"Alice Carlyle?" a soft voice broke the awkward silence that had filled the waiting room
"That's us, sweetie." her mother said sternly, "Come on, we've got to do this. No point in putting it off now."
Alice smiled back at her mother, her round cheeks glowing a slight red, "Don't worry, I'm sure I made it." she says, unusually confident in herself. The budding blonde lass had worked herself to death, taking extracurricular assignments, honor classes, and even the occasional part time job around the school in order to ensure that she could become a little Bee about the Buttercombe just like her sister had before her.
She was dressed for success, in both education and literal wardrobe, nothing like what you'd expect from a teenaged girl nowadays. A cute little light blue sundress, modest jewelry, and her pretty blonde hair curled to perfection, an outfit that Alice had sewn herself in her Clothing Construction class back in her old highschool. It looked a little worn already due to cheap material, but still made for excellent conversation.
"I know you will too honey..." her mother's soft arms wrapped her daughter in a suffocating embrace, "You've worked so hard, how could they not want you?"
Alice's smile wavered a little bit as her mother's tight chokehold cut off oxygen, and found that her eyes started to water slightly from excitement. "Alright." she took a deep breath and turned towards the double doors of the conference room, "Let's do this..."
Alice pushed through the wooden doors, her eyes met with a somewhat plump woman no older than thirty, maybe thirty five. She had blonde hair, not unlike Alice herself, that bore a platinum glow in the auditorium's lights, that fell down to her shoulders and cascaded a little further down her back. Dressed in mustard formal attire with a little too much makeup on, Alice saw that her mother was right: she was nothing to be afraid of after all. Ms. Polluck was just a woman.
A woman who would decide her entire academic future.
"Alice Carlyle aaaand..." the plump woman thumbed through her paperwork, "Jan Carlyle?" she seemed harmless enough. Either way, Alice stayed close to her mother, neck shrinking back into her shoulders meekly.
"That's us." her mother was always much more outgoing than her daughter.
She smiled at Alice, causing the young applicant to inhale sharply. "Oh my that's a darling dress, who is it; Ralph Lauren?" she asked, breaking professionalism for some girl talk.
Alice could only stutter, caught like a deer in headlights, "I-uh... um..." Her mother was forced to swoop in and saved the day as usual,
"She made it herself." she flaunted her daughter's sewing prowess.
Alice blushed brightly, "Uh... yeah, in Clothing Construction."
The woman gawked, "You made this?" she examined the fabric, "That's adorable!" Alice's eyes opened widely as the older woman praised her, "I haven't seen anything like this since your sister, Melanie!"
Her mother smiled, "Oh, so you're the Ms. Polluck that Mel was talking about!" her mother gushed, hoping to fudge her daughter's way into the Buttercombe with flattery, "She's said some very nice things about your school."
Then, something strange happened that only Alice seemed to notice, at the mention of her older sister (whom had finished her final semester before the summer) the represenative's face changed from pleasantly unbusiness-like to one of absolute adoration. "Oh, well we absolutely loved having her serve as our Senior Class President. Mrs. Carlyle, if I do say so myself, you've raised such a fine and upstanding young lady. We'd love to see her again."
"Oh, well, you're too kind!" Mrs. Carlyle stuttered slightly. While Mel may have been an upstanding student, she could not deny the fact that since her graduation from the Buttercombe, her eldest daughter had done considerably less standing. After the completion of her Senior year, Jan and Mel had exchanged more than a few words about her incredible shift in size. Mel had come home so big at the beginning of the summer, she could barely fit through the front door. And since she'd come home Mel had spent her Summer little more than eating the family out of house and home...
"Anyway, onto business." Polluck joked, "After all, that's why you're here isn't it?"
Alice gulped, snapped from her own delusions of Mel- this was it, the moment of truth...
"Your grades are superb, your extracurriculars are fantastic, and you have over 20 staff reccommendations," the woman started out, "Honor Roll, Principal's award, you've even been in the newspaper; to be frank, you could choose any private highschool in the nation!" Alice's round face only continued to blush at the mention of all of her accomplishments.
"We would be honored to have you attend Buttercombe Academy for Gifted Young Women." Mrs. Polluck finally concluded with a dramatic shutting of the file folder in front of her.
For a second, the entire room was silent. Alice had stopped breathing, her chest no longer heaving. Her thoughts grew still and her eyes scanned the room for some sign that it was a dream. The first thing she felt was her mother grabbing her arm and her nails poking hard into its noodly shape.
"Did you hear that Alice?!" she all but shouted, "You get to go!"
Alice couldn't believe it; ever since her sister had announced that she would be transferring to one of the most prestigious schools in the nation, she had dreams of attending herself. Mel had gone, outshined everybody else in the entire school, and came back smart as a whip with lots of scholarships to a never ending stream of colleges, some from out of the country! If she played her cards right, Alice could practically write her own future after she graduated!
The butter-yellow Headmistress smiled too, her face stretched with a painted smile. "Alright, now there are a few things that we should probably get out of the way first--"
"Alright, shoot." Alice's mother jittered around excitedly
"Well, the customary Welcoming for starters, however I would very much like to talk to you about finances and such."
Alice sighed, she was glad this interview was over. But on the other hand, she had finally realized her dream since she was twelve years old. The large woman behind the desk gave Alice the address as well as a pamphlet about the school.
"Oh, and do be sure to send Mel my number too, should she need a reference. We sure do miss her already." the woman said a little to eagerly, emphasizing her sister's name.
Alice floated from the plush chair she had wedged herself into, excitement ringing merrily in her ears with a happy buzzing.
"Thank you very much, ma'am." her mother was already halfway out the door before Alice was steady on her own two feet.
***
And, exactly seven days later, her mother drove Alice up to Buttercombe Acadmey as promised for her daughter to recieve a proper education...
"Alice, honey, please don't feel intimidated." her mother wiped away tears from her youngest daughter's cheek, "Don't let anyone push you around, and make as many friends as possible, okay?"
"I will Mom." Alice couldn't help but cry, she was going to miss her mother a lot. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."
"The first thing you do is find your dorm," her mother started crying now, she was always emotional at stuff like this. "You'll be spending a lot of time with your dorm mates so try to get along with them alright? But don't worry if you don't, because you're a sparkling young girl with loads of personality. You'll make friends in no time."
"Oh Mom." she squeezed her mother tight, a relatively shapely form pressed against her...
"And please dear, please don't come back as big as your sister did?"
Alice laughed, "Oh Mom!" she couldn't help but find it funny, "That's awful!"
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