Chapter 43 Boarding school of freedom 

  >>>> Season 3 <<<<< 

 >>>>>>11 years later <<<<<<<

Luke chewed on his pencil and pondered hard, he hated math and the tasks in the exam were simply inhuman. Who had thought this shit up? 

He had passed his 17th birthday, was fast approaching his 18th and was finally free of his overprotective mother. He had been at an elite boarding school since the 5th grade. His mother had enrolled him there because she wanted the best and could control his performance from home. So she scoured the whole net and found the boarding school. 

The boarding school of St. Franziska von Büchingen, an elite school for boys and girls or, as his godmother called it, a shithole for parents who have too much money to get rid of their child. In his case, he was free. 

The first few months had been difficult, but then he had made friends quickly. 

Luke wondered how his mother could afford boarding school, she worked as a psychologist and was a single parent, he never saw his father.

The other parents were managers, board members, politicians, celebrities etc. who earned money. Many of the people who went here had to wear school uniforms, but they had expensive watches, cell phones and so on. The only time they had normal clothes was when there were no classes and they had private meetings. 

And that was pure fashion. Brand-name clothes here, jewelry, make-up, etc. 

In the 5th grade, the teacher told him where he had his tablet and he had to go to the principal's office. 

There they called his mother, who was unavailable, so they called his grandma, who was also unavailable. It was the end of the world for him. She asked him if there was anyone else she could call. 

 Luke then told her that he could call his grandfather or his godmother if he was really in trouble. Even though he wasn't as scared of him as he had been as a little kid. He was still scared of him, even though he knew he didn't need to be. 

The principal then called him, he can still remember her face. It was the first time she had calmed down. 30 minutes later, the boarding school became hectic as a jet helicopter landed on the lawn in the courtyard. 

The boarding school was housed in a renovated palace. With its walls and all the bells and whistles, it was a small city in itself. Luke froze when the principal came in and was pushed out again under protest and his grandfather came in wearing a camouflage suit.

He still looked the way he remembered him, he tossed his head, then looked at the principal. Then he saw his Aunt Liz smiling at him, he knew she was with the troops so he wasn't surprised she was standing there in full dress uniform. 

He remembered the exact words that were spoken.

"Who are you?" she asked.

" I'm the one who pays the bill, show me the abbreviation with the tablet and all the others." 

" It's a tradition that students attending the educational institution bring something like this, it's on the packing list."

She placed a piece of paper on the table, which he picked up to read through.

Liz stroked his hair.

"Enjoy your mom not being here," Leise said. 

"When Luke was enrolled, he got the basic package."

" Basic package... that includes?"

"Room, board, access to the facilities and a counselor once a month."

Luke had looked at his grandfather, he had only seen him in his house, if at all. Even if it was often restless there because of his aunts and grannies and other people. 

"Give him a bigger package."

"We can't, we're fully booked and have no capacity and they don't even look like his grandfather."

He grinned. 

"A genetic refresher."

They looked at him in amazement.

"When does capacity become available?"

" Sixth grade at the earliest."

" Good. Then put him in a higher class."

" But..." 

His phone buzzed and he picked it up. Which infuriated the principal.

"Yes... I was on my way to a meeting... no at Luke's boarding school... yes.... John just kept the heads of department busy for an hour. " He hung up and looked at the principal.

"I don't see them signing anything in."

"I'm not entering anything either. Luke has the basic package, we're a private educational institution and I'm not going to be ordered around like on the parade ground."

"Fine, but then from customers to you. He will not be disadvantaged, if I see negative treatment, I will put the education department on it, as well as my lawyer."

"Dad, you don't have one," came quietly from Liz.

He looked at her. 

" I have one, Uther said he bought a whole law firm."

Liz looked at him.

" Dad, he bought it so he could screw up people's lives even more."

" See, what do you think they're doing to the school here?"

" Dad, if you want hell here, all you have to do is call Tes."

Alex nodded.

"Good idea." 

Luke looked at her uncomprehendingly. She patted his head and looked at the principal.

The principal snorted. The phone rang and she picked it up.

"I've been trying to reach you, Mrs. Schornsdorf! And instead there's some army brat here, explain that to me!"

She fell silent and passed the receiver to her grandpa.

"Hello darling, yes, I'm here. Yes ... no, he's fine. He's just missing his school supplies... yes, that was on the packing list. Yes ... I still have some yes ... no don't worry, just come and see me tonight ... yes. yes." He put the receiver back on the phone. 

"Forgetfulness like his mother's ..."

He looked at Liz. 

"Tell Mei to bring a spare tablet and a spare cell phone from the plane." 

"Aye," she mumbled something into her radio that Luke couldn't understand. 

It took perhaps a few minutes for Mei to enter the room in a good mood, carrying a full kit like Liz. 

"Bibi just lost to Joe, she needs to clean the machine." 

"Just?" commented Liz.

Mei squatted down in front of Luke and ripped open two vacuum-packed packages, pulling out a phone and a tablet.

Luke didn't know anything about these things, he only knew that his mother had them and that she only used the second-hand ones and never bought new ones. 

Mei activated both.

"Give me your hand," she said and Luke obeyed, placing his hand on the phone and on the tablet. Both beeped. 

"They're sturdy Luke, don't worry if they fall. It takes a lot for them to break. They can take a lot, just like your camera. " Mei said, quickly typing numbers into the phone and saving them. 

"What kind of apps does he need?" she asked, looking at the principal. 

"The ones on the list," she replied dryly. 

Mei stood up and went to the table.

"Then I'd like the list now." 

The principal involuntarily handed her the list and Mei looked at it, then quickly clicked through the programs on her tablet. Liz looked over her shoulder.

"20000 points ... "

" Just for this year," Mei commented, continuing to click and type in lines, then she walked over to Luke, squatted down and held both out to him.

"I've set it to install the next programs when they're needed. You don't have to worry about the others bragging about how better their new tablets and cell phones are. These are better."

Luke looked at her, 

"What if someone takes this away from me?"

She tousled his hair. The roar of jet helicopters could be heard from outside.

"Oh, they've caught up with us, Joe's the fastest."

The principal went to the window and turned pale.

"There are six armed machines buzzing over the site."

 She looked at her grandfather, who typed something into a cell phone and then pocketed it. 

" They'll pass the appointments on to me, I'll go or a replacement. "

"The contract says that her mother has to come to the appointments."

" Or a substitute. She will come to the appointments. "

He turned around, the principal was about to reach for him, but Liz stood in her way. Luke saw a coldness in Liz's face that he had never seen before, because he had always seen her in a good mood and smiling.

Mei sighed.

"Luke, come on," his grandfather said and he stood up, looking at the principal. Then he hurried to him and they went out. The principal followed them. They left the building and came out into the schoolyard. The other pupils and teachers were staring and whispering. The plane had landed on the grass and ruined it, Luke could see Aunt April and Bibi. 

"I've set you up an account, Luke, with a bit of pocket money in it."

He looked at his grandfather.

"Mum said I'd get everything here ..." he hadn't seen it all yet. 

He grinned.

"Just in case, Luke."

He had nodded and after a quick hug from his aunts, the plane had taken off and thundered away. 

The principal had looked after him.

"And Mr. Schornsdorf, what is your grandfather doing?"

"My mom told me that he works for the government and my grandma, who my mom works for at the ministry, told me that grandpa is a big shot and worked with her late father on the council."

"He's on the council?" 

Luke nodded. 

"Gran says he's always traveling a lot."

"And the two women who were with him? "

"My aunts who were with the machine, too. Mom says I have a very big family."

Since that day she had treated him differently, there were so many snobs at boarding school and parents who reeked of wealth. He had watched her treat them over the years, how she had crawled up so many of their asses for money. He had often seen his mother on visiting days; she was her usual overprotective self. 

What never confused him was that he knew she didn't have a car at the moment, she'd wrecked the old one and the boarding school was quite far from the ministry where she worked, but she was always brought in an SUV. No limos or expensive sleighs, the things he knew from home.

 Once he'd seen a snobbish father talking condescendingly as the SUV pulled into the parking lot, but quieted when his mother got out as the driver opened the door for her. She'd hugged him gratefully and run to Luke. He followed her with a radio plug in his ear. Parents' evenings had always been exciting for him. 

His grandfather had carried out his threat and every time the plane had landed on the lawn, which had upset many parents. Sometimes two planes had landed and his grandfather had brought other people with him. Very often Uncle John and Aunt Bettina, sometimes one of his grandmothers was there too. 

But every time Aunt Liz and Mei's parents were checked with their ID cards when they wanted to leave. They complained because the grounds were being flown over and monitored by drones. Soldiers walked around the building and secured it. 

The other parents got the loudest when his grandfather showed up with his uncle Uther. The other parents were meek because the soldiers secured the whole school grounds and a 4 km radius around the school and the other parents were treated like third class people. His grandfather was the most relaxed, as were Liz and Mei. 

They all had to go through scanners, hand in ID cards, and they were not allowed to say anything, because that was done by soldiers from the company, who were not afraid to hit those who rebelled with a stun gun and make it clear that they had to know their role. 

¾ of the parents were smart enough. 

Since the day his grandfather had come for the first time, he had kept his hands off the busybodies. But he'd never been invited back into the absolutely elite circles either, which never bothered Luke. 

Because they were just groups of idiots and bitches anyway. He loved going to the boarding school library, taking photos with his camera or going to the comic store. That's also where he made his first friends, who got him interested in role-playing games. Over the years, he became a nerd. 

Sport was of secondary importance to him, even though his mother had forced him into judo and karate as a child. She wanted to give him self-confidence. It had become normal for Luke, he liked golf more and had tried all the sports on offer here. Golf and bowling had taken a liking to him, alongside the martial arts he went to every afternoon. He would train for 2 hours and then leave again. When tournaments were coming up, he was picked up and dragged there. 

But otherwise he was rather lazy in sports. He did take part in lessons and did his homework, but he didn't enjoy it. He was built normally according to his aunt, luckily he had caught up with his growth, fast food wasn't his thing, except for hot dogs, pizza and Pepsi, which had somehow stuck with him since he was little and Aunt Liz had been feeding him behind his mother's back. 

And now he was sitting alone more and more often at game nights, his friends had girlfriends. It wasn't that he wasn't interested, he looked at pictures and videos that his friends gave him or that he found himself, he also satisfied himself. 

He had also been on dates with girls or had sex with them, but nothing had come of it. But his problem was different, he had too high expectations, he blamed his family for that. He only had to look at his mother and the looks of the snobbish fathers who stared at her greedily. At some point he had started drawing, which was now his hobby. 

Luke breathed a sigh of relief when the exam was over, stretched and packed up his things. A marathon 14 days of exams. The others in his class gossiped about where they had messed up, he didn't care. New magazines were supposed to come out at the campus store today and he wanted them. 

"Before you all leave." his teacher began at the front.

"Don't forget the curfew because of all the sickness."

A groan went through the class. Luke was fine with it. He packed his things and left the class. 

Over the last few weeks, more and more students had fallen ill and the corridors looked eerily empty; his practice lessons had also been canceled for a few days, so he had to practice in his residential unit.