Thank Goodness I Grew Up

I regret a lot of things. Like cutting my own bangs, forgetting to tie my shoelaces on June 20th of 2008, and buying my dad that Mr. Peanut sculpture for Christmas. Mostly, I regret giving up, so here. A revamp, for the eight year old that would hate to have watched me stuff The Tomb Will Be Your Doom in a corner. Yes, I am completing a novel with a title that rhymes.
Enjoy the exerpt.

I could feel my face flush as I entered the train compartment. It was filled with about ten boys and five or so girls, all wearing neat grey suits and gowns that would be the uniform at Dorbin Boarding Academy. My own hair was in a tangled nest; my frock still the same wrinkled one I’d worn the night before.

I took another deep breath and wiped at my eyes, trying to lift my bag into the overhead compartment.

“Need a hand?” I jumped at the voice as a light haired boy stood up. Like all the other boys in the compartment, he was dressed in a stiff gray suit that matched the sky outside.

“Thank you, but I should be-” The boy ignored me. He scooped up my carpet bag and set slid it onto the top shelf. “Fine,” I muttered. “I should be fine.”

Governess Williams would be appalled at my manors. Absurdly, a small smile almost crossed my face as I thought of one thing that I would not regret leaving behind on this train: Governess Williams’ disapproving frown at my behavior. “Rebecca!” she would have exclaimed, were she here with me. “A lady always accepts a gentleman's assistance!” But I didn’t need the boy’s help, and I didn’t wish to speak to anyone either, not in this crowded compartment. The boy’s friends were already scrutinizing my mussed up hair and red-rimmed eyes.

The boy turned back to me, a grin on his face. He was taller than me, and didn’t seem to have had any trouble sliding my carpet bag into place. “I’m Benjamin,” he said, holding out a hand to shake.

If you are thouroughly confused, click to read the original.

Five years makes a VERY big difference.