AUTHOR'S NOTE:Sorry for not updating. College has kept me busy, but I will try to update as frequently as possible.
"I choose the Career technical program"
Elizabeth glanced up from her computer. "Excuse me?"788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeSdsRW0MfR
Rebecca looked directly at her. "I choose the Career Technical program. I want to study Early Childhood Education."
Elizabeth begin filling in the appropriate information into the screen in front of her. She glanced up at Rebecca from time to time, wondering why a girl with her grades and smarts would choose to go into the career technical program. Elizabeth rolled her chair away from her desk, grabbing a couple of papers.
"Your mother will need to fill out these permission slips and information sheets and return them as soon as possible. Everyone else has already turned theirs in, but I will allow you to turn you permission slip in during the next couple of days, while the other staff members and myself are preparing for the summer break. If the papers aren't returned you will be enrolled in the standard classes. Do you understand?"
Rebecca nodded, picking up the papers and glancing over them. She quickly skimmed the paper, seeing the dreaded line labeled Parent Signature. There was no way that her mother would just sign the paper without reading it. She was more likely to march her back to the school and demand that her diploma choice be changed to the Honor's program.
"Do you have any questions, Rebecca?"
"No ma'am," Rebecca said, standing up and walking to the door. She paused in the doorway a moment, before turning around.
"Ms. Walker?"788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7z3nSsR5YM
Elizabeth looked up at the young girl. "Yes?"
"Do you think I made the wrong choice?" She looked at Elizabeth with wide, uncertain eyes. but Elizabeth also saw something else in her eyes, something she couldn't quite understand.
"Do you think you made the wrong choice?" Elizabeth asked, pointing to the seat in front of her. Rebecca took the seat, staring down at the desk.
"Dad used to tell me to do what I want to do, to follow my own dreams, my own path. My mother says I can't remember him saying that, but I do. But is following my own path the right thing to do? All I want to know is that it's ok to make my own choices, not ones my mother makes for me." Rebecca stopped talking, and looked up at Elizabeth.
"Rebecca," she began, trying to find the right words to help the young girl in front of her. "You are your own person, only you can decide what future is right for you. Your mother, myself, your teachers, we can't decide that for you. What diploma path would make you happy?"788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4fICeKI1B
Rebecca stood up, shrugging. "I don't know, I'm not even sure I know what happy is. I'm not asking to be happy, I'm just asking to be ok."788Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoeduqONGtX
Elizabeth could only watch as Rebecca walked out of her office. She could have called the girl back, but doubted that it would do any good. Her mind kept replaying what Rebecca had said.
"I'm not asking to be happy, I'm just asking to be ok."
She recalled the day Rebecca had responded to her question about what she wanted to be when she grew up with a similar question.
"Ok, I just want to be ok."
"Rebecca, what is it that makes you think just being ok is the best you can reach for..." Elizabeth asked out loud, not that anyone was around to hear.
Meanwhile, Rebecca had returned to her classroom and staring at the paper in front of her. There was only one way her mother's signature would find itself on that paper. Picking up her pen, Rebecca began to write slowly, mimicking the exact slant of the letters her mother did when signing something, and the same way she had drilled Rebecca to write. When she finished with her work, she looked down at the paper.
Melissa Gray. Her mother had gone back to using her maiden name a few years ago. She had asked Rebecca to do the same, but Rebecca had put her foot down. She had very few things that belong to her father, and his last name was one that she wasn't willing to give up.
Rebecca carefully placed the papers in her folder, making sure they wouldn't be wrinkled just as the dismissal bell ring. Rebecca returned the folder to her book bag before picking up her book bag and purse and heading outside. She glanced over to where students were loading the buses, before deciding to walk home.
She kicked at a stone, talking aloud as she walked. "Dad, what should I do? I know that being dishonest and forging Mom's signature is wrong, but it was the only way. She would have never signed the papers. Why is mom hellbent on me being a lawyer anyway? And why did you have to leave.
"Rebecca....Rebecca..."
Rebecca turned around, trying to see who was calling her name. The voice sounded familiar, but she had no idea where she had heard it before.
"Who...who's there?" Rebecca asked.
"Remember...." The voice was male, and much fainter than it had been when she had first heard it.
"Remember what? What am I supposed to remember?" Rebecca asked, looking all around. She had stopped walking now, standing completely still. But there was no one around, and the only sound came from a dog barking nearby and the wind. Confused, Rebecca resumed walking.
It only took her ten minutes longer to get to her house. She was walking slowly, until she saw two police patrol cars sitting in her driveway. Rebecca ran to the house, worried that something was wrong. She had just placed her foot on the first step when she heard the voice again, so faint that it was barely audible.
"Remember the lullaby."
"What, what lullaby?" Rebecca asked, as her mother stepped onto the porch.
"Rebecca, who are you talking to?" her mother asked.
"Nobody ma'am. Why are the police here?"
"They wanted to talk to us about your father's disappearance."
Rebecca was shocked. Her father had ran away and left them when she was only three. Why would they want to investigate that? What was there to investigate? So many questions Rebecca wanted answers to, yet none she could ask her mother. However, maybe the police officers had the answers she was looking for.
"Now, be polite and mind your manners, Rebecca. And remember to smile."
Rebecca followed her mother back into the house, putting on her best fake smile, her mind only on her father.
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