The next morning, Myra came to school as she usually did - loudly attached to Mike. Johnny was still missing, still dealing with suspensions for the incident at the Halloween prom. Not that had stopped his cronies from continuing their bullying of Mike, either directly or otherwise. In this context, Myra caught out of the corner of her sight an unusual onlooker - Ashley.

“Hey, Mike, can you head on to class? I’ll catch up with you,” Myra said.

“Eh? Uh…. um, yeah, I’ll live,”

Mike gathered his things for class and made his way to it in a hurry. Myra watched him off and then moved over to where Ashley was. As Myra approached, Ashley backed to a quieter part of the hall and motioned for Myra to follow.

“What’s up?” Myra asked.

A few minutes later, Myra and Ashley parted ways. Myra, with a solemn look on her face, simply remarked to herself:

“Guess I’m going to wait until tomorrow to talk to the counselor…”

The next day, in the morning, Myra knocked on the door of the counselor’s office.

“Come in,” Miss Werther said.

Myra opened the door and entered Miss Werther’s office. She took a seat.

“Is this about what happened at the prom?” Miss Werther asked.

Myra sighed.

“Yes, but there’s something else I’d like to ask first.” Myra said.

“What’s the question?”

“A few weeks ago, I asked about checking on Ashey, do you remember?”

Miss Werther leaned back in her chair for a moment.

“Yeah, I asked some of the teachers who work with her to ask her about it. They said nothing wrong was going on,” she said.

“Oh,” Myra lamented.

“I’m glad you’re concerned about the other students,” Miss Werther added.

“Yeah, because yesterday she told me Johnny was physically abusing her,”

Miss Werther stopped and looked at Myra in silence.

“I already made a report to the police on her behalf. They’re looking into it,” Myra added.

“...why didn’t you come to me, or the staff?” Miss Werther asked.

“I didn’t trust the staff to do something about it.”

Miss Werther didn’t have a response to that.

“Well… anyway. I was here about what went down at the Halloween prom, yes. Mike stopped by your office Monday, right?” Myra asked.

“Uh… I can’t tell you what the other students do in my office,” Miss Werther said.

“He told me that you stopped by here. He said that you basically recommended him to just ‘keep his head down’. I know that’s what you’re generally recommended to tell him, but that’s such dumb advice in this case,” Myra began.

Miss Werther straightened up in her seat. Myra continued:

“Advising ‘keep your head down’ doesn’t help when people are actively targeting you, after all. Doesn’t matter if your head’s down or up when people seek you out. It’s marginally helpful at best and most likely indirectly harmful,”

A moment passed through the office after Myra’s surprisingly impassioned mini-rant. Miss Werther leaned back in her chair and said:

“There’s a sense of professional distance. It’s the best I can advise,” she lamented.

“Yeah… I know, I just… needed to vent. I’m sorry. Your hands are tied here,” Myra said.

Myra relaxed in her chair, taking a moment to chill out a bit. Miss Werther gave her space.

“By the way, I did have an idea this morning. Some of Johnny’s ne'er-do-well friends have taken it upon themselves to get revenge for Mike’s involvement with Johnny’s suspension,” said Myra.

“That’s terrible,” Miss Werther commented.

“Yeah, well, anyway. Do you think Mike could have lunch outside the cafeteria? I don’t know, maybe in the homeroom?”

“I don’t see why not. Is his homeroom teacher okay with it?”

“I asked him about it this morning, and he told me to ask you. He’s okay with it,” Myra said.

“Then I don’t see why not,”

“Great, thanks. It’s been getting… pretty bad.”

Miss Werther leaned forward.

“How bad?” she asked.

“...honestly, it seems like he’d learn better staying at home with schoolwork than coming in, that bad. He’s pulling through for now, but…” Myra said.

“Oh,”

“He’s not great with social stuff… so he’s particularly ill-equipped to handle it,”

Myra sighed and then started to grab her things.

“I have to go to the next period in a bit. Thanks, again,” she said.

“Hey, I know you and Mike are close… are you doing anything to help him?” Miss Werther asked.

Myra turned to face Miss Werther. After a moment to collect her words together, Myra said:

“Other than being a shoulder to lean on, a friendly face, sometimes helping with homework, and otherwise being around with and for him when others aren’t?”

Myra paused to let the rhetorical question ring.

“Trying my best to keep the bullies at bay from him, I guess,”