out a line full of tardy slips made her look
a little angry. I took a seat on one of the two benches in the waiting area while
she finished.
I looked over on the other couch and caught my breath. A girl around
my age sat quietly wearing a pair of sunglasses. I figured she might be hung-over
until I saw the collapsible white cane next to her on the couch, neatly folded up.
She was beyond cute. My heart started to beat a little faster as I looked at her.
She wore a flowered dress. It looked simple, but beautiful on her. I imagined she
would be beautiful in anything. Or nothing. I mentally slapped myself. 9:30
in the morning was a little early for perving.
Her hair hung over her shoulders in waves of red. Not gaudy, fake looking,
or the color of an apple, but auburn. The fluorescent lights above us made it shine
perfectly. I wondered if her eyes would be green to match. I figured it would be
impolite to ask. Her skin looked like cream without a hint of freckles like you
would expect. For someone in her young teens, she didn’t have one blemish either.
She looked, for lack of a better word, perfect, except for her eyes. Maybe God made
her too perfect and taken away her sight to balance her out. As soon as the thought
crossed my mind, guilt made my heart hurt.
“Hi, I’m Jessica.” It took me a few seconds and a quick look around
the room to realize she was talking to me.
“Hi, I’m Connor. Haven’t seen you around school, are you new?”
“Yup, my dad and I just moved here. I begged him to let me stay home
and start school on a Monday, but he figured the sooner the better. What are you
in for?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. The principal called me down.”
“Well, good luck with that. I’ll see you around.”
I gave a little smile at her choice of words, knowing she couldn’t
see me. I sat there feeling a little weird because she still faced me with her head
tilted to the side as if listening to everything. Just before I built up enough
nerve to strike up another conversation with her Mrs. Rhodes called me up to the
counter. I gathered my bag off the floor and walked up with a confused look on my
face.
“Come on through, Connor. Principal Parker’s waiting for you in his
office.
I nodded meekly and let her open the gate separating the admin offices
from the waiting room. I walked through and she let it go, letting it creak slowly
back in place with a little click. I turned and walked down the hallway fighting
down the panic that seized me every time I made this trip. Fear of my parents kept
me from getting into too much trouble. I hadn’t done anything I knew of, but life
wasn’t always fair.
I peered around the doorway to Mr. Parker’s office and saw him sitting
there typing something on a very archaic looking computer. The one we shared at
home looked light years ahead of the cream colored beast he worked on. Cedar Hills
didn’t have a lot of money, and it looked like county education budgets had gone
from a trickle to a stop. I knocked lightly on the doorframe. He looked up from
his screen and gave me a somewhat angry glare.
“Come in, Connor. Have a seat and I’ll be right with you.”
I nodded and slid into the green leather chair in front of his desk.
I gently set my book bag down on the floor in front of me and waited. I tried not
to stare at Mr. Parker, but I couldn’t help it. He wasn’t fat, but he wasn’t skinny
either. I figured he was about the same age as my parents, but Mr. Parker had one
huge thing that severely tarnished his reputation with the students of Underwood
High. Mr. Parker had the absolute, quintessential, no margin for comparison, take
every last award, worst comb-over in the history of mankind. He looked like he took
the hair growing out of his neck, combed it upward, and forced it to spiral around
the top of his head several times. Very few could look at him or have a conversation
with him and not laugh. I tended to concentrate on his caterpillar like eyebrows.
It
a little angry. I took a seat on one of the two benches in the waiting area while
she finished.
I looked over on the other couch and caught my breath. A girl around
my age sat quietly wearing a pair of sunglasses. I figured she might be hung-over
until I saw the collapsible white cane next to her on the couch, neatly folded up.
She was beyond cute. My heart started to beat a little faster as I looked at her.
She wore a flowered dress. It looked simple, but beautiful on her. I imagined she
would be beautiful in anything. Or nothing. I mentally slapped myself. 9:30
in the morning was a little early for perving.
Her hair hung over her shoulders in waves of red. Not gaudy, fake looking,
or the color of an apple, but auburn. The fluorescent lights above us made it shine
perfectly. I wondered if her eyes would be green to match. I figured it would be
impolite to ask. Her skin looked like cream without a hint of freckles like you
would expect. For someone in her young teens, she didn’t have one blemish either.
She looked, for lack of a better word, perfect, except for her eyes. Maybe God made
her too perfect and taken away her sight to balance her out. As soon as the thought
crossed my mind, guilt made my heart hurt.
“Hi, I’m Jessica.” It took me a few seconds and a quick look around
the room to realize she was talking to me.
“Hi, I’m Connor. Haven’t seen you around school, are you new?”
“Yup, my dad and I just moved here. I begged him to let me stay home
and start school on a Monday, but he figured the sooner the better. What are you
in for?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. The principal called me down.”
“Well, good luck with that. I’ll see you around.”
I gave a little smile at her choice of words, knowing she couldn’t
see me. I sat there feeling a little weird because she still faced me with her head
tilted to the side as if listening to everything. Just before I built up enough
nerve to strike up another conversation with her Mrs. Rhodes called me up to the
counter. I gathered my bag off the floor and walked up with a confused look on my
face.
“Come on through, Connor. Principal Parker’s waiting for you in his
office.
I nodded meekly and let her open the gate separating the admin offices
from the waiting room. I walked through and she let it go, letting it creak slowly
back in place with a little click. I turned and walked down the hallway fighting
down the panic that seized me every time I made this trip. Fear of my parents kept
me from getting into too much trouble. I hadn’t done anything I knew of, but life
wasn’t always fair.
I peered around the doorway to Mr. Parker’s office and saw him sitting
there typing something on a very archaic looking computer. The one we shared at
home looked light years ahead of the cream colored beast he worked on. Cedar Hills
didn’t have a lot of money, and it looked like county education budgets had gone
from a trickle to a stop. I knocked lightly on the doorframe. He looked up from
his screen and gave me a somewhat angry glare.
“Come in, Connor. Have a seat and I’ll be right with you.”
I nodded and slid into the green leather chair in front of his desk.
I gently set my book bag down on the floor in front of me and waited. I tried not
to stare at Mr. Parker, but I couldn’t help it. He wasn’t fat, but he wasn’t skinny
either. I figured he was about the same age as my parents, but Mr. Parker had one
huge thing that severely tarnished his reputation with the students of Underwood
High. Mr. Parker had the absolute, quintessential, no margin for comparison, take
every last award, worst comb-over in the history of mankind. He looked like he took
the hair growing out of his neck, combed it upward, and forced it to spiral around
the top of his head several times. Very few could look at him or have a conversation
with him and not laugh. I tended to concentrate on his caterpillar like eyebrows.
It
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