Chapter One: The Academy

Catholic Boarding school five hours away from home, wearing dark blue skirts and dark blue ties, we giggled when I looked at everyone across the round dinner table in the dining hall.

“There will be boys!”

The 5 of us last saw one of the masculine persuasion when Señora Lopez brought her 8 year-old son to her classroom—while leaving her baby in her car seat in the dark red SUV. Per usual.

Anna, my best friend at the Academy of Our Lady of Peace, helped me pick out angsty teenage poems from my collection. My talent, we told my possible next boarding school, was writing. A boy I met at a summer camp for gifted kids was the recipient of my romantic inclinations, my muse for this large collection based off of the Medieval romance novels I read since age 10. We chose 15 poems, sent them to my Mom for approval, while we spread out Seventeen and Teen Girl magazines on the cold floor of our dorm room.

My teenage guilty pleasure

A collage was made, per the application instructions, showcasing my personality. Backstreet Boys were a prominent topic, along with books, small groups of friends, my name “Audrey Carroll” spread out across the legal sized copy paper diagonally. We were invested in my success—if this new school denied my attendance, I would never date during my teenage years.

The poems were approved by my mother—in her email, I could see her right eyebrow raised in judgement as she wondered what exactly brought these words of love out of me. She didn’t ask, I didn’t tell, but thankfully she approved them! The portfolio of my Statement of Intent, collage, PSAT scores, various writing assignments that earned As, and the small collection of poems was mailed to what would officially become my next boarding school!