Cam's Guide to Navigating Rock Bottom

3 - Repercussions

Normally after such meetings, my mother administered a verbal lashing so brutal, that I was nearly brought to tears. Keyword almost. A lot of times it had been for show.

My father would observe from the side reiterating a watered-down version of whatever my mom would have said. He wasn't one to yell or shout. His role in this ordeal embodied 'disappointed but not surprised'.

Complete with: the sad distant gaze, regretful sighs, and the ability to calm my mother down after she had already said everything she needed to. His timing was always questionable.

After years worth of these meetings I had the uncanny ability to tune in only when required.

But this time I could not.

Attempting to get your life back in order was harder than it seemed and Raphael's rejection only seemed to dredge up unwanted emotions. One would assume my parents would attempt to lessen the verbal beatdown I was receiving but no. Every word that escaped his thin chapped lips had been one they had reiterated to me one way or another. Publicly or privately.

The cool blast of the air-conditioning does nothing to quell the heat that fills my body. Today not only did he decide to dwell on my failure as a student but as a musician. Citing that there was nothing impressive in my resume.

Even then, shining the spotlight on my effort was futile. Not when he boasted using a predicting algorithm that showed my grades were expected to decline further; to the extent I would not even be able to make it through graduation.

"Her attitude in the classroom is abysmal," Spittle landed not far from where I sat," only a week into the school year and teachers are already complaining." Beady eyes regard me over thick-framed spectacles," She doesn't pay attention. Refuses to talk or even participate. Her work has never been submitted on time. There has been a lack of participation in school activities and to add to her ever-growing record - trespassing."

It was like the word hit a gong. Echoing in the room and pulling me upwards. I sat up and my eyes snapped to him , a sneer decorating thin chapped lips.

What?

"Trespassing ?" my mother voiced my thoughts and for the first time she dared to interrupt him during his spiel.

"Cameron was spotted leaving the visitors changing room last night. What she was doing, we do not know," he says.

A screeching sound echoes in the silent room. My mother craned her neck to look at me, with a deliberate slowness that made my stomach drop.

I could feel blood rush from my face, no doubt the insinuation clear as day.

"I wasn't —" I begin but my mother's neck clicks as her disdainful eyes meet the side of my head.

My lips clamp shut and he scoffs, indignant. Dark eyes drilling holes into my forehead.

"There are only so many times I can let you off with a warning. But week-long detention is overdue," he assured and I could feel my eyes twitch in absolute irritation. " She will be on clean-up duty every day starting next week Monday from four to five and under close supervision. "

That was hardly fair. People got caught in obscure places all the time but they had been let off with a slap on the wrist. Some only spend a day or two detained. This was no doubt overkill for the intense hatred he possessed, one that I again gladly reciprocated.

"She will see to report to her duties," my mother says and he all but snarls in response.

"That's not all," he began and this time he flipped the page. " Let us circle back to her performance," he redirects but we have been over it five or so times now.

"I can assure you principle Hawkins," my mother began as my father excused himself after receiving a call," We are all working to improve her performance. The tutors, textbooks, and close monitoring - " she used a voice that could only be described as methodical.

That was seemingly the only other emotion I could pull from her. When it came to me, her emotional range only supported three modes: anger, disdain, and absolute detachment.

Always one or the other, sometimes all three, and nothing else. She turned her head toward once more.

Her face remained passive but she gripped the hem of the skirt quietly her red bottom tapping the harsh carpet. Short curls wrapped gingerly around the red and brown frame of cat eyeglasses. I watched her nostrils flare ever so often and a small sigh escaped thin lips.

"Well, I would like to hope so Eva," yes, they frequented this office so much they were on a first-name basis," because if she does not approve in time for assessments," his voice is chilling and firm," we might be forced to take more... extreme measures."

What?

"What do you mean extreme measures?"

"Eva," his tone is damn near patronizing," our school has a waiting list. People who would cut off a limb to send their students here. Every student we groom at Silver City Academy possesses nothing but exceptional talent. And you don't have to look no far, take your two other children for example," he says and that's where they always lost me," Camille has consistently been top of her grade the last three years in a row. She has been elected as student council treasurer and is currently captaining the medicine under 18 program," he drawls flipping through papers on his mahogany desk," Ezekiel is equally impressive. Captaining our football team. Excelling in whatever sporting endeavors he decides to partake in. Student body vice president along with captaining our economics club. He too is a valuable addition to the Silver City family. "

He had lost me.

The constant comparison to my siblings was something that unfortunately he was not the only one to subject me to. The main perpetrators? Well... they sat beside me.

"Cameron's performance is abysmal, and I am not sure how much longer we as an institution can put up with it," he nearly snaps

"Now I understand that but —," and I hear her tone is strained with no doubt anger and frustration.

"—I will have no choice but to unenroll her from the school," he says and it was all but a slap in the face.

There was a silence so heavy that settled over the room. Only being broken by the shrill ringing of the siren. Signaling the end of the period.

Despite dropping such devastating news, he looks so vindicated. Soaking in the shock and then subsequent anger and disappointment that followed on both my parents' faces.

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