Don't Rewind (TEMPORARILY ON HOLD)

13: Hero

      "Catarina Scott, please report to the Head of School's office immediately." I hear from the speaker as Jenny gets taken away in an ambulance. "Cat- oh my god, what happened up there?" "Cat, you're a total hero!" "Was she really gonna jump?" are all things that I hear between the pats on the back and hugs I'm getting from my peers. "You guys, I've got to go, we can talk later- sorry!" I say and start walking over to the principle's office. As much as I would love to gloat in the pride of saving a person's life, I've gotta go to the principle's office before I do anything. It all feels so surreal. I touch my nose to see if the bleeding has stopped, which it has, luckily. Hero. Cat, you're such a hero. I smile to myself. As much as I'd love to be humble about this, I honestly can't believe it myself. I saved a person. Me. An average, high school senior. I wonder what else I could do with this power. As I approach the principle's office, I start to think about Sarah. I start to think about our memories together. I know, it's random, but I can't help it. She seems to be worming herself back into my life- you can't blame me for thinking about her. She's so different from how she used to be, and I can't tell whether I really like it or really hate it. I hate myself for it, but I'm leaning towards really liking it. How she's just so.. free spirited. How she doesn't care about what others think about her. It's... cool. I wish that I could be more like that. I wish that I was less stiff, and I wish that I could have a good time and let loose and not let my morals get in the way of it. I wish that I could start acting less like a forty year old and more like a sixteen year old. 

      I knock on the door of the office and wait for an answer until Mr. Gordon calls out to me to come in. I'm nervous, and I don't even know why. I didn't do anything bad. I saved someone from doing something horrible, I should be proud of myself... right? I open the door cautiously, and walk into Mr. Gordon's office. "Please, sit Catarina." Mr. Gordon says to me, gesturing to the chair. I've never been inside of his office before- I've never gotten in trouble or done anything monumental before. I sit down in the blue chair right in front of his desk, my posture tense and upright. "Hi Mr. Gordon." I choke out with a smile. "How are you, Catarina?" He asks me. "I'm pretty alright... how about you?" I reply. "Catarina there is no need to be coy about what just happened. I'm very aware of what just went down on the roof. How are you really feeling?" He asks. How am I really feeling? "Well, shocked, really." I say. "It's a very brave thing that you did up there, and frankly I'm not sure how you did it, Catarina. You must've come at the exact right time. It's a miracle that you knew what to do." He says to me, a sincere expression on his face. "Yeah... I don't really know how either, honestly..." I mindlessly reply, staring off into space. "Catarina, I called you in here so that we could maybe speak a bit about Jenny, a bit about what has occurred, and how to cope with it." He says to me, "So maybe we could start off with Jenny. Have you two ever been close friends?" "No... not particularly. I just... the past twenty four hours have been very hectic for me- a lot has happened..." He cuts me off, "Oh yes with Mr. White and all. Oh I'm so sorry that everything has been so stressful for you, I would imagine that you would not know where to start." "Well... yeah, I guess. I um..." I let out  shaky breath, trying not to seem suspicious of oh I don't know, rewinding time or anything, "It really started with that, I suppose. Then after that I kind of um- I reconciled with an old friend..." I start to say, but he cuts me off. "Oh? With who?" He says sipping his coffee. "...Sarah Weeks..." I half-mumble under my breath. He almost spits out his coffee at that, but collects himself quickly and says, "Oh? I never knew that you two were ever..." He pauses, "Friends?" "Yeah... her and I were very close until we were twelve." I say. "Oh... I never thought that you two would ever associate... You are both so... different." He says. "Well... She wasn't always the way that she um... is now, per say. She used to be very different." I say weakly. "Well... alright. Enough about Sarah, go on." He says. "So yeah I spoke with Sarah... And then I went back to campus and decided to talk a bit of a walk, when I ran into Jenny who I saw was getting um... bullied." I say, and gulp. "I stood up for her, and then when we were walking back to the dorms, I got to know her just a bit. She seemed very gloomy- more gloomy than I ever remembered her being- so I decided that when I got back to my dorm, I would snoop around her social media account for a bit. She was getting harassed a lot on there as well... It really wasn't pretty..." "By who, exactly?" Mr. Gordon asks. I contemplate my decision here; do I tell him that Monica has been bullying Jenny to death? It would be anonymous, so I decide to do so. She would never know. "Well it was a bunch of people... but some comments from Monica Blue really stood out to me... they were like... super drastic and heartless." I tell him, shyly. "I had a hunch about that one... carry on." He says, and writes something down in his notebook. "Well... after that I went to sleep... and I was woken up this morning by the news about Jenny being on the um... building." I say, uncomfortably. "Mm... so you must have immediately gone to the building I assume?" He asks. "Yeah... I needed to. Hence the reason I'm still in my sweat clothes." I say with a small chuckle, attempting to lighten the situation. Mr. Gordon closes his notebook, "Well I'm going to let you get some rest because you deserve it. But I just want to let you know that it was a great thing that you did up there, Cat. Keep up the good work." He says. I thank him and get up and leave the office, practically drenched in stress sweat. That was one of the most stressful things that I have ever done- describing my day without the main event in it. I'm getting some sleep and a change of clothes, because he's right, I do deserve it.