Desperate Love

Chapter 9-Path to a Plan

The police SUV was silent as Mark drove to the elementary school. When we reached the school I looked at the architecture. It was almost empty, except for a few parked cars under the street lights. It was beautiful and light, with white painted bricks and lots of windows. I said a quiet "goodbye" to Janette, Luci, and Patrick. 

"Remember what I told you," I whispered to them. They nodded as they looked at the school with wary eyes. Mark took them in and he was in the car again in five minutes. He glanced at me through the rearview mirror.

"They're all settled in. Don't worry about them, they are going to be fine." He drove out of the parking lot. I debated with myself whether or not I should answer him. The debate wasn't settled until we reached the middle school/high school. I stared at the tall, imposing, ugly red brick building. It seemed like one of those stereotypical boarding schools that they put into horror movies. 

"You need help to get where you need to?" He asked carefully. I shook my head no quickly and got out of there.

 I walked up to the steps of the goliath school, took a deep breath, and climbed them. I pushed open the heavy wooden doors at the main entrance and was greeted with metal detectors galore. I skirted around them and went to the benches on the wall, trying to get my bearings. Kenny started to wiggle around, so I fed him some strawberries. I looked at my watch. 7:00 am my screen said in the neon green display. I heard the heavy doors creaking open and I watched from my position on the wall. I had chosen this spot because incoming people couldn't see me at first, but I could see them. A police officer strolled in rather casually and my breath hitched in my throat. Had I done something wrong? Should I have waited outside? Had my walking around the metal detectors started an alarm?

I stayed as small as possible against the wall but much to my dismay, my brother dropped my phone. I watched as the police officer came closer.

"Is anyone in here?" he called out. I stayed silent. Soon he came to where I knew he could see me.

"Hey, are you ok?" he was standing right in front of me. I didn't know what to say, so I just nodded. "Dang, you're here early... Are you new?"

I nodded again. "What's your name?" 

"Elisabeth," I answered softly. Then either my dread or curiosity got the best of me and I got up the courage to ask him a question.

"Is there something going on here? Like, am I not supposed to be here?" I asked tentatively. He looked at me with a puzzled look and then his face broke into a grin.

Oh, no!" he exclaimed. "I'm the school resource officer and I'm just here a bit early too." Now it was my turn to look puzzled. 

"You don't know what a school resource officer is?" I shook my head.

"I work at this school every day, you know, just keeping an eye on things," he explained.

I let out an internal sigh of relief. He wasn't after me. 

"Do you know where you're going? This is a pretty large school," he asked. I was relieved again because I had no idea where I was supposed to go. The officer directed me down several hallways and told me to follow the numbers on the door to number 60, the principal's office. He offered to come with me, but I told him that I'd rather go alone. I walked down to the principal's office. Some of the teachers were showing up and I could see various classrooms lighting up. I had been homeschooled since 1st grade, I never had the experience of the school and it overwhelmed me. When I reached the principal's office I was almost scared to go in. I quickly shook myself out of it. It was just the principal's office, nothing more. I knocked on the door. 

I heard a steady voice on the other side. "Come in."

I carefully pushed open the door and was greeted by a middle-aged man with rectangular eyeglasses. 

"Hi there," the man said. "I'm Principal Vogler. You must be Elisabeth."

I nodded, feeling very nervous. I sat silently, nodding or shaking my head when expected as he went through the rules, etc. I perked up when he mentioned Kenny. 

"Now I understand that your brother has some pretty serious health problems. We've made an exception to the general rules. He will be allowed to be with you in all your classes. He doesn't seem to be very loud, does he?" He asked with a smile. 

"No sir," I assured him. "He doesn't make much noise at all."

"Well, here's your schedule this year. It's okay if you don't know everything that is being taught; our tests show that you are ready for high school, but since it's almost the end of the year we decided to stick you in 8th grade for the rest of the year."

He handed me a folder and told me that all of the room numbers were included with a map. I thanked him and walked out. The rest of the day I spent in a daze, focusing on taking care of Kenny. All of the stuff that they were teaching I had already studied and apart from some nasty looks I got from some of the students I didn't pay attention to any of it. 

At 3:45 pm I got back to Mark's neighborhood and while I was waiting for my other siblings I noticed an older woman struggling to get some grocery bags into her tiny home. 

"Hey," I called out. "Can I help you with those?" 

She turned around with a look of surprise. I saw that she was around eighty years old.

"Why, yes," she said. "It's been a while since a kid's offered to help me."

I helped her carry the bags, Kenny tagging along behind me.

"Where would you like me to set this?" I asked. I put them on the counter as she directed. I had a wild thought and I was hoping to pitch this idea to her. Maybe she would allow it because I had been caring. It would be a big step to independence and getting away from Mark.