Lost Horizons

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

"Up on melancholy hill there's a plastic tree, are you here with me?" -Gorillaz

"Ms. Madison, is it?" asked the counselor when Sienna walked into his office.

"You can just call me Sienna," she told him. Mr. Teer was a somewhat plump man who had keen black eyes and snow white hair. He looked like he would be quite tall and intimidating if he stood up. He gestured for Sienna to take the seat across from him and she obliged hesitantly. The atmosphere of the office was uncomfortable overall, and the way Mr. Teer was eyeing her was making her feel very self-conscious, like he was analyzing her every move. The black pad and pen he balanced on his knee also added to her discomfort.

"My name is Mr. Teer, and I'm Oak Wood's school counselor. You'll be having a weekly session with me every Wednesday from now on." Tell me something I don't know, Sienna thought to herself.

"Ok," she replied to break the silence in the room as he stared at her, seeming to be waiting for some sort of response. He bent down and scribbled something on the pad.

"So I've read from your file that you're new this year. How are you accommodating to our school?"

"This is only my fourth day here, so I think it's a bit too early to answer that," she said honestly. He leaned back in his chair and jotted down something else on his notepad.

"I see, and the other students? Are you interacting well with them? Made any friends yet?" Sienna couldn't help but compare him to a mother asking about her child's first day of school -- an old, scary-looking mom, that is, who lacked warmth in her voice.

"Yeah, a few." Again he added another fact to his pad.

"Do you miss home?" he asked.

"Not yet, but like I said before it's only been a couple of days," she told him truthfully. Sure she missed her mom's cooking and her dad's lame jokes, but she'd decided not to spend her time crying over a family that had practically gotten rid of her.

"Hmm," he muttered.

"Yep." The conversation had turned awkward fast.

"And the teachers?"

"Fine, I guess," she replied, not really wanting to go into detail about how unfair she thought Mr. Echo was for giving her an undeserved detention.

"Interesting," he commented.

"Why is that interesting?"

"You felt the need to add 'I guess' to the end of that reply. That is a sign of doubt. Do you not like your teachers?" he pressed, arching a bushy eyebrow as he looked up from his pad. Wow, talk about reading too much into things, Sienna thought. She would have to keep in mind that the less she said in front of Mr. Teer, the better.

"I also said they were fine."

"Aha!" Sienna glanced at the clock and rubbed her forehead in annoyance. Boy, this was going to be a long hour and a half, a voice in her head observed.

"So, how has your day been?" Mr. Teer inquired.

"Good."

"Is there anything you'd like to talk about?"

"Not really." And for the third time he added another detail to his pad and flipped the page. What on earth was he scribbling down? Sienna hadn't even been in the room for five minutes and he'd already used up a whole page.

"Well if you don't want to talk about anything, I guess we'll have to pass the time with more questions, eh?" Mr. Teer mused. The last thing Sienna wanted was for him to fling more of those annoying questions her way, so she quickly thought up a topic for conversation.