Rise Up

Lin

At school the next day, I passed back a couple quizzes to my 5th period class. Talie hadn't done well. I always put the students' papers face down on the table so they had privacy. The students were quietly writing, so the sound of paper ripping was heard throughout the room. Kids looked up to see who'd had the nerve to do it. My eyes landed on Talie.

She ripped the papers into pieces and tossed them on the floor, obviously frustrated. I continued passing the other students' papers back, not acknowledging her behavior. As I made my way back to the front, I whispered to her, "Meet me outside."

She loudly did so and I followed her out. I closed the door most of the way, but kept it propped open so I could hear the other kids.

"Why'd you rip up your quizzes?" I asked her simply.

"Because you failed me!" she said, crossing her arms.

"You earned those grades," I told her. One of my pet peeves was when students blamed me for bad grades. I bent over backwards to help them if they didn't understand something. If they earned an F, it was all on them. "I can understand you're frustrated, but I don't want you ripping up papers. It's disrespectful."

She rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath. The last few days, she'd developed an attitude with me. She was down about her dad, and she thought because of that I should be giving her a free ride. That wasn't going to fly.

"That's a detention," I told her, done with her attitude. She gaped at me.

"Lin!" she protested.

"It's Mr. Miranda at school," I reminded her, opening the door. "Pick up all those pieces before the end of class."

She followed me back inside and I felt eyes on us. Naomi had a grimace on her face as she wrote. Talie picked up all the pieces and put them in the recycle bin as the rest of the class finished. I went on with class, ignoring the scowl on Talie's face.

At the end of class, I filled out a detention form, which I didn't do very often, and placed it on Talie's desk. I was planning on going home straight after school, so she'd have to come back alone. When she got home around 4:15, she was still pissed.

"Thanks for embarrassing me," she told me as she walked in.

"You're welcome," I told her. "If you hadn't acted the way you did, I wouldn't have had to."

She stormed off to her room and I pinched the bridge of my nose with my fingers. She was really starting to push it. I left her alone until dinner time. I sent Sebastian to go get her as I set the table. She joined us at the table and started to eat silently.

After dinner, I asked her to help with dishes so I could have a chat with her. We stood side by side as we washed and dried.

"Your attitude seems to have taken a nosedive," I observed. She sighed.

"I'm frustrated," she said flatly.

"I can understand that," I told her. "What helps you when you're frustrated?"

"Chocolate," she said.

"Okay," I said. "What else?"

"Doing something," she said.

"So let's do something. Wanna go for a walk?" I offered. She looked at me strangely, and I met her eyes. "Seriously. It helps me."

She just sighed and we continued. After we were done, we dried our hands.

"Go get your shoes," I told her. I found my own and waited for her at the door. We walked out the door silently and started walking down the block. I didn't say anything as I just let the walking do its job. Physical exertion could do so much for the mind.