All The Lies We Tell

Chapter 12: If I Could Tell Her

During Mr. Archer's class I was called down to the office. As I walked, I couldn't help but drag my feet. I didn't want to know what I was in for but I figured it had something to do with my absence during first period.

When I got to the office, I greeted Mrs. Doris with a smile.

"Hi Mrs. Doris." 

She looked up from her screen and returned the smile. "Good morning dear. Who are you here to see"

I shook my head. "I'm not sure. Mr. Archer just said to come down."

She nodded. "Let me see."

She picked up the phone and dialled. "Hi, I have a student here. Ciara Stevenson. Yes okay great."

She hung up the phone and smiled. "You're meeting with Mrs. Yan, the guidance counsellor. She says you can go on in."

She pointed to a door at the back. I walked over to it and knocked.

"Come in," a voice called.

"Hi," I said as I walked in.

Mrs. Yan stood up and stuck out her hand. She was a pretty Asian woman with chin length hair, hooded brown eyes and a size zero waist.

"It's nice to meet you finally," she said as we shook hands.

"I meant to call you in earlier for a chat but I've been swamped with students."

I took a seat across from her. "It's okay, I'm sure you're quite busy all year."

She nodded. "This year's graduating class will be the biggest in St. Mary's history. I've tried to touch base with most of them but, well what matters now is that I have you in here now."

I nodded as she clasped her hands together and leaned forward on the desk. "So, how have you been liking your classes?"

"They're fine." I said with a shrug.

She nodded. "I know it can be hard to assimilate to a new environment. I do hope that everyone's been welcoming."

Welcoming wouldn't be the word I'd use but she didn't need to know that.

"Yeah, for sure."

"Alright, that's great to hear. So the reason I called you in is because I was taking a look at your file. It seems that you only have ten hours of community hours logged in. I just wanted to remind you of the importance of getting your hours done. It can be challenging to get them in especially as the semester progresses."

I breathed a sigh of relief. So I wasn't going to get yelled at for skipping.

"Um, I'll get them done."

She nodded. "The sooner the better."

"Okay."

"Here's the form. Get whoever's tracking your hours to sign it and bring it in. I'll check back in with you in a few weeks. Don't delay this, okay?"

I took the form and stood up. "Okay."

I gave her a final smile and then walked out of her office.I waved goodbye to Mrs. Doris and then walked into the hall. One crisis averted but now I had to figure out what the hell I was going to do for my hours. I knew mom would find me something to do at the clinic but I've never liked being in a hospice setting. And blood, God, Blood! I got shivers thinking about it. I was going to have to find some other way to get them. How, had yet to be determined.

***

"Have you gotten all of your community hours?" I asked Layla, talking around my apple.

She nodded before shovelling another handful of popcorn in her mouth. I was convinced she was obsessed with it. It might be a stretch to say she was qualified to go on the show My Strange Addiction but I was also sure that if she didn't have popcorn for twenty four hours, she'd go into withdrawal.