Accidentally enrolled in the wrong school

Sam is in for a humiliating four years

Chapter 1 by tommytom tommytom

Sam Clark's life had taken a harsh turn. After being raised for eighteen years by Gary Clark, a single father (the mother ran off shortly after Sam was born and hadn't been heard from since), Gary met a woman who he fell in love with very quickly. Her name was Eleanor and she was in her early twenties, much younger than Mr. Clark by a good fifteen years. The two hit it off, were engaged after three months and were married three months after that.

Eleanor showed Gary much attention but, Sam thought, had little to no interest in her new step-child. She had no problem with spending Gary's money, though, as he made a living as a successful personal injury attorney. She was always shopping for clothes and trinkets, and often pestered Sam's father to go on a couple's vacation overseas. Gary said no to any trips because he didn't want to leave Sam alone during the school year, and promised they would all go on a family trip when summer arrived.

But that never happened. Sam's father got in a car accident coming home from work that spring. He didn't make it. Suddenly, Sam was without a father, and was to be raised by Eleanor, a disinterested step-mother and practically a total stranger to Sam. Eleanor spent little time that summer at home, instead going to spas during the day and clubs at night. Sam was alone with the television and microwave dinners.

As fall approached, Eleanor dropped a bombshell on Sam. She arranged a transfer from the local public school Sam attended to a private school across the country the child had never heard of. Eleanor said it was a dorm college and it provided everything the students needed within the campus. Sam didn't want to go. This town and school had always been home. But Eleanor didn't care what Sam wanted. She also seemed to know very little about the new school she was sending Sam to. Any questions were answered with vague responses, such as "It's a private school," "I'm sure it's fine," "It's on a mountain or something," "I don't know what it looks like. Stop asking."

She even seemed unsure of the name. She called it "Grain Mountain or something." Sam tried looking it up but couldn't find it, and then gave up trying to get any more information from Eleanor. A few days later, Sam was dropped off at an airport gate and took a long flight, all alone. The young eighteen-year-old had no luggage, assured that "the school will take care of everything" and that they had Sam's electronic records on file.

After landing, an airport employee escorted Sam to a taxi Eleanor had reserved, to drive to the campus. The taxi driver frowned when seeing Sam, but just shrugged without a word after checking Sam's state ID. Soon Sam was in the back seat of the cab, staring out the window at a rural landscape surrounded by wooded mountains. The driver brought them steadily up one of those mountains, as the road became narrower and more steep.

"Your parent a teacher there?" the driver said.

"No," Sam said.

The man shrugged again and continued driving in silence. Eventually, they passed a small wooden sign that read, "Green Hills college."

"Grain Mountain..." Sam muttered. "Good job, Eleanor."

Many uphill twists and turns later, the ground leveled out and the taxi drove into a modestly sized campus. It looked like it consisted of one main three-story building, (the classrooms and offices, Sam assumed), a wide and narrow, single floor building (the dorms?) and a few miscellaneous, smaller buildings that Sam hoped contained a pool.

The cab driver stopped in front of the main building's double doors. "Out you go," he said. "Inside, I was told there's an office first thing you see. You should go there. Um. Good luck."

With that, he drove off. Sam exhaled and walked through the doors. Inside, there was an open space, kind of like a lobby. No one was in sight but murmured voices from nearby rooms and hallways could be heard, if not understood. To the right were doors with a sign that read "Auditorium Entrance" with a hallway leading around it. Opposite Sam on the other side of the lobby was another hallway and a set of stairs. On the wall to the left hung a bulletin board, covered with flyers and notices. And in the corner was a door labeled "Main Office." Sam made a beeline for the door and, hesitating briefly, opened it and stepped in.

In front of Sam was a reception desk surrounded by private office doors for administrative faculty members. Sitting at the desk, the secretary looked up from a computer screen with a pleasant smile. Seeing Sam, the smile faltered, replaced with uncertainty and confusion. "Can I...help you?"

"My name's Sam Clark. I'm a new student."

The secretary blinked. "Uhh. What?"

Sam handed over picture ID. The secretary took it slowly, awkwardly, and, as if by reflex, typed in the name and identification. Reading a screen Sam couldn't see, the faculty member said "Oh, my."

Sam frowned. "What's wrong?"

"I see what happened here. There was a glitch in your registration so you were assigned the same student ID as another Sam Clark who enrolled at the same time," the secretary said. "We double booked a slot. That explains why your registration didn't raise any red flags. No one noticed."

Res flags? "Oh. Well, can you give me a new one?"

The secretary made a face. "No. That's not how the system works. This is a green campus. All of our resources are allocated to accomodate an exact number of students. Uniforms, food, dorms, everything really. Then of course is the more obvious problem."

"Obvious problem? What problem?" Sam asked.

The secretary stared at Sam. "Well..."

"...you are a boy and this is an all-female school." or "...you are a girl and this is an all-male school."

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