The Wrong Choices

5. "and we use kangaroos instead of taxis"

"Ah, Lilli, I was just about to go fetch you! Come in, come in. Welcome to my humble abode," Freya says, dragging out the 'o' in 'abode'.

Freya Winters never ceases to shock students and faculty alike with her outrageously eccentric outfits. Today she wears straight jeans with a floral print on them that distinctly reminds me of the tablecloth my grandmother used to use. She teams this with a striped top covered by a yellow blazer and bright red shoes with a slight heel. Her fuzz of dyed blond hair, pushed back with a blue Alice band, surrounds her head like a halo.

The woman's got balls, I'll give her that.

"Hey, Freya," I say with a slight smile and I enter her office.

Her office is middle sized, the walls painted the same dreary red-orange colour as most of the school. Apart from that, nothing is like the rest of the school. The walls are decorated with all sorts of everything. Framed quotes are at different locations on the walls. The closest to me says 'Maybe it's not about the happy ending, maybe it's about the story'. There's fairy lights draped across the walls and tinsel- yes, tinsel- hangs from the ceiling.

There's pictures done by students also on the walls and one catches my eye. It's a painting of a dozen red roses laid out on on a white surface, in the middle is a single black rose, slightly shrivelled, it catches your attention straight away. In the corner of the painting, there's a squiggle which if you look closely, says Lilli.

"Ah, yes. I believe this is your work. I hope you don't mind my displaying it, its one of my favourites," Freya explains, the corners of her mouth twitching up just a little.

I stay transfixed by the painting, trying to remember why I painted it, what I was thinking.

"Well!" Freya says, making me jump, "Take a seat," she gestures to the plastic chair in front of her desk and I sit.

She looks at me for a while, the way people do when they're trying to analyse you, then she leans on her hands which are laced together.

"What's troubling Lilli Evans?"

"Nothing," I blurt out, without thinking.

"Nothing? Hmm.....interesting," she jots something down on a notepad that I can't decipher because a) her writing is tiny and b) I'm trying to read it upside down. "I somehow fail to believe you. I'll ask again, and this time you shall take exactly ten seconds to ponder your answer before you actually answer. What is troubling you?" She maintains the soft tone in her voice.

I'm slightly taken aback, Freya doesn't strike me as someone who would be so forward.

But what is troubling Lilli Evans? I could write a whole book on what's troubling me. Boyfriend troubles? Check. Family troubles? Check. Money troubles? Check. School troubles? Check.

"Now you may answer," she states, snapping me out of my daze.

I try to think of a way to explain it, but all I can think to say is-

"Everything," I heave a sigh, looking down at my hands where I'm picking off my green nail polish nervously.

"Good, good. Now we're getting somewhere," she puts down her notepad, her full attention now on me.

"I want you to look at me, Lilli. what do you see?"

I scan her, thinking that this is a stupid question.

"I see Freya Winters," I answer shortly.

"But what do you see? What personality traits? What physical traits? What do you see?"