Crown | Teen Ink

Crown

November 8, 2013
By zjennifer09 BRONZE, Bay Minette, Alabama
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zjennifer09 BRONZE, Bay Minette, Alabama
2 articles 9 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
It’s your life, your one and only life-so take excellence very personally.


Step one, calm my breathing. Step two, look as normal as everyone in the same room as you. What am I to think? I should be nervous this isn’t just any normal registration, I’m in one of the most expensive and toughest universities in the world, Crown. Only the wealthy come here, rumor has it Bill Gate’s daughter want to go here. I looked around my new classmates, all of them had something similar, designer clothing; Calvin Klein, Gucci, Michael Kors, and even Vera Wong. They had their hair done in hairstyles that is too expensive for a normal person to pay for. The females’ make up seemed that they are about to walk down the red carpet or go somewhere formal. I looked down at my clothing; a pair of dark blue jeans with some new black converse that the children of my foster home gave me for a goodbye present, a red button down plaided shirt that I left open with a plain white shirt under it. I didn’t even try to make my hair look so perfect, knowing very well I’m going to be shamed by everyone.

Lisa nudged me which made me snap out of my thinking, “Payton, are you okay sweetie?” I nodded in response, too quickly, “Don’t be nervous, it’s a start in your new life, I’m sure everything will be okay.”

“Are you sure? Do you see everyone in here?” I whispered.

Lisa chuckled and gave me a side hug, “Everyone is different, you just have to learn to stand out.” I sighed.

“Next,” A woman called out. Lisa and I walked up to the desk, “Name?”

“Payton Lin,” Lisa answered.

“Age?” The woman asked.

“17,” Lisa answered. The woman looked up in confusion.

“You must be 18,” She responded. Lisa fumbled in her purse and took out a piece of paper, well, my acceptance letter. Lisa handed the paper to the woman. The woman took the paper and read it. She nodded, “Scholarship, I see. Well, since your tuition is paid off,” She got up from her chair and walked towards some cardboard boxes. She reached down and pulled out a medium sized packet. She walked back towards us and laid it on the table, “Here is the school’s merchandise, a jacket, sweat pants, and more.” She reached beside her where a box of files were. She searched for my name and pulled out a packet and handed it to Lisa, “Her dorm, keys, class schedule, and anything you need to know is in there. Ms. Payton Lin, welcome to Crown University.”

I swallowed loud. Lisa pulled me from in front of the desk. We began to walk out the registration building and into the wide lawn of Crown. The campus is huge! It’s my first time even coming to a city this huge. I’m from the small town of Cicero, Illinois, and now I’m here in New York City about to attend this university. Lisa patted my head, “I’m so proud of you Payton, we all are.” She said referring to my Foster family.

We went to go eat at a local dining. It is eleven in the morning and we didn’t even eat breakfast because we were trying to get here early. Our plates were served in less than five minutes, thank god. I order the usual scrambled eggs with a side of hash browns and toast. Lisa in the other hand ordered a rib-eye with a side of hash browns and two toast. We began to dig in, when I remembered something that made me sad.

“What time does your plane leave?” I asked. Lisa stopped eating and looked up at me.

“Tomorrow at 3pm,” She answered with a smile. I sighed. Lisa has been with me ever since I arrived at the Foster home. She has been like a mother to me. Many people confused us as mother and daughter despite our different hair color, hers being blonde mine black, plus our skin tone and eye color are also different. My mother was a teenager when she became pregnant of me. Instead of keeping me, she put me in adoption. I wasn’t adopted though due to my health being affected from asthma. I stayed at the adoption center and they soon sent me to to the foster home when I turned one. There I met Lisa, she decided to name me Payton, after her little sister. I took my mother’s surname, hoping one day I’ll meet her. One special memory of Lisa that I cherish is when I graduated at the age of sixteen from high school and she took me to Chuck E. Cheese, my favorite place to go as a child.

“Do you have to go?” I asked.

“I’ll be with you always,” She smiled, “plus I got you a present.” She said and reached into her purse, note it is a large as a travel bag, she took out a box wrapped in wallpaper and placed it on the table, “Open it.” I reached for it and unwrapped it.

In my hands is the iPhone 5 box. I look up at her shocked, “Now we won’t be apart.”

“Lisa, you shouldn’t have,” I said opening the box, it is white, thank god, “Thank you so much Lisa.”

“Your welcome, sweetie,” Lisa said. I turned the iPhone on and it welcomed me with a white apple logo with a black background. It soon began to ask about my information, I filled it up. Once it came to ask about my guardians, I typed Lisa’s name and number. I looked up at her while she was eating her food. I don’t know how I’m going to survive without this woman by my side.

We finished our food and went back to our hotel. I got my stuff ready to take it to my new home in Crown. Lisa had her suitcase ready as well and placed it on the side. We exited the hotel and took a cab to Crown. I am staying the dorm building Hasting, an all girl dorm. We exited the cab and made our way to the dorm. It looked similar to any dorm I seen in pictures except this one had a fountain the front with a flower garden surrounding it. I rolled my suitcase towards the entrance with Lisa behind me. I pushed the door open and walked inside.

This isn’t a dorm, this is more like the entrance of an airport. There were at least four hallways leading out to some rooms, there were two on each side of an elevator and beside it is a set of stairs. I walked to the elevator and stopped a few feet from it. Lisa took my dorm information out from the file the woman gave her earlier, “You are in floor four.” I pushed the button and the elevator door opened. I went inside as did Lisa, I pressed on the four. Soon as the elevator’s doors were going to close when it is interrupted by someone.

“WOAH! Almost closed on me there,” The girl said. She had a short flow of red hair with blue eyes. She had on a silk white skirt with a pink poke-a-dot shirt, her shoes were a bright pink plats and purse probably from Gucci. She stood beside me leaving me in between her and Lisa.

“First time here?” Lisa asked staring a conversation.

“Yes, Freshman,” She answered, “you?”

“This is Payton’s first time as well,” Lisa said nodding towards me.

“Oh my name is Lindy, Lindy James,” She smiled, “what dorm are you in?”

“She is in 426,” Lisa answered.

“OMG! I’m in 429,” Lindy smiled. I turned to look at her, she gave me a huge smiled, “What major are you in?”

“Photography and Creative Writing,” I answered.

“I’m in Fashion Design,” Lindy smiled. I could tell by her clothes. The elevator stopped and soon opened the door. We all three exited the elevator and the structure of the fourth floor is similar to the first floor except behind us, “Come lets find our rooms,” she pulled my hand and off we went to look for our rooms, I still had my suitcase in my hand. We went to the last hall of the floor and Lindy began to scan the room numbers for ours. I stopped and found my room, 426.

I turned to look at Lisa who had caught up with me. She looked in the packet and found the key, she handed it to me. I unlocked the door to my new home. I opened the door. I gasped in amazement. This isn’t a dorm, this is an apartment, a studio apartment. It seemed two time the size of my old room. The kitchen was all white with see through cabinets and white drawers. The bathroom door was a few feet away from the kitchen. A large queen size bed close by to a window and a glass door that lead out to a balcony.

“Here is your new home,” Lisa smiled. I turned to look at her, she had a tear in her eyes.

“Oh Lisa,” I said and hugged her. She hugged me back.

“Don’t you dare forget to call me everyday or even a text just to make sure you are all right,” Lisa whispered in my ear. I nodded. I looked at the door and noticed a flyer stapled to it, “Welcome to Crown University, the place of wonder and success.” I am now in Crown and this may change me forever….

It is my first day of class and I am now heading to the Art building which takes five minutes to get there from my dorm, at least that is what it says on the campus map. I had on my messenger bag with a pair of black skinny jeans, my converse, and a red shirt with the name RED on it. There isn’t a point of trying to look ‘wealthy.’ Lisa is leaving in a four hours, she already headed to the airport to get early and not panic, since she gets stressed out easily. She told me she’ll call me when she is about to board the airplane.

I began to put on my head phones when someone put their hands around my shoulder, I flinched away and noticed Lindy’s confused expression. I felt a shiver of relief for some weird reason. I looked her over and felt shameful, she had on brown skinny jeans with a very fashionable jacket and a green scarf with a green V-neck, “I’m sorry I scared you.”

“It’s fine, I didn’t expect it to be you,” I replied.

“Oh well it’s me,” She giggled. We began to walk down the side walk to our classes, “Heading to building of Art?”

“Yeah, first day,” I answered, “kind of nervous though.”

“Why? New school?” She asked.

“New school, new town,” I said.

“Where are you from?” She asked, “I’m from Seattle.”

“Cicero, Illinois,” I answered.

“Small town?” She asked.

“Yep,” I answered.

“How old are you?” Lindy asked out of the blue.

“I’m 17,” I answered. Lindy gasped.

“Shut up,” She said.

“Yep,” I answered. We entered the Art building and stood at another fancy lobby.

“How did you get into Crown then?” She asked.

“Scholarship,” I answered.

“They usually never accept people under 18,” Lindy informed me.

“They accepted me,” I said.

“Which is kind of shocking,” Lindy said, “Especially in a school like this.” She looked around in some what appalled and soon went back to her bubbly self, “I’ll see you after class,” Lindy said and went to her class. I sighed and walked inside mine. The class was mostly full of girls with some boys in hidden somewhere. I made my way to an empty desk by the only window in the classroom. There isn’t many people in this class, I guess there are mostly more people in fashion or business classes than here. I pull out my new phone and began to play on an App I downloaded. I am startled by the desk next to me making a moving noise. I look up and notice an Asian guy beside me. He has short black hair, brown eyes, and black glasses. He had on a white shirt with the famous happy smile on, a green jacket, and faded blue jeans. He turned to look at me.

“Hi, I’m Daniel Shin,” He introduced himself expanding a hand out. I took it and shook it.

“Payton Lin,” I smiled.

“That’s a pretty name,” He smiled. I returned the smile. He is cute I have to say. What shocked me more was his sense of fashion not like everyone else but more like mine, “No offense but you don’t look like you are from around here.”

“I’m not actually,” I answered, “I come from something way different than this,” I said looking around at the people with stuff children from the foster home would die for.

“I’m from San Francisco, California so I’m not from here either,” He smiled, “What company does your family own?” I stiffened a laugh, he looked at me confused.

“I don’t own any company,” I answered. He looked at me appalled.

“I’m sorry that was rude of me. I’m so used to everyone here owning a business or something,” He smiled.

“It’s fine,” I smiled, “what business do you own?”

“Not a business but my father sells his art work and sculptures to the most wealthiest people in the world, Oprah Winfrey has bought some of his work,” He pointed out, “I sound like I’m bragging sorry.”

I smiled, “It’s fine.”

I am suddenly startled by the excitement screams of girls coming from outside. I look out the window and notice a pile of girls who are now surrounding something or someone. I looked closer at them and noticed some tall, he had straight black hair, trimmed of course. He had on what seemed like a business suit on, there were two, I guess bodyguard, on each side of him, “Alexander we missed you!” One girl yelled. The boy turned that direction and smiled. I gasped at the beauty of it. I must have gasped loud because he turned to my direction. We stared into each other’s eyes for what seemed like moments. I suddenly felt like a moth hypnotized by a flame. He gave me a smirk and a wink. I snapped back to reality with the sound of the door closing in the room. I broke our gaze and look at Daniel who is also staring at the boy, “Who is that?”

“That is Alexander Simmons, the most riches student on the campus,” Daniel informed me. I turned back to look at him again but he had already moved on with the crowd. His tall somewhat muscular and slender figure can still be seen a little, “His parents own this school.” Daniel informed me. I turned and looked at him in shock.

“His parents?” I asked.

Daniel nodded, “his parents and my parents are really good friends, even though we both are not.” I didn’t feel like asking why.

The class lasted at least two hours, it was already one and I am starving.

“Where are you heading to next?” Daniel asked. I looked down at my paper and scanned it.

“Photography,” I answered.

“Need help finding it?” He asked. I showed him the map that came in my packet. He smiled and nodded, “I’ll still walk you.” I laughed quietly. We walked out the class before I got stopped by the professor.

“Ms. Lin, how nice of you to be here,” Mr. Ricks, I think, said. He is very young for someone to work here in my opinion. He is kind of medium size but with a muscular built, the kind of men Lisa likes. Brown hair, blue eyes, tannish skin, just the kind of guy she likes.

“You two know each other?” Daniel said.

“This young lady entered one of the most amazing essays I have ever read in my whole career,” He said.

“Essay?” Daniel asked.

“Yes, Ms. Lin here got a full tuition scholarship for Crown by the director,” Mr. Rick said.

“I would like to read it,” Daniel smiled.

“Well that is up to Ms. Lin here,” Mr. Rick said. I smiled and nodded.

“Soon,” is all I said.

Lisa had bought me a food pass making me eligible to have free meals here, which is good, don’t want to kill my self with too much ramen noodles. I decided to take a walk to the cafeteria. Daniel had to leave for another class. I would have thought the cafeteria would be very packed but there is barely anyone here. I decided to get just a regular sub turkey sandwich with Doritos chips. I sat at a close by table that is empty, I placed my bag next to the empty chair beside me. I unwrapped my sub and opened my chip bag. I heard a faint tap come from the table. I paid not attention to it and began to eat my chips when the tap became louder. I looked out

Oh God, this girl is gorgeous. She had the perfect light peach skin, her lips were perfectly shaped and her blonde hair were fallen waves. She had on a navy blue dress on with a white thin belt around her waist. She had on white stockings with blue flats, “This is my table.”

“No one was sitting here,” I replied.

“Well now there will be, move,” She said.

Nope, she isn’t gorgeous, “Why?”

“Do you know who I am?” She scoffed.

“Nope,” I said and took a bite off my sub.

“Jessica Simmons,” She said proudly.

“Am I suppose to know who that is?” I said. She gasped and closed her mouth in anger. She got out her phone and dialed a number. She placed the phone by her ear and waited for the call to enter.

“Come here now,” She demanded. She hung up the phone and glared at me, “I’m going to be the future owner of this college.”

“How?” I asked sarcastically. She smiled. Soon the door opened and a tall figure entered the cafeteria, Alexander Simmons.

“I told you not to call me,” Alexander said, his eyes fell upon me and he stared into my eyes as I stared back into his brown eyes, “what’s going on?”

“This ‘thing’ doesn’t know who I am,” Jessica cried.

“This ‘thing’ has a name,” I said getting up from the chair, “if it takes this much trouble just for a table, you can have it.” I grabbed my bag and lunch, just as I was about to turn around, someone grabbed my hand and spun me around making me trip and fall on top of him or her. I placed my hand on their chest so I wouldn’t bump my head on them. I must have closed my eyes because once I opened them, I was staring at Alexander’s eyes and he was staring back at mine.



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