Disclaimer: I don't own the Higher Ground characters or anything. I made up Janey and the plotline. And the next new character, who is mentioned in this chapter. Keep up the reviews! I appreciate them!
In Peter's office, Sophie and Peter stood, facing Daisy, who was sitting on the couch.
"You know, I miss the comfort of sitting back-to-back," she said, referring to how she used to insist that she sat facing away from the counselor to whom she was talking.
"I want this to be direct," Peter said. Daisy raised her eyebrows.
"I showed Peter your card," Sophie said.
"And I also miss the days when no one read my writing," Daisy said. "When I had some level of privacy."
Ignoring her 'film noir narration,' Peter sat next to her. Sophie sat on the other side. Daisy stood up and faced them, unwilling to be flanked.
"What did you say that the glitter represented?" Peter asked.
"Hope," Daisy answered hesitantly, knowing that they were onto something.
"You said that you had hope about your father's relationship with you." Peter looked to her for an affirmative reply.
"I guess," Daisy answered flippantly.
"Don't guess," Sophie said sharply. "You do."
"Why would I lie?" Daisy asked. "Oh yeah, he's the father that abused me. And everyone expects me to forgive."
"We aren't asking you to forgive," Sophie said. "We want to know what you're feeling."
"At this minute, I'm kind of feeling upset that you read my card."
"Daisy," Peter said. "You didn't lie about having hope, did you?"
"It would've been easy for me to—" Daisy said.
"Did you?" Peter said with emphasis. This was odd: Daisy never walked around answers. She was always exceptionally direct and articulate.
"Without hope, you have nothing," Daisy whispered. She looked up. "I didn't lie. As much as I hate my father, I have hope. I hope that he will suddenly stop drinking, that he will apologize for yelling at me, that he will be truly sorry for what he did. And yes, I have hope that one day, we will be able to say hi to each other without having an elaborate argument. But it's human nature." She paused, looking straight at Sophie. "I was born with hope, as is everyone in the human race. It's nature over nurture."
Sophie smiled, knowing that Daisy was good at analyzing everything from The Scarlet Letter to herself.
"Your father's been out of rehab for a while now," Peter said. "What do you think about a visit?"
"Me there or him here?"
"Which are you more comfortable with?" Peter asked.
She shrugged. "I'm not ready."
"When are you going to be ready?" Sophie asked. "Because if you want a chance you need to put out a little effort."
"I'm just not ready yet," Daisy repeated.
"Daisy, you're a senior. This is your last year here," Peter said. "That means you'll be leaving."
"Duh," Daisy replied, rolling her eyes.
"After you leave, fixing old relationships is just going to be harder."
Daisy met his eyes. "What part of 'I'm not ready' goes over your head?"
"The meaning it part," Peter answered. They looked directly at each other, as if in a staring contest. Neither wanted to lose: to do so was to yield to the other. Sophie watched in silence. After nearly one long minute, Daisy looked down.
"I'd rather he came here," she said as if she didn't really care. "And not for a long visit."
Peter nodded. "Fair enough. I'll call him this evening."
"Goody!" Daisy said sarcastically. "Something new and exciting to look forward to."
"Daisy, I want you to look at this as an opportunity," Sophie said, reentering the conversation. "Decide carefully how you want it to come out."
Daisy had no sarcastic comments for that, and turned back to Peter. "Can I go now?"
"Yeah," he said, and she left. Peter leaned back on the couch.
"You okay?" Sophie asked.
"Yeah," Peter replied. "There's just too much right now. Most of it's concentrated in the Cliffhangers too. I've got the Janey-Scott thing, Daisy's thing, and now a new admit I'm putting in your group. I know that that goes over the ideal limit of eight kids, but—the other groups are filling up. We need more staff."
"Who is it?" Sophie asked.
"Boy, sixteen years. I haven't had a chance to go through the bulk of his files."
Sophie nodded. "Janey's age. When's he coming?"
"Three days."
"Sounds good," Sophie said, feeling sorry for her husband, who was looking overworked and exhausted.
After the group discussion on The Scarlet Letter, Shelby grabbed Scott and pulled him to their little spot in the woods. She sat on the ground, comfortably leaning against the trunk of a tree, and Scott lay down with his head in her lap. She played with his hair.
"How'd it go?" she asked.
"Good," he said decisively. "It went good."
"I'm glad," she responded, and she meant it. "So Janey's okay?"
"She's better," Scott said carefully. "Elaine wasn't the nicest person to live with."
"What'd she do to Janey?" Shelby asked.
"Neglect," Scott said shortly. "A lot of ignoring her, forgetting her. I used to pick her up after soccer practice a lot because Elaine just forgot. Can you imagine just forgetting that you had a daughter? It hurt Janey. A lot."
"I can imagine," Shelby said. That was what her own mother had done. Even while her stepfather had been abusing her, her mother had turned a blind eye. It had been Shelby's greatest hour of need, but her mother hadn't been there. "It takes time to heal."
"You sound like Daisy," Scott commented dryly, making Shelby laugh.
Suddenly, there was a crackling sound, and they turned to see Auggie and Juliette enter into the clearing. Scott hurriedly got up and helped Shelby to her feet.
"Sorry," Juliette said. Auggie choked back laughter. "Did we interrupt?"
"Nah," Scott answered hastily. "It's cool. What's up?" He and Auggie gave each other high five, then low five, and then some fancy handshake. Shelby rolled her eyes.
"Rumor has it that there's another new kid coming," Auggie said.
"We just got Janey," Scott said. His forehead creased as he thought. "Isn't this a little soon?"
"Lotta kids come at the beginning of a new school year," Auggie replied.
"Are you and Janey okay?" Juliette asked, looking at Scott.
"We're fine. We talked, it's cool," Scott answered, avoiding her probing eyes.
"A new kid, huh?" Shelby asked, diverting the attention from a thankful Scott.
"Yeah," Juliette responded. "A boy, a year younger than us."
"Janey's age," Scott said thoughtfully.
There was an uncomfortable pause as the two couples watched each other. Finally, Auggie broke the silence.
"You guys want us to leave?"
"Nah," Scott answered. "Me and Shelb'll head back."
"One last thing," she said, planting a gentle kiss on Scott's lips. He smiled. "Can't exactly do that on campus."
"Not really," Scott agreed. They took each other's hands and walked slowly out of the woods. Both knew that, at the edge of the woods, they would have to drop hands, but for now, they savored it.
Watching them leave, Auggie and Juliette smiled at each other. After the coast was clear, they sat on the ground, cross-legged, facing each other, their knees touching.
"I hope the new kid's cute," Juliette said teasingly.
"I hope he isn't," Auggie said, also teasing. He was secure in his faith in Juliette. She pouted prettily at him, and he laughed comfortably.
"Know what I'm thinking about?" Juliette asked after Auggie's laughter had ceased.
"Not yet," he joked, and she lightly slapped his knee.
"Katherine." Juliette was referring to a former Cliffhanger who had graduated the previous year. She was now at a small college in Massachusetts, and she wrote often.
"Get a letter from her?" Auggie asked.
"Yup," Juliette answered. "She makes college sound so wonderful. She's really happy there."
"That's great," Auggie said, and he meant it. Kat was a sweet individual, and everyone at Horizon had loved her dearly. "She ever think about visiting?"
"Someday," Juliette replied. "But not yet. This is her first year and everything. She says it's fun, exciting, but a lot of hard work."
"Good," Auggie said. "I mean, about the fun and excitement. Not the hard work."
"Sometimes," Juliette said slowly. "Hard work takes us where we need to go."