It was 1970 and the semester was just ending at Barton Academy. Barton Academy is a boarding school in the Northeast where wealthy parents like to send their kids to get a good education. Paul Hunham is an older history teacher at the school and has a very traditional style of teaching. He’s known for his harsh grading and not caring about failing his students. One time he failed Jordan Ozgood who was going to Princeton University and had his admission rescinded while his father was a top donor for the school. Right before winter break he was called in the Head of School’s office and was assigned to stay on campus over winter break and deal with the holdovers. These were a group of kids whose parents either didn’t want to see their children or couldn’t. This was due to his incident with the Ozgoods and was a way for the Head of School to get back at him. But, it wasn’t like he was going to leave campus anyway as he lives on campus and doesn’t have any family to go home to. 

Indifferent about this decision because he went to his last class before the semester was over and handed back all of the students their final test grades. These grades ranged from F to B+ where the average was a C-. The person who got the B+ was Angus Tully, a tall skinny seventeen-year-old with curly black hair who was ready to go to Saint Kitts for his winter break. When Angus got back his grade he had a sort of smirk on his face while everyone else groaned and was concerned that they too would have their college admission rescinded.

“Sir I don’t understand,” said Teddy Kounzte who did poorly on the final.

“That was obvious,” cleverly said Mr. Hunham.

“I can’t fail this class. I’m supposed to go to Cornell” worriedly said Teddy.

“Unlikely,” said Mr. Hunham.

The rest of the class then later joined in with Teddy and expressed their concerns about the final. Mr. Hunham eventually gave in and let the students have a make-up exam after the break. But, he didn’t give in so easily as he added another chapter onto the test while averaging out the two scores. The class was not happy about the decision but accepted it. This was until Mr. Hunham decided to go into a new chapter.

“Don’t you think it’s absurd to be starting a new chapter right now? Most of our other teachers have canceled class and our parents are on campus” said Angus.

“Well if it’s absurd then I’ll cancel the class and the original grades will stand,” said Mr. Hunham.

The class groaned again and Teddy gave Angus a look of death. They all left and started to depart for their break. While Angus was waiting, he was notified that he was receiving a call from his Mother. Disaster struck him as he was informed his parents were taking a honeymoon together and that he would have to stay on campus. Furious, he tried to plead his case because his parents had been married since July but it was to no avail. He was now a holdover.

Angus then walked into a room with the four other holdovers. As he walked in it brought a smile to Mr. Hunham’s face but also to Teddy who was also a holdover. The other three were Jason Smith who refused to cut his hair, Alex Ollerman whose parents were on a mission trip, and Ye-Joon Park whose parents were in Korea. While being a holdover they followed the regular school schedule with mandatory studying time. They had some time for recreation but it was freezing outside and the gym wasn’t even finished construction yet. Mr. Hunham said that this was a way to build character due to their struggles. But they had one way out of being a holdover which was through Jason Smith whose Dad had a private helicopter. The reason he didn’t cut his hair was civil disobedience and there was a hope that his father would cave as he was supposed to go skiing for the holidays. 

Another person was holding over as well named Mary Lamb who was a heavy-set woman. She worked as a cook and made the meals for the other holdovers. Her son had just died fighting for America and thought it was best to stay on campus as she last saw her son as a student on campus. When it came time to eat food she didn’t join. So, one night Mr. Hunham left his room and decided to join Mary to watch some television. They cancel each other out as Mary is on the kinder side while Mr. Hunham is very strict. They are both unmarried or a widow and have both become quite lonely. Mary’s son even had Mr. Hunham and said that “he was a real butthole.” Mary had a smirk on her face while saying this while Mr. Hunham described him as a bright kid. They continued to talk about their past while watching television until Mr. Hunham eventually returned to his room.

The students continued their regular schedule for five days. This consisted of studying, running, and hiking. There wasn’t much else to do for them. This wasn’t until something changed on their sixth day when they heard helicopter noises while studying. Jason immediately had a smile on his face because he knew it was his father’s helicopter.

“I knew it. He finally caved in” he exclaimed.

Jason extended his invitation to the rest of the group. Although he first needed to talk to his Dad and Mr. Hunham needed to talk with the school. After some time the trip was approved. Everyone's face immediately had a smile on it as it meant they were leaving campus. Everyone started to pack their bags and started to pack into the helicopter. They were going skiing. It was a win-win scenario for everyone. The students got to leave the campus, not have to study, and got to do something. While Mary and Mr. Hunham didn’t have to deal with the children and could do whatever they wanted.

The five kids went skiing every day for the next week and got to enjoy each other's company. The Smiths had a huge house up in the mountains enough to house at least twenty people. They would continue to eat all their meals together and continue to do other activities together. At night they would go into the hot tub and share stories about their lives and about their time at Barton. Some nights they would go into the movie room and pick a movie which most of the time was a horror. This was to pick on Alex and Ye-Joon who were younger. They were having a great time. Mary and Mr. Hunham were not living as lavishly on campus but were also having a great time. They were both excited to not have to see the boys anymore as from the start they were sick of them. They continued to watch television together and Mr. Hunham occupied the other time reading mystery novels. It all worked out for everyone.