Young Writers Society

Philosophy of the Dark

Chapter 45

-Some Things Never Change

-On Both Accounts

She was an hour late for her first day back in months. She knew she was too behind to catch up, she would have to repeat her senior year, which was

a shame because her grades had been flawless.

She walked down the once-familiar halls toward her second period class.

The halls were cold and smelled like whiteboards and glue.

She reached for the cold metal doorknob of room two-fifty. Her stomach

turned in anxiety as she opened the door and stepped in.

Mrs. Ochoa was one of the best teachers at the school, loved by students

and faculty alike. She had the hardest curriculum taught in the best way.

She stopped in mid-lecture when she saw Jamie. Actually, the whole class

stopped what they were doing, as if time had frozen. Pens stopped without

finishing the letter, words stayed half-formed on the lips of kids in the

back.

“Jamie,” Mrs. Ochoa said, soft surprise in her voice.

“Hi,” Jamie said back anxiously. She adjusted the bag on her shoulder.

Mrs. Ochoa turned back to the class, “Uh, would you all please give me a

minute?”

Students erupted in immediate conversation, some about Jamie no doubt.

“Jamie, with me please.” Mrs. Ochoa nodded toward the door. Jamie

followed her out of the room with her head down.

“First of all, welcome back dear,” Mrs. Ochoa said kindly. Something about

her seemed off though, like she was about to say something bad. Jamie

prepared herself.

“What is it?” She asked.

“Pardon?”

“What’s that bad news,” Jamie repeated sullenly.

“Oh, it’s just that…well, you’ve been gone for so long dear. You’re not part

of this class anymore.”

“Oh,” Jamie sighed. She began to fiddle with the zipper on her oversized

sweater.

“I mean, it’s nothing against you, or anything, but there’s no way that you

could catch up at this point in the year. I’m sorry.” Mrs. Ochoa put a

comforting hand on Jamie’s shoulder, and then pulled her into a surprising

hug.

“I can only imagine what you’re going through right now,” Mrs. Ochoa said,

sobbing onto Jamie’s shoulder. “I don’t know what kind of monster could

do that. We’ve all talked to the city, we wanted to get you taken away from

him, but there’s been no luck.” Her voice cracked.

“There’s no evidence, and neither you or your mother will step up.” She

pulled herself away from Jamie who had been standing stiffly in her arms.

“I’m sorry. I’m not normally like this,” she said. She cleaned off her face

delicately, avoiding smudging any of her makeup. “You need to go to the

counseling office, they’ll tell you where to go from here.” Mrs. Ochoa patted

Jamie’s back, “I hope to see you next year.”

All the time Jamie hadn’t moved, everything was moving too fast for her.

Still in shock she remembered to nod and even smile another. Mrs. Ochoa

smiled back, and with another pat went back into her noisy classroom.

Jamie heard her trying to quiet the class as she turned and walked back

down the hall toward the offices. The counseling office was strangely quiet

when she entered, as with the classroom they all stopped what they were

doing an stared. Finally, after Jamie had been standing at the desk for

several minutes, one of them had the courage to walk up to her.

“How may I assist you?” The young brunette asked.

“Well, I go…went, to school here. I haven’t been in a while and got taken

off the role sheet. Mrs. Ochoa said I should come here.”

“You’re going to need to talk to your councilor about that.” The woman

opened up the half-door separation and led Jamie to a door.

Without knocking Jamie was pushed into the room, the door shutting

behind her. Voices rose in the other room.

A middle aged woman wearing a badly tailored suit was sitting on the

phone at her desk. She waived Jamie into a seat as she continued her

conversation.

It sounded like trouble at home, something about a husband never being

there. Jamie sat quietly in a chair across the desk and tried not to hear too

much. Finally the woman slammed the phone down and turned to Jamie.

“Hello Jamie, I’m Mrs. Fredricks,” She said in a falsely pleasant voice.

“I was taken off the role sheet.” Jamie said it quickly with her head down,

she wanted to get this over with.

“Yes, well.” Mrs. Fredricks typed some things in to the computer, “You’ve

been absent for the past three months, with no contact. It’s procedure.”

“I’ve been kind of busy,” Jamie said, matching the woman’s irritated tone.

“Look, we kept you in as long as we could…given the circumstance. It just

couldn’t be done. Now what I can do…” There was some more typing, and

then the printer whirled to life behind her.

“Is get you signed up for a semester of next year early, and some summer

school.” Mrs. Fredricks handed Jamie a small stack of papers, all forms for

the school year.

“I don’t want to repeat my senior year,” Jamie said.

“Look, I understand that, but other than that what can we do? Independent

studies over the summer-”

“I’ll do it,” Jamie exclaimed, “sign me up.”

“You’d need a tutor, and textbooks, it’s just too late darling.”

“Please,” Jamie said in desperation, “I need this.”

“It could take a few hours to sign you up, and I’m very busy today.” Mrs.

Fredricks waved her hand around the cluttered office. Jamie looked at the

computer screen, it was empty except for Jamie’s folder and a downsized

game of solitaire.

“Really?” Jamie said skeptically.

Mrs. Fredricks sighed. “Fine, I’ll get everything set up.”

“Thank you,” Jamie said. “Thank you.”

***

Maybe this wont be so bad, at least I wont have to repeat

twelfth grade. It feels really weird to be here, like everything should be

back to normal; or worse. It almost feels like nothing ever happened. I

don’t feel like I have to hide, or run, or pretend, I can just sit here in an

uncomfortable desk waiting to be handed some forms to fill out. Of course,

it’s not the same as normal school, but I have a feeling that classrooms

would be odd.

I’m just crossing my fingers and hoping that I’ll have done

something right. That I can prove to everybody that while some things

never change, some do.

I’m going to miss the classrooms, that’s for sure. But who

knows, maybe I’ll go to college. I’m not sure what I want to do with my life

yet, I don’t know when I’ll decide. But at least, for now at least, I’m doing

something.

***

Mrs. Fredricks handed Jamie a stack of papers to fill out. She was sitting

in a spare desk that had been pushed into a corner of the room. It was

claustrophobic, but it was something. Mrs. Fredricks was back to her game

of solitaire.

The lunch bell rang, Jamie looked up from her papers to find Mrs. Fredricks

was staring at her.

“Go on,” she said with a smile.

“Do I come back when the bell rings?” Jamie asked.

“Yeah, the tutor is supposed to call me. I’ll get everything worked out.”

Jamie changed her mind about Mrs. Fredricks. She thanked her and left the

safety of the office, trying to blend into the mob of students.

Some of them recognized her right away, asking how she was, like they had

been old pals. A girl she recognized as being a ditz who never gave her the

time of day even offered for her to eat lunch with her.

From invisible to all they could see. That was Jamie. Apparently court had

an effect on the student body, and for once, Jamie wished she were

invisible again.

She turned down a few dozen lunch offers as she made her way down the

hall and up the stairs in the English building. Where they ate lunch.

Nat was sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall smoking a cigarette.

She had a new boy on her arm. This one wore a leather jacket and also

smoked.

Amber was chewing on leftover pasta out of a thermos. They both freaked

when Jamie came into view.

All of the people she hung out with, but hadn’t seen were all over her. The

ones she hadn’t seen, who she didn’t acknowledge as friends so much as

people she hung out with, were shooting questions about the case at her.

At one point Amber took Jamie’s arm and pulled her away from the crowd,

promising to return with her shortly.

When they were out of hearing distance Amber asked, “What happened?”

“He just got too close, is all.” Jamie answered, “it’s fine.”

“What do you mean ‘too close’?” Amber made quote symbols with her

fingers.

“He pushed his wheelchair into me,” Jamie answered, “I can get away from

him though. He can’t get up stairs.”

“Oh yeah,” Amber said. “Just…tell me if anything goes wrong. I’m here

remember?”

“Always,” Jamie fake-smiled again. She was unsure whether she really

could smile anymore. The least she could do was try. It was an optimistic

day for her. A rare occasion.

They walked back to everybody else where Jamie was bombarded to the

point of comedy again. Amber smiled and lit up a cigarette, leaning over to

Nat and saying something.

Jamie left everybody else and went to sit with them. Natalie smiled at her,

so did the new boy.

Jamie nodded at the new guy, “Who’s he?”

“Darren,” Natalie said clutching his arm. “Darren, this is one of my best

friends, Jamie.”

“Hey Jamie,” Darren reached out and shook her hand.

“Do you wanna hang out with us tonight?” Nat asked, taking Darren’s hand

back into her possession.

“Sure,” Jamie smiled. Things had never been better for her.

Why was that thought so bad?

Jamie shook herself out and released all of her bad thoughts. Today, she

was starting over.

___________________

I haven't titled the next chapter yet. =D