Maybe I Will by Laurie Gray

Author:Laurie Gray
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Luminis Books, Inc.
Published: 2013-03-03T16:00:00+00:00

I shoved my notebook back into my backpack. I needed a plan. A plan to get through the night and the weekend. A plan to get through my first session with Erin TheRapist. Mom’s voice: Well, the first thing you can do is stop calling her that. Her name is Dr. McMann. I needed a plan to get through my first session with Dr. McMann or to find another therapist. The Rapist. Counselor. I needed to find another counselor. I lay down across the top of the table and using my backpack as a pillow closed my eyes and went to sleep.

When I woke up it was dark, and there was someone shaking me.

“No!” I shouted, struggling to get up and away.

“Sandy, it’s okay.” My eyes focused on Mr. Washington standing barefoot in his taekwondo uniform. “What are you doing here?”

I stood up, but I couldn’t think of anything to say. “I just . . . “ I started. Mr. Washington waited. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “I was just looking for a place where I could think.”

“Well, it’s a little too cold and a little too dark for me to just leave you out here thinking all night long. Come inside with me.” He motioned for me to follow him in the back door. We walked through the same storage room I’d been in this morning, but it seemed a lot darker and more ominous at night.

“I didn’t think anyone was here,” I said. I rubbed the green rubber dummy’s six-pack abs for good luck as we walked past and into the dimly lit studio.

“I came back for a private lesson and was closing up shop for the weekend,” he said. “I didn’t think anyone else was here, either.”

It felt weird being in the studio all alone with Mr. Washington. I wasn’t afraid really, but I didn’t feel like I belonged there anymore.

“Just have a seat over there while I finish up.” Mr. Washington motioned to some stools by the counter. He erased the weekly white board calendar on the wall and wrote in the stuff for next week. “You got a car?” he asked when he was through.

“No, sir,” I replied. Taekwondo was all about calling people “sir” and “ma’am.” It seemed funny at first, especially calling Shanika “ma’am,” but now I said it without thinking.

“So you want to tell me what you were thinking about?” Mr. Washington asked this kindly. He wasn’t pressuring me, but I knew I couldn’t tell him what I was really thinking about. So I decided to talk about the assignment.

“I have to do a paper on character,” I said. “Due Monday.”

“Well, I’m flattered that you came here.” He smiled as he shuffled some papers into several stacks by the cash register. “So did you figure out what to write?”

I shook my head. “I ended up thinking more about honesty and integrity.” And self-control, only I don’t want to say that out loud.

“Maybe those have something to do with character,” he said.

I nodded.

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