The Lights In the Sky

Chapter 11

That first meeting with Susan was strange. I mean, it didn't exactly go the way any of us expected. Mom took me. She said that she wanted to be able to defend herself. Like maybe if Dad and I went without her, we would tell Susan about the incident with the whiskey bottle. Which, by the way, I had no intention of doing at all.

We went into Susan's office, which was at the corporation administration building. I never went in there before. It was a new building, and they caused a big ruckus when they put it up, because people didn't want the school spending all kinds of money on a new administration building when teachers were getting laid off. At least, that's the way Mom explained it to me. It's a nice building, though. Everything is really new. Reminds me of a dentist's waiting room, maybe.

The secretary told us where Susan's office was. We walked through the hallways, trying not to look at anyone in case they knew who I was or why we were there. Not that we planned to avoid people; I think we both just knew it was for the best.

Her office was at the end of the hallway. The door was open, but Mom knocked anyway. This young, optimistic-sounding voice came from inside the office and asked us to come in. Mom and I gave each other a glance and I followed her in.

The thing about Susan's office is that you can tell she's trying to make every age group feel comfortable. There's a red beanbag chair in one corner on this mat of thick, Styrofoam puzzle pieces that interlock together. Behind that is a small bookshelf with those books that have the golden foil on the sides. The small ones, you know? I had one of those about a puppy who lost its mom. I never liked it, though. It made me too anxious.

Anyway, Susan's desk is on the other side of the room, next to some windows. She has a few plants in the window, but they're all green. They're not flowers, is what I mean. Just plants. And if they are flowers, then she's not very good at taking care of them. Her desk has pictures on it, but they all face her, so I'm not really sure who's in them. Everything else is super neat and tidy in stacks on either side of her laptop, which she always closes right away when you walk in. There's a bigger bookshelf next to that. That one is full of books that say things like "Adolescent Psychology" and "Talking to Kindergarteners" on their spines. Then there are posters, and I think that's the part of the room that's meant to appeal to the high school kids. There's a cool Batman one from that movie with Heath Ledger in it. Only it doesn't actually have him on it, because his character in the movie is psychotic and that probably wouldn't send the right impression. Here, kids, go stare at a crazy murderer while you talk about your dirty secrets. There were a couple music ones, like Nirvana and even Justin Bieber, which I don't have a problem with, but it felt like maybe she was trying too hard to be cool. The posters hung over an area with three plushy chairs. They were ugly and brown and old, but they were soft. One was beside the door where you walked in. Then there was a circular rug, and then two more chairs facing the first one.

Susan asked us to have a seat, real politely. We thanked her and sat in two of the big chairs. She grabbed a few papers and a notepad and moved over to the other chair, the one facing us. She didn't look a whole lot older than me, to be honest. And she was very pretty. Even though I was dating Deborah, sometimes I thought about girls, if you know what I mean. And Susan had something going for her. Her hair was almost red, like a dark red, but only if you caught it in the sunlight. She kept it short. And she was in good shape; I'm pretty sure she went to the gym a lot. At least, that's how it looked. She wore dresses every time I was there, but not the kind of dresses that make you look professional; more of the ones that make you look like you really like shopping with your friends and fawning over clothes. And I'm not saying that's bad or anything.

She looked at me first and said, "So, you probably want to talk about why you're here." Only she did it in a way that sounded like she was talking to a kitten. Mom kind of snapped at her.