Life of an Inanimate Object: Part XIII: Counseling
Post date: May 5, 2017 6:21:08 PM
By: Megan Cichon, Entertainment Editor
Posted May 5th, 2017
Part XIII: Counseling
Instead of taking notes in math class, Galen was writing with me and erasing my mistakes with Elvin, who still would not shut up.
“What’s a polynomial?” He inquired, watching the teacher draw a strange shape on the board, “Wow, that’s a funny looking shape.”
Galen picked me back up and resumed writing.
“You don’t smile very much, do you Piper?” Elvin wondered, “I think you should smile more. In fact--”
A gentle rap on the classroom door stopped his babbling. All of the students turned their heads and watched as a young and intimidating woman wearing an blue power suit strutted into the room.
“Galen Anderson?” She called.
Galen stopped writing with me and raised his hand into the air.
“Ah good, you’re here,” the woman sighed, not sounding at all relieved, “Can you pack up your things and come with me please?”
The other students in the room jokingly kept asking him, “what’d you do Galen” as he picked Elvin and I up, and followed the woman in the blue suit out of the room.
“What are we doing?” Galen wondered, matching the woman’s pace as they walked down the hallway.
“Just checking to see how you’re doing,” the woman replied, “after that fight you had, I figured it would be best to--”
“Pull me out of math class?” Galen interrupted, “I had a study hall before math class, and I have another one after. You had to pull me out of my math class though?”
We walked into the guidance office and into a room labeled ‘Miss Naylene’. She gestured to a comfy looking chair in her office.
“Have a seat,” she offered, sitting at her desk.
Galen hesitantly took a seat, and set Elvin and I ontop of the notebook on his lap.
“So,” Miss Naylene began, “What was the fight about?”
“The fight?” Galen echoed, “What about it?”
“What was it about?”
“Well, I was writing in the library during lunch. Those kids came in and started harassing me. They took my stuff--”
“So you punched them in the nose?”
“No--”
“Is this the first time they’ve ever harassed you?”
“No, it’s not.”
“Could you elaborate on that?”
Galen sounded like he was getting frustrated. He looked frustrated too.
“They steal my stuff,” Galen began, still sounding frustrated, “they push me around in the halls, trip me while I’m walking, throw their garbage at me on the bus, and--”
“Why haven’t you reported them for harassing you?”
“I have! Why haven’t you ever done anything?! Why did it take me going to the hospital for you to finally notice this?!”
“Now, Galen, I understand you’re upset, but--”
“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Galen shouted, very obviously upset, “Those stupid kids have been harassing me for years and no one in this school has done a single thing about it! It took a trip to the hospital for you all to finally pay attention!”
“Galen,” the Miss Naylene snapped, “I’m only trying to figure out why they treated you like that. This way--”
“They bullied me because of something I can’t fix. No one else with my condition can fix what we have.”
Condition? I thought.
“Condition?” Elvin asked me.
“Condition?” Miss Naylene echoed.
“They bullied me because they think I’m a freak,” Galen explained, “I have Cone Monochromacy, and since they don’t know what that means and don’t care to find out, they assume I’m a freak of nature or something.”
“And what exactly is Cone Monochromacy?” Miss Naylene wondered.
Galen sighed, and then answered:
“I’m completely colorblind.”