Many Mistakes, No Regrets

Chapter 9: A lot of Dancing and A little...

Chapter 9: A lot of Dancing and A little…

            It’s been almost three weeks since I fell off Trigger. Three weeks since Jake said he wanted a date with me, not that he knew I had heard him. Three weeks since I had last talked to Elle. Today was Friday, October 31. Halloween. The dance was tonight. I was going to go over to Liz and Amber’s room to get ready but first I had to make it through the school day.

            The teachers droned on about something. I wasn’t paying any attention. Since I was in solitary confinement, I was way ahead in school. In the last two months, I had covered half of the stuff we were doing this year. I had a web chat with the principle today once I was done with classes.

            Finally my Spanish class was dismissed. I stayed signed on until the teacher came back to turn off the computers.

            “AH. Rikki. ¿Por qué has no firmado todavía? La clase terminó hace 5 minutos”    {Oh. Rikki. Why have you not signed off yet? The class ended 5 minutes ago.}

            “Lo sé. Pero una vez que firmo aquí automáticamente se conectará con el Sr. Johnson.”

            {I know. But once I sign off here I will automatically be connected with Mr. Johnson.}

            “Oh. Sí, tiene una reunión con él. No se preocupe por ella. Se ha hecho nada malo.”

            {Oh. Yes, you have a meeting with him. Don’t worry about it. You’ve done nothing wrong.}

            “Muy bien.Bye.”

            {Alright, bye.}

            I signed off and waited for Mr. Johnson to accept me. Suddenly his office came into view. At least I think it’s his office. I’ve never actually seen it before now.

            “Hello, Ms. Bushman. May I call you Rikki?”

            “Of course sir. May I ask why you asked me to meet with you?”

            “I am sorry for doing it on Halloween. I’m sure you have plans to go somewhere, but I wanted to talk to you about your schoolwork.” My schoolwork? I was ahead. Why would he want to talk to me about it?

            “I have been told by a few of your teachers that you are ahead of your classes. Is it true?”

            “Yes. I am working ahead. I’ve been asking my teachers for the work we will be doing around Christmas break.”

            “Why are you so far ahead?”

            “I don’t have much else to do.”

            “Well, I was wondering if you would like to try something. It would put you on a fast track to graduation. Well, a faster track. You are already younger than most of your grade.”

            “What are you thinking?” Do I really want to graduate even earlier? It would mean college sooner. Which would mean less time with Ms. Baker.

            “You would continue on the way you are right now. Once you have completed the work your teachers will be covering this year. You will join the grade 10 class. You will have to play catch up there. Once you finish that grade. You will do the 11th and 12th grades the same way. You will be moving at your pace.”

            He wanted me to do my own thing. I could do my work as I please?

            “How would I turn in my papers and take tests though?”