Charlotte went to the office to collect her mentee for the school year. She had been doing this for four years, now and was not happy to see this name appear on the email sent to her at the end of the summer. Piper Hart.
Her freshman year, she had the unfortunate task of getting the older one, and it was her hardest assignment ever. Henry Hart. He didn't have any goals, motivation or concern about class, activities, or even his life in general! Mentoring him became a full time job for her that year, except she didn't get paid and at the end of the year, she didn't feel like she had been successful, at all. He still got bad grades, fell to sleep in class, skipped all the time, and got into it with other students and teachers whenever someone said something that he didn't like.
She didn't want to generalize, but her mind automatically counted Piper out whenever she received the email. However, this was her senior year and a program that she cared about that also looked great on her transcript. "Piper Hart?" Charlotte said.
Piper glanced up from her phone with a stank attitude look on her face that immediately put Charlotte off, but the younger girl quickly changed her expression when she saw her. The attitude melted away and was replaced by blushing and wide eyes. "I'm Charlotte Page, your student mentor."
Piper stood up too quickly and dropped the books from her lap, but Charlotte noticed that she held her phone tightly. The girl glanced at the books, and must have decided that they were the lowest priority as she extended her hand to shake Charlotte's. "Yes! I remember! You used to mentor my brother and they said that you did a bang up job with him, so I requested you when I found out that I had to be in this program." She rolled her eyes at that notation, but quickly resumed her smile. "Wow. You look great! I haven't seen you since then. Do you still talk to Henry?"
Charlotte tried to control her face. "I see him," she said. Meaning that they had interactions here and there. He would ask her if she meant it when she mentored him and then proceed to ask her for help and NEVER actually try to better himself. He called on her whenever he was in a jam, but refused to act responsibly in similar situations! He was SO frustrating! "We talk, sometimes. Not a lot."
Piper looked disappointed. "So, whenever you're done with failing to make me a better student, we just don't speak anymore?" Great. This is gonna be a terrible year. ANOTHER one…
"Not necessarily! The guy that I had my sophomore year, Jasper - he and I are actually best friends. I had Bysh Bilsky my junior year and we made amazing progress. So, it's very possible that things turn out differently. They just didn't really, with Henry." Piper nodded, but she still looked dismayed. "If you want to know the truth… Henry is… sad. He's a very sad guy who has a lot of responsibilities. He needs a professional. I'm just another student, with less problems and less experience."
"He's always working. Our parents are never home. The reason he was placed into the program was because we had to live at a group home for a few months when mom vanished and Dad had a breakdown. When we got back, he started working. You're not even supposed to work at 14, but the junk store guy is kind of a headcase, so he allowed it. I'm here because of poor social interaction or something. I got community service for the first time when I was 11. We're a disaster family… but… Henry seemed to really be a good person whenever you were around. You might have thought that you didn't really help, but that's probably because he wouldn't have shown you all the stuff that you were up against. It can be embarrassing… being us. We aren't the Bilskys, but…" Piper's eyes were a little welled with tears and Charlotte did not know WHAT to say. "I guess that I thought that at least this time, I might have a friend. Henry doesn't have the time and now that he's 18, he's probably going to drop out and not even… This was a bad idea. I'm not gonna do any better with this program than he did. Thanks for meeting me, though. Have a good school year, Charlotte."
The girl turned to leave, but Charlotte reached out and caught her hand. Piper paused, looked down at their hands and then up at Charlotte's concerned face. "You were just more honest with me about this journey than Henry has been in the past four years. Just because you two are from the same family doesn't mean that you'll have the same results. I didn't really have the entire picture when I worked with him… So… Let's start over. I'm Charlotte, and I'm gonna be your mentor this school year to help you navigate at least the academic part of your life a little bit better, since you have other areas that you struggle with. And hopefully… We can also be friends."
Piper squeezed Charlotte's hand and squeezed out a few tears. "All of that sounds like exactly what I've signed up for." They held hands and Charlotte began to walk her. Piper didn't want to let it go, but she figured that people would start to stare, so she tried to pull her hand back gently. But, whenever Charlotte didn't unhand her as she started to give her the tour, she realized… people said a lot of bad stuff about her, holding her new friend's hand was at least a good thing. The best thing, in fact. The thing that she needed most in the world right now. To just have somebody there for her. This might be a good year, after all.