The Wrong Choices

5. "and we use kangaroos instead of taxis"

I look at her for a while, her clothes, her face, her soft, smoky eyeshadow and bright pink lipstick, her wild, curly hair. What do I see?

"I see someone who isn't afraid to show who she is. I see someone with crazy hair and wacky outfits that would look weird on anyone else, but suit her perfectly," I answer, trying to be as honest as possible.

"Shall I tell you what I see?" I nod and she goes on, "I see a very pretty girl. I also see someone with low self esteem, you may come across as confident by the way you're so brash, but you don't fool me. I think you're hiding behind your anger because you don't know how else to face your fears."

I feel my mouth fall open. That hurt. God, no wonder so many students come out of here crying, she's harsh.

You may wonder how she knows about my brashness or my anger, I think everyone knows by now. Word travels quickly around this school, especially when you scream at your English teacher that he's a 'fucking dickhead' in class, then get suspended for it. Yeah, I did that.

"Got anything to say about that, Lilli?"

"You're harsh."

"I prefer the word 'truthful'. So why did you scream at Mister Timmons?" She asks, her green eyes searching my face.

"I was tired, he was picking on me- I've explained this so many times," I say, scowling.

"Once more won't hurt," she says, looking at me in that analysing way again.

I look at the fairy lights behind her, blinking on, off, on, off.

"I was tired. My sister was crying the night before because my parents were arguing. I fell asleep because Mister Timmons is ridiculously boring. He slammed the book on my desk to wake me up and everyone was looking at me and laughing. He told me I couldn't afford to fall asleep because I was doing terrible and I wasn't trying at all in class. That made me angry cos I was trying so hard and it wasn't really my fault that I fell asleep anyway. So I said 'I'm trying as hard as I can. You don't know me, you don't know why I'm so tired, you dickhead.' Then, I guess they suspended me."

"You're not in his English class anymore, right?"

"Right. I'm in Miss Asher's."

"Tell me, Lilli, what do your parents argue about?"

"Money, mostly. My dad lost his job, he wants to go to Australia."

"What are your thoughts on your dad leaving?" She has the notepad out again and she scribbles something down.

"I don't want him to leave. I want him to get a job and I want our family to go back to the way we were."

"You know that can't happen though."

"I know. But there's always room for hope."

We sit in silence for a while, I look at the other quotes on the wall, 'And we all shine on, like the moon and the stars and the sun'- John Lennon another one says. The first one I saw keeps repeating in my head 'maybe it's not about the happy ending, maybe it's about the story.' My story.

"I think thats enough for today," Freya says, jotting down one last note then standing up.

"Thanks for...... this, Freya," I say, picking up my schoolbag.

"Feel free to come back if you want, I'm always here," Freya says, turning to take something from her bag.

I mutter a goodbye and leave for my class that's on now, French. There's only ten minutes left, which I decide is pointless to go to, so I'm wandering the corridors, waiting for the bell to go for lunchtime.

I round a corner then slam into someone, I fall back, almost tripping over my own feet but they catch me by the wrist.

"Why is it that every time I see you, you almost fall on top of me?" Hunter says, letting go of my wrist when I regain my balance. I look up and see that he's wearing that heartbreaking grin again.

"Don't flatter yourself, Australia," I joke.

He chuckles. "What has you in the hallways during class time?"

"I was with Freya," that earns me a confused look, so I elaborate,"Winters, the counsellor."

He whistles. "Problems, huh?"

I smile slightly. "You don't know the half of it. What are you doing wandering the hallways?"

He seems to ignore my change of the conversation, or maybe he just didn't notice. "I didn't do French in Australia and they didn't tell me what class to go to so....."

We're walking now, towards the cafeteria.

"You know Australia, right?" I ask.

"Just a little, yeah."

"What's it like?"

"It's great. There's killer snakes everywhere and we use kangaroos instead of taxis!"

I hit him on the arm with the back of my hand and decide to not do that again as soon as the pain sets into my hand.

"Seriously," I say, making my hand into a fist then stretching it out.

His eyes seem unfocused for a few seconds, as if he's remembering something.

"I used to go to my aunt's house for a few weeks during the summer. She lives by the sea so I learnt to surf and swim. Summer's great in Australia."

"Do you miss it?" I ask.

"Of course I miss it," he answers and I know by the tone that he uses that I should leave it at that.

The bell sounds and I can hear the mob of hungry teenagers coming down the hallways.

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