Wednesday, January 20th (The Trinity School) (9:30 AM) (Bella's Perspective)
At the moment I was at my locker getting my French notebook before going to my next class. I was with Hannah because we do have the same schedule after all.
"Bella, there's a basketball game going on later. You're coming right? Jake's playing." She said with a smile.
"I have therapy today. What time is it?"
"5:30, and then after we can grab some food with the boys."
"I'll ask Mom." I closed my locker and we walked towards the staircase.
"Bella!"
"Hey, Jess."
"Hannah, what are we doing in French today?"
"Oral presentations."
"Oh yeah, our project! Sorry, I forgot. It'll be amazing though."
"I know, we're gonna kill it. But um Bella, do you have a sec?" Hannah asked seriously while holding my arm. This is important.
"Yeah, yeah of course. Is something wrong?" I asked kindly. We were late to class at this point, but I didn't care, Hannah seemed a bit off lately, and I'll probably finally get to know why. One of the hallway monitors was coming so we quickly went into the staircase and ran to the blind spot.
"What's going on, Hannah?" I whispered.
"You know how I was hanging out with a Knox a bit during the senior trip?"
"Yeah. What about it?" I asked.
"Well, um, after school when I told everybody that I was going home, I actually went to hang out with Knox, and we made out."
"Wait, you did?!! Ouu, what was it like?" She had a small smile. I couldn't tell if it was a sad or nervous smile though.
"Oh, it wasn't good? Did he hurt you?!"
"No, he didn't hurt me, it was amazing, I just feel weird, I don't know how to explain it. I don't want to tell anybody else yet, you're the only one that gets to know because you can keep a secret." Wow, Hannah and Knox made out. I'll be honest, I did not see that coming.
"Can you at least tell me what it was like?" I asked as we started to head towards our classroom.
"It was magical, I felt like I was on clouds. It kind of just came to me out of nowhere. Much better than a pillow."
"Keep making jabs at me, and I'll tell." I joked. She rolled her eyes. We were almost ten minutes late to class. I wondered if we'd even be allowed to go inside. I knocked on the door, hoping a student would let us in. Mrs.Bernard came over and watched us.
"You two are late, why is that?"
"We had to do something very quickly before class Mrs.Bernard."
"Do you have a pass?"
"No, we don't have a pass."
"Then I'm afraid I cannot let you in. Come back when you have a pass ladies." A pass?! Oh wait, shoot! We forgot!
"Anybody who is late to class will need a late pass describing why they were late to class or they will not be let in."
"Shit. Where are we gonna get a pass now?!"
"I guess we have to get creative," I said. We started walking down the hallway looking for people who'd give us a pass.
**************
The Interview Room (9:55 AM) (Olivia's Perspective)
"You know, I have a daughter your age."
"You do?" Hayley asked.
"I do, and she hates, and I mean hates opening up to me sometimes."
"But why? You seem like the best Mom ever."
"You're too sweet, it happens, you guys are getting older and wondering what info you should share with others, it happens. But, one thing I always tell my daughter is, it's okay to keep things to yourself, but when it involves you or someone else getting hurt or in trouble, you shouldn't keep it to yourself."
"Oh." She put the pencil down.
"Does she open up to you then?"
"Yes."
"Do you get mad at her?"
"No, if anything disappointed, but never angry," I answered.
"I never tell anyone anything, because everyone just gets mad at me."
"Who gets mad at you?"
"My Mom. She blames it on me all of the time and yells at me."
"I would never do that to you, sweetheart. You can be honest with me without having to worry about feeling judged. I can assure you."
"You can?"
"Yes." My phone started to vibrate. This is really bad timing, really bad. Who is it?! I picked up my phone and saw who it was.
"I'm so sorry Hayley, I really have to take this call, but you can write it down on paper if you feel comfortable as well okay?"
"Okay, Captain Benson." I left the room quickly. It was Bella's school. Is she hurt? What happened?
"Good Morning, this is Trinity's Middle School Dean, Paul Winston, I'm calling to talk to Ms.Benson."
"Speaking."
"I have Bella and Hannah here in my office because they arrived at their French class 10 minutes late, and we haven't been able to find out why. I know Hannah and Bella are good children, but I was hoping that by calling you we'd get some more concrete answers."
"Okay, I understand." Bella tried to skip class again?!!
"Bella Danielle Benson, why were you and Hannah late to class?"
"We had to go do something before class and it ended up taking longer than usual."
"Doing what?!"
"Mom, I don't want to say it. That's private information."
"It isn't helping you by hiding it."
"We were in the ladies room, it usually gets crowded around transition time, that's what took a while. I had to do something there, and Hannah was with me because we have the same class." I don't trust this response, if something had happened to Bella she would've texted me. Somethings fishy, but I'm going to pretend to go along with it.
"Bella, then you just had to say you had lady issues, my dear. There's nothing wrong with that, it's normal and it happens."
"Yes, Mom." I think I know how I'll handle this.
****************
Mount Sinai Adolescent Center (UES) (3:50 PM)
I've reached my last 5 minutes of therapy. We usually go over the techniques I learned at this time, but since today was a bit different I decided to just have a small chat with my therapist instead.
"I've been feeling pretty good, I take my medication every day and I do my techniques all the time."
"That's amazing, Bella."
"When can I stop taking medication? I think I can handle things myself."
"It doesn't just end that easily Bella, you haven't been taking the medication for that long honey, give it a couple more months."
"Okay, I guess you have a point though. Every time I think I'm doing okay, something bad happens to me. It's like I'm Meredith Grey. Bad things are always happening to me."
"Bella, unfortunate circumstances may happen and it may affect your life, but having that attitude isn't going to make things better, you don't let it control you and your life. Take it into your own hands and create your own positive situations. Okay?"
"I definitely will. Thank you, Dr.Johansson." I was ready to go home, maybe Lucy and I could make something awesome for dinner. I'm starving. I walked downstairs to the waiting area to see Mom.
What?! I thought she had to be at work. Aww, man!
"Hi...Mom." She put down the magazine.
"Hey, my sweetest pea. How was your session?"
"Good. As usual." I think Mom caught onto my lie. I'm in trouble now, aren't I? We started to walk towards the car and Mom looked over at me.
"What happened in school today, Bella? Be honest," she asked as I hopped into the passenger seat. I sighed.
"Be honest, please. It was one of the conditions. I'm not mad at this moment, but I don't want to be lied to."
"It wasn't lady issues, which I know you knew wasn't true because I haven't gotten my first period yet, and if I did, I would've told you," I said. She nodded.
"You're very much correct, that's how I spotted your lie. What really happened? We're you trying to skip again?"
"No, I had to go by my locker to get my notebook for French. We had an oral presentation, and Hannah had to tell me something in private. She'd been acting weird the last few days, so we went somewhere private so that she'd tell me. It was innocent, we didn't mean to be late. I only lied because the Dean wouldn't accept that." She nodded.
"Well, I understand that bit. Thank you for being honest with me. Just try not to be late, okay?"
"You're not mad?"
"No, you were looking out for one of your besties, you had no ill intent, so I can't be mad at you, it wasn't intentional. Did you do your oral presentation?"
"Yes, we got an A+."
"Awesome. Good job." Maybe being honest with Mom really is the way to go, plus it feels so much better than lying to her.
************
My Bathroom (4:30 PM) (Leia's Perspective)
I was on punishment, when you're on punishment you can't watch tv or play games on your iPad. You can just draw, color, and craft. I like crafting so I don't mind punishment. Just now, I got glue on my hands so I really gotta wash them. I took a bit of soap and began washing my hands. It went from really sticky to all fresh and clean.
"Leia Mae?"
"Hi, Mommy," I dried my hands.
"Leia, what happened yesterday?"
"Bella was being rude to me and Lucy didn't even do anything."
"That's not what I heard. I heard you insulted Bella and her lemonade."
"But she was laughing at me!"
"Leia, that's not the way to go about it, you ask her to stop and if she doesn't, tell Lucy." I sighed.
"Everyone hates me."
"Leia, that isn't true and you know it."
"Yeah it is, Bella and Noah never get in trouble."
"When Bella and Noah were your age, they got into a lot of trouble."
"No."
"Yeah, Bella used to get in trouble for the same reasons you did, saying mean things, and being rude to others. Noah got in trouble for making Bella cry sometimes. They've gotten in trouble, but they learned their lesson, and that's why they don't get in trouble for those things anymore. Leia, your brother, and sister love you, being rude to them is not very nice. You're supposed to love your brother and sister."
"But what if they do things I don't like?"
"Then you tell us. And we'll tell them to stop."
"Okay. I'm sorry I was mean."
"I accept, but I think you should go and tell Bella sorry too, and give her a hug. You're still on punishment until Wednesday though."
"Okay." We went to Bella's room and I told her I was sorry. She forgave me. She let me play board games with her. Maybe I should be nicer.