The Mailbox Girl

2. An idea

Saying I wasn't excited to go back to the Council the day after would have been an euphemism. As if being left out wasn't enough, Shane and I now had to make our own assemblies in a separate room, while the prom-organizing students got together.

I recalled last year's memories when I had been allowed to take part in it. It was all fun with crafting the decor, looking for great DJs online, looking for a location, for a theme, for a menu...

I must say that I was not as down about the whole situation as the day before, though.

I had received my favorite science magazine when I had come back from school the night before and the anthropology studies which were covered in it had made me take a wiser stance on the events.

If the human kind had been able to survive a major volcanic eruption thousands of years ago and lived generation after generation under a grey sky, I could too. I would live under the grey sky of being pushed aside until I found my place!

Shane and I's assembly didn't happen that day though. He did not come and our designated room was locked. What a way to help students.

The three left assemblies of the week were no better, except maybe that Shane actually showed up. He played games on his phone for a whole hour each time though, while I was busy not doing anything else than waiting for students who never complained.

***

"We have to do something."

A silence followed.

"Hey! I was talking to you."

Shane raised his eyes at me, wincing. Could he make any more obvious that I was bothering him?

As I thought he had not heard my first sentence, I opened my mouth to repeat it. Just then, he asked:

"What is it you want to do?"

In four years of being in the same school, it was Shane's first time talking to me. What a watershed moment.

"Well, we can't just stay here and play games while waiting for people who'll never show up."

"I thought you were reading."

"Whether I'm reading, or you playing games, it's the same! It's useless. We have to do something." I slapped my hands on the desk between us, carried on by my speech.

I had actually been thinking about this situation since we had been segregated from the other Council members. How could we stay still when our ego had been hurt so deeply? How could we accept being useless when we had been assigned with the most important mission of taking care of our fellow high schoolers?

Staying still was not an option!

"I'm not interested."

My eyes probably lost their sparkle as I turned to face Shane again. His focus was already back on his phone.

"Okay, but listen, I had an idea yesterday. What do you think of creating a device that would allow students to their complaints, anonymously. I'm pretty sure nobody ever comes because they're afraid of stepping out and talking face to face to us. Maybe something like... a mailbox?"

"Not interested."

I felt a nerve twitch on my face. I was already putting with being paired up with him, he could at least try and be useful.

I couldn't get out of my mind that it was his fault he was in the council and somehow, I felt like it was his fault too I was stuck doing nothing every day after school for an hour. If Jane and the other Council members hadn't wished for him to stay away from prom planning, I probably wouldn't be stuck with him in this computing classroom every day.

"I think it's a great idea, though." I insisted. I would not let an occasion to stand out slip away. I was determined to change the way people perceived me in these last months of high school. And that started with making good things for them. "The Mailbox of Problems will help a lot of people, I'm sure of that."

"What's with the name?" he spitted out, condescending.

I was flabbergasted. How did this guy even had friends? How did girls even fall for him? His hotness didn't explain it all. He was one of the rudest person I had ever met. And let me tell you, my high school was pretty much first in the country in terms of the numbers of rude assholes that walked its corridors.

"Why are you like this? Don't you want to actually do something useful while you're in the Council? I've never seen you do anything, nor suggest anything. Maybe you don't have ideas but don't come in the way of people who do."

He stared back at me, a hint of surprised amusement in his eyes.

"I don't like your idea, that's it. That doesn't make me the bad guy."

In my eyes, it did.

But I ignored him and asked:

"Do you plan on doing anything at all? I mean, for the next six months?"

"I'm good just playing."

"Yeah, that pretty much sums up the idea I had of you. I'll do my thing by myself then."

He didn't even try and make an effort to answer that.

***

A/N: Hi everyone! So this chapter went under a little bit of editing as you may have noticed. I feel like it didn't originally show Jenn's thought process well enough :) Hopefully this update clears things up!

If you still have some constructive criticism on how this chapter, it's still welcome though :D

As always, don't forget to vote if you liked it and have a really nice day <3