The Philosophy of You

Chapter 9

Today was the day where we would have our final, "not so mandatory" editing meeting to go over the finished copy of the newspaper to see if there were any mistakes. I guess you could say I was grateful to be able to stay at school. On Friday, I had gotten into this huge fight with my aunt. She was against Remembrance Day which was going to be on Sunday. I got fed up and tried to explain to her that it was a day to pay homage to the men and women who sacrificed their lives for the betterment of society, regardless of race, religion or ethnicity. Of course, she didn't believe me. She said I didn't know anything and that it was a government scheme to promote drugs, because opiod came from poppies. I had never heard such a thing in my life, don't get me wrong I adored her, she was my aunt after all. But I was so angry, you couldn't just go about disrespecting veterans like that. So, I had called her crazy to which she had responded in a rather frightening way. She threatened to have me taken out of the house, so I did everyone (and myself) a favour and left. Luckily, my grandfather dropped me off to my real house. Of course on the way home he tried explaining that I was wrong but I wasn't buying it. So yeah, after that I hadn't gone back. Not to mention, it had sparked my anxiety attacks which had been at an all time low. On Monday, I had gone to Tim Hortons (A Canadian delicacy) but today I was lucky enough to have the meeting. 

It was lunch and Mia, Alisha and Ada were all sitting at our usual third floor spot when I had come. Ada, who I've known since Grade 8, was another one of my good friends, she was definitely someone I had always admired. She was really smart and while she was responsible, she was also great at having a great time. I had these memories of us wrestling back in grade 8, who'd have known that we would have stayed together all these years. But I was grateful for all of them, in all their glory and well, goofiness. 

We decided to play Cards and Humanity on AirConsole, which was a platform that enabled the full multiplayer experience right from the comfort of just about anywhere. All you needed was a main screen, like a laptop and your phone to connect. Regardless, that's the game we chose to play today, it was a favourite of Ada's. I'm going to be real honest here, I suck at this game. Well, almost suck. There were rounds where I'd have the best sentence but typically it was Alisha and Ada who won. 

As I was playing I got a notification. I quit playing for a second to check. It was an email from my therapist, who had just confirmed my appointment for next Tuesday. Because I started so late in the year, I had some extra appointments I could schedule that would be covered by my dad's insurance. So I took full advantage of that, of course, I actually needed to see her. I had to find a way to go back to my grandfather's place without having a complete breakdown knowing my aunt was there. Plus, I was contemplating on telling Fatima about Shaw. Of course, I could talk about the meetings and newspaper, I really didn't need to bring up the whole crush thing. 

The bell rang indicating the change from third to fourth period. All three friends had classes to attend to, while I was on my spare. Once I had dropped off Mia at her class, I headed downstairs to Art. I had to work on Stalin before the due date that was next week. I was walking down the art hallway when Shaw came out of the neighbouring art class. Shit, I wasn't prepared for this...

It most definitely did not take him long to see me, after all, I was the only one in the hall, "Ava!  I hope you're having a good day. Uh, we've got a mini copy editing meeting today but it's going to be in 105 today since I've got an after school English class to teach.'

"Yup, I got the memo. I'll see you then," I smiled at him as I walked past him. I had heard of the Counting On You program but didn't think he'd be teaching a class. Though, now that I think about it, it was nice of him to remind me, very thoughtful.

I was at the art room when I knocked on the door asking Mr. Walker if I could work on my art. He agreed and I headed to very back of the class. There were some students working on art pieces but no one that I had recognized. I got out Stalin and started outlining his face. I planned on getting the background done since that required the least amount of work and there was no blending which would be time consuming. I put my headphones in and started listening to Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. Today was definitely the type of days where classical music seemed like a cure to all of my troubles.