House of Hope Chapter two

It was three days since Michael had came to stay with them. He didn’t argue much about the daily chore list he was given. He knew from the first day he was there that he would end up doing it anyway.

It was Monday morning and Megan was at the town school trying to get Michael enrolled into the elementary school. She knew he had been expelled from three schools in the last two years. Megan knew that how he did for the remaining of his grade eight year would determine how his high school career went.

At around 2:00pm Michael was on the couch watching television. She came and sat down beside him. She looked at him, when he shut off the television.

“Michael we need to talk a bit,”
“Okay,” he said

“I got you enrolled into the town elementary school,” she said

“Okay,” he said again

“I understand that you had a little trouble in previous schools,” she said

“So,” he said not worrying about it much. He didn’t like schools and his previous foster parents didn’t really care much his education they were just giving him what it was required by law so they could receive their money for being a foster parent.

“Education is important,” Megan began to say, “So I want you too explain to me how you managed to get expelled from three schools in two years?” she said, her eyebrow twitching at every word that was coming out of her mouth.

“It was nothing,” he said
”Don’t you dare tell me nothing young man,” Megan snapped, “Now let’s try this again. You are going to tell me how you manage to get yourself expelled from three schools,”

“Some people kept pissing me off,” he replied

“What happened when they continued to make you mad?” she said thinking that ‘pissing me off’ meant that they were making him mad.

“I got into fights. The teachers kept on bothering me, and bothering me,” he said, “I reacted,”

“There will be none of that this time. If I hear of you displaying any such behavior you will be punished,”

“What will you do?” he asked testing her limits. She looked at him with a little grin on her face.

“For one you will continue to look at the blank screen of the television. I could find a lot of things for you to clean,” she began, “Are you starting to understand where I’m coming from?”

“In other words I’d be grounded,” he said his starting to be engaged in the topic.

“You could call it that, but I would call it more on the lines consequences for your actions,”

“Okay,” he said, “So when do I start at this new school?” he said slightly changing the subject back to that of the school.

“Tomorrow,” she said, “You better be on your best behavior,”

“Okay,” he said

At ten o’clock that night, Michael was watching television when Tom walked into the living room.

“You got half an hour until it is time for bed,” he said

“Why?” Michael, “Megan said I could stay up into eleven,”

“If she confirms that then you can stay up,” he said leaving the room to go find his wife. Michael went back to the television. At ten fifty five, Michael decided to go to his room, get ready for bed, and show some level of responsibility. He stared at the ceiling knowing he would have to get up early the next morning to go to school.

The alarm clock he set the night before went off at seven o’clock the next morning. He got up, had a shower, and was down for one of Megan’s breakfasts. She made him and Sarah bacon, eggs, and hash browns.

Tom came in to get something to eat before leaving for work. Sarah finished eating before heading to the bathroom to finish getting ready. Michael finished eating.

“Remember what I said will happen if you act up in school,” Megan reminded him.

“I know,” was all he said. He remembered back to a time Anita and him were talking. This was probably the only time she even cared about his education. He couldn’t remember exactly what she said but it was something like ‘You will turn out a loser if ya don’t do well’ Michael just brushed it off as nothing.

He went outside at eight o’clock to walk to the school. Sarah was miles ahead going to meet up with some of her friends. People were rushing by, but Michael was slowly just staggering along. He really didn’t want to go but he didn’t think he had much of a choice. He knew Megan had a lot of faith in him but he didn’t feel it.

He arrived at the school just minutes before the first bell went. He walked to the front desk to ask where he go.

“Can I help you?” the secretary asked

“Um? I’m new here,” he said on edge

“So you must be Michael Timmons,”

“Yup,” he replied looking around not too engaged in what was going on.

“You just head down to room 203,” the secretary smiled. Michael didn’t reply, but just walked down the hallway to the room. As the secretary said, the room had 203, right on the door. The door swung open, as many kids passed him. A tall slender woman came to the door.

“So, you are the new student,”

“Um, Yah,”

“Why don’t you come inside and take the desk right up front,” she said. Michael walked inside, and plopped himself in the desk she indicated. He saw unfamiliar faces just staring at him. He was beginning to shiver a bit in nervousness. No body talked to him, but sat down around. A group of nearby girls were telling lame jokes and giggling. Michael knew that was typical of girls.

Soon the second bell went, and everyone was seated. The woman who let Michael in stood up at the front. The noise didn’t stop those.

“Listen up everyone,” she said, “We have a new student with us for the remaining of the year,”

The noise ceased a bit while she continued to talk. “This is Michael Timmons, and I’m Miss Cook,” she said pausing for a few minutes so everyone could get a quick look at him, “We will start the day off with History,” she said. She walked over to the desk and pulled out a history book handing it too Michael. Michael took it, and looked at it for a second.

“Everyone open up your text books to 213,” she said. Michael opened up the textbook to that page. He looked at the subtitle. They were going to learn about the holocaust he presumed. “Everyone follow along,” the teacher said.

Miss Cook began to read a section. Michael slowly began to follow along. After a few paragraphs, he just pretend he was following along. Michael remembered what Megan said. He knew if he screwed this up, he would be sent to another foster care. He would be shipped off just like Anita, and all the rest did to him.

History soon finished, and it was time for math. The one subject that Michael despised most was happening. He was given a booklet. HE stared at it and his mind went black. There was a bunch of simple algebra questions. The teacher talked for a good ten minutes on the subject.

“You got ten minutes left, and it will be do for tomorrow,” she said, Michael ears rang when he heard that.

He stared down and attempted at question one. 3x+ 3 = 6. HE tried to divide six by three but his answer didn’t come out too well. The ten minutes zoomed by and it was time for recess. He walked outside where he sat down not doing much. He sat on a bench by a football field. He didn’t want any problems to start on his first day. A group of near by girls came by and plopped down beside him. A blonde hair girl that Michael learned was Sarah, smiled at him.

“So you are the new kid,” she said

“I guess I am,” he said with a smile overcoming him.

“Why don’t you play some football,” she said, “All the guys do it,”

“Cool,” he said. The girl smiled running off. She wasn’t exactly running, because of the mini skirt she was wearing. Michael watched as her blonde hair bounced off.

The bell soon rang and Michael found himself back into the classroom. He was feeling good those, because so far he hasn’t caused any problems.

Next, was science. Michael was once again not paying much attention. He was glaring out the window. He seen birds flying by and an older man was watering the plants. He presumed that was the janitor.

“Michael,” he heard someone said. He looked back and stared at the teacher who was staring right back at him.

“What?” he said. Sarah stared right at him then giggled.

“What is an atom?” she asked him. He looked dumb at her. He wasn’t paying any attention and now he was paying for it.

“Um,” he said

“Um is not an answer,” she said, “What is an atom?”

“It is something to do with a molecule,” he said trying to remember something. He knew it was science. He just stared at her, “It’s a molecule,”

“Is that your final answer?” she asked him. He stared at her, feeling agitated. This was what set him off when the teachers singled him out. He remembered what Megan said. He didn’t want to cause any problems,”

“Yes,”

“Well you’re wrong,” she said, looking at him. He looked away.

“Well,” she repeated.

“What,” he said after an awkward of silence.

“An atom is a small element that makes up everything that takes of space,” she said. “Pay attention next time,”

“Okay, mam,” he said in a cocky voice.

“Now,” she said refocusing on the task. Michael was steaming right now. He didn’t like being made a fool of. Soon the bell rang for lunch. He ate the packed lunch Megan made him. He did admire her sandwich. He liked that she actually put something on it. Michael remembered Anita. She use to put one slice of ham and a slice of cheese in between two pieces of bread. She never made fancy lunches, just the same old stuff.

Lunch went by just as fast as the first recess went. Michael had calmed down from the last period incident. Next was physical education. Michael loosened up since he actually liked this class. He entered the gym where he was told he had to change.

In the gym, he had a new teacher. He was a taller woman, with light brown hair. He noticed that she kind of resembled Megan in some way. He felt weird comparing these entire women to one another.

“Everyone run ten laps,” the woman finally said after a few minutes of silence. Michael heard a bunch of whining, but soon everyone including himself was running around the gym. He had loosened up a bit after the run. He saw everyone else was stretching and he did the same.

“Everyone go grab a badminton racket, and find a partner,” the woman said.

Michael ended up with a girl named Mandy. She was the odd one out for a reason. She wore clunky braces, and had big thick granny glasses from ancient times. Michael had to be careful not to laugh his eyes out.

The gym class went by quickly and then he had to endure Language studies. It wasn’t too bad and soon it was the end of the day.

Michael tiredly gathered his stuff and headed back to his house. When he entered the house, Megan was sitting on the chair doing some paperwork. She stopped when she spotted him.

“Sit down,” she said with a little edge to her voice. At least it seemed that way to her.

“Okay,” he said sitting down.

“How was school today?” she asked

“Fine,”

“Please define Fine,”

“The teacher is a bitch,” he finally said

“IS that why you were cocky with her,”

“I wasn’t cocky with her,”

“Don’t let me hear about anything else again,” she said, “Let’s get your math done so you can get to your chores,”

“How did you know that I had math?” he asked

“The school told me when I called,” she said

“You think I would lie to you,” he said. Megan chuckled at him. He looked his face was turning a deep red in frustration. He partly knew if he were to ask Anita this, she would simply agree with the statement. He was hoping Megan would say something to sense his anger

“Relax Michael,” she said, he relaxed a bit. “I know how kids work. I check the school fir homework for Sarah everyday too. They usually just call me. I want to make sure I know all the details. It has nothing to do with trust,”

“Okay,” he soon said

“Now run along and get your math,” she said, “We will work on it, and you will get it,”

Michael got his math, and sat it on the table. She handed him a pencil, slowly glaring over the questions.

“Do you need my help?” she asked

“Um,” he said, not wanting to look stupid.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Asking for help doesn’t make you look stupid. If it did then I must be stupid for doing it all through my schooling.

“Oh,” he said. She did pick up on his thoughts as he looked at question one.

“3x+ 3 = 6. Okay,” she said, “I’ll show you how to do question one,” she explained. She 6 – 3 on the piece of paper, “You see you want to get the variable on one side. Therefore, I took 3 from 6, to make 3,” she said so she wrote down the new equation 3x = 3. Next, she divided 3 by 3 and got the answer one, “Make sure to try out the equation. Three times one plus three equals six,” she finally explained. Michael looked up at her and smiled. “I’ll leave you to be,” she said.

She headed down the hallway, while Michael sat and worked on his math. It wasn’t ten minutes before he her he was getting frustrated. She returned and realized he has gotten to question six. She looked at the question and let out a small smile. 4x – 4 = 8.

“What seems to be the problem,” she said knowing what he was doing wrong,

“I did what you said, and it still is wrong,” he said

“Read the question again,”

“4x – 4 = 8.” he said questioning her in confusion

“Okay you don’t have too torture your self. You see that there is a subtraction sign in place of where a addition sign usually is,” she said. Michael looked.

“Yes,” he said

“Instead of subtracting it from the eight add it,” He did just that and he got the question right. “When it is subtracting, add it, if adding it, subtract it,” she said. She sat on the table while he finished the twelve other questions.

“You see it wasn’t that bad,” she said

“It was still hard,” he said getting up to go do his daily chores. Today he had to take out the garbage. He did it without much hesitation because in four more days, he was excited about getting money.

When he came inside, he saw that a social worker was there. He just stood there. This was the last person he wanted to see because this usually meant he was going to be sent back.

“Come sit down Michael,” Megan said. He reluctantly came and sat on the chair.

“Hello, Michael,” the man said.

“Hi,” Michael said quietly

“If you don’t mind we would like have few minutes alone with you,”

“Sure,” he said, Megan didn’t look worried. Michael followed the social worker into the living room.

“So, Michael how has you’ve been?” he asked him.

“Fine,” he said, “I’m still here aren’t I,” Michael joked and found himself the only one laughing.

“So I came to talk to you about your residing here,” he said, “It has been almost a week. It is around this time that you start to cause problems. I heard about the incident on your first day you were here. Megan was happy to announce that you worked a little disagreement out,”

“Yes,” Michael said

“So, if you are smart you better not screw this up,” the social worker whispered. Michael didn’t expect to hear this from a social worker but even the social worker was sick of him.