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She looked back at my folder. “You would probably have had to have taken it again anyway,” she said. “It’s not the same curriculum. If you would have come to me instead of other administration, I would have been able to fix it.” She returned her gaze to the screen.
Was health class different for different schools? I gave up trying to do anything. She didn’t really seem to care, and was just trying to give me as useless a class schedule as she could, as long as it fit her own agenda. I was in a daze, thinking about what she’d said about suspension.
She clicked on the mouse, looking over the screen. “Japanese is out. The class is being cancelled, so you’re lucky to get a new schedule now before the other students. You’ll get first pick of what’s left over for that time slot. Some might have to just sit in study hall.”
“What?” My eyes widened. Why would they cancel the entire class? “What do you mean the class is cancelled?”
“That Dr. Green is about to be suspended without pay himself, from what I’ve heard,” she said. She shrugged dismissively. “Maybe going to trial. Some investigation about a student.”
My mouth formed an ‘o’ while that sunk in. A student he was seen with? I pictured Dr. Green’s face as he had escorted me to the office this morning. I didn’t think he knew then what he was headed in for.
Was it even true? She seemed to have lied about talking to my step mother. She glossed over it after I questioned her, yet she seemed certain when she was saying it.
However, her reasoning for mentioning Dr. Green wasn’t clear. There wasn’t a reason for her to lie in that instance. She had the authority to change my classes without bringing it up.
If it was true, why would Dr. Green be suspended?
I had a dreadful feeling right then. I’d slept at his condo. I’d kissed him there, and then later in his car.
I couldn’t think of any other instances that would be considered questionable. Had someone spotted us together off of school grounds? Ms. Wright gave no indication that might even be the case.
Maybe it wasn’t me. Maybe it was another student complaining about something else. I didn’t know what Dr. Green did here when he wasn’t in class. Was it the same as the other boys? Breaking up bad fights, and investigating teachers?
Poor Dr. Green, getting blindsided by this. How much trouble would he be in? What could he do? Maybe that’s why Mr. Blackbourne couldn’t walk in right now. Maybe he was dealing with Dr. Green.
What would happen when those in charge, or if Ms. Wright, found out I was the student? That’s if it was me at all. Could I be double-suspended? Was that such a thing?
I wouldn’t admit anything. I could deny it. Tell them it was all rumors.
She continued changing my schedule, and for the most part, I wasn’t paying attention, only that she removed class after class. The only two classes I kept were English and P. E., but P. E. got swapped with another time slot, so it got all mixed up. Everything else was completely new.
“What about my grades so far?” I asked. I assumed it was the same process as admitting a new student mid-school year.
“You’re looking at withdrawn on your record,” she said. “You’ll have to take all of these classes again.”
“You mean the old ones?”
“The new ones, too. Your grade will be a W for Withdrawn.”
I paused for a solid minute, letting what she was saying sink in. Another exasperated sigh escaped me. “You’re changing my classes but even the new ones won’t count at all?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“So why is my schedule changing? What does it matter if I take these or anything else?”
“Oh my god, child,” she said, pointing a thick finger at me. “Did you not hear me say that your butt has to be in a seat? It doesn’t matter which seat you sit in, as long as you’re in one, and consistently.” She rose slightly, lifting herself to hover over the desk. “But what if I have a student, top of her class, missing so many days, hm? Am I supposed to just let her continue? If anyone collected your records at the end of the year and really looked at the details, they’d say it would be impossible to be a top student if you were never here. They will look at your records, too. Don’t think they won’t. I’m doing this so they don’t put you on the express lane.”
“What’s an express lane?”
“Where they put the kids they think will drop out before graduation. They’ll put you in GED training classes, and have you take the test over and over again until you pass. You’ll be sixteen with a GED and out of school, which means no college, no real career to speak of. This isn’t a good route.”
I pressed my lips together to hold back any more questions. Clearly, there was some rules I wasn’t familiar with. Did Mr. Blackbourne know about any of this?
Why would they push a kid missing classes into a GED? Maybe for most kids, if they at least give them a GED, there’s some restitution. They did their best, but if a kid wasn’t going to stay in school anyway, maybe it did make some sense.
When I didn’t respond, she resumed her changing my schedule and typing at the keyboard. What else could I do? Ms. Wright had her mind pretty set. If I was going to
“I’ll do you a favor,” she said. “If you manage to get through this year with good grades and don’t miss another single day of school, I’ll change these Withdrawn marks for your new classes to a passing grade. But only, and I mean only, if you don’t miss another class. Not a single one.”
I pressed my lips together. Was that going to be possible if Mr. Hendricks called me out of class? Or if I really was sick?
I hoped Dr. Green was doing far better than I was.
Mr. Hendricks might have arranged this; he might have found out about me being at school, figuring out it wasn’t me in the car going around town. That would be like him to punish me, blaming me for it all.
That was until I saw the notice on her desk, in one of her many paper trays. It was on letterhead for the school. The page was upside down, but I could still read it.
It was a formal notice from someone on the school board, asking Ms. Wright to send in a report about any students whose attendance was more than ten days, excused or unexcused. The name requesting it was unfamiliar: Vera O. Lottie.
Coincidence? Was Mr. Hendricks even aware?
Ms. Wright’s annoyance might have been fear because she hadn’t been doing her job. She’d only now looked into the absences, and uncovered my large number. Most other school counselors probably would have done something about it ages ago.
That must have been the trigger. She was making it look like she had been paying attention and had noticed before Vera Lottie—whoever she was—came back and asked her why no one had talked to me or what was going on.
Ms. Wright printed out my new schedule and then stood up with it. “Come with me,” she said, putting one hand on her desk as she leaned on it to walk around it. “You’ll go to in-school suspension starting now and for the rest of the week. You’ll start your new classes when you return from break.”
I clamped my mouth shut, taking the paper from her. In-School suspension. What was suspension like? Was it anything like detention? I hadn’t even completed an actual detention, thanks to Mr. Blackbourne. Could he even fix this?
Ms. Wright moved around the desk and opened the door. “I’ll escort you there.”
No chance to escape. Ms. Wright had me walk in front of her, giving me directions as we went, so I couldn’t even send a quick message from my cell phone.
Out in the office hallway, everything was quiet. I expected to hear Dr. Green, maybe Mr. Blackbourne lurking around. Or if they were in a meeting about Dr. Green, that there would be some sort of uproar, a fight. I wished I could hear their voices or bump into one of them. Anything to let me know they were aware of what was happening.
Nothing. All I could do was what I was told. I had to hope that going along with Ms. Wright’s plan was what they needed me to do right now.
There wa
s just the low murmur from the main office: the tapping of keyboards, someone on the phone, the hum of a printer. The woman at the front desk looked up as we passed through. Ms. Wright shared a look with her, and the secretary shook her head, seeming in sympathy for Ms. Wright, like she’d seen this before.
They had no idea…not a clue. They would never know why I was missing for so many days. The reason was usually because the Academy requested it of me.
Without me being able to tell them, I was shoved in with the bad kids.
There was no way I could defend myself. I couldn’t go into details about Mr. Hendricks. I couldn’t tell them about the Academy, how I was involved, or anything that could possibly save myself.
