We were marched into Dr. Foreman's office and told to sit. Gia and Mindy kept looking at each other as if they knew exactly what was coming and it wasn't good. Teal had her head back, her eyes closed, and Robin sat staring forward, her eyes like sockets without bulbs,
Dr. Foreman entered smiling warmly and sat in her chair with a notebook in her hand. For a long beat of silence, she just sat there looking at all of us like a proud parent might contemplate her children. Was I right in thinking that we had reached a point where she was pleased?
"Okay, girls." she began, "we can finally get down to why you've all been sent here. We can finally go after your recuperation and get you all set on the right road. Everyone here has done something to lead me to believe she can change, she can improve, but you all have a ways to go vet, and now that you have spent quality time together and gotten to know each other better..."
I was expecting her to compliment us about it, but she surprised me when she continued. "You all know who among you has the least chance of achieving immediate success. Unfortunately, whoever that is will only hold the rest of you back." She panned us slowly, her eyes pausing on each of our faces, then moving on to the next and the next, spending a little more time on mine. "You've all got to think of what's best for everyone and not for yourself. That's the only way to help yourself,
"Now, the most important thing to achieve is honesty. I'm sure you'll all agree. Honesty requires trust, and you girls are the best to decide who among you can and cannot be trusted, Am I right?"
There was a deep thump in my chest. In the back of my mind I wondered if she would tell everyone how I had betrayed Teal, use me as an example.
"I want you all here to hear each other because I do not like it when one girl goes behind someone else's back. That's deceit. We've all got to face the blunt truth about ourselves. I know how hard this is to do. For most of you, if not all of you, deception, dishonesty, conniving, have been the order of the day. How refreshing it will finally be for you to throw all that off and be truthful," She smiled as if she were offering us a party.
She rose, scooped up five pencils from the top of her desk, and handed each of us one. Then she gave each of us a piece of paper.
"Let's begin, however, with a secret vote. That's the best way to break the ice."
I glanced at Mindy. She looked absolutely terrified.
Gia looked angry. "We've done this before. Dr. Foreman, Can't we be excused?"
Dr. Foreman's face hardened even though she kept the smile on her lips. "Yes. Gia, you have done something similar before, but not satisfactorily. Not yet. And besides"-- Dr. Foreman's eyes gleamed as she nodded at Robin. Teal, and me--"you have new companions now. Things can't be the same. Every situation is different and you've got to be able to adjust to new situations all the time, adjust to different personalities. That's what it's going to be like out there. right?"
Gia looked like she was going to say something more, but then stopped and looked dawn.
"Right?" Dr. Foreman insisted, Gia looked up. "Yes."
"Good. All right. Now let's begin. I want you each to write the name of the girl you think will take the longest to improve and leave the school."
I was stunned. Vote on who among us was the worst?
"What if we don't know enough yet about everyone else?" I asked,
"Oh. I think you do by now."
"We weren't permitted to speak to each other much and..."
"You've seen and spoken to each other enough to make the decision I expect," Dr. Foreman said sharply. Then she smiled. "If you can't choose, then write your own name down, and of course write your own name if you believe you are the weakest one."
Was this really some kind of a serious vote? What would happen to the girl who won this vote? Would she be treated more harshly? Isolated from the rest of us? I looked at everyone else. No one was going to write her own name. Why should I write mine?
"But..."
"Quickly. We have a lot to do and you're all going to be sent back to the barracks afterward to complete your schoolwork. There are due dates for all your assignments, remember, tomorrow being one."
I looked at the others. Robin was writing and so was Teal. Mindy stared down at the floor like she was giving it all real thought, but Gin wrote a name quickly on her paper. Whom was I to choose? There was no doubt in my mind. It would be Teal because she was the one who whined the most and she had tried to run away. I felt so guilty about having betrayed her, but from the way Dr. Foreman was looking at me, those eyes of hers so full of awareness. I was afraid if I didn't write Teal's name, she would know I wasn't being honest.
"Fold your papers and hand them to me."
We did so and Dr. Foreman sat with them all in her lap.
"Okay, let's begin." She opened the first paper. "Teal," she read. She looked at Teal, who glanced at all of us and then looked away with fear.
Dr. Foreman unfolded another. "Teal." The third was the same.
Opening the fourth, she said. "'Teal."
Then she opened the fifth and smiled. "Robin? I guess we can safely conclude you wrote Robin. Teal."