“I wasn’t out of work for too long…” Paige thought to herself. She arrived at her workplace early, and brewed a cup of coffee in the break room before she walked down the halls to one of the front windows to catch a glimpse of the view outside. It was October of 2018, and a new school year started about a month and a half ago at Capital Remedial. The trees were swaying a bit in the wind, and leaves started to fall off, dotting the grass below…

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Chelsea looked at the palace ahead. Her light green hair reached slightly past her shoulders, and was tied with gold ribbons; they swayed in the breeze as she stepped outside of the limousine. She glanced back and saw it drive away, looked at the palace, and walked towards it.

It was an imposing Baroque-style palace. Its walls were light red with green trim that ran along the sides. The roofs were dark red. Glistening marble columns with gold, gilded accents with elaborate floral and leafy motifs lined the walls, and the doorways. It stood proudly over the surrounding groves of trees. It inspired a sense of awe to its onlookers, but Chelsea's feelings turned to annoyance, disappointment or bitterness.

Her ancestors used to live in that palace. It was one of their palaces. Before her happier thoughts faded away, she imagined herself in an old decorated room in a fancy dress, chatting while her hair was being styled, sipping fine tea and eating fancy crackers and cheeses with caviar. What could've been hers at that palace had history been different. Had those events in the 1880's not happened. The sights of other classmates in uniform brought her out of these idyllic thoughts.

The rooms she imagined were not how they were used. The parlor rooms, bedrooms, tea rooms and ballrooms were classrooms, auditoriums, and the cafeteria of Capital Remedial. She spent her days at home living the life she imagined, but not in that palace she would've inherited.

"Going here should be honorable." Chelsea thought, and sighed. "The first presidents respected this palace enough to turn it into a museum after the last king and queen abdicated. But someone sold it to developers to turn it into this school. I'm a gem-quality diamond among common stones here!" She thought, as her bitterness festered.

She reached into her purse for her smartphone to text one of her friends at the elite prep school, Pretentia Academy.

The friend told her to keep studying and not give up so she may be able to get in next semester.

"I hate studying. Why should I even do it when I'm not going to go to college?" Chelsea texted back.

"You and your parents wanted so badly for you to get into Pretentia."

"I didn't like studying, but you can't let tutors and nannies do everything for you." Her friend texted.

Chelsea looked at the two messages for a few moments.

"I wanted to go there, not college, and you're smarter than me!" She texted back in a fit of anger.

"I don't know about that" Her friend replied.

"I don't need to get a job, and you don't." Chelsea replied. Her friend was getting exasperated, and wanted to put away her phone. Class was about to start for her, but she got her lucky break when Chelsea texted again:

"I'll be going on a field trip this morning. I like that about this school. The field trips."
"Capital Remedial should be flattered that I'm here!"

Chelsea felt happier after sending her last texts, and kept walking towards the palace, but was confused. "Who is that?" She thought. She didn't recognize the blonde-haired woman dressed in a cowgirl outfit. She was standing in the front path to the school, but wasn't in uniform, and there was no announcement about any new students. Chelsea was curious but kept her distance to wait for the classmate talking to the mysterious blonde-haired woman to leave.

She approached a bit closer and was within earshot of the classmate, a loud and energetic brunette with long hair in pigtails, tied with purple ribbons. That other student was wearing a version of the school uniform; a white short-sleeved shirt and a red tie with a dark purple short-sleeved jacket, and a lilac, knee-length skirt. The jacket had white cuffs accented with golden, oval-shaped cuff links on the sides. A wide stripe in a lighter shade of purple ran down the middle of the jacket, and it had red protruding shoulder straps, and a silver belt with a red gem-like buckle that made the uniform look like an old TV show's vision of futuristic attire. Along with her uniform, she wore a pair of light red leggings and red boots.

They were talking about something. Chelsea was nervous, but cautiously listened.

"She didn't?" The mysterious blonde-haired woman asked.

"Nah, her parents demanded to speak to the school board about it, and demanded this was in the prime-time news." The student continued to explain, and chuckled. "It was, but the school board didn't budge on their decision!" She said more loudly, and was about to laugh.

"That's about me!" Chelsea thought. "I heard that!!" She shouted. Restraint was out the window as she approached!