The Bench

The Approving Smile of an Adult

The final bell rang and Cecilia grabbed her bag and made a start for the door.

"Cecilia." Mrs. Pencavive called after her.

Cecilia rolled her eyes before turning around to face her with a pleasant smile.

"Yes Mrs. Pencavive?" she asked cautiously.

"I just wanted to personally give you your final essay back a bit early." She held out a thick stack of paper stapled together.

Cecilia swallowed and took it from her. "Any particular reason for this?" she asked, eyeing the paper warily.

"Don't worry dear, it's nothing bad." she responded noting her guarded stance. "Actually quite the opposite. This is one of the best final essays I've ever had the pleasure to read." The heavy set woman took a seat and motioned Cecilia to do the same.

"Oh." Was all she could say out of relief. She carefully perched on the end of a nearby chair and placed her bag on the floor. Cecilia had always, (mostly) been a straight A student. It was more of a personal battle she had waged on herself ever since she started looking at her own report cards.

"I wanted to speak to you about your future plans." her teacher stated. "You are a very smart young lady, and I believe it would benefit you to pursue a college degree of some sort; English, biology..." She continued on.

Cecilia would've groaned if her teacher wasn't sitting right in front of her. She had been on the receiving end of far too many "future plans" lectures then she cared to count. Everyone seemed to have something to say about it. It probably would've helped if she could say that she has already put applications in all over the country, or to say that she has a whole career path planned out. But in reality she had no idea what she wanted to do. That was a lie, she knew she wanted to do two things: One; get away from her foster family and the foster care system for good. Two; Move. Somewhere. Anywhere. Just not in Denver anymore. She was sick of it.

Just as she was toying with the idea of moving to Paris, her teacher stood up and started walking towards a cabinet.

"Let me give you a couple of resources in case you want to look at any of these colleges." Mrs. Pencavive reached in a folder and pulled out a fat envelope with what Cecilia could only assume would contain brochures for colleges.

"Thanks Mrs. Pencavive." She said, taking the heavy stack of papers and shoving them in her backpack. "I hate to cut this interaction short, but I thought I'd go to adoration this evening and I don't want to be late."

"Oh! Well don't let me keep you!" She said with the approving smile of an adult.

Cecilia smiled and forced herself to walk instead of sprint out the door.

Why was everyone always worried about her future? It's not like it was going to affect them anyways.

She shook the thoughts out of her head before they could get any more negative.

"Hey Cecilia!" A voice came from the hall behind her.

She turned to see Mr. Andrews, the head of the new club her foster mom wanted her to "check out".

"Oh, hi Mr. Andrews." She said, less than enthusiastic.

He smiled a friendly smile and held out a brochure for the new club. "Your mom called, and asked if I could make you feel welcome at the meeting this afternoon. Seeing as how you didn't attend the meeting, I felt that it was the least I could do to invite you personally."

Cecilia looked at the brochure and hesitated. Thinking quickly shook her head.

"Sorry Mr. Andrews. The meetings just aren't convenient for me. And to be honest, I'm just not interested." Seeing his crestfallen expression, she added, "But best of luck to you!"

"O-of course." He responded, seeming to shake off the rebuttal. "Have a good evening!"

She nodded and turned away before he could say anything else. Cecilia pulled out her headphones and put them on before anyone else could catch her. It was a long walk to Blessed Sacrament, even if she took the bus.