Chapter 23
Zander and I go to the high school to meet with the guidance counsellor and drop off my transcripts in the morning.
I have a feeling it won’t go well after the tone of the email.
The school’s front door is unlocked, so we follow the signs to the office and Ms. Johnson’s room.
Her office is down the hall, behind the receptionist’s desk.
Zander knocks and sticks his head inside as the door is cracked open.
“Hello, Ms. Johnson, I presume? I’m Zander Finn. ”
“Mr. Finn, where is Summer?” She asks abruptly. Zander turns to me and rolls his eyes, pushing the door fully open.
“Hello, I’m Summer,” I wave.
“Do you have your official transcripts?” She asks.
No pleasantries, I see. I walk in and hand them to her, then she turns to her computer and starts typing.
I glance at Zander, who shrugs and sits in one of the two metal chairs in front of the desk, so I sit in the other.
We wait as she prints something off and starts comparing the papers I gave her with what she printed.
“It’s just as I thought,” she says. “Summer, you can’t possibly expect me to approve the AP Seminar class.” She looks over at Zander. “Mr. Finn, I’m sure you’d agree Summer can’t handle four AP classes. Have you seen her grades?”
Wow, rude much? I’m getting Mary, my CPS advocate, vibes. “I have, yes, and I have every confidence Summer can handle the four AP classes,” Zander replies with a smile.
“While we approve some students to take an additional course, those students are ones who excel in their studies. That is not Summer,” she says to Zander, waving my transcripts in the air. Turning to me, she says, “You need to choose another course.”
“I’m not sure what I can choose. The classes I requested are identical to the ones I took in Virginia. I’m not sure what course I could take when we’re already over halfway through the semester. I’d have missed over half the year of coursework and tests,” I reply.
“You’ll have to find something else to take.
You can take AP History next year. There are several regular classes with room in them.
” She clicks her keyboard and prints off another sheet, sliding it over to me.
History, economics, political science, and algebra.
I’ve already surpassed history and algebra and have no background in the other two courses. Great.
“I’m sorry,” Zander says, holding up his hand, “you’re saying my daughter has to take a regular course when she has been taking AP classes all year?
She is already halfway through her AP History course, and you’re telling her to take all that again next year?
If I’m not mistaken, she is passing all her AP classes in Virginia.
Why not allow her to finish what she's started?”
“Four AP classes are a reward for excellent grades, Mr. Finn. I see nothing of the kind here. Is there something I’m missing? A reason I’m not aware of that I should approve this?” She asks, looking between us.
“Will you excuse us for a minute, Ms. Johnson? Summer and I will re-look at the class list,” Zander says with a smile. She waves us off, so I follow Zander out of the office and down the hall. “So Ms. Johnson has an inflated ego,” Zander says, looking irritated.
“I had a feeling she was going to be difficult,” I nod.
“How do you want to handle this? Your grades were excellent before the accident, which she can see on your transcripts. Do you want to explain to her why they changed?”
“I really don’t. She’s already fishing for information. This is a fresh start for me, and none of her business. I have no idea what else to do. I’ll have to retake AP History next year and just choose the easiest course available and hope I can catch up.” I shrug.
“I can try pushing, but if she won’t budge, you could pick another class for now, and we can try the principal or vice principal on Monday.” He offers.
I nod. The regular history course would be the easiest. When we head back to her office, Zander tries again to reason with her, but she isn’t budging, so I tell her to sign me up for regular history class.
I’m told I’ll get an email later today with my class schedule and contact information for the track and field coach, so we head back to the car.
There’s a meeting at Finn for everyone working the wedding tomorrow we need to get to. I follow Zander into the large conference room when we get there, where Troy and Seb are setting up.
“Hey Sunshine,” Seb hollers. I smile and walk over to help him put the packets of papers in front of each chair. “How did the meeting go?”
“Not great,” I say. “I’ll tell you later.” People arrive, so Seb tells me to sit at the left end of the table closest to the front, and he takes the seat beside me.
“There now, no one can touch you but me,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows. I chuckle and shake my head. Nick, Bay and E soon arrive and take seats across from us.
Once everyone is seated, Troy clears his throat to get everyone’s attention.
“Welcome everyone,” Zander says. “Tomorrow is the Smith wedding. Let’s discuss the details. First, welcome Summer. She’ll be in the chopper with me tomorrow.”
I blush and give a small wave as people nod or say “Hi.”
Troy goes over what jobs each person will handle tomorrow.
The packet is thorough, with names and headshots of the wedding party and family.
There’s a picture of the bride’s ex as a person of concern.
He’s not happy about the wedding, apparently.
A land map and house blueprints with exits and entrances marked is included.
There are also green dots showing where members of the team will be situated.
It looks like a lot of information to me, but everyone's nodding along as if this is standard for them.
The last page contains an NDA that we all need to fill out and sign for the family.
“Is the family clear about our job descriptions now? They understand there will be no more changes tomorrow?” A man inquires from across the table.
“Good question. Yes. There will be no further changes allowed. For anyone unaware, the family has been requesting changes to our security plan nonstop for the past week. Z put his foot down, so to speak. Your jobs and positions are now established. If someone tells you to go somewhere else or perform duties not specified in your job description, get in touch with me or Z right away, alright?” Troy replies.
Once the team discusses everything and everyone's questions are answered, they depart.
“So what happened this morning?” Seb asks as we walk towards Zander’s office.
“Ms. Johnson won’t approve the AP Seminar class. I had to choose something else, so I picked regular history.”
“That’s bullshit, Sunshine. Hang on a second, we’ll get this fixed.
” We stop walking as he whips out his phone to make a call.
“Alex, man, Summer is getting screwed over by Ms. Johnson. You need to help her out,” he says.
“Yeah, okay, just a sec.” Seb hands me his phone. “Alex needs to talk to you.”
“Hello?” I answer, taking his phone. At some point, I’ll get used to the hurricane that is Seb.
“Hi Summer. Seb said you had an issue with Ms. Johnson this morning?” Alex’s baritone voice rolls over me.
“Yeah, sorry he called you during your vacation about this. She wouldn’t approve the AP Seminar class you suggested.”
“It is no problem. What was her reasoning?” He asks. I can hear him walking as the background noise decreases. I hope Seb didn’t interrupt something important.
“My grades aren’t high enough.” That’s an embarrassing statement from a normally straight A student. Huh, this is the first time I’ve cared about my grades since before.
“l see. Would you mind taking a screenshot of your transcripts for me, please? I will wait.”
“Sure ok. Just a minute.” I grab my phone and bring up my transcripts and screenshot them, then text them to Alex. “Okay, you should have them,” I say.
“I see them, Summer. Just let me glance at them,” he replies. I hear a door open and close, then silence. “Your grades are fine. It looks like they dropped after the accident, but you are passing everything. I am guessing she was looking for answers as to why there was a change in your grades?”
“Um, yes, but it’s none of her business, so I said nothing.”
“Good, she is a busybody. She is acting unprofessionally by not approving the course. Meet me in the office before classes on Monday, and I will take care of it.”
“Are you sure? Zander was going to talk to the principal on Monday about it.”
“I am sure. Tell him he does not need to interrupt his workday. I will settle it before classes start,” he assures me.
“Thank you, Alex. I appreciate it.” Wow! I don’t understand how a teenager can get my class approved, but okay.
“You are welcome, Summer. Tell Seb I said goodbye.” I hear the click of him hanging up, so I hand Seb his phone back.
“All good?” He asks.
“Alex said he’ll take care of it before classes on Monday. I’m meeting him at the office in the morning. Seb, how is he going to fix it?” I inquire.
“Money talks, Sunshine. His family is ultra-rich. His dad contributed a lot of money to the new school. Plus, Alex is the top student in our class. He’ll probably just go straight to the principal and bypass Ms. Johnson altogether.”
Zander leaves me at home on Saturday morning to fly the helicopter to the venue and meet the bride’s father with Troy for a final check, confirming everything is set up for their security.
Seb and Nick are picking me up around noon.
Zander told me to wear sunglasses and bring a jacket.
I call Sue to check in, then decide to thaw some cookies to bring with me.
I’m putting the last few in a container when Seb comes in without knocking.
“Sunshine, your chariot awaits,” he hollers as he walks into the kitchen.