April was one hundred per cent unrepentant as she sat in Mr Lang’s office facing him across the desk. It was actually impressive how much dignity she could assume as she sat there holding a bloodstained tissue to her nose.
‘This is grounds for expulsion,’ said Mr Lang. April knew he was serious because he spoke so softly. Authority figures save their calmest voices for when they feel least calm. ‘This is twice now that you have attacked a disabled student.’
‘Not disabled, differently-abled,’ said April. ‘And I think it is prejudiced of you to categorise him by his differability. His name is Tom. I didn’t attack “a disabled boy”.’ She used her fingers to make air quotation marks as she said this. ‘I attacked Tom. I don’t have anything against disabled people. I’ve got something against Tom. He’s a nasty little –’
‘Enough!’ shouted Mr Lang, slamming both palms on his desk. He took another breath to calm himself.
‘It’s the pressure of being acting interim mayor, isn’t it?’ said April. ‘You can’t handle it. When you were just the guidance counsellor you were always so calm and reasonable. But you’ve really started losing it since you’ve become acting mayor.’
Mr Lang did not respond. He had pursed his lips as if he didn’t trust himself to speak.
April continued, waving her bloody tissue about as she spoke. ‘It’s not your fault. It’s the education system. It’s practically a sheltered workshop. It doesn’t prepare teachers for real life.’
‘I said enough!’ said Mr Lang, although less loudly this time and with more of a pleading tone. ‘I don’t want to expel you. Do you have any idea how bad that looks for the school? But you are giving me no choice.’
‘Come on,’ said April. ‘We both know you’re not going to expel me. Guidance counsellors and principals have been threatening to expel me for years, but they never actually do it. I’m smart. I get high test results. I turn up every day. If it weren’t for my personality, I’d be a model student.’
‘No,’ said Mr Lang. ‘This is different. You’ve gone too far. You can’t assault a disabled boy.’
‘Tom, I assaulted Tom,’ April corrected.
‘You can’t assault anyone!’ exclaimed Mr Lang.
‘Actually,’ said April, ‘a lot of contemporary educational theorists are coming around to the idea that children should be left alone to experience risk, lead active lifestyles and problem-solve on their own.’
‘I can’t let you assault disabled students,’ said Mr Lang.
‘Why not, if it’s character building?’ asked April.
‘Because it’s illegal!’ said Mr Lang
‘No, it’s educational,’ argued April. ‘It teaches me to let out my emotions and it teaches him not to be so rude.’
‘We don’t want you to let out your emotions,’ said Mr Lang. ‘You do that too much already. We want you to try keeping some of them in.’
‘Can’t you just let me go back to class and pretend this never happened?’ asked April. ‘No one got hurt.’
‘You’re dripping blood on my carpet right now!’ said Mr Lang.
‘Okay, no one got hurt except me,’ said April, clamping the tissue back over her nose.
Mr Lang shook his head sadly. ‘The fact that you can’t see how egregious your behaviour is, is part of the problem.’
April scowled. ‘Why are you using your fifty-cent words on me? “Egregious” just means terrible. You’re trying to create jargon-fog to confuse me.’
Mr Lang had turned away to open a drawer of his filing cabinet.
‘No one is trying to persecute you,’ said Mr Lang. ‘No one is trying to do anything to you. Except perhaps educate you.’
‘Nah, no one has done any of that since I got here,’ said April.
‘But my first priority has to be the safety of the students at this school,’ said Mr Lang. He turned to April and laid a form in front of him on his desk.’
‘What’s that?’ asked April.
‘Document 46-C,’ said Mr Lang. ‘Expulsion certificate.’
April didn’t have anything clever to say in response to that. She was too busy remembering how Professor Maynard had specifically instructed them to blend in and not cause trouble. She was pretty sure this would count as ‘trouble’. April got a sickening sense that this expulsion could have severe ramifications for her whole family. They might have to move, again.
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
‘Not now!’ snapped Mr Lang.
But whoever was on the other side of the door pushed it open anyway.
‘I said, NOT NOW!’ barked Mr Lang.
The red ball tip of a white cane poked through the open door and tapped tentatively side to side as Tom entered the room.
‘Tom!’ exclaimed Mr Lang, jumping to his feet. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t realise it was you. Come in, come in. I mean, actually, that’s not a good idea. I’m in the middle of a meeting. Perhaps we could talk later?’
‘You don’t need to suck up to Tom,’ said April. ‘You wouldn’t suck up to any other students.’
‘I’m not sucking up,’ said Mr Lang. ‘I’m being compassionate. You should try it.’
‘Bah,’ said April. ‘You wouldn’t be compassionate to other students either.’
‘I’m a guidance counsellor,’ said Mr Lang. ‘Being compassionate is my job.’
‘He’ll never learn to adapt to normal life if everyone fawns all over him,’ said April.
‘It’s just consideration,’ said Mr Lang.
‘Exactly,’ said April. ‘No one in real life is considerate. It’s a dog-eat-dog world. Which just makes me angry, because dogs are so much better than people.’
‘I’m sorry to interrupt,’ said Tom politely. ‘But I think I might be able to help you, Mr Lang.’
‘You do?’ said Mr Lang. ‘There, you see. Tom knows how to be considerate.’
‘I don’t believe it,’ said April. ‘It’s probably a trick.’
‘I know you must be discussing how you intend to punish April for her violent attack on me,’ said Tom. He looked wan and pitiful as he said this.
‘Yes, are you all right?’ asked Mr Lang. ‘Have you quite recovered?’
‘He’s fine!’ said April. ‘I’m the one with the bleeding nose.’
‘He’s got finger-shaped bruises on his neck!’ Mr Lang snapped back.
‘You can’t prove that was me,’ said April. ‘Anyone could have done that. He is really annoying.’
Mr Lang shook his head. ‘Expulsion is not a thing we consider lightly, but your total lack of repentance is leaving me with no choice.’
‘Sir,’ said Tom. ‘Please don’t expel her.’
This caught April’s attention. Why would Tom stick up for her?
‘You’d only be giving her what she wants,’ said Tom. ‘She’d love to hang around at home all day. It wouldn’t be a punishment.’
April rolled her eyes and glared out the window.
But Mr Lang was intrigued.
‘She’ll never learn to empathise with the vision-impaired community that way,’ said Tom.
‘What are you suggesting?’ asked Mr Lang.
‘Yeah, what are you suggesting?’ asked April suspiciously.
Tom shrugged his schoolbag off his back and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. ‘I entered the mud run,’ he said. ‘But my entry was knocked back because of my disability. They say I can only go in the race if I have a guide.’
‘What?’ said April.
‘Oh yes,’ said Mr Lang. ‘I’ve seen blind … I mean “vision-impaired” people running in marathons. They have a guide tethered to them with a strap around their wrists, so that they stay on track.’
‘Exactly,’ said Tom. ‘I thought that it would be an excellent way to teach April about the struggles of vision-impaired people, if she were to act as my guide.’
‘No way!’ cried April. ‘You want me to be tethered to you for the entire race?!’
‘And all the training,’ said Tom.
‘I won’t do it!’ announced April.
‘What a brilliant idea,’ said Mr Lang, relieved that he had a loophole so he wouldn’t have to expel her. Now he wouldn’t have to do all that horrible paperwork after all. He might even have time to get a nice cup of tea from the staffroom before the next period.
‘I refuse,’ said April. ‘No, no, no, no, no!’
‘It’s perfect,’ said Mr Lang. ‘It’s a punishment and a learning opportunity.’
‘Why must teachers see all dreadful things as learning opportunities?’ wailed April.
‘She just has to fill in her details on this form and I can resubmit my entry,’ said Tom, handing the scrunched up sheet of paper to April.
April looked at the paper. She so wanted to tear it into a thousand pieces and throw it in Tom’s face. But what choice did she have? Even April with all her hot temper knew she had to avoid getting expelled if it was at all possible. This was her only way out. She scowled at Tom, which was, of course, entirely wasted on him.
The worst thing about agreeing to be his guide would be his smug satisfaction at getting one up on her. It just wasn’t fair when he was the one who’d been in the wrong in the first place. But life was not fair. April knew that. She reached out and took the sheet of paper. Mr Lang picked up a pen and stretched across his desk to hand it to her. April looked down at the page. ‘Hey, this isn’t a form. It’s last night’s maths homework.’
‘Sorry,’ said Tom. ‘I thought it was that piece of paper.’ He started rummaging through his bag.
‘Give it to me, you big nincompoop,’ said April. She reached in, fished out the form and thrust the bag back into Tom’s arms. ‘I guess this is how it’s going to be for the next four weeks. Me having to do everything for you.’
‘Yes,’ said Tom.
Mr Lang didn’t notice because he was too busy putting away the 46-C form, but April caught the hint of a smug grin about Tom’s face.