For Good

Chapter 13 - To Hear

"It's ok, Ky. Really."

Skie curled up closer to her sister, smiling when Raven began brushing her fingers through her hair. "Thanks Ray. I hate that I sounded so much like him."

"Do you want to wait to talk about this more until Hazel gets back? She's not going to be out with Daisy and Lil forever."

Skie shook her head slowly. "I will talk to Hazel about it, but I want to talk to you too. She understands about being a head girl but you, you understand about him, you know?"

"I know. And don't be hard on yourself about sounding like him. We've been forced to listen to that bullshit all our lives, it's not your fault it's in your brain."

Skie winced as she remembered her words, and the look on Nikki's face when she's left the room. "I really messed up, Ray. Not that she didn't deserve what she got, for cheating and being rude, but she said I lied, that I didn't care about her."

"Do you?"

The younger girl shrugged and considered. Did she care about Nikki? That seemed like a loaded question, so she asked one of her own. "Does Dad care about us?"

Raven let out a noise that was half snort, half growl. "He cares about our behavior, about how we make him look, about if we're living up to his idea of the perfect daughters. So no, he doesn't care about us."

Skie sighed. "And I sounded just like him. Nikki's never going to respect me."

Raven leaned forward a bit. "Let me ask you something. Do you respect Dad?"

Skie considered. "I fear him. I don't want to make him mad. But I don't respect him."

"Ok. Who do you respect that is an authority figure."

"Headmistress. And Hazel."

"Gotchya. What's the difference?"

"Between them and Dad?"

"Yeah."

Skie thought for a minute. It was hard to think about that, considering there were so many differences. But after some thought, Skie spoke quietly.

"They care about me. I know Hazel does. And Headmistress, I've had respect for her ever since she gave me a second chance."

"Bingo. So how do you get Nikki to respect you?"

Skie blinked several times at her sister. "You're smart as hell sometimes, Rave."

Raven tossed her braid off her shoulder. "Why thank you. Just remember, Hazel's supposedly the 'smart' one and yet, I'm the one who always has to be rational and keep her from freaking out for four fucking years."

"Language, Raven Sophia." Hazel rolled her eyes as she walked in the door. 

Raven smirked. "Guess you'll have to wash my mouth out again." She winked.

Skie gagged. "I'm not about to stand here and watch my sister and my friend start tongue kissing."

Hazel gave her a look, then the three girls started laughing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Skie shuffled down the hall. It was Thursday, two days later, and her talk with Raven and later, Hazel was running through her mind.

I really hope I didn't mess things up with Nikki. I mean, she deserved it, and I was right to have boundaries, but on the other hand, I was pretty harsh, and it was only her second time. Firm but kind. Firm but kind. I do hope she's ok. I haven't seen her. Calm down, Skie. You didn't break her. She's tough and she's still testing you. Firm but kind. God, I'm losing it.

Skie was in no rush to get where she was going, but the thoughts racing through her head made her realize that it was probably a good idea to get there. Finally, she stopped outside the door to Mrs. Thompson's office. Her test results were in.

Steeling her nerve, Skie knocked twice and entered, pulling the door shut behind her and hoping no one had seen her enter. She absolutely hated this.

"Hello again, Skylar. Have a seat."

Skie nodded and sat down, mentally reminding herself not to slouch. I am not about to let this woman have any reason to underestimate me.

"How are you feeling today?" Mrs. Thompson asked as she ruffled through some paperwork.

"Fine." Skie answered in a tone that she hoped sounded equally insincere.

"Good. Now, I have the results from the first round of tests."

Skie raised an eyebrow, doing her very best Hazel impression, because sometimes it really did come in handy. "First round?"

"Yes. The tests have concluded that you do have Social Anxiety Disorder. Common symptoms are fear of being judged in certain situations, anxiety around being the center of attention, and heightened anxiety in anticipation of certain events."

Skie nodded silently. Ok, so that all tracked. I'm basically the textbook definition of social anxiety.

"Do you have any questions about that, Skylar?"

"Yeah, why does there need to be a second round of testing? I mean, I get that I have that, it makes total sense. Is there an issue with the results or something?"

"There's no issue with those results. However, during my examination of you, I noticed a few other symptoms and behaviors that I think warrant a bit more testing, to see if we'll need to diagnose you with anything else."

Skie felt her blood go cold. "Anything else like what?"

"It is possible that you may have autism, Skylar."

Skie stood up quickly. "What?"

"Calm down, Skylar. I noticed a few things and want to do a bit more testing. We can see if it's Asperger's Syndrome or another form-"

Skie's head was going a thousand miles an hour. "No."

Mrs. Thompson gave her a smile that Skie felt would only have been appropriate for a toddler. "It's just a few tests. We just want to help you, Skylar."

"This isn't helping! People already treat me like I have problems because of stuff that happened two years ago, but a learning disability? They'll act like I'm completely incapable!"

"Calm down, we don't have the results yet, and you don't have to tell anyone you don't want to tell."

"Yeah, except you're going to tell my dad." Skie spat.

"Is there a problem with your father knowing?" Skie saw a flash of genuine concern on Mrs. Thompson's face, and her brain began to panic even more. 

"Are you doing any more tests today?"

"Not today, I'll contact you-"

"Fine." Skie snatched up her bag and hurried for the door.

"Skylar, please wait. It doesn't reflect negatively on you if you're diagnosed with autism."

"Yeah? Tell that to everyone else." Skie glared and hurried out the door....

...and nearly tripped over Nicolette McCarthy, who had had her ear pressed to the door, and from the shocked look on her face, she had heard everything.

AN: Heyyy isn't that a fun little cliffhanger? Skie's about to be just a tad upset.

Also I would like to make it *very* clear that neither I nor character!Skie have any sort of problems with autistic people. The reason Skie freaks out is because 1. that's a lot of information all at once and 2. she feels like people will treat her differently because of it. I am doing my best to research everything thoroughly so that nothing I write is harmful to anyone, but if I get things wrong, please let me know <3

Anyway, please leave a comment! Next up, Skie's just a smidge upset.