chosen to have her raised in the Orphanage itself, and had given Amanda her own surname.
Emmanuel treated Amanda very much as if she had been her own daughter, and Amanda looked to Emmanuel for love and guidance when she needed it. As Amanda grew, she became more curious and carefree, and started to be a bit of a handful despite the Sisters doing their best to raise her with Christian values. Amanda had other ideas though, as she grew up, she came to know her own mind more, and while she paid lip service to Catholicism in order to avoid punishment, she went about carving her own path, and didn’t really consider herself religious at all.
During her early years, she had found it difficult to make friends in the Orphanage, they kept getting adopted and disappearing, but Amanda didn’t want to be adopted, and so acted up whenever it seemed there might be a threat of adoption. The Nuns soon gave in and Amanda became pretty much a permanent resident, attending the Boarding School that adjoined the complex of buildings.
It was here that Amanda would meet her first true friend before Georgina, but not straight away. At first, Amanda, being the rebel of the school, attracted a motley bunch of characters, the tearaways of the school, who found her way of doing things more attractive then following the rules. They were never really her friends though, she realised looking back on those early years, not like Alicia had been.
As she reminisced about her early years, Amanda veered off the track that led from her cottage and through the wild grasses that brushed past her bare ankles above her trainers and headed towards the tree line a short distance ahead. Amanda had done her best to keep up with her exercises these past few months, picking her time carefully to go for runs. These sessions often took her up and down the sides of steep valleys and Amanda felt in as good a shape as she had ever been in New York, perhaps better then New York with all this fresh air she had been getting. A run round the countryside here turned out to be much more demanding than a run round Central Park could ever be.
Thinking back, as a child, the way Amanda became friends with Alicia had been quite different to how she had befriended Georgina much later on in New York. With Georgina, the friendship had just blossomed from nothing, the only similarity had been that Georgina had been keen to get to know her, just as Alicia had been.
Alicia joined the school after Amanda had been there a good while. Primarily Saint Mary’s worked as a boarding school which wealthy parents sent their children too to give them a good education and a good moral foundation. Alicia had been a child such as this, devoutly religious, good and kind, and a high flyer academically.
She had been a small girl, scrawny with long black hair and fair skin, and a bit of a loner. Amanda didn’t really notice her at first, until Alicia had for some reason chosen to become Amanda’s friend.
The first Amanda knew of Alicia had been when she noticed her watching her and following her about the play area, at a bit of a distance. Amanda found it a little odd at first and it freaked her out a little bit.
By now Amanda had become a bit of a handful, and her normal response to someone doing something she didn’t like to her was to punch them, but something about Alicia stopped her. As the days went on, Alicia followed Amanda about and started to sit next to her in class and even trying to talk to her.
Amanda did her best to put Alicia off and drive her away, although she couldn’t bring herself to hit her or to be really mean to her. Nothing she did worked though, and as the days went on, she soon found herself talking to Alicia and eventually laughing together.
Alicia had always been very patient with Amanda, seeming to understand that Amanda strained under the strict rules of the Convent School. She never chastised Amanda in those early months while Amanda had still very much been a
Emmanuel treated Amanda very much as if she had been her own daughter, and Amanda looked to Emmanuel for love and guidance when she needed it. As Amanda grew, she became more curious and carefree, and started to be a bit of a handful despite the Sisters doing their best to raise her with Christian values. Amanda had other ideas though, as she grew up, she came to know her own mind more, and while she paid lip service to Catholicism in order to avoid punishment, she went about carving her own path, and didn’t really consider herself religious at all.
During her early years, she had found it difficult to make friends in the Orphanage, they kept getting adopted and disappearing, but Amanda didn’t want to be adopted, and so acted up whenever it seemed there might be a threat of adoption. The Nuns soon gave in and Amanda became pretty much a permanent resident, attending the Boarding School that adjoined the complex of buildings.
It was here that Amanda would meet her first true friend before Georgina, but not straight away. At first, Amanda, being the rebel of the school, attracted a motley bunch of characters, the tearaways of the school, who found her way of doing things more attractive then following the rules. They were never really her friends though, she realised looking back on those early years, not like Alicia had been.
As she reminisced about her early years, Amanda veered off the track that led from her cottage and through the wild grasses that brushed past her bare ankles above her trainers and headed towards the tree line a short distance ahead. Amanda had done her best to keep up with her exercises these past few months, picking her time carefully to go for runs. These sessions often took her up and down the sides of steep valleys and Amanda felt in as good a shape as she had ever been in New York, perhaps better then New York with all this fresh air she had been getting. A run round the countryside here turned out to be much more demanding than a run round Central Park could ever be.
Thinking back, as a child, the way Amanda became friends with Alicia had been quite different to how she had befriended Georgina much later on in New York. With Georgina, the friendship had just blossomed from nothing, the only similarity had been that Georgina had been keen to get to know her, just as Alicia had been.
Alicia joined the school after Amanda had been there a good while. Primarily Saint Mary’s worked as a boarding school which wealthy parents sent their children too to give them a good education and a good moral foundation. Alicia had been a child such as this, devoutly religious, good and kind, and a high flyer academically.
She had been a small girl, scrawny with long black hair and fair skin, and a bit of a loner. Amanda didn’t really notice her at first, until Alicia had for some reason chosen to become Amanda’s friend.
The first Amanda knew of Alicia had been when she noticed her watching her and following her about the play area, at a bit of a distance. Amanda found it a little odd at first and it freaked her out a little bit.
By now Amanda had become a bit of a handful, and her normal response to someone doing something she didn’t like to her was to punch them, but something about Alicia stopped her. As the days went on, Alicia followed Amanda about and started to sit next to her in class and even trying to talk to her.
Amanda did her best to put Alicia off and drive her away, although she couldn’t bring herself to hit her or to be really mean to her. Nothing she did worked though, and as the days went on, she soon found herself talking to Alicia and eventually laughing together.
Alicia had always been very patient with Amanda, seeming to understand that Amanda strained under the strict rules of the Convent School. She never chastised Amanda in those early months while Amanda had still very much been a
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