Chapter 5

Tanya barely squeaked by in Japanese and Math, but she managed to pass after all. She spent the next two weeks of winter vacation happily wasting time with her extended family. Unfortunately, the dreaded return to school crept up on her and she tried to explain her grievances to her family. Her older sister Rebecca had gone to Olympus herself, and knew of the situations that Tanya had to go through, and tried to sympathize. Which was a little difficult because Rebecca had been born one of those people who are agreeable with anything. She was the kind of person who coasts through life easily, with no struggles or failures to speak of. It also helped that Rebecca was beautiful, with long wavy blonde hair, green eyes, and a slim athletic build from joining the swim team her freshman year of high school. Tanya would’ve been jealous of her if Rebecca wasn’t so nice to her all the time. Her naturally pleasant disposition meant that the sisters had a healthy relationship.

In fact, over break it was Rebecca that Tanya had gone to for advice on how to deal with Alexa.

They’d just finished opening presents, and the adults had gone into the kitchen to drink scotch and discuss “adult things” that Rebecca, Tanya, and her cousins weren’t allowed to hear. Tanya knew it was simply family gossip, so she couldn’t have cared less. Rebecca was sitting on the couch in front of the fire, playing with her new smartphone, while watching their younger cousins wrestle on the floor out of the corner of her eye. It was Rebecca’s unspoken responsibility to keep their cousins from killing each other. Tanya had plopped down next to her and sighed audibly and obnoxiously.

“What’s wrong?” Rebecca had asked in that knowing voice, not looking up from her new phone.

“Rebecca, how do I deal with someone trying to frame me?” Tanya picked at the frayed threads on the couch cushion.

“Frame you.” Rebecca chortled. “You’re twelve. Who would want to frame you?”

Tanya’s lower lip quivered. “A classmate of mine.”

Hearing the tremor in her sister’s voice, Rebecca looked up. “You’re actually serious. Wow. That sucks.”

Tanya was on the verge of tears. “I don’t know what to do.” She warbled. “She’s trying to blame me for something I didn’t do. I don’t even know who did it.” She grabbed a Hershey Kiss from her pocket and popped it in her mouth, hoping the chocolate would make her feel better.

“Hey.” Rebecca put down the phone and held Tanya’s chin in her hand. “Look. When people go on the offensive, it means they’re hiding something. I’d bet you she’s the one who’s done whatever you’re talking about. The trick is getting her to confess.”

Tanya sniffed. “But how?”

“I don’t know.” Rebecca admitted. She frowned. “I’m sorry. But I know you can beat her. You’re a fighter and a survivor. You can do this.” With that, she poked Tanya’s side, and Tanya couldn’t help but giggle. She would remember what Rebecca said. She’d find a way to beat Alexa.

 

                       *******

 

Tanya made one last attempt on the drive to school that morning to convince her mother not to send her back to Olympus. She’d tried to impress how miserable she was upon her parents before, but it didn’t work. Her father was an apathetic parent, who understood Tanya better than anyone, but was simply too lazy to do anything about it. Her mother had the best intentions for her, Tanya knew, but had so much to worry about already with her high-maintenance job that everything else had to be dealt with later.  

Tanya picked her head up off of the car window and stared out the windshield, watching the wilderness getting beaten down by the rainstorm overhead.

“Mom,” She began tentatively.

“Yes?” Her mom started, as if she’d been daydreaming about someplace far away. Tanya looked at her mother. How tired she looked! Her mother’s eyes were obscured slightly by a pair of wire frame glasses, but looking past them and into her eyes, Tanya was dismayed by the dark purple circles underneath them.

“I don’t want to go back.” Tanya said simply.

“I know sweetie, I know.” Her mom gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. “But look, all I’m asking you to do is finish out the year. The tuition’s already been paid, and who knows, maybe things will start looking better.”

“But mom�"“ Tanya started again, her voice growing whiny and infantile.

But she stopped, now that they were already driving up the steep driveway, to the parking lot on top of the hill, and then circling back down again to the front of the school. Tanya’s mom idled for a moment.

“I don’t know why they have to make dropping students off so complicated.” She huffed, irritated. She turned to look at Tanya, and placed a reassuring hand on Tanya’s shoulder. “It’ll be fun, you’ll see. This semester will fly by.”

Tanya just scowled and shrugged off her mother’s hand. She slung her backpack over her shoulders and got out of the car. She readjusted the straps and slammed the car door shut, refusing to wave goodbye to her mother. Tanya glared malevolently at the sky, hating the torrent of rain that crashed down on her. She walked behind the school to the back deck and hung her backpack up on one of the last free hooks on the top. She walked through the sliding glass doors and relished the warm air that instantly enveloped her inside. She crossed the Student Room and put her shoes in her cubby, and was sliding on her slippers when Rachael came in.

“Hey!” Rachael exclaimed, shaking the rain off her jacket. “How was your break?”

Tanya smiled wanly. “Good, I got to see my family in Oregon. How was your New Year’s party?”

“Good!” Rachael said, tucking her heels into her fuzzy purple slippers. “I wish you could’ve come. But there’s always next year right?” She added, hugging her assignment notebook to her chest and skipping down the hallway to the Movement Room.

“Yeah.” Tanya muttered to herself. There’s always next year. Tanya swore when she realized the bottoms of the school’s regulation sweatpants that were too big for her were now sopping wet due to the rain. She heard the gong, and realized she was late for their morning meditation. She groaned. Now she was going to get another Blue Slip. She sprinted to the Movement Room and made it inside just in time before they closed the door. She grabbed a pillow and picked a spot on the floor, the only available space left right in the corner. Everyone else was already sitting cross-legged with their eyes closed, breathing in synchronization while Sensei chanted softly, “Take a deep breath in, and breathe out.”

Sensei rang the gong loudly after five minutes, signaling the end of their meditation.

The lights were turned on, and everyone moved out to the walls, and looked up to the front of the room, where as usual the teachers were standing, waiting expectantly for silence. Stanley stepped forward, his usually hidden face behind a tangled beard now clean-shaven, and his eyes were especially bright.

“I’m very excited to welcome you all back to school in this new year.” He clapped his hands together excitedly.

“As you all know, the start of the new year kicks off a very exciting part of our curriculum.” He paused for dramatic effect. “That’s right! Intersession!”

Intersession was a month and a half long break from their traditional curriculum; where each student picked a subject, whether it was an art, a sport, or career, and research it extensively. Classes would be shortened and only take place in the mornings, after lunch the rest of the day was devoted to working on their projects. Students loved Intersession because during those afternoons there was little to no supervision, and they go tot work at their own pace, talk to their friends, and let their minds wander for a few hours. Some took it as an opportunity to goof off and go on Facebook and Youtube instead of working. These people always had the saddest presentations, and received the lowest scores. At the end of the six-week period, the students all had present their chosen topics to everyone’s families, which were then graded, or “scored” on a five-point scale.

Tanya smiled. She actually really liked Intersession. Last year, she chose to research architecture, and actually really enjoyed it, drawing blueprints and going to actual architecture firms. A requirement of Intersession was that the students needed to find mentors�"professionals in the field they were researching�"who weren’t family members. Tanya knew that today would be dedicated to helping students brainstorm ideas. Every year there were always a handful of students who struggled to come up with something to do. Tanya had never had that problem. This year, she wanted to research Henna, or Mehindi, a traditional Indian form of temporary tattoo. She’d seen it done at a birthday party a year ago and wanted to try doing it ever since.

Stanley had finished speaking, and teachers went around dividing students into groups so they could brainstorm together. They handed out large sheets of butcher paper and brightly colored sharpies to write down collective ideas. Tanya sat in her group and offered a bunch of different ideas, but didn’t disclose her. Another rule of Intersession was that more than one student wasn’t allowed to have the same project as another student. Tanya didn’t want anyone else to do Henna. She wanted that one all to herself.

Dawn, who was in her group, had decided on lighting design.  two sixth grade girls Tanya hadn’t really spoken to before named Brianna and Allie had decided to do archery and surrealism. Finally, Sam had decided to do magic tricks.

Stanley called them to attention once again. “Alright, raise your hands if you haven’t chosen something yet.” He appraised the four students who had come forward.

“Okay, I’ll talk to the four of you separately after this meeting is over. Now, the faculty will divide you into your supervisory groups.”

Students were put into different groups with faculty members who would serve as their “supervisors” for Intersession. It was that teacher’s job to make sure they were on track and progressing at an appropriate rate.

Tanya grinned when she heard her name called. She’d been put in Rick’s group. She instantly relaxed, having been tensely afraid of being put in Robin, Hilary, or Stanley’s groups. The only teachers she would’ve been able to tolerate were Sensei and Rick. And this time she lucked out. She could tolerate Stanley sometimes, he was funny and easy to talk to, she surmised. But he was far too arrogant and short-tempered to deal with in a small group for the next six weeks.

She got up when Rick’s group was excused, and they made their way to the Humanities Room, where the group would meet everyday. Rick was laid-back enough to trust the students in his group, a group of about eight kids from all three grades, would accomplish what they needed to do without his intervention. As they all sat down at the connected tables, he leaned back in his cushy easy chair, a bright red that matched the walls and tables. “So. You guys want to go around and tell me what you’ll be working on?”

Tanya was first. “I’ll be researching the use and how to create Henna tattoos.”

Rick nodded. Word had it among the students that Rick, a tall imposing man with salt and pepper gray hair, lived in the funky part of town, in an apartment over a bar. This automatically lent him a mysterious cool vibe that all the male students flocked to.

“Henna’s cool.” He nodded at Mandy, who was also in their supervisory.

“I’m going to study ballet.” She uttered nervously, blinking her enormous blue eyes.

“Ballet. Good luck! Don’t kill yourself or anything.” Rick smiled, to reassure her he was only making a joke. The rest of the students went. Two guys were arguing about who got to have guitar as their subject when Rick abruptly stood up.

“I’m not going to waste anyone’s time, okay? I want you all to get started right away. Email me a few mentor possibilities by the end of the day. You two.” He pointed at the two guys. “This is really simple. One of you do electric guitar, the other do classical. Okay?”

The two of them paused for a moment, considered, and then started arguing about that suggestion. Rick rolled his eyes. “Settle it amongst yourselves.” He stated, giving up on the matter.

He flopped back in his chair and faced his desk, waving the rest of them away.

Tanya and molly agreed to work in the Movement Room, because the Student Room was far too crowded with Stanley’s supervisory. Also there was more space to stretch out. Mandy and Tanya grabbed their school issued laptops and headed for the Movement Room. Sensei was in there helping someone install Photoshop on their computer, for their topic, photography. Mandy and Tanya instinctively scanned the room for the best place to sit where Sensei wouldn’t be able to see their computer activity. They picked a corner opposite him, away from the mirror. Kids had been caught with the mirror before, where the screen’s reflection was seen by Sensei and he confiscated their computer. Mandy and Tanya would work to be sure, but everyone deserves a Facebook break every now and then. Right?

Tanya started her research. Henna, once your acquired the necessary powder, was fairly easy to make. Tanya knew she could easily purchase some at the health food grocery down the street from her house.

While Mandy looked up beginner ballet classes, Tanya thought about what would be the best course of action in dealing with Alexa. Alexa didn’t know that Tanya knew, she was pretty sure, unless Wally had bothered to tell her about their conversation. Somehow Tanya doubted that. She was well aware they had a “thing” but one where both of them were too cool to acknowledge, if there was any, any feelings they might have for the other. Tanya found it almost funny, the way they acted. Almost. It didn’t help that after she’d been humiliated by Wally, she found out that Alexa had known he had a crush on her, but had encouraged Tanya to ask him out anyways. That really pissed her off. She didn’t understand why Wally had a crush on her. She wasn’t even pretty. Alexa was short and squat, not fat, but thickly built with muscle. She liked to make a big deal about being an athlete. Her most interesting facial feature was a forehead so big Tanya liked to joke that “you could screen IMAX movies on that thing.” She had stringy, greasy looking blonde hair that she was constantly tangling together with her fingers.

Tanya shuddered. She might be fat, but at least she wasn’t disfigured or anything.

She didn’t know how to get Alexa to admit the truth. She now agreed with her sister’s hypothesis, after having thought more about it. She obviously knew quite about Wally, from being so close to him, and telling everyone right away she’d received emails too immediately would cast her away from suspicion. Also, the eighth graders that had received emails were well-known crushes of Alexa.

Tanya tapped her keyboard, thinking. Since it had first been brought up in Self-Science, maybe she should try to bring it up again there. She smiled to herself. This could be fun.

“Tanya!” Sensei cawed. “Stanley wants to see you in his office! Go now!” He pointed at the door.

Tanya got up, shocked. Nobody ever got called into Stanley’s office unless something serious was about to happen. “Am I in any trouble?” She asked, closing her laptop.

“How should I know?” Sensei shrugged. “I’m just the messenger here.”

Tanya got up, and walked out into the hall. She stepped over students who had sprawled out on their bellies, working on their projects. She walked over to his office, and braced herself before going in. She rapped the wooden floor for good luck.