Dreaming of Another Day
By Kathryn K Williams
Based in part on a true story
Chapter Nineteen
Kris took her time arriving at the office. She had an idea what was coming next and tried to settle her nerves before having to face the wraith of Miss. Thomson. She reached the office door and noticed a group of girls watching her. When their eyes met the girls ran off around the corner. No more giggling or squealing could be heard. Kris wondered if maybe she really went too far this time. She turned back to the door, took a deep breath when the door opened on its own and she found herself standing face to face with Sarah. 'What is she doing here?' Kris thought.
Sarah looked at the ground and rushed past Kris, "Kris Carty?" A voice called from inside the office. Kris entered and closed the door behind herself. Off to the side was a line of chairs and in one sat the girl she just kissed. The girl averted her head when Kris's eyes fell on her. Kris turned to see a long wooden desk that blocked people from entering the main office. Kris took a deep breath and approached the ominous looking desk. Behind the desk sat a very short woman with grey hair pulled back into a bun and a pair of small glasses on the end of her nose. She seemed to belonged more in a library than behind the office desk. She looked up at Kris and smiled. "May I do something for you?" She asked politely.
Before Kris could answer a man standing in front of a large wooden door on the other side of the counter called out for her "Kris, My office please." The man entered his office and waited.
Kris looked down at the secretary who nodded towards the swinging door to the right of the desk. Kris glanced at the girl who still staring at her feet, then took a deep breath and pushed passed the swinging door across the room and into the principal's office. The room was small. A large brown oak desk took up the center of the room, on the desk was a little plaque declaring that the person behind the desk was "Principal Klark". A set of filing cabinets filled the walls to
either side of the desk. Miss. Thomson stood beside the principal with her arms crossed and a frown on her face as her eyes burned into the young girl. The principal himself was burly man with wide shoulders and a full face of hair. His hair was starting to grey in places, other than that Kris could not tell much about the man. Mr. Klark gestured to one of the two leather chairs that faced his desk. Kris slowly sat down and sunk into the soft leather cushion. Her eyes kept darting
around the room trying to find a place to hide. She looked more like a cornered animal than a child right then.
"You can calm down, Kris." Mr. Klark soothed with a kind tone of voice, "You are not in any way in trouble here. That is if you tell us the truth."
Kris gazed the man in the eyes and searched for what kind of trick he was up to. She then looked up at Miss Thomson and noticed that whatever the principal had planned she wanted no part of it.
The man interlocked his fingers and leaned forward, "Tell me, did you kiss Shannon Nickels ?"
"That girl outside?" Kris felt herself getting angry, "Why should it matter if I did or didn't. You've already decided your sentence for me, right?"
Mr. Klark leaned back in his chair "A simple yes or no will do."
Kris grinned and ran her tongue across her lips as she remembered the sweet taste. She stopped herself and tried to wipe the smile off her face, "Yes I did. Are you going to send me to detention or am I expelled?" She demanded. Kris just wanted to get out of there so she could forget any of this ever happened.
The man smiled back at Kris, "Neither actually, you'd have to be blind not to notice the 'Kris fan club', but you should be thanking your friend. She is the real reason you are not in trouble today. She explained the entire situation before you got here."
Kris stared in confussion, "My friend?"
The man read from a piece of paper, "Sarah Richards," He looked up at Kris, "She is your friend, isn't she?" He raised one of his eyebrows.
Kris couldn't look the man in the eye. After what Kris had done to Sarah, the girl still went out of her way to help her. Kris felt like such a fool, "Yeah, she is my friend..." Kris glowered down at the floor, ashamed of herself. When she finally spoke it was very softly and almost inaudible "Am I free to go then?" She asked.
The Principal crossed his hands on his desk again. "If you promise that the next time someone is bothering you, you will come to me instead of taking matters into your own hands."
Kris stood up and whispered "I will." She was too embarrassed to look the principal in the eye.
"Good, now go enjoy the rest of your lunch period." He slight chuckle. "Oh, and could you close the door on the way out? I have to talk to Mrs. Thomson about something. Thank you."
Kris did as she was told. Before she could get out of the office she heard Mrs. Thomson's angry voice from behind the closed door. Kris smiled to herself as she walked into the hall, not paying attention to the glare that Shannon was giving her on the way out.
Kris let the office door close behind her and she felt like her entire body was about to collapse from sheer exhaustion, "How'd things go?" She heard Sarah's voice ask from off to her right. Kris turned to see the girl sitting on a small set of steps that lead into the east wing. Her back was to the wall and she didn't look up at Kris as she spoke.
Kris leaned against the wall next to Sarah, "Good, thanks to someone I don't deserve to call a friend."
Sarah played with a piece of paper in her hand, "I just didn't want Shannon spreading rumors was all. I only told them what I saw."
Kris could feel her face grow long, "Oh." She said solemnly.
Sarah looked up and gave Kris a tiny smile, "I told them that you asked if Shannon wanted to be kissed and she said yes."
Kris looked in shock at the girl. Then shifted her eyes back to the floor, "I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I didn't mean it."
Sarah stood up and brushed the dirt off her dress, "Yes, you did," She stared at Kris, "I realized while I've been sitting out here that I'm not much better than Shannon. You've asked me to leave you alone and I still keep coming back. You've never once lied to me about how you felt and I guess that is what I like about you the most."
Kris blinked at the girl several times. This really wasn't happening to her right now. She was supposed to be alone. Losing friends and not making them. This was making no sense at all. She felt herself get dizzy then felt Sarah grab her arm and help steady her. Kris looked up at the other girl and wondered how many times this girl would catch her before she fell? How many time had she helped her up in the last month? For the first time Kris noticed that she didn't pull away from Sarah. She gazed into the girls deep brown eyes and felt herself drawn closer to them. It wasn't like earlier with Shannon, or with Tanya either, no this was different. She could feel her heart being pulled towards Sarah. The two just stared at each other for a moment. Neither wanting to move.
A voice finally cut through the silence. "Sarah loves Kris, Sarah loves Kris." Someone sang out from down the hall.
Sarah let go of Kris's arm and turn to run after her accuser, "I do not and stop teasing her!"
Kris didn't move for a moment. She let out a deep sigh. Her heart would not leave her alone. It was racing along, telling her to wrap her arms around Sarah the next time she saw the girl and hold her tight. Kris raised her left hand to her mouth and bit down hard on her knuckle. She sunk her teeth in deep until she was shocked to feel a small pang of pain shooting through her hand. She loosened her grip on her knuckle and looked at the deep red marks her teeth had made in the flesh. She lightly licked at her knuckle. This was the first time she felt pain in... She couldn't remember feeling physical pain. No matter how often she cut her arms she would only feel a tingle, even so no real pain. She cursed to herself, of all the times to start having feelings again, this was not the right one.
Sarah finally returned from around the corner out of breath, "Sorry about that." She said between pants.
Kris quickly hid her hand in her pocket. She was about to say something when a bell signaling the end of lunch hour finally rung.
Sarah looked up at where the sound came from, "Time for Mrs. Brookholds's torture class." Most of the students referred to Mrs. Brookholds as a spawn of evil, but it was all in play. Most found the old teacher very kind, it was when you got on her bad side that you should start to worry. The two girls rushed to get to class before the second bell. Neither of them were willing to find out just what Mr's Brookholds bad side was like.
They arrived at the class in time for the second bell. Again Kris found herself mesmerized by the multitude of dragon images in the room. One day Kris had met the teacher in the hall and asked about the dragons. Mrs. Brookholds explained that she felt the posters helped with the creative process. All Kris knew was they gave the class a warmer feeling than the others. She found her seat, which was in row next to the window. Sarah grabbed the seat right behind Kris. Outside the window the trees showed the signs of the October cold. A groundskeeper was busily trying to keep up with the falling leaves knowing far too well that the first snowfall was well at hand.
Mrs. Brookholds entered the class room and gave her usual beginning of class speech which came down to "Work hard and you won't get on my bad side." After Kris's first encounter with this teacher she found that she couldn't take Mrs. Brookholds attempts as acting mean as seriously as the other students did.
"Today, I want to focus more on your creative energies." Mrs. Brookholds instructed the class, "I want you all to open your notebooks and write the first thing that comes to mind. Anything at all, it doesn't really matter." The students began to take out their writing tools while Kris dropped her head and hit it on her desk. Mrs. Brookholds looked at the girl in amusement, "Is there a problem with the assignment, Kris?" She asked with a smile on her face.
Kris raised her head, "No," was all Kris could muster.
Mrs. Brookholds grin broadened, "Good, than could you please get out your note book and start writing."
Kris dropped her notebook on the desk, opened it to a blank page and stared at the page, tapping her pencil on the desk. Looking around she could see that everyone else was already busily writing. Kris wished she knew what it was they were writing about, because it might give her an idea on where to start. She always struggled to find a starting point, however once she found a beginning sentence then there was no stopping her stream of thoughts.
Kris turned away from the class to look out the window again. The groundskeeper was gone, probably off somewhere getting rid of the leaves he'd already cleared away. Kris leaned her chin on her hand and watched as a pair of birds hopped from tree limb to tree limb in search of food. A cat tried to figure out how to get at the birds, but looked too afraid to climb so high.
Kris's eyes stopped focusing on what was going on outside and instead focused on the reflections in the glass. She let her mind drift over the class, looking at each of the students as they busily worked away the hours. Her eyes finally fell on Sarah's reflection. The girl's hair hung over her shoulders and onto her desk. Every now and then she would grab her hair and tuck it around her ears without taking her eyes off the paper that sat before her. Kris could not take her eyes off the girl, finding herself struggling with the urge to turn around right there, reach out and kiss her.
Mrs. Brookholds voice broke through Kris's thoughts like a hammer, "Miss Carty," The voice had such an edge to it that Kris felt herself almost stumble out of her chair when she spun around to face the teacher, "Have you finished writing so soon?" she inquired of the girl.
Kris looked down at the blank page, back at the reflection of Sarah, who was now looking back at her. She blinked and straightened herself in her chair, "I was just thinking." Kris explained
embarrassed.
Mrs. Brookholds smiled at Kris, "Why don't you write down what you were thinking instead of letting it go to waste?"
Kris glazed at her page, 'Write her thoughts,' She considered. Did this person really want to know what she was thinking? The only things she could think about at that moment were Jennifer, Sarah and the mixed feeling she was having over the two of them. Could she really write that onto paper for others to read?
Almost as if Mrs. Brookholds could read the girls mind she said, "Don't worry, I'll be the only one that reads these and they won't be graded. I'm just interested in your writing levels."
Somehow that did not make Kris feel any better. She looked out the window once more, than back at the paper. She set her pencil to the page, 'If this women really wants to know what is in my mind than she asked for it.' and she began to write:
"The cool October's breeze rushed low to the ground causing a small cyclone of multicolored leaves to kick up into the air and dance their way across the forest floor. A girl appeared from behind one of the trees. She was small and wore a long white dress that flowed in the wind. Behind her she pulled another girl along. This second child wore nothing but black and didn't move with the same grace as the first girl. The two wove their way through the forest hand in hand until the girl in white tripped over the root of a tree and tumbled to the ground. Pulling the other child down with her.
The two girls rolled through the leaves until they came to a stop under a big willow tree. The girl in white lay atop the girl in black and they looked longingly into each other's eyes. Slowly they bodies moved closer until their lips touched, they closed their eyes and kissed.
The girl in black slowly opened her eyes. Above her no longer lay the person she had grown to love. Now staring down at her was a rotting corpse. The eyes were sunken into it's skull and the long blonde hair now nothing more then a few strains. The girl in black tried to scream but couldn't find her voice. She struggled against the corpse with no hope of escape.
The ground began to open up under the girls and pull them into a earthen grave. The girl in black reached out to grab hold of the roots of the willow tree, letting the corpse fall into the hole the now stretched out below.
She struggled to keep a grip on the roots but they cut into her small hands. Tears filled her eyes and she realized that there was no hope of escape. She felt the strength in her arms seep out of her as if the willow tree was feeding off of her. She felt her body weaken and grow tired. Finally she gave up struggling and let go.
The only thought the passed through the girl's mind as she fell was that at least she will be with her love again."
Kris dropped her pencil on the desk. She felt her breath shorten and the world was becoming foggy. Sarah was the first to notice her friend starting to sway. She got up and caught Kris before the girl could fall out of her desk.
Mrs. Brookholds was to her feet in an instant and ran over to see what could be the matter. "Kris, are you alright?" She asked when she reached the girl's side.
Kris shook her head and refused the teachers offer for support and instead leaned on Sarah.
Sarah looked up at the teacher, "Can I take her to the girl's room, please?"
The teacher stood up, "Please do." She moved out of the way to give the two girls room to get through the aisle of desks. When they were gone the other students began to giggle and laugh to each other. "That is enough out of the lot of you." The teacher spoke with an edge that told the kids that she was not to be crossed on this issue. Mrs. Brookholds noticed Kris's notebook.
Something in the words caught her eye so she proceeded to pick up the book and brought it to her desk.
*******
To be Continued....
******
Authors Notes: This story is based on a true story. All names and places were changed to conceal their identities. This was written in an attempt to help me cope with my own insanity. If you find any errors, typos and the like feel free to email me at Kathryn@KatAndNekoManga.ca
If you wish to see some of my other works (art and manga) feel free to visit us at http://www.KatAndNekoManga.ca and thank you for taking the time to read my stories.
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