“Are you okay, do you need a minute?” Ms. Northington said. “No, I’m fine,” I said, “just confused.” A few silent seconds passed. “Why are you confused?” She asked. “I thought that he liked me, he… he seemed like he liked me. So his parents came in with him too?”

“Yes” Ms. Northington reported

“Did he do most of the talking, or did his parents?”

“His parents.” she reported.

“Ah, okay.” I said.

“What are you saying exactly?” She replied. Another few seconds passed. “I’m not really sure if I understand.” Ms Northington asked me. “I’m not sure if I understand.” I said. Ms Northington misinterpereted my wordsm, “I’m asking for you to elaborate on why you are confused” She said before I cut in, “No, no, I understand what you’re asking, just not what the situation is. why this is happening.”

“You don’t know why his parents complained?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Earlier you asked if his parents did ‘most of the talking’, are you concerned that he may not agree with what his parents said?”

“Yep”

“I’m assuming that he showed some interest into you” Ms. Northington started on me.

“He did. Lots of interest.”

“Are you sure that his actions were not misinterpreted.” “Absolutely sure. The fact that he even noticed in the first place is proof.”

“Positive?” She asked.

“Absolutely completely positive”

Her face turned into an emotion of worry, almost of disgust. She thought about it, and felt horrible for what she must have thought of me. Disgust for what those parents must think of their children. She drowned her thoughts.

“Can you do anything about it?” I asked. “No, I can’t. Not without proof of neglect or significant harm.”

I started crying a little after yet another long period of silence. “Are you okay? This must be hard on you.” “Normally it wouldn’t, but this time is different” I stopped talking, my emotions stopped me from thinking about anything else but them. “Just. I don’t know. I… I actually felt happy for once… Just, how good it felt to hold his hand, to smile at him, to talk to him…”

“Do you need a tissue?”

“Yeah…” My voice was barely intelligible. She handed me a tissue. I wiped my tears with it. “Why is this one so much more different?”

“Because he liked me. I thought that there were no barriers after that, but I guess not.”

“There will have to be an investigation, I can mess with that a little bit, but not too much or I might come under suspicion.”

“Thank you.”

“Take as much time as you need here, and then head back to class.”