Letters With a Ghost

Chapter Eleven

School was torture.

After Ayden's death, Camryn was out for three weeks. She felt as if she couldn't bear to be surrounded by the memories of always seeing Ayden around school, or even seeing the people that eventually drove him to make the final call.

Camryn always was a good student. She took her studies seriously, and hoped to one day earn a scholarship to a writing academy in New York where she once attended a conference. Naturally, the schoolwork piled up throughout the duration of her absence, and was sent home to give her ample time to complete it.

She never completed it.

Every time she would look at the papers sprawled in her lap, all she saw were a bunch of empty words and instructions that appeared to be written in a foreign language. Nothing made sense to her anymore, so she decided to just put it all away.

Now three weeks worth of graded assignments appear in her grading log as three weeks of zeros.

She received an office pass during third period and walked slowly to her destination. She didn't know what the principal wanted to see her for, but she knew it wasn't anything good.

When she got to the office, she showed her pass to the secretary and was called back immediately.

"Camryn Parker," Mr. Waters said as she stepped in the doorway of his office. "Take a seat."

Camryn sat down and leaned back. She said nothing.

"I suppose you're wondering why I called you here."

When Camryn still continued to remain silent, Mr. Waters continued.

"You're beginning to fail your classes. Your lowest mark is a 43% in Algebra, followed by a 45% in Physics and a 52% in English. You need 65% or higher to pass and receive credit for any class, and being that this is your junior year, it's imperative that you maintain your grades and earn the respective credits for each class. On the path you're on now, you may have to repeat the grade or face the consequences of not graduating with your class."

Camryn was indifferent to the principal's words. "There are credit make-up programs that I can enroll in over the summer," she said stubbornly. "I'll just do that."

Mr. Waters shook his head. "You don't qualify for those programs, unfortunately. Credit make-ups are only available to underclassmen who struggled through adjustment to the high school, or were incorrectly placed in their classes."

Camryn could have screamed. "Well there had to be something I can do," she asserted.

"That's a call that needs to be discussed with your parents," Mr. Waters said matter-of-factly. "I already called your mother, and there will be a meeting in my office after school today."

Camryn felt her heart sink. Her mom was always one to be nit picky over grades. Admitting to her mom that she was failing her classes is just another form of suicide.

"That's all I needed to tell you," Mr. Waters concluded. "Report here as soon as the final bell rings, and we can all have a conference to discuss your options."

Camryn said nothing, only nodded and left quickly, heart pounding and mind racing.

As soon as the final bell rang, Camryn made a beeline for the door and didn't look back.

She knew there would be hell to pay for skipping a parent conference with the principal, but she had more pressing issues to address first. AWC is the only thing she had left that gave her even the slightest bit of unmanufactured happiness. She would worry about saving that first, then she would focus on pulling her grades up to an acceptable level.