Chapter One
Although he would never admit it, Jimmy Hopkins knew he wasn't quite ready to
resume life with his mother with her new husband in tow. To divulge that information to anyone out
side of his own thoughts would shame him. But at the same time it wasn't a lie to say that another year
at Bullworth Academy did not hold his interest. In fact it would be a lie to say that he wanted to leave.
After the off kilter and chaotic eventfulness of the previous year, it soon dawned on Jimmy that this
school, despite its flaws, was one of the high points of his short life. He had friends for starters, true
and superficial alike. But that could only be expected when one was one of the most popular kids in
Bullworth. A very spirit lifting circumstance given the previous fifteen years of Jimmy's life.
Maybe Jimmy didn't feel up to living through another short lived “season of happiness” at home
because he knew well it was going to ultimately crash into another divorce. If only he had been sent to
Bullworth earlier his emotions could have been saved a lot of damage. He spread himself out on his
lumpy mattress and stared up at the spinning ceiling fan. The room was stifling and the only task the
fan did was blow around hot air. The boy's mind drifted back to when he last saw his mom, on the six
hour drive to Bullworth, laying in the back seat of his new “step-father's” car. Jimmy's mom had had
him at a fairly young age, and she made sure to keep up appearances. This....man on the other hand
was incredibly old and did little to hide the fact. The top of his head was nothing but skin, with liver
spots. Gross! But maybe his old age would make the break up easier for Mrs. Hopkins. Past
experiences with men of all variety had uncovered some very crazy cases. Not every relationship she
entered turned into a marriage, but there were a lot of long standing “connections”, either because the
sex was good or the man was desperate for love and showered Mrs. Hopkins with gifts.
He blanched visibly, the old man was gonna need large amounts of Viagra just to function. Maybe if
Jimmy were lucky the old man might have a heart attack before too long.
The digital alarm clock on the side of his bed told Jimmy that he had only an hour before the
9:00 A.M class bell rang. He had over slept again and, unless he decided to skip class, didn't have
much time to do what he wanted this morning. But there was one thing on his mind that he knew he
had to do before summer changed into fall. With a small groan he pushed himself out of bed and
grabbed a sheet of paper from the drawer on his nightstand then found a few inches of space where he
could lay the paper flat on the table that held his chemistry set. For the first few minutes he twirled the
pencil idly in between his fingers. Writing words wasn't as easy as saying them, and his vocabulary
wasn't the most well formed, (easily seen since he failed English twice) and he was in a hurry. But the
longer he sat the more he thought and eventually his thoughts were clear enough to write. The letter
was short and to the point. No need to be elaborate, the recipient would be able to fill in the blanks just
fine without him being moody all over the page. In the end it only took him just over ten minutes to
say what he wanted. Jimmy took the paper and folded it, then stashed it away in his night stand. He would mail it
off later but what was more important was snagging something edible from town before class
began. There was no way in hell he would let Edna feed him breakfast. Without a second thought,
Jimmy raced out of the boy's dorm, brushing rudely against some still jammy clad nerds who laughed and waved at
Jimmy's passing form as if they enjoyed being nearly knocked over.
Dear Mom,
I know it doesn't seem like myself when I say this but, I kinda like it here at this school. Some of the adults are jerks and so are some of the kids. But it's nothing I can't handle. I just want you to know that despite how bad I felt when you dumped me here, this place isn't so bad. I'm actually learning something, and I can't stay mad since I'm not an outcast here like I was at the other schools...So I'll be straight forward with you, mom. I want to stay here at Bullworth for another year. I'm sure you wouldn't mind having me out of your hair for a little longer, would you?
~Jimmy
