As they pulled up to the school that day, the many thoughts that raced through his head were almost deafening. He wasn't a popular kid by the lowest of terms, nor was he one to allow himself to be bullied, many called him a rebel or a loner, many just stayed clear of him but as in every situation and every place there were those that could not leave well enough alone. He was a soft spoken and hard fisted boy having come from the past that he did. Not one for many friends he fought fiercely for what he believed and protected those that he did allow close to him. But this time it felt different. The School, the teachers, the people, this time felt different.

Was it a simple matter of his mind making the change, or was it something else? Were the people around him different? Or was it he that had somehow portrayed the very change within himself to the world? What was it that had changed everything that he had known or was it just a question of if he had changed over this short period of time? These were the millions of questions that raged within him as people would greet him by name and not the simple nicknames that he had come to expect each time that he would enter the grounds.

The school itself was with such prestige that many a person would cross over the boundaries of the years and reinvent the way that man would see a item that had been used over the course of the time. Many an inventor, scientist, musician and politician had walked these hallowed halls at some time ion the lives but none of this mattered to him. He did not know if he was to be a doctor or lawyer, a clown or General, a soldier or artist, for these thoughts had not crossed his young mind. Why would they when they were always thought to be for the elder kids that new the direction that life would take them, the aim of the dreams were announced to them by rich and wealthy parents that would expect nothing but the best of them for if the best was not given it would be shame on the name of such people.

Zach, himself, was lucky, for no pressure of the sort would be pushed upon him, no expectation of the future would be placed upon his 13 year old shoulders to bare. All that was asked of him was to pass his classes, no grade was to weak or punishable by shame, for in his house things were simple, do what you feel is your best and nothing more will be expected of you. His father was a dental surgeon by trade and his "mother" was a simple house wife that made everything ran according to schedule and even took her turn driving the car pool. They were easy to get along with and yet strict on the rules. Due to Zach's past he had, had to learn very fast that things could turn ugly if the rules had not been adhered to and in the beginning he would do things out of fear and slowly learned that his co-operation would bring forth rewards. It was this payment method that had him striving to be the best he could at this school of high ranking names. Not the honor of being the best, nor the prestige that the name of the school could give you in the future but the rewards that would come if he was to do his best.

He knew that all that was required was some hard work and that is why he would study each and every text book cover to cover as if reading the best novel ever written. Over and over he would read them drilling their words into his head and until he was so far ahead of the class that the teachers did not know what to do with him. every question had an answer and he wanted to know them all even though at time he knew that it took many mistakes to find the way he would try and try and try again to reach the level that he, himself, would deem to be acceptable and at time his level of acceptance was so high that failure would tear him down so badly that he would scream at himself in the hatred of his failure. This all lead to him lashing out at time that he would be alone in his room trying to figure out why he had not been able to do better. It was at these time that his mother had yearned to hold him and tell him that he did his best and that was acceptable but for the fear of his rejection she would stand quietly by his door listening to the soft mumbling on the other side

His favored subjects were by far the teachings of English, that was taught by a man that could be as Shakespearean as the author himself, and Geography that was taught by a man he enjoyed imagining to be Wild adventurer that was talking rather than teaching about experiences that he had been through himself. His marks were always highest for these for it would make him endlessly happy to to listen to the different ways in which the language that he called his own had so many twists and turns that it never could be labeled the same as all the others and when listening to the many treasures that had yet to be uncovered and places that held so much history in but a simple uncovered history that had been dug up after years of being buried in the wild sands of Egypt or deathly deep waters of the Pacific Ocean. He himself was an explorer of rare and modern arts, for in this day, reading itself had becoming and art only practiced by the learned or the old. Reading the ancient of arts was being replaced by the consoles of play, the television of new and the programs that would be used to describe all that you would supposedly find within the written word.

It was his return to the hallowed halls that had him called in about a piece that he had written just before the end of the last term of school, and that instilled such fear within his small heart that he was ready to run at a moments notice. As he walked to the office known to him for his fighting ways he wondered what he had done to deserve this abrupt calling and upon taking the final turn he noticed something different to everything he had known, he saw his "parents" sitting, waiting to be summoned into the room to which they had been only once before and it was this that made him scared, the fear that he had felt was so overwhelming until he saw his father stand, turn to him and with no word opened his arms and stood there waiting, waiting for his scared small son to run to him and embrace him and without thought that is exactly what Zach in his fear filled movement did. And for the first time they stood there understanding the bond that had been created and all his father said was, "It will be ok."

They were summoned into the big, well furnished office of the principal and on the coffee desk between them sat the transcript of what Zach had written. Confusion had swelled within him, he had not plagiarized the work nor stolen anothers words, for he knew that each was his own and that was made it even worse to behold that this man would call him and his parents to this very place to "talk" about it. He did not say a word but his actions seemed to speak louder than anything he could have said for all this man did was open the first page and reveal written in red - This is written by a child with the soul of a man that has traveled many journey's, Well Done! 100%. It was just a simple piece that he had written about if he had to travel to a distant land and why he would choose such a place. It was far from what Zach had considered a masterpiece and even harder for him to believe was the percentage that he had received for the work. He had felt it to be a mediocre attempt at describing the Highlands of Scotland and why he would feel so free in such a place but his words had reached a cord within a man and therefore he was given the highest possible honor the mark of maturity.

As the principal spoke to his parents Zach kept staring at what was written wondering if what was there was nothing but a figment of his young imagination, he would hear his name come out here and there but caught nothing more of the conversation until he was asked to comment and as he sat the dumbfounded by the question he realized that he had not taken in a single entity of what was said to him or even about him and all he could answer was the polite and respectful truth, "I am sorry sir, I was not listening" and what he thought was meant to be met with a scoulding was rather met with a round of laughter. There were pleasantries exchanges as the adults sipped there coffee and when he was offered a soft drink he quickly accepted as his mouth had been dry since the moment that he had been called and slowly sipping his drink lost in the world of his own making he would at times simply look up to be polite not wanting to truly know what was being said until the end of this long hard meeting when he saw everyone stand and then say good bye and he left with his "parents."

As they left the office his father looked at him with a pride in his eyes that he had never seen before, we all know the type that swells within when told of something that you already knew to be true. As they said there good-byes to each other and went their separate ways, Zach could not help but wish that he had paid more attention to what had happened inside that office, to what was said within those four walls and also to what was the real reason for him having been called in just for his work to be shown and given to his parents but at the same time he felt that in his soft state of relief he was allowed to have escaped and just shut down.

The next few days were just like any other for there would be no difference to his routine, as if the meeting had never happened and he went about his daily work with the same vigor as he always would. His determination to better himself greatly expanded for he wanted to do more than he believed that he was able to do. He had little faith in himself but the look of pride that he saw in his fathers eyes made him want to do more, be more and achieve more than he thought he could.

Next Chapter: A child’s writing