Prologue

Holly and her Mum, Kim, pulled up outside New Haven high school.  It was the beginning of a fresh start, in Seattle which meant finishing her education at an American High School.  

“Good Morning!  I’m Mr. Lawson, the Principal here at New Haven High.  Welcome!”  said a tall man as he walked towards them from the main entrance of the school.  

He looked around fifty years old with greying hair, that was once dark brown. He gave off a friendly vibe and Holly felt comfortable with him straight away.  

“Good morning, Mr Lawson, I’m Kim Charles and this is my daughter Holly Edwards.  We spoke on the phone.”  Her Mum, Kim said to him.  

Oliver, or Oli as he liked to be called, was her Mum’s husband and Holly’s Step-Dad. He was born, and raised, in Seattle until he moved to Liverpool to set up the new offices there.  He’d stayed for six years, but regularly flew back to Seattle for work.  Oli and her Mum had met when she started to work as a legal secretary at the firm.  They were married three years later. 

Before they had moved, Holly had said she’d wanted to finish school and didn’t mind going to a new one so late in her education. I the UK, even though she could have left at sixteen, Holly had wanted to carry on with higher education.  As the leaving age was eighteen in the USA, Holly had wanted to go to school and New Haven had the learning programs that she was looking for.  She’d had the choice of staying in England, with her Nan, and finish her studies there, but Holly hadn’t wanted to.  She wanted to get away, go somewhere new.  It would have meant staying in England for another seven months.  

No.  That wasn’t going to happen so New Haven it was.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Holly, I’m sure you will love it here.  It’s a wonderful school and the programs we have are the best in this town.  We also have some small changes coming up that will only make it better.” He gushed.  Happy that his school had a higher rating for their education than any other in the area.  

“That’s why I chose it.”  Holly replied, trying to sound enthusiastic when all she wanted to do was look around, find where she needed to be and then get out of there.

“Well, that’s great!  I’ll show you around the place.  We find it’s easier to look around when the school is closed as it can get pretty crazy when the other students are around.  We wouldn’t want you to get lost!” He chuckled at his own joke.  

Holly just smiled as sincerely as she could and followed him, with her Mum, into the school.