“Well, haven’t you had a pretty terrible week,” Mike’s father said.

“Why must Johnny be such an asshole?” Myra yelled to no-one in particular.

“...what I want to know is, how did he get away with it?” Mike asked.

Mike and Myra were sitting on the couch in the living room, while Mike’s father sat by the kitchen table.

“Someone with something to gain?” Myra said.

“Yeah, but why like this?” Mike asked.

Mike’s father sighed.

“Some people are just terrible, Mike,” he said.

He turned in his chair to face Mike before continuing. Mike looked up to his father.

“The head coach was covering it up, right? Maybe he was going to use the team’s success with Johnny to land him a job in college football,” Mike’s father continued.

“But why would…?” Mike asked.

The next answer came from the other side of him.

“The problem is that you’re a good person. You object to the means, but obviously the coach didn’t. If you want my opinion, I’m not really interested in whatever rationalizing he may have for it. He’s shown himself as a terrible person, and I don’t really need or want to know further.” Myra said.

Mike turned around when Myra’s speech began to listen. After she finished, he paused for a moment to think about what she said.

“That’s… terrible,” he said.

Myra leaned back on the couch and looked up at the ceiling.

“Yep.”

“And the other people involved,”

“Probably something similar. If Johnny makes your school look good, why would you throw that away? That’s my guess of what the logic was,”

Mike leaned back on the couch and sighed.

“That’s… so dumb,”

A moment of silence passed through the room. Mike’s father stood up and walked over to the refrigerator. After taking a look inside, he spoke up to ask a different question:

“By the way, I’ve been wondering - not that I’m complaining - but why are you here all the time, anyway?”

Myra turned to look over to the kitchen area without leaning forward from her spot on the couch.

“My aunt makes for terrible company. Do you want to be with a cynical drama gremlin all day?”

“Oh. Fair enough.”

“Haha, I jest, but only somewhat. Besides, I think me being in Mike’s company is a better use of time, anyway,” Myra added.

“By the way, Mrs. Perkins was coming today, right?” Mike’s father asked.

“Oh, yes. She was going to be here soon. She’s on the parent-teacher committee, and I’m friends with her daughter, Lyn. I figured she’d be a help for you and Mike,” Myra said.

“Hello Myra, Mike, Mr. Jones.”

Mrs. Perkins entered Mike’s apartment. She was wearing pants and a well-insulated winter coat.

“I don’t think we’ve met before. One of Myra’s - and so I hear, Mike’s - friends is Lyn, my daughter. So I’ve heard a bit about the situation with Mike.”

Mike’s father stood up to greet Mrs. Perkins. Mrs. Perkins meanwhile took off her coat.

“Nice to meet you. You can put your coat over there,” Mike’s father said.

He motioned to a coat hanger on the front door. Mrs. Perkins put her coat on the hanger and said:

“I’m also on the parent-teacher committee, so consider myself particularly interested.”

“Myra had mentioned it, actually.”

As the two parents conversed by the front door, the two students talked with each other as well.

“Hey, Mike… do you want me to handle talking about how school has been going?” Myra asked.

“Uh… yeah, it’s…”

“Okay,”

 

Mrs. Perkins and Mike’s father had pulled a couple chairs over to sit closer to Mike and Myra already on the couch.

“Well, none of that sounded good,” Mike’s father said.

“I’m sure the parent-teacher meeting coming up will be quite interesting. Do you want me to try to make something happen for Mike?” Mrs. Perkins said.

What? She’s going to do something for me? Mike thought. He had a confused look on his face.

“If you could, that’d be nice,” Mike’s father added.

“I’ll see what I can do. The last thing the board wants is more bad press, after all.”

“Um,” Mike spoke up.

Mrs. Perkins turned to face Mike.

“Uhm… when is this meeting, again?” Mike asked.

“It’s next Tuesday, Mike,” Mrs. Perkins answered.

“I trust her, Mike. Or is that not the issue?” Myra asked.

Mike put his hands up in protest.

“Ah! No, there’s no problem, I just-”

“Not sure why people are helping?”

“Uh- yes,” Mike said.

Mike slumped down back on his spot on the couch, defeated again by Myra’s powers of observation.

“Because it’s not right that you’re getting put through all that crap at school,” Myra said.

“But… why me?” Mike asked.

Myra leaned forward and looked at Mike squarely in the eyes. He sheepishly tried to lean farther into the couch.

“Because it’s the right thing to do. Good things are allowed to happen to you,” Myra added.

Her voice was rather stern. Myra, after a moment, also realized this and leaned back and added in a much lighter tone:

“So let Mrs. Perkins help, okay?”