Truth

Chapter 6

    In a few days I would go to my first class of the summer, which i dreaded.

   "Taylor! You ready for summerschool?" Mary walked into the kitchen and stood behind me, putting her hand on my shoulder while I washed dishes.

   "No." I brushed her hand off of me and put more soap on the sponge. I was still mad at her for approving the recommendation from my principal.

   "I heard there is going to be a girl your age going, too!" She seemed to have not noticed my hint that i didn't want to talk to her.

   "She's probably mean. Or a troublemaker. Kids who go to summer school usually are sent because their parents don't want them at home." I angrily washed a plate and tossed it into the clean side of the sink. I knew what I said wasn't true, but I honestly wanted to make Mary feel bad about making me go.

   "She didn't tell me about any other kids. You know, these kids come from all over the state." I ignored her. She leaned on the counter next to me. Her hair was short, blond, and curly. Her big black pajama shirt hung over her body loosely and her almost neon pants clung tightly to her bony legs.

   "Why did you have to approve of this?"

  "Because you need it. Would you rather repeat your grade?" Mary walked away and I sighed obnoxiously.

   3 days dragged by and I was getting ready for Mary to drive me to class. I threw on a purple T-Shirt and white shorts. I yawned and Grabbed my bag which held a big notebook and a pencil case. Mary still had on her pajamas that she never changes out of.

   "Come Taylor! You'll be late!" I quickly brushed my teeth and forced my hair into a bun. Several strands of dirty blond hair hung in my face, but I ignored them. I ran to the car which was already started, and Mary followed behind me. We got in, and drove off.

   After driving 45 minutes to the small building, I walked in the doors with my bag. A short lady in a black shirt and a long skirt walked up to me. A typical teacher, I thought. Her hair was pinned neatly back into a ponytail and her glasses sat on the edge of her nose. 

   "Maddison?" She looked down on the paper she held.

   "No... Taylor."

   "Oh! I apologize!" She looked into my eyes and I nodded.

   "Its OK." I said, smiling. She seemed like a dainty person. The whole time I was there she had a grin on her face.

   "Lets get to it then! I'm Miss Violet. Violet is actually my first name, but my last name is kind of hard to pronounce, since I'm French." I could tell she was French because of her slight accent when she talked. "Anyway, tell me about you!" She said, starting to walk down the long, narrow hallway. Her heels clicked on the tile. The sound echoed throughout the silent halls.

   "Well, uhm. I'm Taylor Jacobs. I live with my grandma, Mary, and my 8 year old brother, Parker. He is actually my aunt's child; my cousin. But he has been here since he was a baby. I love him like a little brother. My aunt is... Uh, kind of crazy. You know, since her brother passed." I started to follow her. "My parents died when I was about 3 I think... I don't know exactly."

   "How... I mean... if you don't mind me asking: How did they pass?" She slowed down so I could catch up to her. I looked down at my feet.

   "Well, long story short..." I told her everything.

   "I'm so sorry to hear that." She stopped at a door. It was the classroom door.

   I stepped in the room after her. It smelled like strong vanilla. The room was a light yellow and posters of popular quotes hung on the wall. The room was a descent size. A big desk sat in the corner of the front of the room. On the wall behind the desk was a big chalkboard which had "Welcome" written on it. The 15 desks were in rows facing the chalkboard. In the back of the room was a miniature library, with tiny bookshelves and a few beanbags to sit and read.

   "Make yourself comfortable." We walked up to the front of the room. I looked onto our desks, and noticed nametags taped onto the surface of 5 of them. "Find your desk, for now we only have 5 kids that signed up. 4 of them are your age and 1 is a year younger. She's a freshman."

   I read the names out loud. "Christian, Taylor, Chloe, Jaden, Jordan, and Maddison. "

   "Yes, Maddison is the younger girl." She sat down in her chair and watched me. I sat down, set down my bag, and shyly looked around the room.

   "When will they be here?" I asked, curiously.

   "Christian starts in 4 days, Chloe starts tomorrow, Jaden starts in a week, and Maddison should be here anytime today." She opened her laptop and started typing quickly. "We will start the lesson when she gets here. We will go easy the first week then get into actual assignments the next." She seemed so organized.

   As I was trying to convince myself I would have a good time in this class, I heard a soft knocking on the door. "Come in dear!" Said Miss Violet, looking up. The door opened and Maddison came in.

   She was a short girl with really long red hair. It was wavy and shiny. She had ocean blue eyes. Freckles dotted the top of her nose and cheeks. She wore a loose floral tank top that was blue with red, pink and yellow flowers all over it. Under that, she wore a yellow cami. She carried a white bag that she set down next to her desk. "Hello..."

   "Hello Maddison! This is Taylor. She is a sophomore. She's very nice.

   "Hi." I said as she sat in her desk.

   "Hi." She replied. "You can call me Maddi if you like."

   "Alright. You are welcome to call me Tay. " I said.

   Maddi smiled. "Alright!"

    Miss Violet got up from her chair and stood in front of the board. First, she told Maddison exactly what she had told me. Then she added, "We will start with English. Every day we will write in a journal that I will give to you when the other students get here. We also have a few projects we will start. For now, we will talk about what will happen and what I want from you children in this class. Also, Maddison, tell us about yourself!"

   She played with her fingers and timidly lifted her head. "Well, I'm Maddison Harline... I moved here from California. I live with my mom and my little sister who is only 2. My mother and I used to design clothes together, but when she had my sister we kind of grew apart. I mostly only talked to my aunt after that, but since my mom found out and got jealous, she made sure I could never talk to her again. So right now I'm pretty much lonely... heh... " She frowned a little.

   "You can always talk to me! By the way, why did you move from California to Indiana? Isn't California a lot better?" I asked.

   "Well yes. I agree. But my Grandpa didn't want my mom marrying Kris, my soon to be dad. Apparently to my grandpa Kris was cruel because he liked to hunt. I know, it's stupid. And my mom ignored it for a while, until my grandpa started threatening her that if they didn't break up then he would hurt her. So we secretly moved away from home. I know, it's quite confusing."

   "Where is Kris now?" Asked Miss Violet.

   "He stayed in California to work his job. After he gets enough money to live off for a month of he will move in with us and search for a new job."

   "Oh." I looked at her. "You don't seem upset about all this. Why?"

   "Because what happens, happens! I learned to just deal with it. Life isn't perfect."

   I knew I was going to like Maddi. She had a hard life like me, but she was a lot stronger then I was. Her quote made me think about everything that has happened. I smiled uncontrollably.

   "You know what? You're right." I think from that day on everything seemed alot less stressful and depressing. I didn't have to convince myself that I was going to have a good time in this class. I knew that I would have a good time, and I knew that the summer wasn't going to be so bad after all.