That Night

Chapter Fourteen

Despite my protests, my mom made me return to school on Tuesday. My shoulder was starting to feel better, but everything else still hurt.

I sat at the kitchen table trying to force myself to eat as a nervous pit formed in my gut. Memories of my conversation with Juliet swelled in my brain and kept me from thinking about anything else. But I had to suppress them, push the thoughts to the deepest corner of my brain. My mind couldn't process them anyway, so I had to stop trying.

"Dash, we have to get going," my mom said gently. She was going to drive me to school that day since my arm was still in the sling.

"Why can't I stay home one more day?" I grumbled, dumping my bowl of uneaten cereal into the sink.

"I told you already," Mom said. "We're meeting with the school counselor today."

I tugged at my hair, feeling the urge to tear it all out. Because of my alleged fainting spell on Friday, the school counselor requested a meeting with me and my parents. Percy, of course, would not be in attendance, but my mom was determined to go work this all out.

"Dash, don't make this difficult," she said before I could edge a word in. "Mr. Dougherty drove you to the hospital, so the least you can do is cooperate."

"Whatever," I muttered, grabbing my backpack. "Let's just go."

When we got to school, my mom parked the car and followed me inside. Another reason I was particularly bitter about this appointment was because it just had to be scheduled during first period. I knew an encounter with Juliet would likely not go well, but I needed to at least see her. Seeing her face felt like it would solve all my problems, show me that I still knew who she was.

"Mrs. Mayer, Dash, welcome," Mr. Dougherty said chipperly when my mom knocked on his office door. He reached over his desk and shook Mom's hand, saying, "It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Mayer."

"Dakota," she corrected him. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too."

"Alright, Dakota, Dash, you can call me Gabe," he told us. "Please, take a seat."

I withheld a snort as I sat down in a chair beside my mom. I had never been to the counselor's office before. It was just as one might imagine, decked out in inspirational quote posters, scented candles, and colorful pillows. Gabe was a young guy, probably not much older than me. He was scrawny under his multicolored plaid dress shirt and tight gray pants. He looked like the guys I used to push around after school to impress girls. Needless to say, it was going to be difficult to take him seriously.

"Dash, how's the shoulder?" Gabe asked, clasping his hands on the desk and gazing at me with intense concern.

"It's alright," I replied curtly. I really wanted to get this meeting over with as quickly as possible.

"Good, well, I hope it's healing quickly," he said with an awkward chuckle.

"He had a past injury, so it'll take some time for it to fully recover," Mom said.

That's none of his business, I thought bitterly. I hated talking about my injury, but it was coming up a lot lately.

"Right, last year during football season," Gabe said, reading something off a clipboard and making a quick mark with his pen. "So anyway, I'm really glad you two made it in today. I just thought we should have a chat after Friday's events. Whenever something serious happens at school, I like to follow up and see how the student is doing."

"The student is fine," I muttered, slouching in the chair. I didn't intend to say that out loud, but it came out anyway.

"Dash," Mom snapped under her breath. "We really appreciate how much you care," she then said to Gabe in a much warmer tone. I rolled my eyes.