Versus

The alarm sounded with its annoying little chime. It wasn’t an overly creative chime either. Emma often thought she could create a better one, but this one jolted her from a deep sleep and made her want to smash it to pieces. She liked her phone. So, the chime served its purpose well. She was awake!

The last few days of school were typical. Emma had some unexpected visitors in their room due to vague whispers and speculations. She became intriguing to other students. But she remained as vague as the whispers. She really didn’t need attention when she was new to all of this herself. Emma was keeping her friend circle small for now.

The in-room nosiness was getting a little better after a random student knocked on the door and asked if she could see Emma.

“Do you know her?” Aala asked.

“No,” Emma answered from her bed, leaning over for a better look.

“Oh,” Aala giggled.

“Oh no,” Emma said under her breath.

“Hey, just a second,” Aala said to the girl standing in the hall, then closed the door again.

“She’ll go away eventually.” Aala said with no emotion.

“You’re just going to leave her out there?”

“Yep.”

And she never opened the door again.

Students began getting the point. Nosiness was not ok.

Her last class was winding down when the intercom made its static resonance as it signaled a forthcoming message, “Mrs. Robbins, please send Emma to the Dean’s office after class please.”

“I will, thank you,” she agreed.

Emma was given a look by the teacher, and she simply nodded her head, acknowledging that she heard and understood the instructions.

A few looks turned her way, she was waiting for the childish whispers that would follow, as with most high school scenarios. But that didn’t happen this time. Everyone stole a quick glance at her and then turned back to the teacher and continued with class.

The class may have continued where it left off, but Emma didn’t in the least. Her mind was erratic. She knew she wasn’t in trouble. “Or am I.” The thought did cross her mind after sneaking Axle in and out of her dorm the other night. Well, technically she only snuck him out. But that fear was undeniably there.

She knew that eventually, Dean McAlvey would want to help her. He had given her space but they both knew that knowledge was power. In her case, safety. This meeting was inevitable.

Class ended, and she cautiously began walking towards the direction of the Dean’s office. She heard the brushing of footsteps on the floor, quickly behind her. She turned to look as an arm came across her shoulder.

“What have you done this time?” Abby giggled.

The power of a friend nearby is highly underrated. “I wish I knew. My nerves are killing me.” Her presence was welcomed.

“Do you want me to wait outside of the door for moral support when you get done?” She wasn’t laughing this time, but she was clearly making light of it for Emma’s benefit.

“No way. It will make me look more guilty. I mean guilty! I don’t think I have anything to be guilty of.” She undeniably put an emphasis on “think.”

“I see.” Abby exaggerated. “We’ll have to talk later about what you may or may not be guilty of.” Followed by laughing.

“Yeah, ok.” Emma teased back as Abby gave her a side hug.

She had arrived way too quickly at the Dean’s door.

“Don’t be nervous. He just wants to help.”

“I know.”

Abby gave her an encouraging look and kept walking.

She knocked on the Dean’s door, hoping for silence. Postponing this visit may or may not have made it worse, but she had a flee response welling up inside of her. It was growing by the second.

“Come in.” His deep voice spoke from the other side of the door.

“Calm down.” She directed herself as she slowly opened the door.

The door was solid wood, with no glass that could have given a student any insight as to the inside of the room they were about to enter.

His office was vast. It was clearly misrepresented by outward appearances. It had to have encompassed four regular offices. It wasn’t at all what she expected. It was normal. She thought it would be stuffy, uninviting, and maybe even a little scary, but she couldn’t have been more wrong.

Light poured into the room. That gave her little comfort. She felt very much on display now.

Her eyes were fixated on Dean McAlvey as she pushed the heavy door closed behind her. She didn’t notice at first that in the center of the room sat a large circular table with, what looked like, antique globes all around it. Walls and walls of bookshelves. Her first opinion was that it looked like a geography class. In the center of the room anyway.

There were a few enormous maps with pushpins in them. Nearly every map had a computer or tablet on a table beside it. This had her curiosity peaked. But she was pretty sure that her dissection of his office was not why she was called in here. Not today, anyway.

He noticed the moment she began to dissect the room and quickly redirected her attention. “Please, come have a seat.”

She slowly took a chair on the other side of his desk. Feeling a bit nervous to be finally seeing him again after her accident. She kept worrying that he called this meeting awfully close to when they snuck Axel in her room. “Please don’t be that.” Her thoughts kept replaying her plea.

He began to stand after typing on his computer. Her neck bent uncomfortably upward as his frame rose higher and higher. Her eyes awkwardly tried to stare up at him as he began to walk around his desk, “Let’s move over here,” He suggested softly.

He turned to walk towards two couches, facing one another. He sat in the middle of one and held his hand open towards the other to offer direction as to where she should now sit.

“Ok.” Her voice slightly faltered.

She walked to her seat and sat, looking towards the ground.

“Are you feeling better?” He softly asked to start the conversation.

“Much.”

“I wanted to allow you some time with your friends. I knew that they would answer any questions that you might have as I instructed them to when we were all last together.

This caused her to look up. She didn’t know that he had, in a way, given them the green light on all discussion.

She was relieved a bit. No longer wondering if there were things she couldn’t tell him. Things that her friends entrusted her with.

During her silence, he felt perhaps he might take the lead in educating her in a way that may be less confusing than she had heard. He was, after all, a teacher first. A Dean second.

“So, the girls explained Galens to you?”

“Some.”

“Well, I’ll start with some information. If at any time things get confusing, just stop me.”

“OK.” She was relieved that he intended to do the talking. And as far as she could tell, it wasn’t about Axel.

“Whew!” she thought.