It was midday in Atlanta and the sun was hanging at its highest, making the heat almost intolerable. Every time her foot touched the concrete road, she could swear she felt the sole of her shoe stick to it. She was walking at the slowest pace possible when she had been caught stealing yet another cookie from the cafeteria. She had skipped all of her morning classes, which consisted in gym and math class, both with teachers that always made sure to ostracize her by criticizing her piercings or her lack of attention in front of everybody.
She had been sent to the principal's office, but instead, she escaped the teacher's grip and ran outside. Unfortunately for her, her mother had been home and when Beca had finally confessed why she was home after her lunch hour, she had been forced to do the walk of shame… back to school.
That's how she ended up taking wrong turns after wrong turns, just to make her trip longer. She lived only three blocks away from her school, which meant she had to walk every day to get there, as if already going wasn't demanding enough, she actually had to spend energy in the morning to get there instead of just waiting for the bus.
When she finally made it back to the school, the principal was waiting for her in the front yard, his foot taping an annoyed beat. He wasn't alone though, he was with the school counselor, which had tried to get through Beca's defenses so many times the woman deserved a "You tried" star. She knew classes had already started and she was supposed to be sitting in English, but she couldn't care less; the teacher was always so sloppy and lunatic half of the class fell asleep during the first ten minutes of her class.
"How nice of you to grace us with your presence, Ms. Mitchell." The principal greeted her coldly.
"Hello M. Wellington, that tie is really looking good on you." She answered with a snarl.
She snorted when he actually stroked his tie, taking her sarcasm for a compliment.
"Compliments won't get you anywhere, young lady. You are in big troubles. Come with us now." He said simply, motioning for her to step in front of him.
"Well, M. principal I'd gladly have a chat with you, but it seems like I'm already late for my class." She tried with a smirk when he hesitated a second or two.
"Don't think you'll get us fooled. You can easily complete any work your teachers have for you in detention. I think three hours after school for the rest of the week will be plenty of time for you to get on date with every classes you've missed this past month." The principal smiled at her flustered look with content, then motioned once more for her to step in.
She rolled her eyes at his decision, at least she knew she wouldn't be alone in detention, but if they thought she was actually going to do homework, they were fooling themselves. She walked in front of him, shrugging away the hand on her shoulder, but to no extent because it came back seconds later. Surely, the principal had had enough of her little games of hide and seek and he wanted to make sure she went directly to his office.
It took an hour for him to work down Beca's arrogant replies and get her to actually apologize and pay for the cookie she had stolen. By the time she was out, there was only about twenty minutes remaining to her English class. She crumpled the principal's note and texted her best friend to ask him where he was. Obviously, she found him in the skate park just behind the school, smoking a joint.
"Hey lil' miss!" he called, handing her the smoking pot.
She waved her hand in front of him, shaking her head and he shrugged, taking back the joint for himself.
"How's it hangin'?" he asked, mimicked the action of the same name,
"You're so funny." She answered with an eye roll and a grin. "I'm okay, just been caught for stealing a damn cookie and I think the principal didn't like my attitude because I've got three hours after school every night 'til the end of the week, and maybe Saturday class to attend." She spat with a disgusted look.
"Oh man, we're gon' have fun! I got three 'til the end of the month for smoking in the locker room and skipping classes." He lifted his left hand and she high-fived him with a wide smile.
As she was wondering if she was going to her last class, her cellphone started buzzing. Checking the caller ID, then the clock, she decided it was safe to answer since she wasn't supposed to be in class right now, only in… three minutes.
"Hi mom." She emphasized the last word so her friend would understand her annoyed eye roll.
"I got a call from the principal saying you were most likely to cut your last class too since you never showed up in neither of your classes this morning and didn't go back to English as you were asked. I presume he called for nothing and that you're not in the skate park with your damn boyfriend, smoking God knows what, right? That you're actually walking towards your classroom and I'll have a signed note by your teacher saying you attended otherwise you know what happens to your mixing equipment." The threatening and growling tone was enough to send Beca into panic mode, but when her mother menaced to take back her DJ stuff, she quickly jumped on her feet and started racing to try and get in class on time. She waved at Henry, her friend, and answered her mother while running.
"Of course, Mom, I wasn't even with Henry, who's not my boyfriend but my best friend. Learn the difference. I'm stepping in the classroom, I'll call you later, I got detention tonight. Bye!"
She clicked 'end call' before her mother could say anything else and sprinted just in time before the last bell rang. Panting, she sat at her place, in the back row and rested her head upon her folded arms and closed her eyes to sleep the class away.
When the bell indicating the end of the end rang, Beca's eyes popped open and she jumped out of her chair, knocking it over. She was about to run out of the classroom when her teacher called her name.
"Beca? Would you mind chatting a little bit?" she asked with the sweetest smile the girl had ever seen.
"Uh… sure." She gave in, because she could never resist the kind eyes and the soft smile she always had when she looked at her.
"I noticed that, since the start of the school year, your attendance has gotten even worse than it was before. You know that, if you ever need to talk about anything, I'm right here, right? It doesn't have to involve the principal or any of the school's specialists. Just the two of us, talking."
Beca was taken aback by this, she never expected one of her teachers to care enough to offer her a talk in private, just with her and none of the school's bullshit professionals. She smiled slightly, still shaken by this, and didn't know what to answer. She didn't have to, though, because her teacher spoke again.
"Can I ask you a personal question and have an honest answer? I promise everything you say here will stay here and never come to the principal's ears or anybody else's who's not here right now." She said, cocking her head a little to the side, looking even more beautiful with her long auburn hair cascading around her face.
Beca shoved her hands in her pockets, kicking an invisible rock out of nervousness before half-shrugging and nodding quietly.
"Do you take drugs?" the question was blunt and took Beca by surprise, who didn't know what to do so instead, she barked a laugh.
"I'm sorry miss, I didn't mean to laugh, it's just that I wasn't expecting that question! At all!" she added with another light chuckle.
"Oh…" she looked hurt, but regained herself before Beca could feel bad. "Well then you don't mind answering it?" she pressed softly.
"No, not at all. I don't do drugs. I know sometimes I smell funny, but that's because my best friend smokes pot, not me." She assured her with a sincere tone.
"Oh, okay, good, then. What question were you expecting, then, if not that one?" she asked, now curious.
Beca grew nervous from this, and she quickly looked at her phone to check the time. She slapped her forehead, shoving it back in her pocket. She gave her teacher an apologetic look and told her she had detention and she was late. The woman smiled gently, but Beca could tell she wasn't done with her, and she suspected something. The thing is, Beca hated that she did, because with her, she just couldn't resist very long and it was distressing her like never. She didn't want her to pierce her barriers, didn't want to talk to her. She wanted to stay hermetic to all forms of comfort. She didn't want comfort or to be listened to or understood, she wanted back what she could never get back.
In three hours, Henry and her had played two hundred and three games of tic-tac-toe, had snorted at bad jokes and invented a new game of who could piss the teacher on guard the most before being threatened with another week of detention.
When she came back home, getting a lift from Henry on his bike handles, the first thing she saw walking in the kitchen was a pamphlet on the counter. She ignored it to get something to eat out of the fridge, starving as she was. It's when she set down her plate on the counter, taking a seat around the kitchen island that she picked up the pamphlet, curious. It read " Sunshine Lake : for an unforgettable summer!" and just under it, Beca's horrified eyes widened even more : "A summer camp just outside Atlanta for young girls to go".
"Mooooooooom!" she called, unable to take her eyes off the brochure, not feeling as hungry as before suddenly.
Her mom came down the stairs with a puzzled look and when she saw her daughter holding the pamphlet, she sighed with relief.
"Thank God, I thought there was a spider or something like that. When did you get in? I didn't even hear you?"
"That's because I made sure too." She said sternly, shaking the brochure, her face a big question mark.
"Oh, that's Sunshine Lake, a friend at work gave it to me when I mentioned that since I'm working all summer, we wouldn't get to go on vacation together."
"What? What do you mean you're working all summer? We were supposed to go to Los Angeles together, you said you'd take me there!" she was screeching now, hurt and anger mixed in her voice.
"You know I need the hours, Beca, and there's no way I'm taking you to Los Angeles with the school year you've given me! You went from good student to the plague of all teachers, what happened?" her mother's words hurt her more than Beca would ever admit, and she closed herself up again, folding her arms.
"Nothing happened." She spat angrily before running past her mother.
"Beca! Come back here, we're not done talking!" she shouted to an empty stairway.
"I'm done!" she heard back before a door slammed roughly.
The next morning, Beca's anger had cooled down a bit and when she walked in the kitchen, she found her mother there too.
"I'm sorry for getting mad at you yesterday." She simply said, approaching her mother who hugged her tight.
"I know, baby, I know. I'm sorry too, I should've told you sooner. And I shouldn't have yelled neither. Guess it takes time adapting to this for both of us." She rubbed her daughter's back softly.
"I don't want to go to that camp." She stated, her words muffled by her mother's hair, face buried in the crook of her neck.
"I know, sweetie, but I'll be working crazy hours and I can't let you all by yourself here all summer long."
"I can take care of myself, mom, I'm old enough." She replied, hoping this would make her mother change her mind.
"Oh, baby, I'm not ready to let you take care of yourself, that's the thing. I know you'll hate me for it, but you're going, Beca, there's no point in discussing it." Her mother's tone was serious, the kind of serious Beca was no point to argue over.
She sighed and walked over the coffee pot to serve herself one.
"I hope you're not expecting me to enjoy it." She simply said before going back to her room.