“So a lot’s been going on, it seems!” I really didn’t have a clue how this geezer got a job here; he’s an absolute cheese ball of a person. Of course a lot had been going on, but he didn’t need to rub it in like Mum does when she belts sunscreen onto our bare backs at the beach. My best friend’s going through the worst of times, my skirt keeps getting caught on the fence as I walk through the front gate, my PE teacher is being accused of being some kind of gay-marriage witch doctor, my Dad’s still unemployed and I still haven’t figured out how to do that bloody greenhouse effect project for Mr Symonds. It’s more like everything’s going on!
“Yeah, you could say that.” Given Mum treated killers and nasties for a living I knew never to reveal too much to these shrinks; they use stuff against you. Although Liam did seem like he was legit wanting to help, I just wished he’d understand I don’t need another mate at the moment. I just need the one mate I’ve got, not this dropkick.
“How are you finding the safe-living program?”
He asked hoping that I’d rant and rave about it. I hadn’t given it much of a thought. Between funerals, gay kiwis and athletics carnivals, I pretty much had my hands tied. That said the longer I stayed in his office the longer I could put off getting back to science class.
“It’s alright I guess. Something I don’t get about it though.”
“Oh?” he said glad I was getting involved in the chat for once.
“Yeah, Mr Symonds said it was for everyone. Not just the gay kids.”
“That’s right. I mean it’s for those who don’t identify as being with the gender they were born with, your peers who are attracted to the same sex, and of course those who are just exploring their identity.”
“What about kids who just want to get through the day?” Word vomit. I didn’t mean to say that now I had opened up a can of smelly, festering worms that I wouldn’t be able to chuck back in the tin by any means.
“What do you mean exactly, Riley?”
What do I mean? I mean the kids getting red bull slosh spat on them at the canteen, the kids whose mums are dead, who’s looking out for them?
“I’m not saying the program isn’t great or anything. I think it’s good to like people even though they are different. I don’t think Miss Walker is any worse off than my Mum or Dad just because they are both girls. And I don’t think Benjamin is better than me because he wears shorts. I just think everyone is making too big a deal of it all.”
Liam put his notepad down and stopped taking notes. I think for once he was actually trying to listen to me.
“It’s like a guy I was talking to the other day said, we all want to find meaning in what we’re going through. I think this program is good for helping us kids to do that. I’m just angry because it’s not so simple for other people.”
“And by other people I assume you mean Benjamin?” he said aptly.
“Yeah.”
I don’t know what I was more shocked by, the fact that Liam and I had actually made some progress, or that I’d actually taken on board something that a Reverend had said.
“I think that’s what we want you all to do. You’re all growing up with so much technology and little gadgets that we never did, and we want you to use them safely and respectfully. And we want kids who might be on the outside, feel like they don’t have a door keeping them from the inside.” What he was saying half felt like rubbish but half like gold, but hey if I expected anything better from this guy maybe he wouldn’t be working as a shrink in a public school.
“And I know that you’ve heard what some of the other kids have been saying regarding your new choices in uniform.”
“And about Miss Walker?” I said feeling it to be important that she was included too.
“Yes and Miss Walker,” he said even though he was kinda meant to leave the teachers out of it. “I hope you don’t think the school is forcing you to be anyone, or making you two models we want everyone else to be like. We want our students to make their own decisions, and once they do that we want them to have our full support.”
I felt slightly at ease after hearing him say that. It felt good having him say something that was meant to make me feel better, not just keep me on his side or to make himself look cool to me. After we finished the session, I walked out of class and instead of walking back to Mr Symonds’ science class I breezed by the main oval and saw Miss Walker was still setting up some equipment for the athletics carnival tomorrow. She was humming some song from an era that she was sure to tell me I should know more about, without a care in the world. “Hey stranger!” she said to me seeming actually pleased to see me.
“Hi Miss,” I said. I didn’t have anything else to say really, in fact I forgot why I came over to begin with, or if I had a reason in the first place. Anyway, she was on the front foot.
“Did you need something?” she said with a tone that suggested she was worried Scott McElroy had given me a royal hiding.
“Not really, Miss. Today, I actually got exactly what I needed.”