by Rachel Burns
After a bit, she sang softly. “All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray.”
“And the sky is gray.” Brianna sang the second part.
“I could safely walk.”
“If I was in L.A.”
The two girls, who had nothing in common, continued their song game. Both didn’t look up from their work. Then they would have had to stop, deeming it not okay to have anything in common with the other.
Scott heard the singing. It took him a moment to realize that he had to stop it. This was just something that would be considered normal at home. His sisters all like to sing too.
He got up and slowly walked down the hall, looking for the young ladies that could be disturbing the others.
He entered the lounge. They stopped before he had come in. He didn’t know who it had been so he warned everyone. “That was really very nice, but we need to keep it quiet so everyone can study. No more singing. We have special music rooms for that.”
They all nodded, and he left.
Brianna had really enjoyed singing with Jennifer.
“I play the guitar.” Jennifer said, offhandedly.
“Really? I play the piano.” Brianna answered her eagerly.
“Do you want to go now?”
“How about for an hour after supper,” Brianna suggested. “I still have homework to do.”
“Okay,” Jennifer answered in a non-committed way.
“Great, I’ll come get you when it is suppertime.”
The other girls looked at them curiously. They just didn’t seem to fit together.
Chapter 4 – Accusations
Brianna was surprised when her psychology teacher asked her to stay after class. Everyone had looked at her oddly. She herself didn’t understand it, but that couldn’t be good, right?
She went to the teacher’s desk after class. Today was Tuesday. She had to have lunch and then go to the nurse’s office. She had a test tomorrow in Math that she wanted to be prepared for.
“Please have a seat, Miss Banks.” Her teacher was a woman who must be around forty. She had her dark blond hair pinned up in a French twist every day. She had always been very nice. Brianna was confused about the meaning of this meeting.
“Brianna, I wanted to talk to about the paper that is due in November.”
Brianna relaxed noticeably. “Yes ma’am. I wanted to talk to you about that too. I’m already finished, and I was wondering if I could hand it in sooner.”
“Actually, I already read it.”
Brianna was confused. “But that’s not possible, I have to read through it a couple more times and correct mistakes. I don’t understand. Perhaps, this is a mix up?”
“I’m afraid not. Your floor monitor gave me a copy. He felt that there is a chance that you may have plagiarized it.”
Brianna was so shocked. She had worked on it so long, investing hour upon hour. And now they were excusing her of plagiarism. “I assure you I wrote it myself.”
“Yes, but the thing is, it’s longer than I required and much more detailed.”
“That was how long it ended up being, ma’am. I still don’t understand.”
“Students rarely do more than they have to. Yours looks like you copied it out of the Internet.”
“I see, you don’t think that I am smart enough to be able to do something like that and dumb enough to just print out the first best one I find in internet.” Brianna wiped the tears away from her face.
“It’s just that you quote some of the leading doctors in the country. It’s just unlikely that you have had a chance to interview these doctors in the last two weeks.”
“Ma’am, I can prove my innocence. I know these doctors personally. This is information that I have collected over many years. I certainly did not cheat or copy anyone else’s work, and I always quoted the doctors for what they had said.”
“These doctors are spread all over the country. If you just admit that you cheated, then your floor monitor will punish you, and you won’t be expelled because you didn’t hand it in. You could still write a new paper, all by yourself.”
Brianna’s eyes widen. They were talking about punishment and expulsion. “May I show you something on the computer? It will prove my innocence.” Brianna was crying, but she ignored her own tears and fought for herself. She kept her head held high and her back straight.
“Just tell me what you want to show me.” The teacher moved over the computer. “What should I look up?”
“Brianna Banks.”
The teacher was giving her the benefit of the doubt. Brianna watched as her jaw dropped. The teacher covered her face. “I’m so sorry, Brianna. I had no idea.”
Brianna gave her a nod that said that’s okay, but she couldn’t speak anymore.
The teacher gave her a tissue. “Is that why you are here? Because you missed so much school?”
Brianna nodded.
“I would love to read your paper. You can hand it in tomorrow. I will even submit it. It may even get published. I’m sorry, Brianna. Who could have guessed?”
Brianna wiped her eyes. “May I leave now? I have an appointment with the school nurse. She is expecting me.”
“Of course, Brianna. Thank you for confiding your secret with me. I’ll keep it. I’m guessing you don’t want anyone to know?”
“Yes, thank you, Ma’am.” Brianna left.
Scott was waiting for her outside of the door. She stared at him for a moment. “How could you?” She turned and left then.
“Brianna, wait,” he called after her.
“She was able to prove beyond a doubt that she had written the paper herself. She didn’t do anything wrong, but her feelings are terribly hurt. She believes that we thought that she wasn’t smart enough to write a paper like that.” The teacher explained.
“Really? But the paper was so good.” Scott was perplexed.
“All the work she does in my class is excellent. I believe that is the case in her others classes as well?”
“Yes, that’s true, but how was she able to get all of those quotes?”
“She was able to prove beyond a doubt that she spoke with them previously. She did write it herself. I think that she is very smart. Perhaps the smartest girl here.”
“Her aptitude tests say otherwise. She has the lowest I’ve ever seen here.”
“But she is the best. Good day, Mr. Greene.”
Scott went to lunch to look for Brianna. She wasn’t there. He ate quickly and then went back to the dorms. She either wasn’t in her room, or she wasn’t opening up.
“Brianna, open up, or I am coming in.” He pulled out the key and opened the door. She wasn’t there. He looked under her bed and in the closet. She really wasn’t there.
He went back out and locked her door.
He noticed that he was drawing a crowd. Scott decided to use that to his advantage. “Has anyone seen Brianna?”
No one had. “If she shows up, keep her here.”
He went back to the cafeteria. She wasn’t there. She had missed lunch. Had she runaway? Damn, he hated this school year. He went to the music rooms.
The lady said that Brianna wasn’t there yet, but today was Tuesday, and Brianna had told her that she would always come later on Tuesdays and Fridays.
He looked at the register. She actually did come here every day.
“What does she do here?” Scott asked.
“She is a gifted pianist.”
“I’ll have a tray brought over for you, but I want you to stay laying down,” the nurse scolded Brianna.
“I have a test tomorrow. I really can’t stay that long,” Brianna protested.
“Do you want me to call your parents? Do you think that they would approve of this kind of behavior?”
“No, ma’am, they wouldn’t,” she answered meekly. “But I have a paper due and a math test.”
“I’ll tell you what. You can look over your math here as long as your heart rate stays down and regular, but otherwise, I
will take it away and write you sick for tomorrow.”
“Please don’t. I’ll be good,” Brianna begged.
“Show me, don’t tell me.” She left Brianna in a private room hooked up the heart monitor. The girl was obviously upset. Had something happened?
The nurse looked out of the window. They appeared to be searching the grounds. Someone had taken off again, she thought. But she had a patient to concentrate on; she had bigger worries than that.
The nurse decided it was better to be safe than sorry, so she dialed the emergency number on Brianna’s card.
“Hello this is Burnett College. I am the nurse here, and your daughter just came in. She is fine, but her heart is beating very irregularly. She seemed very upset when she came in. I just wanted to inform you. Would you like to talk to her? … Of course, she is on one of the monitors right now.” The school nurse walked back to Brianna. She mouthed ‘your mother’ as she gave her the phone.
Brianna was relieved to hear her mother’s voice. She started right in telling her mother what had happened. She was grateful that she could speak German with her mother, and that no one could understand them.
Her mother calmed her down and told her that it would be best if she didn’t practice today. But instead study and reread her paper. Her mother repeated that it was a big complement that it was so good that they thought it was from someone else. She shouldn’t be so sensitive and not take it personally.
Her mother confessed what the school actually did.
“You stuck me in a home for wayward girls?” Brianna was so surprised that she said it in English.
“Sort of, my little treasure, but it was the only way to get you into college.”
“Is college so important?”
“Brianna, if your father could hear you, he would spank you.”
Brianna had to smile because her mother spoke German the whole time, but then when she said the word spank, she said it in English.
Her parents had often had discussions about spankings. Her mother didn’t approve, but her father had put his foot down. His word was always the final one. She didn’t want her mother tattling to her father.
“I’m sorry mama. I just had a very bad day.”
“I understand. Call us as soon as you can, and if you can’t go to class, then you can’t go. That’s the end of the story. I want to talk to the nurse and tell her it is her decision whether or not you can go to classes tomorrow.”
“Yes, Mama.”
The nurse kept Brianna in her office until it was suppertime. Brianna slowly walked over to the cafeteria. She had studied for math and had a good feeling about it. She just had to proof read her paper and do her daily homework.
It was a lot to do, but letting herself get stressed would mean that she would have to miss class tomorrow.
She got her tray and went through the line to get a warm meal. The kitchen had only sent over sandwiches. She sat down at her table.
Everyone stopped and stared at her as she sat down and laid her bag down on the floor.
“What?” she asked.
“Scott has been looking for you, everywhere. He is very, very mad at you. What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I was at the nurse’s office. I had an appointment. She expected me.” Brianna thought about him calling after her as she walked away. This was all about him getting her into trouble. He was mad because she still hadn’t done anything, and so he decided to get her into trouble.
She felt her chair lift up and then felt it drop. “Excuse me, Ladies, I would like to steal Brianna away from you for a few moments,” Scott said with a charm, they had never heard before.
She got up from her chair and followed him a few steps away. “Where were you?”
“I had an appointment.”
“Really?” He smiled at her. “And who gave you permission to leave the campus.”
“I didn’t leave campus.” He wanted to play cat and mouse with her.
“Where were you then?” he asked in mock patience.
“I was at the nurse’s office.”
“That’s your story? You want to stick with it. You can’t change your mind later.”
“No need. This is the story I want to go with.” She emphasized the word story.
Scott grabbed her by her arm and pulled her close. “Watch your tone with me, young lady.”
Her eyes widened in shock. He liked that.
“After you finished eating, I want you to go to your room and stay there.” He let go of her arm a walked off in the direction of the nurse’s office.
She should file a complaint about him. That just wasn’t normal anymore. She returned to the table and ate as slowly as she could. She was in no hurry to get to her room. Because of him, she would probably be up until midnight doing her homework and correcting her paper.
Was he going to spank her? What would he say was the reason for it? He would probably choose something with a lot of gray area like disobedience or disrespect.
The table was extremely quiet as they ate. They were all waiting for her to finish so they could walk back together. The others didn’t want to miss anything.
Brianna dropped her bag off in her room, and then she went to the bathroom before he showed up, just in case.
She left her door open and started in on her homework. She had finished History when he finally did show up. In German, she had worked ahead because she knew that she had a test tomorrow. So she just had to do psychology.
He knocked on the door, and she got up from his chair. “Come in.”
He walked in and closed the door behind him. He looked at her standing there so meekly. She was afraid of him, he could tell, but she also had fire in her eyes.
Now that he had finally pinpointed her, he wasn’t sure what to say to her. He pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and pointer finger. He was getting a headache.
Brianna watched him. She toyed with the idea of asking him why he had wanted to see her, but she decided that it could be construed as her mouthing off.
“Brianna,” he paused again. “Brianna, I thought that you had runaway. Everyone has been looking for you all afternoon.” He was getting louder as he continued to speak. “I personally looked under every stone.”
“I didn’t break a rule today, nor did I any other day.”
“So I have heard. And to answer your question from before as to how could I do that. The answer is that I thought that I was saving you from expulsion. I saw it as an act of kindness.”
“Do I have permission to speak freely, sir?” She was biting back tears, but she was mad and hurt too.
He deserved a tongue lashing, and he knew it. “Granted, for now.” He was leaving a trap door open.
“You really think that I am that stupid that I would steal a paper off of Internet and copy it and then even show it to you?” Brianna was shaking her head. “Never mind. Don’t answer that? Your actions already did.” Her jaw was set so hard. “I just don’t understand why you have such a low opinion of me. I understand that you don’t want me on your floor. Perhaps you drew the shortest straw, whatever, I don’t know, but I have given you no reason to – whatever.”
“Brianna, I don’t think you are stupid. All of your teachers and the lady in the music room think you are very bright.”
“Is this something personal against me? Have you ever turned in a paper like that before?”
“Brianna, this isn’t about anybody else. Right now I am only concerned with you. And I am very pleased that it turned out so well.”
“Have you, or haven’t you?”
“Brianna, I’m warning you.”
“Fine, that answers my question well enough.” She wiped a tear away. “So you get mine and read it and think that dumb girl could never have written something like this. I’ll go talk to her teacher about it and really embarrass her. Maybe even plant a seed of doubt. It worked too; she believed you and not me the whole time. I had to prove my innocence. What
if I wouldn’t have been able to? Would that have mattered?”
“I am very glad that you could. I don’t know how you did it, but she was very convinced.”
“Yes, she was convinced, but you still aren’t. Is that why you only expect B’s from me? All the other girls have to get mostly A’s.” She paused, and her eyes widened. “You aren’t allowed to give lower than a B, are you? Or you would have. I don’t believe this. What have I ever done to you?”
“Brianna, please calm down.”
“I’ve said my piece. I’m finished.” She crossed her arms over her stomach. She looked like she was trying to hold herself together.
Scott felt like such a heel. She was more hurt than any girl he had ever spanked.
Brianna was looking up at the ceiling hoping to keep the numbers of tears that fell out on the low side. She was biting her lips. She looked miserable.
Scott was fighting a need to give her a hug. He had already held all the girls on the floor except her.
There seemed to be something about him that made girls burst out into tears. This one he hadn’t even had to touch.
“I am so sorry for everything I have done to you. I should have had more faith in you, but truth be told, it was just the best paper I have ever read, and you’re only a freshman, I would have assumed the same from any other girl. It was just perfect and informative.” He stopped and looked down at the floor. “I’m making excuses, and I didn’t want to. I apologize. I am truly sorry.” He looked at her again. Tears were dripping from her face, but she nodded.
In a very hoarse voice, she said, “If that is everything, then I still have a lot of homework to do today.”
“Of course. Good night, Brianna.” Scott left closing her door. He stood outside of her door and listened. He heard it lock, and then he heard heartbreaking sobbing.
Scott listened to her and thought about the odd things she had said. Mostly about him drawing the shortest straw.