The Principal's Daughter

Chapter 4

WHISPER SHADOWS

"How are you?" She asks me. The school therapist spotted me today during her lunch break at the office and invited me in for a simple talk.

"Good." I said. My hands fidgeted, my fingernails plucking out the dirt from the other fingernails. I occasionally make eye contact with her but struggle to maintain long lasting eye contact. The room was dark and I fidgeted in my seat of the long blue couch. I sank into the couch, the plush cushions surrounding me.

"How's family life?" She asks me. Ms. Cooper was the school counselor. I didn't really see her that often as I had a counselor outside of school but she liked to check in with me time to time. I assumed it was because I am the daughter of her boss.

"Good." Her eyebrow perched up but she doesn't ask any further. She has dark chocolate skin and slicked back professional looking hair.

"And friends?" I don't respond because there was nothing to respond to. We both know I don't have any friends. There isn't any need to say that out loud.

She waits a couple seconds for me to respond then rolls her chair backwards to her desk. Cooper than grabs a post-it and a pen and scribbles down something. She then looks back up at me.

"Do you want friends? Are friends something that you want?" She ask me gently. She looks down at my feet and I follow her gaze. I see that my foot has been tapping against the floor and I haven't even noticed. I immediately stop, my lips slightly pursing.

"Okay." She scoots closer to me but not in my personal bubble and offers me the post it. "I want you to go to the library and look for this book. You don't gotta read the whole thing but maybe it'll make you see a newer perspective. Okay sweetie?" She smiles at me standing up and walking to the door of her office. I stand up and walk behind her.

"Have a great day, and if you have time please look for that book." She says finally sitting back in her desk.

"Thanks." I walk back to the main part of the office. I could feel myself trembling but I didn't really know why.

Gertrude sat at the desk doing paperwork. "I'm going into the library. I'll be back soon." I whisper. I walk around her chair and grab my bag that hide under the white desk. She nods, her eyes not leaving the screen but acknowledging my words. Silence enveloped the office once again.

I wait for the bell to ring so I could leave the office and blend into the crowd to walk to the library. The hallway from the office is one of the busiest hallways in the whole school. It also easily leads to the library so I don't have to be in the crowd for that long.

I quickly weaves my way through and found myself in the library quickly. I open up the post it and read all of the details of the book. I frown and roll my eyes trudging to the section that the book would be in. I sometimes doubt Cooper's therapist skills. My eyes skimmed over the letters of the bookcases. Thankfully no one was in my aisle of the library.

Not a lot of people are in the library during the middle of the day except if they had free period or lunch. Loud whispering fills the silence of the library and breaks me from my mindless thoughts.

I look over to the three boys that I saw yesterday. My face grows red as I remember the incident. I could feel my past feelings of horrible embarrassment of when I screamed like a wimp because I thought I saw something bump on their car. They all stared at me as if I was crazy.

Not wanting to remember those feeling I scrunch my forehead and cover my face, the past feelings bubbling up, making me think I am back in that situation.