Strict tone

Well! Then not if you can't answer me. You're usually so grown up! Why don't you care how you get to school? ", Joe threw me with an iron gaze and looked at me expectantly.

Torn out of my thoughts, I replied snuggly: “Great! Great start Joe! Well then at least tell me where the nearest bus stop or train is and what the damn school is called. "

Did I miss anything now? Didn't I just realize that Joe had spoken to me and that I might not answer him because I was so lost in thought?

“Walk straight down the street. There comes a large intersection with a pedestrian platform. On it is the sign U-Bahn and the corresponding stairs. By the way, the damn school is called Bindermann Gobbel Gymnasium and can be found in the street, Rabengrünweg 17 ”, Joe answered soberly and devoted his attention to putting sausage, cheese and jam in the fridge.

Somewhat perplexed about his behavior, which gave my entire body goose bumps, I put on my shoes, threw the backpack over my shoulder, pulled on my red cap and ran out of the door.

This is exactly what I meant. Joe was nice at first and then suddenly as dismissive as if he had two faces. That strange feeling drove me crazy.

Thanks to his description, I found the subway straight away and was now a little bit planned ahead of the timetable. I was now wondering how I got to school. For a moment I looked around and got on the next train coming.

After ten minutes, I arrived just before school. Now I just had to turn into three streets, according to the map, and I was there.

Finally, there I was, with a cigarette in hand, looking out at the bus parking lot. A huge, circular platform with loose space for 20 buses. I nervously puffed on the cigarette and tugged at the sleeve of my jacket. I preferred to wear something long-sleeved on my first day of school, despite the warm morning warmth. After all, not everyone had to see my tattoo and old scars on my forearms right away. I couldn't use stupid and stupid sayings.

Man, I haven't been that excited in a long time, I thought.

All the students hurried straight into the huge school complex behind it, which was reached by foot via a wide entrance. Joe hadn't mentioned that they were actually two schools together. The left mouse-gray square building, with two thick dark red stripes around it, was the secondary school and the other rectangular one in dark red, with two gray stripes around it, a grammar school, which I will attend from now on. From here I could already read the school type, as both buildings had huge writing on the facades. On closer inspection I also noticed that the two were connected to each other thanks to a glass passage. In front of it was a wide well with benches.

I walked slowly towards the huge entrance doors that reached up to the second floor. It was the middle of the school year. Of course everyone knew each other. I felt like the last idiot because I even had to ask directions to the bathroom before going to the rector's office.

When I got to the school room, I knocked three times and silently looked at the sign next to it:

Mr. James Brown Head of School

Mrs. Lucia Brown Secretary & Co-Principal

"Yes, please! Come in! ”It beeped to me.

"Good Morning. Preston o`Connor my name. I should get in touch with you regarding the assignment of my class, ”I started in a hushed voice, barely audible.

A slightly wrinkled woman with tightly pinned blond-gray hair and narrow reading glasses on her nose acted in a finely snug suit at her desk and did not look at me for the time being. She seemed to be working very deeply on a few important documents.

"Please sit down," she said with a hand gesture and again didn't look up at me.

Without a word I sat across from the unknown woman, who seemed very narrow-minded and strict, and let my gaze wander around the room.

A very ominous room, I thought to myself. It was old-fashioned, but still very stylishly furnished and somehow didn't match the modern exterior and the rest of the school at all. Locked cupboards, dozens of books, all student files in the semi-closed round cupboard, the gigantic desk in front of me and a room behind it I could see.

After a few minutes, the supposed late forties turned back. Sitting firmly in the chair, she skilfully pushed the cupboard open behind her and stole a green folder next to the hidden printer. When the woman picked it up, I saw my name on the name tape.

"I hope you like my study o´Connor!", Mentioned the stranger and turned back to the desk and studied me with raised eyebrows and lensed over her glasses, for the first time from head to toe.

"I ... Ehm ...", completely surprised, I couldn't stutter a reasonable sentence together. I was just extremely unwell and my hands were starting to sweat.

"It's okay o`Connor. I do not ask for an answer to my question. I mean, what a cool teenage girl today thinks such an aging room is also hip. I would like to introduce myself to you in a more formal way. I am Mrs. Brown. The principal's wife and secretary at this school. I hope you found it easy and are full of energy to immerse yourself in our school life? Your mother and stepfather have already sent me the registration and all the important documents. So, for you, nothing stands in the way of taking part in the lesson immediately, ”she said and turned her intensified gaze into this funny green folder.

There was a strange silence as I still couldn't answer her. I felt like I had a big loo in my throat and gasped for air a little uneasily.

"Well. As I see ... ", she finally went on and broke the unbearable silence that seemed like an eternity.

After a short break, she started all over again with her sentence:

“As I can see from your school record, you were last at Pringston High, which has a pretty good reputation. Without exception, you performed well in all subjects. You are apparently very linguistically gifted. Do you also speak these five foreign languages fluently? ”She asked me.

“Almost, except in Spanish. I only started to learn it two months ago in the advanced course, ”I said truthfully.

"Very nice. They easily meet our requirements, but there is still one question left. How is it that you have countless absent hours up to and including several missed catch-up hours? ”She wanted to find out with an obvious thorn in her side.

"Well. I ... I just didn't feel like sitting down forever in class and I was just bored most of the time, "I answered promptly and laid back casually in the chair, as my initial nervousness finally subsided.

"Well then, I hope for you, young man, that you have already carefully considered your attitude, otherwise you will not stay very long at our school. We don’t make any slip-ups here. The rules are strict and clear. At first you can expect two to three verbal warnings, then you have to catch up with hours and even days. Of course, we will notify your guardians and the youth welfare office without exception. If the ears are still deaf and do not want to bear fruit, we will have them brought by the police. After that, they will be suspended without notice, that is, they will be expelled from school until further notice. So this is your last chance here at our school. We have no duty to take them. The only obligation here in Germany is compulsory schooling. But no indication of which type of school they have to attend. I hope it is clear to them that they can obstruct their future and that they will acquire a far lower school leaving certificate, which has a very difficult position here, ”said Ms. Brown urgently, in a strict tone.