Theo had been alright for the first half of the summer. He hadn’t worried or even though about school very much, because he was doing a lot of extra classes in gymnastics and martial arts, not to mention all the swimming he was trying to fit in. Unfortunately, after the halfway point of the holidays, his mind began to linger more frequently on the fact that he was starting at a new school in just a few short weeks. He’d never liked school, no one liked him there and he was always being bullied by one group or another. He couldn’t do some of the subjects either – they just weren’t his thing – so he didn’t even enjoy most of the classes. Even sports seemed like a chore because he was usually picked last for the team because no one liked him, even though he was the best in his year at some of the games.

That’s what made today, his first day at Redwood, seem so scary. He’d come down a couple of days before the need-to-be-there-by date so that he could get to know the place and settle in without a big crowd to get lost in. His dad had left him at the reception and he’d been shown to his dorm, where he unpacked and then told he was free to do what he wanted. Without any knowledge of where things were, Theo felt a bit scared as he wandered out into the grounds to search for someone who might be able to show him round. Sitting himself down on the grass, he stretched out his back and started to warm up so that at least he could practise some acro if there was nothing else to do.