| Chapter 7
"Dillon Quartermaine I presume?" The Guidance Counselor asked as I walked into his office and shut the door behind me. I made my way to his desk and shook his hand before sitting down in the over-stuffed, faux leather chairs facing him. "Yea, that's me." I said as he laughed and looked down at some papers that were scattered all over his desk. "Well, my name is Mr. Breech. I have been reviewing your records since you asked to meet with me. It says you enrolled at the end of last year. Your attendance is questionable as are your grades but you haven't been in trouble much, if not at all. I'm surprised." He said as he looked back down at what I was guessing was my files and taped his pen on his desk as his eye brows knitted in thought. "Why's that sir?" I asked as I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees. "I know this is really unprofessional but I was expecting you to be a trouble-maker and what not. Usually poor attendance, bad grades and detentions go hand in hand." He said with a slight laugh. "Yea, that is the reason I wanted to talk to you. My grades and attendance records are so low because, well frankly I didn't really care. If I didn't want to come to school, I didn't, and when I did, I would just sit in the back of the room and not pay attention. I really didn't think I needed to." I said, for the first time feeling ashamed with how I acted. "Why's that?" He asked as he leaned back in his chair. "Well, this sounds really conceited but I thought I could just pay my way into whatever school I wanted to go to. I've grown up knowing that my last name, no matter where I am in the world, can get me whatever I wanted. So, really, school has just been something I did when I needed to waist time, as bad as that sounds." I said sheepishly as I looked down at my hands and then back up to him. "What are your plans for after graduation?" "Film School." I said as I sat up straighter. "If you don't mind me asking," he paused and looked at me. I nodded, so he continued. "why the sudden interest in getting your grades up now?" "I realized, even if it was too late, that I was going down a very bad path. I was cutting my course deeper and deeper into everything that is essentially bad for me. I know it sounds corny, but I just realized that I need to better myself." I felt like an idiot but for some reason, Mr. Breech really didn�t seem like every other adult. He wasn�t cynical and didn�t think he knew everything. He made it a lot easier for me to talk to him, honestly. "That isn't corny at all. It is actually very admirable! I can't tell you how many times I have tried to tell students your age that they need to change their ways or they will never do what they want with their life. It is great that you want to change." He said as he sat back up and shuffled through the papers on his desk. "Thank you, sir." "Ok, now onto the question at hand. You want to see if there is anyway that you can make up or raise your grades?" He asked as he looked up at me. "Yes." "I can get you a tutor. She is very nice and extremely intelligent. She has a 4.0 GPA and although she is younger than you, she is or has taken most of the classes you are in right now. Her name is..." "Georgie Jones?" I asked as I smiled, trying to hold back from laughing. "Yes, you know her?" He asked confused by my reaction. "Yes I know her, but no I don't need a tutor, my cousin has already agreed to help me." The last thing I needed was for Georgie to find out that I needed a tutor. It was be like the ultimate cosmic joke if she were my tutor. "Is your cousin Emily Quartermaine?" "Yes." "Ok, yea she was also a great student. I am sure she will be a lot of help, but if you ever need a tutor I can get you one. I am sure Ms. Jones would be more than happy to help you." He said. "No, I am sure I will be fine, but I�ll keep that in mind." I said as I laughed lightly. "Ok, anyways, we offer a correspondence course of types for..." He said as his phone started to ring. "One second.� He said as he motioned for me to give him a few minutes as he reached into the filing cabinet beside his desk and searched for a file. �Hello? Yes Mrs. Bobb, we have already talked to your son about that." I laughed at the board expression he gave me and looked around his room. He had various diplomas and plaques on his wall as well as pictures of him with students and other people I didn't recognize on his book shelves in-between the massive amount of encyclopedias, college books and other various books you would expect to find in a guidance office. I continued to look around when I glanced out the windows to my left just as Georgie and Guy walked into the office. I had noticed that they weren't in first period before I left to come down here, so they must have been signing in. There was a long line so they stood there talking. The door was shut so I couldn't hear what they were saying. Georgie was running her hands up and down her arms and once Guy noticed this he took his book bag off his shoulders, set it on the ground and took off his navy blue hoodie that said �Wright-Paterson� across the front and handed it to her. She quickly hugged him before setting her own book bag down on a near-by chair and put the hoodie on. She looked so cute standing there in a pair of baggy cargo pants and the sweater with her hair pulled back into two french braids that came down and rested just over her shoulders. As much as I loved it when she dressed up, I loved it even more when she dressed down. She looked comfortable but at the same time she looked extremely sexy. She situated the hoodie and wrapped her arms back around her still trying to get warm. Today was exceptionally cold, the temperature being only fifteen degrees. Guy wrapped his arms around her and whispered something into her ear before she stepped back and lightly smacked him. She turned away from him and was now almost facing me, if not for the tinted windows she would have seen me. She crossed her arms over her chest and stood defiantly, but she had a big smile that clearly showed she was anything but mad. That lasted for a few seconds before she turned back around and they kept talking while the line started diminishing until they finally signed in and grabbed their book bags before leaving. I started remembering them at The Grille a few weeks ago, and by now my blood was racing and seeing the two of them almost had me seeing red. I started to fidget, a habit I learned I did when I was upset, when Mr. Breech snapped me out of my thoughts. "Sorry about that, I had to take care of a few things." He said as he sat back down and looked over at me. "Are you OK?" "Yea, so what were you saying before the phone rang?" I asked, desperately wanting to get the image of Georgie and Guy out of my head. "Yea, I was saying that we have a correspondence course that we offer for students in your situation. It wont be easy in the least bit, because you will be doing a semesters worth of work in half the time, on top of the work you are required to complete for the classes you are taking now." He said as he looked up at me as if waiting for me to protest. "OK, whatever it takes, just as long as I can make it up." "Let's see, today is Friday, if this is really what you want to do, I will work on it over the weekend and we'll get this ball rolling on Monday, how does that sound?" He asked as he looked at his calendar and then to me. "Sounds great." I said as I stood up, followed closely by Mr. Breech rising from his chair and shaking my hand again. "Like I said, it is very admirable of you to want to do this and put the effort and time into this that it is, no-doubt, going to take. I'm more than happy to help in any way I can. You can come and talk to me anytime if you have any questions and I am sure your teachers will be more than willing to help as well. Good luck." He said as he offered me a warm smile. "Thanks." I said as I smiled back before I left his office and walked out into the main office. I noticed something laying on one of the chairs and when I got closer I recognized that it was a key chain of Georgie's that said "Beware of stupid people in large groups". I had bought it for her one day when we went to Spencers and she saw it and thought it was the funniest thing. I smiled as I remembered the way she couldn't stop laughing and the gleam in her eye when we got back to her house and I gave it to her. It only cost a couple dollars but she loved it and hooked it onto her backpack along with, what seemed like, a hundred other key chains, of all sorts, that she had. I absent-mindedly twirled it around my fingers as I walked out of the office and towards my locker. It was almost the beginning of second period so I decided to get my stuff now and save myself the trip later. As I turned the corner, I saw Georgie standing at her locker grabbing her books out. She looked over everything once more before she shut the door and turned around just as I walked up to her. When she looked up she jumped and almost lost her balance but I caught her and steadied her as she placed her hand over her heart and breathed in and out heavily. "Dillon, you scared the hell out of me." She whispered as the color slowly started to come back to her face. "Sorry, I just wanted to give you this." I said as I held out the key chain. "Oh," She said as she looked down at it briefly before taking it. "Thanks, where did you find it?" She asked as she opened her locker door and hooked it back onto her others before shutting the door once more. "It was on the chair you set your book bag down on in the office. It was probably loose and came off then." I said. "How did you know I was in the office? Were you..." She started but I cut her off. "No I wasn't following you if that is what you think." I said as we both laughed. "That's not what I was thinking, I was just going to ask if you were in their too, and I just didn't see you." She said as we slowly started walking back to first period which we had study hall together. "I was in the guidance office and noticed you and Guy coming in when Mr. Breech was on the phone." I said as we turned the corner and started down another long hallway. "Why were you in the guidance office?" She asked as she stopped and looked at me. "Oh, you know, questioning as to why my grades are so low. As if I don't hear that enough from my teachers I have to get a whole lecture from a guy I don't even know." I said as I laughed and tried to sound convincing. It wasn't all a lie. We did talk about my grades and how low they were. "Oh, well..." Georgie said as she tried to think of what to say next as we started walking back down the hallway. "Car trouble?" "What?" "Were you late because of car trouble?" I asked trying not to sound overly eager to know why she was late. "Something like that." She said quietly, almost under her breath as I decided not to dig any deeper. Just before we reached the cafeteria where we had study hall, the bell signaling second period rang loudly. "Well, I'll see you around." I said as people started flooding the halls all at once, rushing past us in a hurry to get to where ever they had to be next. "Yea, I'll see you later." She said as she backed up and looked at me one last time before she turned around and we headed to our next classes. ~~~~~After school at the Quartermaine Mansion~~~~~ �Dillon?�Em asked as she knocked on my door that was slightly opened and pocked her head in. �Can I come in?� �Sure.� "So how did the meeting with the guidance counselor go?" She asked as she came in with a bag of Rollos, her favorites. "About as good as could be expected. It'll be hard, but I can still get my grades up if I take it seriously." I said as she sat down in the armchair by my bed and pulled her feet up under her, getting comfortable. "Would it help if I put big picture of Georgie on your wall so you don't forget what you are working for?" She asked with a bright smile as she one of the little chocolates in her mouth. "Maybe, but I would probably stare at it and get nothing accomplished." I said as she threw a pillow at me. "Any luck finding a job?" Em asked as she moved around so her head rested on one arm of the chair while her feet hung over the other. "Yea, actually I got a job working at the old movie theater on Bridge Street. I'll be working the projector so I�ll get to watch the movies too. Now I will be getting paid to watch them!" I said as I laid on my stomach and looked down at the Geometry homework I was trying to finish. "What are your hours?" She asked. "5:30 to 10 Monday, Wednesday and Friday and Saturday and Sunday I work 11 to 7." I said as I finished the last problem and closed the book, resting my head on my arms. "That's a good amount of hours without over-doing it." She nodded with approval. Em had been really great to me since I moved in here and lately she had really been helpful with ideas for jobs and had offered to help me with my work after school. When I asked her why she was so willing to help me, she said that we had a lot in common. We were both thrown into the family rather quickly and we were both deeply in love, even though her relationship was in a better state than mine. "When do you start?" She asked as she saw a stack of pictures on the floor still in the package from the store. I had taken them to get developed a long time ago but didn't actually pick them up until after Georgie broke up with me and all hell had broken loose. I hadn't gotten the nerve to look at them yet. "Can I?" Em asked as she motioned towards them. "Sure. I start Wednesday." I said as I shrugged my shoulders and she quickly grabbed them and tore the package open like a kid opening a present on Christmas morning. Her face softened as she flipped through the pictures. "These are so great. You haven't seen them yet?" She asked still looking through them. "No, I haven't been able to bring myself to actually look." I said. "Wanna look now?" She asked as she held them out towards me. I was about to grab them when I started thinking about Georgie and Guy, both today in the office and dancing at The Grille as well as when I saw them making out in the hallway. My heart fell as I drew my hand back. "No, that's ok. Maybe later!" |