him I replied “I honestly haven’t given it much thought, Smokie.” Mary Jane gave me a look that resembled a lioness preparing to protect her cubs and said “Now that is no way to talk to your step-father or behave at the dinner table, apologize to Adrian right now!” Adrian replied “Dear it’s really no problem, I understood that when I asked you to marry me it would be an uphill battle with the children.” Mary Jane then said “Aiden and Lily were able to accept Adrian as their new dad, why can’t you?” After those words came from Mary Jane’s mouth I could feel my anger rapidly approaching the danger zone. I then stood up, slammed my clenched fist on the dinner table and screamed “THIS MAN IS NOT AND WILL NOT EVER BE MY FATHER!” Then with a face full of tears I ran out the front door slamming it behind me.

While walking towards the street I thought to myself, how could she say something like that? Did she really never love daddy? She really is the worst kind of woman! I sat down on the stoop trying to sort out my brewing emotions, when I heard a familiar voice quietly calling my name “Madison….Madison” I replied “What do you want?” without even looking up at Lily. “I know exactly how you feel!” she proudly declared. I angrily replied “What do you know about how I feel? You get all the attention in the world, you get good grades, and you have a ton of friends. You even have a fan club website. You’re nothing but just a pretty face that once you get old people will abandon!” Lily then said “Why are you being mean to me? I was just trying to help!” I angrily said “Well don’t bother”. Lily stood there silent for a few moments then retreated back into the house. Don’t get me wrong I normally would never flip out at my sister like that it’s just I’ve been having a bad day ever since this morning when I tried to confess to this boy I’ve had a crush on for 3 years. Just for him to tell me “I don’t date ugly girls!” as loud as he could in the hallway while we were changing classes, I was completely mortified! How could Lily ever say something so cruel to me as she understands how I feel? I then looked up to the sky and announced “God! I hate you! Why did you take my daddy and leaving me with this awful family?” Suddenly, almost as if it was an ominously bitter reply to my question. I felt a raindrop hit my arm and immediately afterwards came a downpour. I quickly stood up and ran back into the house completely soaked.

As I started walking to my room, Aiden says from the den “Hey Madison, how does it feel to be rejected by someone who is even more stupid than you are?” I immediately ran over to where he was sitting, he quickly covered his nose and said “Wow, you should get a towel and dry off you smell like a rejected, disobedient, wet dog!” Before I could give him a response Aiden continued to say “By the way I don’t know why you dislike Adrian so much he is so good to you and you never appreciate it, he’s a great dad. Whatever, how could I ever expect myself to understand someone who gets grades as low as yours?” After Aiden’s last insults he picked up his phone and began to dial. I took the phone from him and threw it out of the room; he retaliated by saying “Are you happy now?” I replied “No, I am not happy why are claiming to be that bastards son?” He stared at me for a moment and stated “Because he is my father now” I replied “No, you’re one and only father is Allard Liang, he is the only man whose blood flows through your veins. I guess all that praise Mary Jane gives you is going to your head” He closed his eyes and said “Madison I do not know if you can comprehend this because you aren’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but Allard Liang was a pathetic man who never amounted to anything, he did the world a favor by getting cancer and…” before he could finish I punched him in the nose and he started to bleed. To which he calmly replied “You know if you read more than you’d be able to find the words to express yourself rather than to resorting to violence from what people say.” Aiden then stood up and walked away, I stood there for a few minutes with my fists tightly clenched then I stormed off to my room and slammed the door behind me. That is what I can’t stand about Aiden he always acts like he is better than everyone, especially me.

Before I could finish drying off I heard a knock at my door, I said “Go away!” the knocking persisted. Once again I yelled “GO AWAY!!” the knocking continued even still. Annoyed and irritated I ran and opened the door to find Adrian Smoke waiting. As I was about to slam the door in his face, he slid his foot in to stop me. He then said “You should really learn to control your emotions Madison; Aiden was just voicing his opinion. That isn’t how you were raised, is it?” I replied “What do you care?” He then stated “You shouldn’t be so cold to your father; you know it hurts my feelings.” I replied “How many times do I have to repeat myself you will never be my father and I hate you for attempting to replace...” Before I could finish my statement he pushed my door open grabbed my arm pushed me onto my bed looking down on me from above and with cold piercing eyes and said “One day very soon you will regret ever disrespecting me and beg for me to help you, Princess” I laid there frozen in fear with my heart feeling like it was going to pounce out my chest. After what felt like 10 minutes he released me walked out of my room closing the door gently behind him. Immediately afterwards tears began to pour down my face. As I whispered to myself “Daddy, help me!” I cried until my tear ducts emptied but my last thoughts before falling asleep were I really hate my life and my family.

I was awoken the next morning from the combination of Mary Jane banging on my door; nagging me to get ready for school and an advertisement on my digital alarm clock for Slavomir Academy, “Slavomir Academy a private academic facility for the elite, raising the world’s leaders of tomorrow”. I thought to myself “an elite academy for the arrogant spoiled brat, sounds like the perfect school for Aiden”. I yelled to Mary Jane “I’m up; I’m up stop banging on my door you psychopath!” Mary Jane replied “Don’t you think it’s about time you’ve learned to wake up by yourself, I never have to wake Aiden up and he’s two years younger than you.” I angrily replied “Then don’t you think should hurry up and make Mr. Perfect’s breakfast?” Before Mary Jane had time to reply Adrian Smoke yelled “Honey can you help me pick out a tie?” Mary Jane replies “Coming dear” and walks away. I lazily rolled out of bed, stood up, and stretched my hands in the air thinking about how I wish I could go back to bed. I headed to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for school. After my shower while back in my room I stopped to look at myself in my full body mirror in my underwear thinking to myself. “Am I too skinny or too short? Maybe it’s my shoulder length dark brown hair, freckles, dark brown eyes, or maybe my chubby cheeks. Yes, it has to be my fat cheeks or maybe a combination of all.” Then out loud I said “Just what was, I thinking when I confessed to Paul Bent?” As I walked out of my room ready for school I saw Adrian Smoke walking towards me down the hall. I immediately placed my eyes towards the floor and continued to walk. As we passed each other Adrian said “Good Morning, Madison.” I quietly replied “Good morning” as I continued walking towards the door. The sounds of Adrian’s footsteps stopped and he said “A reply without attitude, it seems like our little talk was effective I am glad.” I just ignored his comment and walked towards the front door. As I opened the door Mary Jane yelled “Madison you should really eat something before you leave, breakfast is the most important meal of the day after all.” Immediately after she finished speaking Aiden said “Mother, it will not matter if she consumes a well-balanced breakfast or not, nothing will prevent her from failing in school.” I angrily yelled “I’M NOT HUNGRY!” as I walked out of the house I slammed the door behind me.

When walking down the street to the bus stop I saw my childhood friend and neighbor Eileen Shepard, who I used to be best friends with until we reached grade 6 and she began to develop a more “Mature” body. Of course that attracted the attention of the boys in our grade causing her to become popular and apparently causing her to randomly one day stop talking to me. When I asked her why, she immediately blamed me saying that I stopped talking to her when she started making other friends and that she has other priorities now. From that moment on I began to hate the word and meaning of “popularity”, because it stole my best friend. As I arrived at the bus stop I stood pretty far from Eileen while she was talking on her cellphone. It was amazing how in a matter of 2 years the bond that we had forged since we were infants could be broken so easily. I wasn’t sad anymore I was just happy that I saw what kind of person she truly was so I couldn’t be fooled by her any longer. Soon the bus came without us speaking a word to each other and we arrived at school. When I had passed through the door to my homeroom class, the whole class seemed to have gotten quiet as if they were all talking about me and my “rejection” yesterday. Immediately I walked over to my seat and put my head down thinking to myself “I hate boys”. As the bell rung our homeroom teacher Mr. Johnson walked in saying “Whoa, I was almost late”. I slightly raised my head and noticed a boy whom I had never seen before. The boy who silently followed Mr. Johnson with his head held high and chest sticking out had shaggy black hair, was about 5”8, and looked of Arabic decent. He looked like your typical pretty boy.

Mr. Johnson then says “Good Morning class. Settle down, I have an announcement to make. We have a new student, he will introduce himself.” The boy stepped forward and said “Hello everyone, my name is Aresty Terach. I was born in Canada but I moved back to Arabia with my grandparents. Where I have been since I was 7, it’s a pleasure to meet you all”. Mr. Johnson then said “Very nice, well I guess we should begin class. There is an empty seat next to Madison Liang”. Mr. Johnson then went on to say “Madison, a student’s job is to study, not sleep during class! Please raise your hand so that Aresty can sit in the seat next to you”. The class laughed as I raised my hand. When Aresty sat down in the chair next to me he turned towards me with his hand held out and said “Hello Madison, I am Aresty. It’s nice to meet you” When I turned toward him to reply I noticed that he had beautiful green eyes and replied “Nice to meet you too”.

Before I knew it lunch time had arrived and I was starving, “I really should have eaten breakfast” I thought to myself. As I was leaving the classroom I was stopped by Mr. Johnson who said “Madison can you wait a moment I need to speak with you. I wanted to talk to you about the test you had taken last week” I replied “Do we have to talk about this now Mr. Johnson, I am really hungry” He then said with a very concerned look on his face “This will only take a moment, what’s going on it seems like you aren’t even trying anymore, if you fail the next exam I as a teacher do not think I will be able to pass you to the next grade”. I replied to Mr. Johnson “I’ve tried my best; I just can’t focus during class no matter how many notes I take”. Mr. Johnson replied “I think you’re not trying hard enough we have an exam in two weeks and if you don’t pass with at least a 90%, you will have to begin taking supplementary lessons afterschool”. Annoyed and wanting to go to lunch I said “Ok, I got it Mr. Johnson can I go now?” he replied “Well, I guess as long as you understand, but it might not be a bad idea to get someone to help tutor you, Maybe your younger brother Aiden”. I replied “I don’t need his help” and stormed out of the classroom.

As I headed towards the lunchroom infuriated I saw Eileen walking past the clear glass doors outside. Then I thought to myself “Eileen always used to help me study by breaking things down making it easier for me to understand, and if all else fails I can ask her mom to force her to help me”. With a good plan conceived I decided to follow her and ask her if she could help me study so that I wouldn’t have to go to extra lessons. As I followed her out to the courtyard, I turned the corner stopped dead in my tracks in complete shock to what I saw. Eileen and Paul Bent were kissing behind a bush. I stood there frozen in disbelief and before I knew it emotions of betrayal overcame me and I was running away with my arm covering the tears gushing from my eyes. Thinking to myself “I really hate my life and this school”. Suddenly I ran into someone and fell to the ground. When I opened my eyes laying there on the ground was Aresty Terach, who with a concerned look in my eyes said “Madison Liang? What’s wrong are you ok?”

(Thank you for reading Chapter 1 of "Slavomir Academy" Please leave us comments and feedback)

Find out what happens next when you read chapter 2 when it's posted by 5/16/2011!

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Copyrighted2011 Tadoshi Chang