Monday, October 14, 2013
"We once again would like to remind you that, in light of the events and revelations from a week ago, we have brought in two licensed, professional counselors who are available at any time, should you feel the need to talk things over," says Principal Raymond Wells, gesturing to two people on his right, a younger man and a middle-aged woman, both nodding.
The students and faculty and staff of Blackwell all stand outside in the courtyard in the early hours of the morning. A podium (behind which Wells now stands) with a microphone and speakers has been set up. The faculty and staff—including Ms. Grant, Samuel, David, school nurse Barenchi, and English and Literature teacher Ms. Hoida (who has finally returned to work this week after taking a brief leave of absence)—all stand near Wells as he speaks. Max is as surprised as everyone else to see David back this week, only one week after losing his stepdaughter. Knowing David, though, Max would not be surprised if he insisted on coming back; everyone deals with loss differently.
Among the staff is a new person, a woman whom none of the students have ever seen before today, standing to Principal Wells' left. She wears a white long sleeve button-up shirt tucked into a khaki skirt which stops just below her knee, with matching black shoes (flats, not heels) and belt. She has long dark hair which goes down past her shoulder blades; she wears two braids (one originating from each temple) that are tied together behind her head to hold back the rest of her hair. She has a dark complexion; Max guesses that she may be of Latino descent.
Perhaps the most noticeable thing about the new woman, however, is her height. She is remarkably tall for a woman, easily over six feet. She has a lean and athletic body build (which her shirt and skirt reveal nicely while still being modest), and while some women (self-conscious ones, anyway) of that height would try hunching or kneeling slightly to make themselves look shorter, this woman instead owns her height, standing up straight as an arrow. Max does not think she has ever seen a more confident looking woman in her life.
The second thing Max notices most about the new woman is her face. Many would say that she is beautiful, and they would not be wrong, but Max believes it would probably be more accurate to say that she is handsome. She has a very ageless look to her; Max's best guess is that she is somewhere between thirty and fifty years of age. She wears cat-eye glasses with a thick black frame, and has a small beauty mark just above the right corner of her mouth.
Wells continues. "Don't forget that we are collecting money for the Chloe Price Memorial and Scholarship funds." He now turns to his left and gestures to the new woman. "I would now like to introduce to you the newest member of our faculty; she will be taking over the photography class for the remainder of the year. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Elena Garcia."
Applause. Several of the boys are noticeably louder, whistling as they clap, leaving no doubt as to how they feel about the new teacher. Garcia smiles and bows politely.
Elena Garcia, Elena Garcia, where have I heard that name before? Max can't quite place it. Then she remembers. While she has never seen a picture of Dr. Garcia before, Max recalls a book of photography back in her dorm room featuring several pieces of her work. She isn't as famous as many of her colleagues, but she certainly has a very respectable body of work.
"Dude, I'd like to have some 'private lessons' with her," Logan Robertson whispers rather loudly to Zachary Riggins nearby, snickering.
Zach responds with a sour look and slow shake of his head. Time and place, dude, Max imagines him thinking. Logan's idiotic grin immediately crumbles, and he doesn't say another word. Max has noticed that Zach seems a lot more serious than usual (admittedly not saying a lot) over the past week. She wonders if Chloe's death and/or Nathan and Jefferson's arrests have affected him more than people would think.
Wells finishes his speech. "I want to thank you all once again for coming out here this early in the morning. I will let you get to your first period classes now. Dismissed."
Max is pleased to see several students walk up to David Madsen and shake his hand. They are normally too intimidated by him to even approach him, but today they don't let that get in the way of showing a small amount of sympathy.
The first place Principal Wells heads back to after the meeting outside is his office. Closing the door behind him, he goes behinds his desk and opens his cabinet. Taking out his favorite bottle of Scotch and a tumbler, he pours himself the second drink he has had that day. The last week has made him partake in the vice even more than usual.
He has just started sipping from the tumbler when he suddenly hears the door open behind him. Startled, he spits up the Scotch, and it drips down the front of his shirt and tie. Turning around, he sees David Madsen standing there.
"Jesus, David, don't you ever knock?! I could have been doing anything in here!" The still-mostly-full tumbler makes a rather loud sound as Wells sets it roughly on his desk, causing some of the Scotch to splash out.
"By anything, you mean drinking early in the morning?" David's voice is neutral.
Wells looks down at the bottle and the tumbler, then back at David. "Okay. You caught me. What are you going to do, tell on me?"
"Oh, you can't be that stupid, Ray. People already know, even if they won't admit it. But they won't be hearing it from me if you let me have some. Just one glass to get through today."
Wells looks at him for a moment, then nods. "Fine." He holds up his left index finger. "One glass. But you can't take it out of this room, and you sure as hell can't tell anyone about it."
He gestures to the chair in front of his desk. As David sits down, Wells takes out a second tumbler and starts to pour.
Max sits by herself on a bench just outside the dormitory, eating a sandwich she bought in the school cafeteria. She has just finished math class, and is now on her lunch break. She has not paid much attention in her classes so far today; she does not feel much like learning about Plato and Aristotle or sines and cosines and derivatives that day.
"Hey, Max. Mind if I sit here?" Max looks up to see Kate Marsh. Max was planning to eat alone, but seeing Kate does lift her spirits a little. She smiles, still chewing, and nods.
Kate takes a seat next to Max. "Just wanted to check on you. See how you're doing."
Max swallows. "I'll be honest with you, Kate. It feels a bit at times like I'm in a nightmare and I can't wake up." Max regrets the choice of words as soon as she says them, remembering that she had heard Kate use those same words moments before seeing her jump to her death. Max decides never to tell her about her own suicide attempt from last Friday.
Kate nods. "She was your best friend. You said it had been a while since you had last seen her, right?"
"Yeah," replies Max. "Five years. It...feels like it was a lot more recent than that though." If Kate finds those words strange, she gives no indication. "But enough about me. How about you? I know you had a bad week as well."
Kate looks off in the distance. "The police showed me the photos Nathan and Jefferson took of me. I wish I hadn't seen them. As if the video from the Vortex Club party wasn't bad enough. I felt so...so...violated!" She starts to get choked up. "I knew something was wrong with Nathan even before, but Jefferson...I...I trusted him!"
"I'm so sorry, Kate. He had us all fooled."
Kate wipes her eyes. "I guess at least one positive came out of all this. No one is talking about that stupid video of me anymore; Victoria took it down as soon as the news came out about what Nathan and Jefferson were doing. I just wish it hadn't come at such a high cost." She looks at her phone. "We probably need to get ready to go to our next class."
Standing up, Max looks up at the dorm, and remembers last week when she witnessed Kate jump off the roof, even after Max had tried so desperately to stop her and failed. She remembers looking down from the top of the roof and seeing Kate's broken body laying on the pavement, head twisted at an unnatural angle, a pool of blood starting to form underneath. All while other students were callously still filming the entire thing on their phones.
"Kate?"
Kate turns to look at Max. "Yes, M-" She is interrupted when Max suddenly steps forward and hugs her in a tight embrace. After getting over her initial surprise, she returns the embrace.
Max whispers in Kate's ear. "You are the best friend anyone could ask for. You mean so much to me, and I want you to know that I plan to be here for you no matter what."
Kate's voice is trembling now. She struggles to find the right words to say. "Thank you, Max...I'm here for you too. Are you up for another tea session this week?"
Max smiles. "Totally."
Author's Note: I originally intended for this chapter to progress a little further in the timeline, but the scene with Kate literally came out of nowhere in my mind, and I just had to write it out. I decided to leave some of the later events for the next chapter and let this chapter end on a slightly upbeat point compared to the first chapter.
Next chapter will feature Victoria, and will go into a lot more detail regarding the new photography teacher.
Thanks again, and please leave reviews, whether they be praise or constructive criticism.