Dear Mom and Dad,

          How’s it going? Haven’t talked to you guys in a while, so I thought I would tell you the bad news before the school got the chance to.  I really do not know how to put this so I am going to make this short and to the point. 

Things here at Pency Prep aren’t going to well, because I failed four out of my five classes.  I know I am smarter and that I could be applying myself much better, but I am telling you, the phonies here at Pency are coming out of the walls.  The teachers here are annoying enough to even make Phoebe go crazy.  I know that you guys are going to be very disappointed at me, but at least I took the time to write a letter to show you that I would rather have the bad news coming from me rather than Pency Prep administrators.  I do not know what to do right now, so I am going to New York for a while until I figure thing out for myself, and so I do not get beat down when I go home.  I’ll let things cool down around home until I return. 

          Well I am going to start packing my things now, so I hope this letter reaches you before the school does.  I guess I will talk with you guys later.  Love you. Bye.

                                                          Love,

                                                            Holden Caulfield