Chapter: Classroom Troubles

                Laina rolled her number two pencil between her fingers while staring absently at the handout her teacher, Miss Sharp, had given the class.

                “Addition,” Miss Sharp’s voice rang out clearly, “Is the act of putting two or more numbers together…”

                The teacher’s voice started fading from the foreground of Laina’s attention. She was about to start doodling on the handout, but thought better of it as it had gotten her into trouble last time. She decided to stare out the open window instead. A few of the windows had been left open today to let the fresh mountain air in. That meant the garden fairies could come and go as they pleased.

                One of them did just so and hopped right onto Laina’s desk.

              “Hey there, little one,” said the fairy. “The weather’s so nice today. Do you want to come outside and play with us?”

                Laina shook her head as discretely as possible.

                “Aw… Why not?” The fairy asked.

                All Laina could do was shake her head again. This fairy didn't seem to understand the situation.

                The little fairy continued. “You played with us yesterday in the church garden. It was so much fun! You have to come!”

                A frown appeared on Laina’s face. “Not now.” She whispered as quietly as she could.

                “Laina!” Miss Sharp’s voice made the girl jolt in her seat. “You should not be talking when I am.”

                “Sorry.” She replied. Her fairy visitor departed in a huff during the small commotion.

                It wasn't fair. Other students got away with whispering all the time.

 

               The bell to end classes finally rang. Laina packed up all of her things and was about to leave with the other students, when Miss Sharp stopped her at the door.

                “You need to stay.” She said.

                Again?

                “I called Pastor Nick earlier,” She continued. “He’s on his way here.”

                Laina’s face tightened. She went back to her seat without a word, wondering why she had to stay this time.

                The next ten minutes passed in a stressful silence, until Pastor Nicolas finally walked through the classroom door. Laina’s eyes met his expectantly.

                Pastor Nick smiled. “Hi, Lainey. I hope I didn't keep you two waiting too long.”

                She let out a deep breath. “No, Pastor Nick.”

                “Hello, Pastor,” Miss Sharp said, standing up. “Thank you for coming to meet with me at such short notice again.” They shook hands.

                “Not a problem,” Nick responded.

                “Laina, be sure to take a chair with you outside.” the teacher instructed.

                “We won’t be too long,” the pastor assured.

                After she hurried out with her bag and a chair, Miss Sharp closed the door behind her. The teacher’s voice occasionally penetrated the wall. “She talks to herself.” And then, “It’s not healthy!”

                Laina decided she needed to use the restroom for a little while.

 

                “Miss Sharp, I would greatly appreciate it if you would lower your voice.” Pastor Nick suggested. “She can definitely hear you.”

                The teacher paused. “Sorry. You’re right. I’m just very frustrated.”

                “I will make sure I talk with her over the weekend about this.” The pastor said.

                “No! I mean, I want to try something different. Maybe she should speak to the school guidance counselor for a change.” Miss Sharp stated.

                Pastor Nick gave it a moment of thought. “I suppose it’s worth a try. But I really don't think the situation is quite so serious.”

                “Please just humor me on this.” Miss Sharp was starting to sound exasperated again.

                “Okay. We'll have her meet with the counselor next week. But just for one week.”

                The teacher sighed. “Thank you.”

 

                The next Monday evening, Pastor Nick’s wife, Marcy, came to pick up Laina from school.

                “How did your first meeting go?” Marcy asked on the way back.

                Laina shrugged. “Fine.”

                “Is the counselor nice?”

                Laina nodded.

                “You know,” Marcy continued. “Seeing a counselor is nothing to be ashamed about. I've been to one a few times and felt a lot better after I got to talk to someone.”

                Laina didn't respond. She felt like the counselor was the one who did all the talking.

                You can talk to me about anything. I just want to help you.

                                It’s okay to have imaginary friends. I used to have one.

           Could I see some of your drawings? I heard you’re a great artist.

                           You have such a good imagination.

 

                The next day after school, the counselor asked Laina about her friends. After much shrugging, it was decided that she should try befriending her classmates.

               

                On Wednesday, Laina reluctantly left her sketchpad in her desk at recess and went outside to the playground. Two girls were sitting in the swings beside each other, giggling. Laina approached them.

                “Hey Amy. Hey Nora.”

                “Hey Laina.” They responded in unison.

                “Do either of you need a push?”

                “Nah. I’m alright.” Nora said.

                “I guess if you wanna.” Amy replied.

                Laina pushed Amy on the swing for a while, and listened to the two girls continue their conversation.

                “My momma always combs my hair after my bath. It really hurts when she pulls out the tangles.” Amy said.

                “My mommy always wants to curl my hair in the morning. She uses so much hairspray I can’t even breathe, hardly.” Nora replied.

                “You don't have to push anymore if you don’t wanna, Lainey.” Amy said. “My legs aren't tired anymore.”

                Laina left the swings, wondering what her mom would have done with her hair. She looked around the playground, looking for an area that had room for her. Her usual spot in the flower bed was open, at least, so she made her way over there.

                The little girl looked around the flowering bushes. “Anybody there?” She queried softly.

                A few fairies appeared excitedly. “Hello again!” One said.

                “Hey. Do you wanna play with my hair like last time?”

 

                When the counselor asked Laina about her braids, the girl smiled, saying her friends had done them.    

 

                On Thursday morning, Laina was relieved to hear from Pastor Nick that her counseling sessions were over. The counselor wanted to have a final meeting with him and her teacher instead.

 

                Later that day…

                “If you say so.” Miss Sharp sighed. “If you really think everything is normal, then I guess I’ll have to be satisfied with that.”

                The pastor and counselor smiled.

Reviews

[Cailean]

This is tight and well done, a good hook to start with. If I have any real beef with it is that probably too often your paragraphs start with "Laina" - but with some work you can shuffle the sentence around and preserve exactly the same content. Repetition does crop up and unless it's deliberate (and carefully crafted) it can reduce the impact of writing.

But this is a minor aside and is easily fixed with a bit of work :) Overall, a promising start.

[Woolliza]

Thanks for the constructive criticism! Could you point out the parts that sound too repetitive so I can try to fix them?

[Cailean]

Mostly with the starts of the paragraphs with "Laina" and generally leading with the speaker's name, so you could actually shuffle the sentence around more with say, instead of "Pastor Nick said" you could go "*statement" said Pastor Nick. Can be a bit annoying to have enough variants - I'm working on a piece currently that has this problem! Thankfully I have a co-worker who is an aspiring editor :)

[Woolliza]

I fixed it up. Hopefully I did well enough! Thanks for your help!