Fairmont Forever

By William C. Purves

When Aidan moves back to California after living in England, hes ready to rejoin his middle school friends at Fairmont High. Hes anticipating the usual difficulties adjusting to a new school, but this year Fairmont High is going through a challenging adjustment of its own: The nearby Oak Canyon High has merged with it, and the incoming students turn out to be members of races Aidan thought only mythical. With ogres on the football team, pixies in band, and dryads on the staff of the school newspaper, both human and fairy students find themselves struggling to work through issues of tolerance and respect. Integration at a new school has never been so hard or so rewarding.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Mar 29, 2011
• ISBN: 9781450238793

William C. Purves

WILLIAM PURVES taught English and social studies in middle and high schools for many years throughout New Hampshire, Colorado, and Michigan. He now writes full time in Ann Arbor, where he lives with his wife, two daughters, two dogs, and a cat.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Aidan Brookes couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t that the airplane seat was uncomfortable, far from it. His dad used frequent flier miles to upgrade them to business class. He also knew he was tired so that wasn’t it either. They had gotten up early that morning and left their apartment in England for the last time. Customs and security took forever and they confiscated Aidan’s pocket tool, which he had forgotten to pack in his suitcase.

He looked at his reflection in the window, and curly hair and a handsome face stared back at him. He had been gone a long time and he was thinking about high school. The first year in England was okay; he had e-mailed Jerry and Howard a lot and they kept him entertained with stories about freshman year at Fairmont. By the second year he was making a friend or two in England and was out of contact a little, a lot actually. The last e-mail he got from Jerry was about some changes at the school and a new group of students, but that was months ago.

And now he was on the plane. Somewhere down there was the Atlantic and then they would cross the U.S. and land in San Francisco. A colleague from his dad’s engineering firm was supposed to meet them and take them out to their house near San Jose. A shipping container would arrive in a week or two with all their stuff and he would be home.

It didn’t feel like he was going home. When he left he had just finished middle school and he imagined his room, filled with middle school stuff. It would actually be empty except for his bed and a desk. He had to clear it out pretty well to make room for the renters. So, he would be able to fill it up again with stuff. What had changed?

He was taller, almost as tall as his dad, and his hair was a lot longer. Everyone in his crowd in England had longer hair. He kept up with his trumpet and even played in a jazz quartet after school. They were invited to play at a couple of student events and some private parties, so he knew he was pretty good. He wondered what the band program at Fairmont was like.

He sighed and tried to get comfortable, but the memory of that ghostly reflection kept popping up in his head, that and his empty room.

When he got home the desk, the bed, and a dresser were still there. It was sunny though, and being tucked up at the end of the house overlooking the hills was kind of cool. He had forgotten about the great view. He unpacked his suitcase and put his trumpet on the wide windowsill. His music stand would arrive with the rest of their things.

He had a day and a half until school started and not a lot to do. They didn’t have a computer set up, and his cell phone wouldn’t work here. His Mom promised to take him out shopping on Sunday. All he had to wear was in the suitcase. He didn’t even know what people would be wearing here. He was in touch with English fashions but worried he would stand out as either really behind or really ahead. He couldn’t decide which would be worse and then thought they amounted to the same thing; he would look different.

He dug through his bag for his wallet and looked inside for Jerry’s number. He went down to the kitchen, where the only phone was plugged into the wall.

Hola! Who is this?

Hey, Jerry? It’s Aidan. Aidan Brookes.

Jerry paused for a second then said, Aidan! Yeah, Aidan. You’re back. Are you at home?

Yeah, just hanging out. Do you want to come over? I mean we have nothing here to eat or even much in the way of furniture.

No, I’ll come pick you up.

Oh yeah, I guess you can drive now.

Six months now, baby. How was England?

That was a hard question. England had been so many things. He thought for a second and said, Fine. It was fine.

So, I’ll see you in a few minutes. I don’t have anything going on. Just waiting for school.

Yeah, I want to hear about that.

You know you do.

Jerry hung up and Aidan sat in the chair for a minute or two. He realized he was extremely tired. Why did he commit to going to hang out with Jerry? He should get some sleep. On the other hand it would be cool to drive around for a while. He told his Mom where he was going and was reminded that they were ordering dinner early.

Aidan waited in the driveway, and Jerry drove up in an old green Toyota Camry. Aidan hopped in.

Jerry looked him over, and he returned the favor. Jerry was not much taller than he had been in eighth grade, a little less than six feet, but had grown an impressive afro, which grazed the ceiling of the sedan. He wore a t-shirt and baggy jeans. Aidan felt conspicuous in his khakis and pullover.

So, you’re different, said Jerry.

I like the hair.

Yeah? I think it’ll make quite the statement on Monday. My hair will define the junior year at Fairmont. Where to?

I dunno, just cruise around; maybe drive by the high school?

Cool. Jerry backed the car quickly out of the driveway and slalomed down the hill towards town. They could see a lot of the valley from here and the spread of San Jose beyond. The rest of the bay area lay beyond the crest of the ridge.

So, school. What do you want to know? It’s going to be really different this year.

I know. What’s the band like?

Remember Mr. Grant from Middle School? He was the interim band teacher last year as they trained one of the transfer teachers to take his place. So I have NO idea what the band will be like this year. Do you still play trumpet?

Aidan nodded and watched the houses get a little older as they headed into downtown. The new high school was built on the edge of a big park the city had held onto for years. A circular drive encompassed an oak tree and a huge boulder set in the middle of a grassy lawn. The sidewalk led to a multi-story building of glass and brick. It looked traditional and modern at the same time.

So this is where everyone will come in, right by this tree.

I got it, it’s the driveway.

No, I mean this is where the new kids will come in, into Fairmont.

Jerry’s face was serious and he looked expectantly at Aidan. Aidan didn’t know what to say so he turned to look out at the tree and the boulder.

We got a lot of new kids at my school in England. I think I have a good idea.

Hey, whatever. It’s not going to be Hogwarts, I’ll tell you that. That’s what everyone thinks it’ll be like.

St. Andrews wasn’t Hogwarts either. A lot of people think all English schools are like the ones they read about in stories.

Jerry snorted and laughed. Stories. Man, whatever you read in stories when you were little, it’s all true and going to get truer on Monday.

Aidan was a little confused but he didn’t want to betray how ignorant he was so he changed the subject and began asking about friends from Middle School. Jerry told him which ones had ended up in which clique and which didn’t belong to any groups. A lot of them had split off from each other, and Jerry talked about people that Aidan didn’t remember or were new from the other middle school. They drove around town for another half-hour or so, and then Aidan asked about band again. Aidan was relieved that Jerry still played clarinet but disappointed he wasn’t in the band.

Hey, I run the student section of the website. I’m going to be web-master this year. We work with the student paper and put it up on-line. I mean, the band was cool and everything, but I am nervous about all the competition this year. I heard a tape of the transfer students, and they blew me away. Talk about your fantasy band.

Aidan nodded again and convinced Jerry to drive him home so he could sleep. He had forgotten how hot and dry it was here and how quickly the sun could make you tired. He was pretty quiet as they drove up the canyon, and Jerry seemed lost in thought as well. As they pulled in to the driveway, Jerry said something that surprised Aidan.

I’m glad you’re back. We need everyone we can in order to stick together.

Aidan was as confused as he had been earlier and made a non-committal reply. He closed the car door and walked into the smell of pizza. He sat down with his parents at the kitchen counter, rolled up a slice, ate it in about two bites, said goodnight, went up to his bedroom, sleepily stripped to his boxers, and slept until late the next morning.

His trip to the mall with his mother was embarrassing but essential. He was relieved that the trends in London and California were not too far apart, and he spotted a number of other students with their parents. He let his Mom pick a few things but drew the line at new khakis. They were part of his school uniform in England, and he was determined not to wear them again for a long time. His Mom also got them all new cell phones, and he was excited to be able to start adding numbers, not that he knew anyone’s but Jerry’s.

Traveling back through town they passed the high school, and Aidan noticed a big gray school bus parked at the circle. In the dim evening light it began to look like a giant lizard, then he blinked, and it became a bus again. There was also an odd luminescence around the tree and the boulder. As they passed, the bus started up with a roar, and when he turned around to see where it was going it had disappeared.

That was weird, he said to his mother.

She looked over at him and then into the rear-view mirror. What’s weird Aidano?

Did you see that bus? I mean, it’s kind of gone now. He kept on looking over his shoulder.

I saw it when we passed by. Don’t worry about it. I’ve never seen you so nervous, but I’m sure you’ll have a good day tomorrow. Do you want me to drop you off?

That would be a bad way to make a first impression. He had finally got the computer hooked up and downloaded the school bus schedule.

No thanks; I’d rather take the bus.

That night he went back to the school’s website and began to look around for clues into what Jerry was talking about. He found a couple of school board newsletters that talked about the merging of the Fairmont district with the Oak Canyon district. Apparently Oak Canyon was hit pretty hard by the changes in the economy and had to cut back, so they proposed a merging of the districts.

Was that what got Jerry all upset? Were the Oak Canyon students really that threatening? There had been a visit of faculty from Oak Canyon the year before and that caused a stir. One of them had those coral horn implants that Aidan had read about. There was a picture of him, Mr. Nubius, and he was going to be the band teacher. Well, he looked cool, and Aidan had heard of friends of friends in England who had experimented with similar body alterations.

Then he tried to find out more about Oak Canyon High School and see what the big threat was. The strange thing about his searches was that he found precisely nothing. It was like it didn’t exist. He looked at maps of the area south of San Francisco and even pored over an old map his dad had in the car. Nothing; no Oak Canyon anywhere in the bay area. Puzzled, he played his trumpet for a while to calm down and was in bed by ten.

Monday morning was cloudy and he got to the bus stop early. Apparently only freshmen and sophomores took the bus. He must have been the oldest person on it. He picked a seat in the back and looked out the window; the brakes squealed as they made their way down the canyon and by the time they got to town, the bus was half full. They turned down Jones Avenue to get to the entrance to the high school. Aidan looked out the window at the parking lot. He was startled to see the number of big cars there, normally people went for compact Japanese, and how many of them were muscle cars. There were impressive green convertibles and a couple of 30’s style black roadsters, a few gold boats like a grandfather’s Cadillac, and a huge red truck with not two but three sets of doors on its side. All of them were covered in chrome and flashing lights, and the noise was deafening. The bus pulled up behind a gray bus in front of the school, and Aidan looked out at the entrance.

More cars were coming in and the ones coming around the tree were coming in off the ground. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. His eyes weren’t lying, they were flying in from some sort of nimbus between the tree and the boulder, big wings flapping. They didn’t really look like cars at all when they first appeared; they looked more like dragons or griffons or giant eagles that turned into cars as they hit the pavement. He wasn’t the only one staring. There was a big crowd on the sidewalk watching the spectacle, and the whole bus was quiet.

The bus driver stood up at the front and said, "That’s the end of the