Raven walked through the hall on her way to Ms. Whitaker’s office slightly annoyed. Ms. Whitaker plucked her out from the lunchroom, where prying eyes wanted to be in the knowing. She turned the corner toward Ms. Whitaker’s office, and there sat Taylor.
This was a setup.
Raven turned to Ms. Whitaker and waited for her to explain her betrayal.
“Now, Ms. Raven, please take a seat so we can talk.”
Raven continued to stand.
“Please—sit down, it’s okay.” Ms. Whitaker pointed to Raven’s favorite beanbag. “Taylor has requested a mediation between you and her.”
“She did?”
“Yes, she did,” Ms. Whitaker repeated.
Taylor sat quietly.
“Taylor,” Ms. Whitaker began.
“Look, Raven, I don’t want no problems.” Taylor rolled her neck right away.
“I don’t either.”
“Is there something that you feel Raven has done to you?” Ms. Whitaker turned toward Taylor.
“Yes. I know last year she tried to date Justin . . . and she talked about my dad.”
Back to the dad thing. Raven sighed. She couldn’t hide her disdain. “I did not, Taylor. I don’t know what else to say. I apologize for that. If you feel it was intentional, it was not.”
Raven explained the IG post to Ms. Whitaker. Raven even mentioned Taylor and her family recently coming to Raven’s house for dinner. “And I don’t know where you got this story about me trying to date Justin. You two are perfect for each other.” Raven crossed her arms.
“See! You see!” Taylor's voice rose, and she pointed her finger at Raven. “This is exactly what I mean.”
Ms. Whitaker gave Raven a strange look.
Raven tried calming herself. She looked around the room and counted.... She started again. “You know what—you’re right. That wasn’t cool. I have never tried to date Justin. Ever. But I believe you’re just throwing things up to see what will stick.”
“Taylor, do you believe it was intentional? Sometimes our perceptions of the situation can be skewed by, well, anything really. If you believe that it was intentional, then we’ll sit here all day hashing this out. Just like we talk in our sessions,” Ms. Whitaker nodded.
In our sessions? They had sessions? Raven perked up.
A tear fell from Taylor’s eye. “You know, I look at you, and I remember when my parents were happy. I remember when my mom would come home and greet my dad with love in her face. You complain and worry. You play the victim. You have dance, and you’ve had dance for years. You take it all for granted.”
Raven was stunned. For the second time in two weeks, someone told her she played the victim. “Taylor, I’ve been trying to figure you out for years. I never thought you liked me, and I never understood why. There never seemed to be a reason.”
“I just gave you reasons,” Taylor’s voice raised.
“I hear you; I’m just saying I never had reasons before. You sprung this on me, and I’m trying to figure it all out. But I don’t think I play the victim,” she countered. Jasmine could say that to her, but she wasn’t about to let Taylor say it too—not without defending herself.
“And Raven? What are your issues with Taylor?” Ms. Whitaker asked.
Raven sat and thought. She went through different situations in her head. An eye roll and finger snap. A whisper directed at her. Raven remembered the confusion she felt at some of those behaviors. When she tried to piece together a story, nothing seemed to fit. She couldn’t pinpoint a time when Taylor directly did anything to her. She wondered what it was they were really arguing about all these years.
“I got nothing,” Raven shrugged.
“I knew you wouldn’t take it seriously,” Taylor’s leg bounced up and down.
“Now is your time, Raven. What’s on your mind?” Ms. Whitaker pressed.
“I thought about what you just said. About perception. There have been times when I thought Taylor was talking about me and when she rolled her eyes at me. There’s been times when I thought a lot of things, but I never knew for sure. Maybe my perception was off. I don’t know. If you came to me a month ago and we had this conversation, then I probably would’ve had an answer. But now… I don’t know, it just doesn’t seem like something I want to keep focusing on.”
She looked directly at Taylor.
“I’m sorry, Taylor, I’m really sorry if I have ever offended you. I apologize because that was never my intention. If you think I rolled my eyes at you, or you thought I wanted to talk to Justin, whatever, I’m sorry. Especially about the Justin thing, because that’s a bald-faced lie. But I can’t sit here and point to things you’ve done to me because I really don’t know. If you want to move forward from here—we can. If not, that’s fine too. But I don’t want to go tit-for-tat about what we both did or didn’t do. We’ve been at this for years, and really, for what?”
Ms. Whitaker looked between Raven and Taylor like she was at a tennis match. She said nothing, silently supporting both of her students. Taylor made sure no more tears fell from her face. She dabbed them before that could happen again. Her back straightened, and her face hardened.
Maybe Raven was wrong about this moment. Her speech had been her waving the white flag and extending an olive branch. But the way Taylor was looking at her, it seemed as if to Taylor—Raven may have declared war.
“I’m done,” Taylor mumbled. She gathered her things and left Ms. Whitaker’s office without looking over her shoulder.