Through Her Eyes

*ERIC*

“And why should we work with you?”

“I’m glad you asked.” The man in the suit said as he opened his computer to show us the presentation he’d put together.

This meeting was in the works for weeks as we tried to find the time to get together and discuss some things. From the looks of it, this guy was just reciting what someone else had put together for him.

When certain questions were asked he’d either refer to something he previously said to make it sound good or he’d quickly skim through his notes.

Things like that don’t usually go unnoticed around here and so far, this guy may just be leaving empty handed.

While trying to focus on what this guy was saying, my phone vibrated in my pocket. In my mind I thought it was just a spam call or someone calling about an extended warranty I never knew existed.

Each time my phone vibrated I let it go to voicemail. By the fourth back-to-back call, I leaned over and whispered to my project manager that I’d be back. She nodded and continued to listen to the presentation.

When I stepped out into the hallway, my phone rang again. Okay whoever this was really wanted to reach me. This was aggressive behavior. Clearview Elementary ran across the screen.

Shit, Kayla!

“Hello?”

“Hello, this is Anthony Greene. I’m the principal here at Clearview Elementary School and I’m trying to get in touch with Eric Wilkes.”

“Speaking.”

“I tried to reach the parent of Kayla Jefferson, but I wasn’t able to and you were on the list as an emergency contact.”

I became speechless for a moment as my mind tried to think of every possible reason they would be calling me.

“What is this about?”

“Are you able to come to the school to discuss this further?”

“I’m on my way.”

My heart jumping and my mind racing as I quickly gathered my keys and my jacket from my office. On the way out my secretary was informed that I would be back and to tell those in the meeting I had an emergency and to leave any notes and contacts on my desk.

The ride to her school had me unraveling at every light that seemed to catch me before passing through. I couldn’t get there fast enough.

With very little information to go off of, my mind became a jumbled mess of worst-case scenarios. Most of which didn’t even make sense. At one point I thought she might have lodged a crayon in her nose and no one was able to get it out. But they have medical staff for stuff like that and when the hell would that even be possible?

“She’s eight and colors all the time with no problem”, I reminded myself.

Panic really set in when I parked and only got worse when I went inside.

The same lady that helped me find Kayla’s teacher on the very first day of school was the same person to point me in the direction of Principal Greene’s office. She was still snarky.

Someone should really train her in soft skills.

I opened the door and saw Kayla in one of the chairs in front of the desk. Her head was hung low and her hands balled into fists in her lap.

The principal and I shook hands as I took the seat next to her. I reached over and placed a gentle hand on her back and rubbed it up and down while continuing to pay attention to the man in front of me.

“So what’s going on?” I asked a little anxious.

“Kayla has been suspended for fighting and disturbing the class. We called for someone to come get her.”

“Are you sure it was her?”

“Her teacher has been in here four times this week alone concerning Kayla.”

“I had no idea.”

“We’ve reached out numerous times and even tried to set up parent teacher conferences and no one responded to the emails or calls. Mrs. Waters even sent home a note that we assume was never received.”

“I assure you, she’s not usually like this. I’ll talk to her mom and work with getting her back on track.”

“Trust me, I know. But please get to the bottom of it and if there’s anything we can help you all with, please reach out. In the meantime, she can’t come back until next Tuesday.”

“Three days?!”

“Her teacher opted for five. I decided against it. Thank you Mr. Wilkes for your time.”

What the hell was I going to do with her for three days? I doubt her mom would be able to get the time off to deal with this.

Kayla slowly grabbed her book bag and her jacket as tears poured from her eyes. She held on to my hand as we walked out the office and through the doors in silence.

After she was safely secured in her seat, I climbed in the car and tried to call Kacie. It went to voicemail. I called again. Still no answer. At that point I wasn’t going to keep calling so I sent a quick text message and put the phone down.

Kayla wiped her eyes and with a shaky voice she asked, “are you mad at me?”

“No, why would I be mad at you?” I asked sympathetically.

“You never visit or talk to me anymore.”

In one sentence she managed to break my heart completely. I couldn’t help but wonder if this is why she’d been acting up in school lately.

“You wanna tell me what happened sour patch?”

She lifted her head and told me everything that had been going on.

“It’s these two girls named Olivia and Lola. They’re not nice. Olivia picks on me and Lola laughs.”

“What did your teacher say?”

“She tells me I’m being dramatic and that she doesn’t see them do anything.”

“Why are you fighting?”

“Mommy says use my words. But when I do they don’t listen. So when Lola pushed me, I hit her and Olivia hit me so I hit her too.”

The thought of her having bullies was all too much. My face had gotten hot from the anger that was building up. Then she said something that disarmed me completely.

“When J…Ja…Ms. Hines was there, nobody bothered me. Now that Mrs. Waters is there, only I get in trouble. I miss Ms. Hines.”

Not once did any of us think how difficult this was for Kayla. The constant moving, the abuse from her dad, her teacher not being at the school anymore, not to mention her cousin on the way. That’s a lot for any child to process. How could I have been so blind?