Kloppman
A/N: I do not own ANY of the newsies. They belong to Disney and their other respective owners. Like Bottle Cap belongs to Katie *waves* I only own the Extremely Expensive Boarding School in which I am, now that I think about it…receiving no money. *pouts*
Roughly One Year Ago
Kloppman's view
I examined the photos of ten students which sat completely symmetrical on my desk. Their school photos were attached to the top of their student file, which held a psychological, physical, and emotional analysis which were updated every three months. Along with those evaluations there was a record kept of disciplinary action's that have been taken with the student, dates of parental visits, SAT and ACT scores, all standardized test scores, grades from the seventh to sophomore year. They were all sophomores awaiting for the summer to come and go, so they could enter the realm of junior year. One more year till they graduate, and they are allowed to take classes at either school- girls or boys. That was one privilege to being a junior and senior.
A few moments later I called each of them from their classes. Half expecting for them to be joyful because I retrieved them from the confined walls of a classroom, but I received the exact opposite reaction.
The first person to enter my office was Andrea Conlon, the Slut. Although I didn't refer to her as "The Slut" majority of her peers did along with the staff. When you get a reputation at Lake Vista High, you are stuck with that reputation and for the next six years you spend there-that's what you are. Whatever your peers decided you were. And it seems that Andrea Conlon was racking up votes for "The Slut."
Her knee length navy blue skirt was folded under, raising it a few inches. She wore her white button up blouse un-tucked with the red tie loose. Against the dress code. But I did not call them here to deal with trivial problems, I called them here to inform them on the summer camp they'd all be attending called Camp Label-not, even if it was unbeknownst to them. Andrea whipped around, her hair following the sharp movements of her head. "What am I doing here? I haven't done anything wrong. And if this is for some "safe-sex" talk, count me out!" She quoted safe-sex with her fingers, mocking my job. But I said nothing.
"Why don't you take a seat, there will be others joining. We are just waiting for their arrival." I held out my hand pointing to all the available seats.
Andrea walked over to the corner, threw her shoulder bag onto the ground causing a loud noise as the books made contact with the wall.
Next walked in was Cassidy and Sierra, whom both also had the privilege of owning a stereotypical title awarded to them by their peers. They were labeled "The Bitch" and "The Snob." These two chose seats on opposite sides of the table, as far away form each other and me as possible. Sierra set her two whit binders down in front of her, placing her pen on the side with such care and deliberation, you would almost think she believed that no one else was in the room.
"Boy, do you do that at home a lot?" Cassidy smirked watching Sierra.
"Why?" Sierra looked up and glared at Cassidy, who just brushed her hair out of her eyes.
"Because that would explain why you're so pale. I guess it's true, you never go outside."
"At least she ain't out getting pregnant!" A boy with dirty blonde hair appeared in the doorway, leaning his weight against the frame.
"Shut up Michael!" Andrea rolled her eyes at her brother's grand entrance. Cassidy looked over and gave a slight smile to Andrea. "I didn't do it to be nice!" she snapped back at her smile. "He's stupid and just wishes he had a sex life."
"I have a sex life thank you very much. And I pre-apologize that you're not in it lil'sis."
"That's disgusting, is she were it'd be incest and that's illegal…plus no ones that nasty." Sierra gave Andrea a sideways glance, as if she was contemplating her "Slut" reputation.
"Don't look at me like that." It dawned on Andrea what was running through Sierra's mind. Andrea stood up and sauntered over towards where sierra sat, leaning over the desk slightly. "Didn't you know…" Next she rolled over and sat on the desk, crossing her legs slightly as they hung over the edge. "that's how I got my reputation."
"Sleeping with most of the male species." A new girl appeared in the doorway taking up Michaels old position. She had her navy blue skirt hiked up as well, with only half of her shirt tucked in, and the tie was completely, untied. Shanty carried nothing with her but a mini leather backpack on her shoulder. In which she set down at the nearest desk, next to Andrea. "Who knows one of them could have been her brother." Shanty and Andrea slapped hands playfully before returning to their seats.
"That's disgusting Shanty, and it was low." Michael glared at her for embarrassing him in front of Sierra.
"So can we get started…or what?" Shanty changed the subject quickly, giving a short smile to Michael.
"I would think so but we are still awaiting five students." I informed them, a little surprised at how accurate these profiles were. Majority of the quoted to the extent "This student has a negative/harsh attitude. They will use sarcastic or cynical remarks to disguise their pain. The student reveals that she had no close friends or even acquaintances. " This was reigning true as I watched their behavior towards each other. Although it seemed Andrea and Shanty were close, I'm sure it was the opposite, as with Jack and Michael. I was believing to think Camp label-not was far from prepared for these ten students.
WHAM! The door opened with such a force you could hear the pressure depleting in the room. A mess of curly auburn hair filled the door way almost overtaking the girls small frame. They watched as her hair fell beyond her shoulders and discovered a new place to lay. "That charm ain't gonna get you nowhere bandanna boy!" Charly threw her purse on the table watching it slide across the smooth surface, still enraged from what happened just moments ago.
The next person to stroll in the doorway was none other than "bandanna boy" and everyone in the room couldn't help but laugh. He was wearing the assigned khaki pants, whit button up dress shirt with collar and the traditional red tie. Except his outfit had extra flare, he wasn't wearing the tie, he was wearing a red bandanna. "Uh, yea if this is about the bandanna. I'll take it off…." He muttered about to grab a seat next to Charly.
"Don't even think about it." She turned to face him, "And if this was about that crazy bandanna your wearing wouldn't you think we'd all have one on?"
"Jacky boy, haven't seen ya in well…well like ten minutes. What the hell were you doing?" Michael asked trying not to grin.
"Running from the red headed loon." Sierra mumbled, receiving a glare from Charly.
"Why don't you just…"
I cut her off there, who knew where this fight would lead. "Well looks like we can begin if Jake, Steven, and Michah would sit down." This took everyone by surprise and almost immediately they began to readjust themselves in their seats. All three of these guys were dressed correctly. I didn't understand why Fridays were trouble because it was the ONLY day of the week they had to wear a uniform. Steven's shaggy black hair took a seat next to Cassidy, Michah examined the room with his blue eyes before choosing a seat next to Andrea. He ran his fingers through his short brown hair making it look "messier" than it was before, which was probably what he was going for. I kept my eyes on him for a moment before looking in Andrea and Shanty's way, seeing them grinning at each other. Last but not least Jake strolled over and pulled out a chair net to Charly. She put up no fight.
"Okay now that we're all here, looks like we can begin." I had no idea what to say to these kids. I cared about these kids, I cared about what happened to these kids, and what they'd be doing over summer. It's just that convincing them I do…would be the hard part. "Okay each one of you has been put on "disciplinary probation" for the last five months. This puts us in a awkward position, seeing as how there's so many of you…"
"There's ten." Michah looked at me like I was stupid.
"Yes, well I am quite aware of that...I looked down at his file, Thank you Mr. Mcklan. Now this means over the summer we will be forced to meet once a week together and once a week alone, for discussions. You were all aware of this the last time you got in trouble… "you have one level three accusation left, before you will be recommended for disciplinary probation. Meaning that you will be forced to see a guidance counselor over summer break twice a week. Once with the other disciplinary probation kids and once by yourself…" I seriously doubted that Lake Vista pondered the fact that they would have ten kids on probation, or any for that matter. So this is where the administration recognized the dilemma. And casually assigned it to me, all their folders were brought to my office, stacked neatly on my desk with a post-it reading "deal with this." "okay, that was read to you when you signed the temporary probation contract."
"point being…" Andrea spoke in a sarcastic tone.
"Point being, you ten have been assigned to me."
"There's more?" This time it was Steven who spoke up.
"No, only you ten."
Andrea's view:
My eyes were transfixed on the old man sitting at the front of this office. He kept fidgeting with his glasses and glancing down at the folders. He knew something we didn't. And he wasn't prepared to tell us. I know when people are lying, or about to lie…it's a gift I guess you could say. Once when I was sitting in Algebra this year I heard a bunch of girls talking about one of their boyfriends. A small, brunette kept twisting her hair and looking away when Caitlin, the blond would look at her. I figured it had something to do with Caitlin's boyfriend, seeing as how that was today's "I have no life" topic of discussion. Caitlin's boyfriend. Brunettes nervousness. Sex. The brunette had slept with Caitlin's boyfriend and was trying to deny it. Only they believed her, but I knew. And soon after, she knew I knew. Because after class guess who ran up to catch me on my way to Chemistry. None other than the small nervous brunette.
"Uh, hi Andrea…" she was twisting her hair again.
"Uh, hi." I forced a smile. This was going to destroy my reputation even more…in fact it may help it. Seeing as how she was a popular cheerleader...I mean how could she ever want to talk to me. She had other ditzes to discuss trivial life problems with. But I knew. She knew. We both knew exactly what this was about.
"please don't say anything…" Her eyes showed fear and confusion. What was she afraid of being attacked by pom poms?
"I won't, its none of my business."
"How did you know?" She was a curious one, too many questions.
"Twisting your hair gave it away." And with that I turned to leave, leaving a very baffled brunette standing in front of the water fountain.
I focused in again on the room, glancing around at all ten students and Kloppman. He was going on about a summer camp he had discussed with all our parents…there were brochures, he passed out brochures to the camp. This cannot be happening! I looked over at Michael who was in as much a state of shock as everyone else here.
"It's three months…you learn…..and self esteem….new people….learning…" I wasn't paying attention, I was only hearing bits and pieces of this man's rambling. "Now I'd like you all to go home and read over the pamphlets I just handed out…" I saw a manila colored pamphlet in my hand with giant red lettering Camp Label-Not along with a picture of four smiling kids. They had to be tortured to smile like that, or at least paid
"This is not happening…we have to spend ALL summer at a camp! Jake yelled snapping me out of my trance. "I had plans for this summer! And believe me it does NOT include a bunch of happy smiling kids and discussing what I'm feeling over smores!!"
"Wai..wai..wait. All summer!" I repeated. Apparently they had established that we'd all be attending while I was in my own world.
"Yes." Shanty looked at me like she was ready to kill someone.
"Yes, I have cleared it with all your parents. We will be leaving in a week." This words were not true. My stomach lurched in anger, I felt my insides were going to implode. I felt nauseas. But this was all out of pure disbelief, anger and the fact that I had no say.
"wait, we don't get a choice?" Michael attempted to bargain with him but with the way he was acting he was not going to budge on his decision to send us to Camp Label-not.
"Yes. You had a choice, the moment you signed the temporary disciplinary probation contract you could have quit screwing around and you would not be going to camp. But, none of you chose that path and this is where the other path sent you." Kloppman spoke in a gentle voice, although it didn't make his words affect me any less because I was convinced he was "ruining my life."
"Why are you sending us to camp! Why do you care! What we do, doesn't affect you!" Cassidy screamed.
"Because it means more money for him." I grabbed a post it that was sticking off one of our files. It had written on it Take care of this. We can't. We are willing to pay their way for whatever you decide is best. Keep in mind the summer bonuses comin up. Now this man may not be a sly, self-centered man. But that note sure made me think he was one.
"No, I'm not doing it because they're giving me anything. I'm doing it because I really do care what happens to you ten." Kloppman tried to defend himself but I didn't care, it was too late.
"Maybe he does have the best of intentions…"Sierra tried to assist him in defending himself.
" Shut up you naïve little snob! That's were your wrong, there are no good intentions here and if there was. The moment money got involved, the good intent became bribes! The school was bribing him to take care of us! Bribing him! Money ruins everything!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, silencing all noise in the room and the rest of the administrative office.
"I don't believe that." There were tears in Charly's eyes.
"Believe what you want. But He's," I pointed to Kloppman "is paid to care." And with that I grabbed my bag and stormed out of his office. My heart was beating a mile a minute and I couldn't breathe, so I leaned up against a wall, tilted my head back to feel the cool AC and slid down to a crouched position.
