Rebecca Hawes felt out of place among her classmates in her homeroom class. It was the last day of her eighth grade year. All around her classmates were chatting happily, enjoying the final hours of school before it let out for summer break. Chatter was heard all over the room as girls and boys talked about their summer plans. Not Rebecca, she just sat at her desk. A couple of her friends had tried to get her to join the conversation on more than one occasion, but she had politely turned them down.
It wasn't that she was unhappy; well she was, but that wasn't the reason for her lack of communication with her peers. They all seemed to have wonderful plans for their vacations: the Bahamas, Florida, Jamaica, Dauphin Island. All of those things sounded like they would be fun, the kind of vacation that Rebecca had often dreamed of, not that such frivolous trips would ever happen. Her parents had made it clear that such trips were a waste of time, money and resources. At times, Rebecca wished that she could believe it.
The intercom buzzed, and a voice was heard. Mrs. Morgan hushed her students, waiting for the noise to die down.
"Could you repeat that please," Mrs. Morgan asked.
"Could you have Rebecca Hawes report to the guidance councilor's office?" the box at the front of the office asked.
"She will be right up," Mrs. Morgan said, pulling out a hall pass from her desk and filling it out. Rebecca walked up to her teacher's desk, retrieving the pass then exiting the classroom. She made her way out of the building that housed the classes for middle school students and into the main building.
The first floor held the lunchroom, teacher's lounge, and a computer lab. The hallway was painted a boring white, with a single blue stripe running across the middle of it. Rebecca glanced at the elevators, then decided to take the stairs, despite the fact that she had to walk up two flights of stairs to reach her destination. It wasn't like she was in a hurry, life passed by fast enough, so why not slow down and enjoy the walk.
Sadly, it took less than five minutes for Rebecca to reach the councilor's office. This was the third visit to Ms. Walker's office in the last two weeks. She still hadn't decided on the path she would choose to gain her high school diploma. Her mind went back to a couple weeks before, when she had taken home the papers explaining the different diploma options available. It hadn't taken her mother more than a couple minutes to reach a decision for her, just like she always did.
"Rebecca, the Honor's Program is exactly what you need. It will look wonderful on your resume for law school," her mother had stated, after carefully looking over the papers from the school.
"But Mother, I don't want to go to law school," Rebecca whined. It wouldn't have bothered her if she hadn't discussed this with her mother at least one hundred times.
"Don't be ridiculous, Rebecca. You'll make a great lawyer, and you'll follow in my footsteps. As soon as you get your law degree, you can take a position in my firm," her mother told her.
Rebecca looked at her mother; she looked every bit the lawyer that she was. Her white blouse was tucked neatly into her knee-length grey shirt. Her black two-inch pointy toe pumps completed the outfit. Jewelry wasn't necessary, especially not for a day at the office, and her makeup was restricted to a bit of cover-up and natural shades. Rebecca hated the stiffness and formalness of the clothes that her mother wore on a regular basis and loathed the idea of having to wear the same thing everyday of her working career. Besides, Rebecca had no interest in law, not that her mother cared.
"Now Rebecca, I must run into the office for a few hours. We can discuss this at a later time. Remember now, sign up for the Honor's Program. I'll remind you in the morning. And don't slouch, you must have good posture to look the part of a lawyer."
Rebecca shook her head, clearing her mind. She knocked on the door in front of her, which was covered with inspirational posters for anyone who bothered to read them.
"Come in," Elizabeth called. Rebecca slowly turned the doorknob, stepping into the councilor's office. She put on a fake smile was she walked through the door.
Elizabeth smiled back. "Hello, Rebecca. Please, sit down."
Rebecca did as she was told, taking a seat on the chair located directly on the other side of the desk from where Elizabeth sat.
"How are you?" Elizabeth asked. Rebecca was the only student she was to see today, so she saw no harm in having a bit of small talk with the young girl first.
"I'm ok, I guess," Rebecca said with a shrug.
"You guess? Care to elaborate on that?" Elizabeth asked, keeping her gaze on the girl in front of her. She wanted to be sure Rebecca knew that she had her complete attention, something she suspected that the girl didn't receive enough of at home.
Rebecca fidgeted in her seat, suddenly seeming very interested in a nonexistent speck of dirt on her shorts.
"Is everything ok,dear?"
'NO!' Rebecca's mind screamed, but instead she just nodded. How could she explain that her mother had chosen her career path when she was barely old enough to walk? Or that she wanted to know the man who was her father, but her only memory of him was a couple lines of a lullaby he sang to her the last night she was him? Could she look her councilor in the eyes and tell her that she hated her life, hated her mother and wished that she had never been born? Of course not, so instead she gave the answer most adults liked to hear.
"Everything is fine, ma'am." Rebecca followed the statement with her biggest smile that she could manage.
Elizabeth sighed, it was apparent that she would be getting no information out of the young girl. "So, tell me Rebecca, have you decided on what diploma path you would like to choose? You have to decide today."
Rebecca thought for a minute, then her mother's words played themselves out in her head. "Rebecca, the Honor's Program is exactly what you need. It will look wonderful on your resume for law school."
"I have, Ms. Walker"
Elizabeth smiled, moving her hands over the keyboard, prepared to fill in the appropriate information. In her mind, she made a prediction, the same way she did with every student that was asked that question, she had never been wrong in the past, so she assumed that her guess would be correct and that Rebecca would choose the Honor's Program. Yet, still she asked,"What have you chosen, Rebecca?"
Rebecca looked up, seeming confident for the first time. "I choose......."
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