Maple Academy

BY: Adelaide Smith

To - all the interns in my life and my corky father !

Thanks to the most recent intern Ryan

And my old house that seems to be haunted

Hazel was packing for the long trip to a school in Spring Massachusetts. The school's name was Maple Academy. There was tons of Maple trees around the school in a circle. The wall of Maple trees on the brochure was beautiful. The Maple trees towered tall, so tall they were as tall as the magnificent castle that was the school.

The school was built by an Irish settler in the 1890’s for his home. He was rich at that time, but did not spend his money wisely. So when his death came early on, the castle was dormant for many years. Then a Englishman turned the castle into a school in the 1990’s.

Some say the school is haunted. Some say the school has the ghost of the Irish settler Donncha (pronounced : done + acka, which means brown haired warrior in Irish) haunting it. Some say Donncha is too lazy to haunt the school and is simply sipping wine in the attic. Hazel shoved the brochure in the small pocket of her backpack .

Hazel didn't believe in ghosts, though. She had other things on her mind, school things, like her career and the school she was about to teach at. She was going to be an intern. Her dream was to be a teacher and her dream was finally starting to come true.

She grabbed the picture of her and her boyfriend, then the picture of her and her family to put in her suitcase When she spotted her dad in the picture of her family she felt a tear creep down her chin. Her dad died when she was 6 and now she was 19. The passing of her dad is still some what a painful subject. She loved her daddy with all her heart and looked up to him. He was a high school science teacher. He loved math like his kids.

Hazel grabbed the the keychain that said TEACH! in bold green lettering with an orange and white outline. Her dad had gave it to her when she was 5 and she loved it. She liked the idea of being a teacher. Her father was a teacher and so she was going to be one, too.

She put her teal suitcase on the ground and put on her cream colored backpack with crimson roses. She looked at her room once more, the one with purple walls, pink sheets, a teal ceiling with stars that glow in the dark, and orange letters that read HAZEL in bold above her bed, the room that was home. She let out a sad sigh.

Hazel had just walked into the living room where her two little brothers were. One was seven and his name was Connor, and the other was Carson and he was three. They were watching Mickey Moose, and Donald Deer was getting mad at Goofy the Giraffe. “Bye Connor, bye Carson,” said Hazel.

“ BOO,” said Connor, “ your school is Haunted! ”

“No it’s not,” said Hazel,she stuck out her tongue. Hazel’s older brother just happened to be home. Caden, was a 21 year old technology technician who worked for Dell computer company. “ Bye Caden.” said Hazel.

“Bye Hazel,” said Caden. He was washing dishes.

Her mother was taking the dog potty. She would say good bye to her mom when she was leaving. She was driving to Massachusetts with a friend.

Hazel walked out the door and into the driveway. Her mom came over to her. “ Hi sweety pie,” her mom said in her southern accent. Her mom was from Texas City.

“Bye mom,” said Hazel.

“Is it time to go yet ? ”

“ Yes mom it’s time to go,” said Hazel. She hugged her mom . Just then a red Ford truck pulled in the driveway. It was Carman, her best friend. She was staying with her grandma in Massachusetts. Hazel loved the thought of a friend being near her. So with that Hazel hopped in the red truck.

* * *

The girls were on the highway and it was starting to get dark. The pink , orange , purple , red and royal blue and navy blue sky was amazing. As the sky darkened the sound of country music surrounded Hazel and she fell asleep .

Chapter 2

Violet

Violet Higma was a student at Maple Academy. Her parents were rich from her father’s hologram company. She was what you call a teacher's pet and she liked that. All the teachers favored her. She thought that things were going her way but the principal was not liking her as much as she wanted. Then she got the call, the call about a new intern that was coming to Maple Academy and the principal wanted to have Violet greet her! But what if everyone liked the new person more than her?

She was determined to get rid of her. And while she was at it she would get the principal to like her and get recognition. She had a plan. She would spy and scare her away from the school and her principal!

It was already dark when Hazel was awakened by her best friend Carman. She stared out the truck window at the front of the school: two rusty red-colored doors, paint chips curled on the frame. A man with a stern face and a frown, his head partly bald. Hazel thought that the principal was going to be in his house on campus, not waiting for her? Puzzled, Hazel slipped out of the truck. She started walking toward him.

“Hello,” said a deep voice. Hazel looked up from the ground and saw the man before her. “I am Principal Wright, the principal of Maple Academy.” Then he started to walk through the door and Hazel decided to follow him in the school. They entered the lobby and a girl about nine or ten was standing there with jet black hair.

“ Principal Wright, is this Hazel?” the girl said.

“ Yes,” the principal said in a stern voice .

“Then should I show her the room we have for her?”

“ Yes,” said Principal Wright . The principal of Maple Academy started to walk toward the right hall then turned around and said to Hazel, Violet will be your guide,” and he turned back to the right hall.

There was a long silence then Violet started to speak. “Let me show you the room we have for you.”

“ Ok , that sounds good,” Hazel replied. Soon the two girls were weaving through the halls and stairs but finally they came to the room that Hazel was going to stay in. But Hazel didn’t have her bags. She had left them in Carman’s truck and she remembered that Carman had left. Hopefully, Hazel opened the door slowly thinking that she would not need her things. She stepped in the room. She was mortified. The only light was from a flashlight that was on a bucket that was supposed to be a night stand. A small alarm clock stood on the bucket too. Next to the bucket was a mattress and a pillow that was supposed to be the bed. On the middle of the back wall was a small circle window. On the far side of the room was a dusty bookcase. As Hazel turned in protest, she saw that Violet was gone. Hazel decided to try to sleep. The room was drafty and the mattress was hard. It gave a little cushion, but not much. She found a potato sack for a blanket. Then a feeling came to her and she had to go to the bathroom. She remembered that she did not know where the bathroom was but she did have the flash light.

Hazel ran out of the room and into the hallway. She went left and down the hall and saw a door on the right that was colorful. She slowly opened the door and peeked inside. The light was on and the room was fully furnished with an expensive bookcase and a beautiful chair and overflowing bed. In the middle of the bed was a woman and her lavender hair was in curlers. Shocked, Hazel and the woman with lavender hair blinked and looked at each other again. “You must be lost,” the woman with lavender hair said in a big nice voice.

“ Yes,” said Hazel.

“ What is your name?” the woman with lavender hair said.

“ Hazel. What is your name?” said Hazel.

“ Edna Louise Fate,” said Edna Louise Fate. “But you can call me Edna or Ms. Fate.”

“ Ok, can direct me to the restroom?” said Hazel.

“ No. I can show you where the restroom is,” said Edna. So Edna and Hazel went down five doors on the right then turned to the left and there was the restroom. It had a blue door. Hazel did what she had to do, then came out. Edna was still there . “ Would you like some tea and cookies?” she asked.

“ Yes, please,” said Hazel. So Hazel and Edna went to the school cafeteria and made tea and found Edna’s stash of cookies. Edna and Hazel both went to bed and they did this every day.

A small light came from from the window and Hazel started for the office for a phone to call Carman’s grandma. She wanted to get her bags from the truck . Hazel looked at her bronze hair that was matted. She hated things that were not clean and orderly . Hazel angrily opened the door and stepped into the hall. There she saw a map. On the back in purple pen, it said:

I think you may need this after tumbling into my room .

How nice of her to give me a map of the school. But I do not think that I tumbled, Hazel thought. She looked down at the map and followed it to the office, phoned Carman, and in 5 minutes Carman drove over to give Hazel her bags. Carman said that Hazel could wash her clothes at her Grandma’s.

Ghost

Hazel was assigned to Mr. Damper’s room. Mr.Damper was the social studies teacher and was starting the year with Abraham Lincoln. She was passing out papers about what Abraham Lincoln did for the country when a yell from room 316 was heard. “GHOST!” a boy screamed and Mr.Damper sprung into action. He ran down the hall and right into room 316. A hazy light illuminated off of the teacher, Mrs.Hollyhock. She was misty and greenish. She was a ghost!

The same thing happened in the next days in rooms 326, 346 and 356. Every room that ended with 6! Everyone in the school reacted differently. Some were scared, some nervous, others angry. Some were anxious. Hazel looked at Violet. Violet was the only one that did not seem surprised. This doesn’t make sense, Hazel thought. Does she know information? Hazel decided to confront her.

“Violet, are you surprised?”

“No,” said Violet. “Things happen here,” she said, annoyed.

“Ummm, OK?” replied Hazel. She’s weird, Hazel thought. Why would she be annoyed?

Something wasn’t right. Hazel missed one of her Edna nights to investigate. She crept down the hall to the classroom area, and went to search all the rooms that ended in a 6.

Nothing suspicious was in them, until she got to room 356. Under the teacher’s cherry wood desk Hazel found a white box with a small blue lens. On the top, words in cursive read:

I could go look in the school directory to see if there’s anything having to do with Higma, she thought. She snuck into Mr. Wright’s office, and found the big book of names open on his desk. She leafed through the book until she got to the “H” page. Halfway down the page, she saw it:

Higma, Violet

How did I miss that! thought Hazel. But what does the box thingie have to do with Violet? She’s strange, yes, but what is that box?

She went back to see Edna. “Where were you?” asked Edna. “I’ve been waiting to make our tea.”

“You know the mystery of the ghosts and teachers?” Hazel asked.

“Yeah, but what does that have to do with missing our tea and cookies?”

“Do you know anything about Violet Higma?”

“You mean the girl whose father makes holograms?”

“Does she have jet black hair?”

“It’s more of a salt and pepper…”

“Anyway. Holograms! That makes sense!”

“What?” said Edna.

“Oh, nothing. Let’s have our tea.”

Chapter 6

No Ghosts for Me

The next morning Hazel waited outside Ms. Hollyhock’s room, 316. Violet walked toward the door for class.

“You know what happened to the teachers, Violet.”

“Wait what?” Violet said. “What are you talking about?”

“The ghosts? The teachers?”

“Didn’t you hear me? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” sassed Violet.

“I have proof. The white box. The one with your last name on it. It has a blue lens. Your dad has a hologram company. It looks like you made holograms of the teachers to scare people into thinking the school is haunted!”

Mr. Damper overheard this.

“Violet is this true that you are the cause of this incident?” said Mr.Damper

Without thinking Violet said “ Yes.”

“I will report this to Principal Wright” said Mr. Damper.

“No!” said Violet, like she was melting.

“Yes,” said Mr.Damper in a stern voice. Mr.Damper talked to Mr. Wright and Violet admitted to the principal that she made holograms of the teachers and snuck in there rooms and made the holos look like the teachers were ghosts. Violet got expelled. Hazel completed her internship at Maple Academy, but now she is a teacher at the Smith School for Secret Agents. She teaches the class, “How to Find Clues and Solve Mysteries.”

The End