Saints in The Making (Beta)

(.𝟎𝟎𝟒) 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒

"𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡, 𝐈 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫"

She wasn't lying. She really was more than a therapist. I couldn't avoid speaking to her. Especially not with Mira down my throat about all my new responsibilities. I have to meet with her twice a week, I have to join some extracurriculars, I have to fix my schedule.

    I sat on the floor of Ms. Teagan's office. She'd offered the seat, but it was too big of a blow to my pride to comply. I'd already been forced to betray myself by having this conversation. Somehow, sitting on the floor was the rebellion I needed when I could do nothing else.

    "What about mock trials?" She suggested, flipping through the brochure. "That'd be good for you."

    "No."

    "You already know what to do. You'd be good at it, just like your dad."

    "No."

    She let it go but I could still see her disappointment from the corner of my eye. She sipped her coffee, slyly judging me, as if her expectation was for me to become my dad and I already let her down. I bit back a smile as I watched her bury her face into her mug.

    I hadn't lost all my power after all; I still had the power to work every one of their nerves.

    She, and all other participants in my suffering, would grow to be sick of me.

    "Find anything you like?"

    "No."

    "Well, you have to choose something. The school requires you to do a minimum of two extracurriculars."

    "No."

    "It's not up for debate."

    "I'm not interested in any of them."

    Our eyes met in a challenging stare until she sighed, rubbing a temple. "The more difficult you make this, the harder it'll be on you."

    "Fine by me."

    She didn't crack easily. She stood her ground against my defiance, but I'd long since grown tired. It wasn't worth it; I had to pick my battles. The only thing that kept me from surrender was the thought of letting her win. I couldn't let her have the idea that I'd always let her win. She probably thought the same.

    There was only one way to end this.

    "You want me to do two, I don't wanna do any, can I do one?" I made sure my tone portrayed what my words didn't. It wasn't a question.

    "Will it be mock trials?"

    "No, I wanna do mathletes."

    She took a moment to think it over. I knew what she was thinking: should I let her win?

I hoped she knew this wasn't a victory for me. It was more of a draw; I couldn't win so the least I could do was not lose.

"You can do one for the time being. Once you get accustomed, I expect you to pick up another."  She scribbled my name onto a sheet and handed me a flier.

I wasted no time in rushing to breakfast, where I pulled Adonis from his seat with Ivan and Jadyn to Mira's table. It was easier to tell them at once.

"I chose my extracurriculars," I beamed. Maybe if I pretended to be excited, I'd trick myself into enjoying it. "Mathletes."

Neither seemed to be excited as I was. I received nothing but blank stares.

"Isn't that, like, math competitions?" Adonis finally asked.