Mount Asteria

Chapter Twenty Five

Black ink was Laura's current preference when choosing a pen to write with, though she had been using that colour since the beginning of September and knew that by midterm she would find herself wanting to use blue instead. It would be an interesting experiment, she thought, to see different people's habits when it came to different coloured inks. She was sure there were others like her who changed their minds depending on their mood and the type of paper being used. In fact, she thought it quite odd she had not come across any such studies already.

Laura picked up her pen – black, of course, for it was not lined paper - and doodled on her notebook. Art was not her strongest point, though she was quite pleased to turn out three or four different flowers after about five minutes, at which point she glanced up at the door, wondering if Ms de Lacy was nearly ready. Instead, she was confronted with the sight of Liam coming in the front doors of the school. She froze and quickly lowered her head in the hope he wouldn't glance her way. She had a fair chance; the sofas outside the principal's office were set off to the side of the entrance hall in a slightly darkened corner. Unfortunately, luck was not on her side that day.

"You missed our appointment yesterday," he said, standing over her.

"Oh, I sent you a message. Didn't you get it?"

"Yes, but, Laura -"

"I've been feeling sick for about a week now... I can't seem to shake it off. I'm sure you understand."

Liam sat down on the couch opposite her. Oh, wonderful, Laura thought, he's staying.

"I don't think you were feeling unwell. You look fine."

Indignant, she sat up straight. "Just because I'm not pale or getting sick -"

"I'm supposed to help you, Laura."

"I know. But... I... I'm not sure I want help. Or need it for that matter. It's been nearly six months. Counseling at this point might be a little excessive, don't you think?"

"Just until you're settled in. Laura, please."

She pursed her lips. "Why do you care? It's my decision. You're just a small part of it. This doesn't really affect you."

"I'm worried about you."

She raised an eyebrow. "Thank you, but you'll never make a good psychologist if you take all your clients so seriously. It's just a job."

"Nothing's ever just a job. Not when you're dealing with real people."

"How inspirational," she said drily. It was cruel, she knew it, but she was tired and the last person she wanted to see right now was Liam.

"Could we maybe discuss this another time?" she asked. "It's late and I've had a long day planning an assignment with Knightbridge and I have to finalise some details for the parents social tomorrow and then I have to go to the library to finish an essay on the progression of communism and I'm really just exhausted."

"Which is exactly why you need to take some time out and talk to me."

"Laura, Liam, why don't you both come in?"

Laura looked up to see that Ms de Lacy standing in the doorway to her office with a small smile on her face. She stood back, waiting for them to come in.

Laura marched in quickly, feeling silly and miserable. She brightened a little when she saw Daniel Brown sitting in one of the chairs in front of Ms de Lacy's desk. He offered her a warm smile. It was also somewhat comforting to see he also looked tired and worn out.

"Daniel, this is Liam, our new chaplain. Daniel is the head boy of Knightsbridge," Ms de Lacy made the introductions quickly and gestured for Liam to take a seat from the corner and bring it to the side of the desk.

"Daniel has been telling me you had a very productive meeting today," Ms de Lacy went on, putting away the files on her desk.

"Yes, we managed to get a fair amount of work done," Laura replied.

"Good." The principal smiled. "Now, I understand that you two are close friends, yes?"

Laura glanced at Daniel, both of them smiling slyly.

"Yes," Laura said, shooting warning looks at Daniel.

"Then you won't mind if Daniel stays while we discuss matters with Liam?"

She frowned as this registered in her brain. Realising what was to come, and suddenly became very uncomfortable. "I – er -"

"I can go if you want," Daniel murmured, seeing her distress.

"No." She cleared her throat. "Stay."

"Alright, then, if we're okay to go..." Ms de Lacy scanned across the room. "Laura, we have become concerned that you are not going to your appointments with Liam. You haven't bee engaging with him."

"The... the truth is," Laura said, seeing this as her chance, "I would really prefer to discontinue my counseling sessions. I believe they have become obsolete."

"That may be your opinion," Ms de Lacy said, "but it is the opinion of your teachers, and of your father -"

"You contacted my dad?" Laura exclaimed. "But... Even I can't contact him." She bit her lip, wanting to cry.

"Why not?" Liam looked very confused.

Laura swallowed. "He's in South Sudan at the moment."

"South Sudan? Why?"

"Peace keeping, security... that sort of thing. It's too dangerous for me to contact him though."

"You told me he was a security advisor."

"He is." Laura looked down, suddenly feeling the weight of all her school work, family life and this sudden pressure to talk about everything coming down on her.

"Laura, I think you should go back to your therapy sessions," Daniel whispered to her softly.

"Laura, we'd like to suggest that you continue to see Liam for an hour each week at least from now until Christmas. After that we will leave the decision to you."

She nodded, more because she needed to get out of that room than because she was happy with the proposal.

"Very well, then. I think we can leave it there for this evening."

She nodded again and got up and hurried out the door. She was halfway up the stairs when Daniel caught her and burst into tears. He walked her up to the first floor and had her sit on the steps. "Are you okay?" he asked, crouching down next to her.

She nodded, calming her breathing so than only a few tears were running down her face. "I'll be fine. This just happens when I'm tired and I have a lot of stuff piling up."

"You need to sleep. I'll call Macey -"

"No, I have to get stuff prepared to the parents social morning tomorrow."

"I'll look after that."

She looked at him. "You're not a student here," she smiled.

"I'll wear a wig," he said, rolling his eyes good-naturedly. "I'm going to call Macey so you can go to bed and she'll be able to work out the parents social thing, okay?" He looked right into her eyes and she sensed he would not allow her do anything else.

"Okay," she whispered defeatedly, but with a certain degree of relief. "Thanks, Daniel."

"And you'll do it?"

"What?"

"Go to see your chaplain. He seems quite decent."

"Yeah he's lovely, but I've been really horrible to him."

Daniel laughed softly. "Alright, well I'm sure you'll smooth it out."