-insert dramatic title here-

[.~[Misty.Muffin]~.]

ｔｈｅ Ｐ Ｒ Ｏ Ｔ Ｅ Ｃ Ｔ Ｉ Ｖ Ｅ ｃｏｕｎｓｅｌｏｒ

Josh couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at the boys sarcasm. Even with the headache that was raging through his skull, the students humor was more than welcomed. "Thank you, Jeremy." he said with a small sigh, the laughter still present in his voice. It was hard to be annoyed when someone he enjoyed talking to was present, which was why Charlie was such a lifesaver. The dog, regardless of the painful day he may have had, was always there to cheer him up. Josh was quite fond of cooking something for his dog and just relax outside on the deck and stare at the stars until he was to tired to move. Ah, that sounded good. Perhaps he would take a short walk tonight before the weather took a bad turn. Perhaps he would take Charlie... that sounded like a nice idea.

For now, however, he had to focus on Jeremy. He felt his shoulders relax and his smile soften seeing the student drop into a different chair. Instead of the stool he dropped into an arm chair. One of the more comfortable. Analyzing it, that meant that Jeremy was more comfortable with him and trusted him and blah blah blah. There was a lot of things he could analyze about that kind of stuff, but honestly... he was just happier that Jeremy looked more comfortable. He knew for a fact how uncomfortable the stool got after a while... and had been a victim of the very chair that Jeremy was in. He had been tired and had just sat in the same spot to long... and been out within an hour. It had been a nice nap indeed.

The male rubbed the spot on his head and opened his mouth to say something, but paused and watched as Jeremy fetched his bag and began to dig around in it. He paused long enough to watch then gasped slightly when Jeremy pulled a small plastic baggy out, with a few pills in it. "Jeremy!" he said in a scolding voice seeing the pills. He was ignored as the boy spoke then tossed him the bag. No telling? Josh sighed. "Of course I won't tell, Jeremy. But I must express my disapproval for you carrying pills on campus. The drug dog won't find these, but if you needed medication then all you have to do is come and ask me." he said, slightly distressed at the thought of Ramone catching the boy with the pills. Even if it was just aspirin, it was against the rules and would be either suspension or expulsion. Neither was something he wanted for Jeremy.

The student, however and as expected, moved onto the next topic about his homework. The counselor let out a small sigh and glanced into the bag. To his relief he could easily identify each of the tablets and none of them were something that Jeremy wasn't supposed to have. All of them were, as said, simple over the counter pills that anyone could buy. It wasn't that he didn't trust the student, he just knew that sometimes... some bent the truth. Jeremy had kept his word.

Instead of getting up and going to his own stash of headache cures, Josh grabbed one of the Tylenol's from Jeremy's bag and set it aside before closing it and handing it back to Jeremy, making sure to make eye contact and show him a slightly disapproving look. It was bad for students to be carrying around things that could get them in trouble like that. He didn't want to see Jeremy get in trouble... that was all that look was trying to say. The counselor popped the pill into his mouth and swallowed it dry, not needing water from years of practice, before focusing back onto Jeremy as he spoke.

The random glass comment threw him off, but he quickly smiled it off and continued to pay attention. "Keeping attention for two hours, especially when it comes to homework, really isn't that easy." he agreed with a small nod of his head. "Though it does sound like yo-" Josh stopped and laughed loudly as the boy spoke about 'joining the party' and threw his hands into the air and let out a small, sarcastic 'whoopdidoo'. Already his headache was disappearing... and he knew for a fact it wasn't just because of the pill he had taken. Jeremy was fun to talk to. "I apologize, Jeremy. But that was... funny." he said, chuckling again before coughing into a fist to try to control himself a little better. "Well done."

It was the expression, again, that had made that comment so funny. Saying something that usually came with such a happy expression and saying it so.. emotionless was, for whatever reason, hilarious to Josh. He was going to be kind of sad when this 'mandatory time' with Jeremy was going to be over. It was fun talking to a student who he could be sarcastic with and just... talk. Granted, they weren't exactly getting everything they were supposed to be getting done... done. But it was entertaining while it lasted.

He let out a small, pleasant sigh before looked back to Jeremy as he spoke. Ah, back to business. "The formal agenda is simple." he said, leaning comfortably back into his chair, his legs crossing and his hands folding in his lap. "To find out why the fight happened and what we, the school, or I, the counselor, can do to avoid it. Though... to be honest. I know why already."

Because Joe Rigby was a p***k.

That, however, was something that he could not say out loud. He was sure that his face expressed the feeling and that it was mutual between him and Jeremy. "I must say though, a day and a half is the fastest i've ever really figured out the reasoning's behind arguments and fights, or 'disputes' as they're officially called."

"If you wish, I actually feel quite comfortable dismissing you and Mr.Rigby from counseling for the remainder of your suspension."

There was mixed emotion with that statement... Dismissing Rigby was Heaven. No more self-righteous rants about his perfection and how everyone else was this or that and messed up. No more needing to sit and listen to him complain and b***h about Jeremy... which he really didn't understand. In school Josh had been just as anti-social as Rigby was making Jeremy out to be. As proved, he was just as strange as Jeremy. Perhaps not on as much medication, most of which were useless in his opinion, but certainly he wasn't normal. And look at where he was now... dealing with students and being paid more than enough to make a higher living. Rigby was going to end up in a s**t hole i-

Ah! What a mean way to think! Had he ever thought that about a student before Rigby? Josh smiled out of his thoughts and let out a sigh and a small laugh. "Granted, of course, you and he both will still have to come on campus and be watched and do homework all day! So it's mostly picking the lesser of evils. Homework all day or talking to me for two hours. Most decide homework." he said with a laugh, spinning once in his chair before he stood and walked over to the mini-fridge to grab a water.

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[American_Flyleaf_Girl]

Ӿ Ⓣhҽ Ⓣroublҽd Ⓣҽҽn Ӿ


" Well I didn't know you when I started carrying those around, " he replied, sticking his tongue out at the male in a brief show of immaturity. " So how was I supposed to know that you'd willingly give me heaven in a bottle if I asked? Besides, it's not like I go runnign around campus preaching about the fact that I have pills in my pocket and I'm willing to share. " He rolled his eyes slightly, but found himself to be vaguely surprised that Gagnon actually took one. He trusted Jeremy enough to suppose they were actually just plain old painkillers? There were some screwed-up children in this school... Jeremy couldn't know if he would be so trusting. Then again, he didn't have the greatest amount of faith in humanity anymore...

He allowed himself a slight smile at the counelor's amusement, finding it to only add to his own enjoyment of this conversation. He didn't know what it was, but something about Gagnon made him feel better, made him feel like what expected normal to feel like. He didn't know what normal was, himself, but he'd seen it. Or thought he had anyways.
If you didn't know for yourself what something was, you couldn't truly recognize it, could you? Anyways, this felt.... normal-ish. Even if it wasn't normal, he liked it.

Did that mean, in essence, he was actually enjoying the presence of another human being for more than ten minutes at a time? That was horrendously surprising. He only ever... tolereated mark's presence for short periods, and though he did like the boy it wasn't... a constant appreciation. he got annoyed and he was actually allowed to hit Mark when he became too aggravating. Then again, he hadn't found Gagnon to be irritating in any way, shape or form, not yet, at least. He was... probably the most enjoyable-to-talk-to human being Jeremy had met so far. That was... confusing. He wasn't used to... liking people. Especially not adults. Adults... usually pissed him off more than teens did. Not to mention the fact that Gagnon was an adult male -- a young adult male, but adult and male were still in the phrase. He had more problems with adult men than anything -- his father, Ramone, various male relatives, the principal, the police to some extent. Therefore the only other person in the world that he enjoyed spending time with aside from a thirteen-year-old prankster being said adult male, it threw him off. He didn't like it.

Thankfully, his zoning out was kept in check by Gagnon's continued speaking. Used to covering up said zone-out periods due to their common occurance, he melted back into the conversation quite easily, his mind quickly swimming into safer, shallow conversation. He could... worry about his personal feelings later, now was just time to chat, to yammer on and never really reach a deeper point. " Well, I'd hope you know by now. It'd be kind of pathetic if our bickering and constant threats didn't get the message across to the whole school, let alone to the one person who's supposed to understand EVERYBODY'S issues, " he added with a faint smirk. Of course he wasn't entirely serious -- Josh was just supposed to LISTEN to everyone's problems, not automatically solved them. If that was his purpose, then he was awful at it. However, if he was there to listen... he was damn good at it. Jeremy would have slapped himself across the face and screamed ' get over yourself ' before he sat and... listened to every griping, whiny word of every student that came through his door. He wasn't the most patient of people.

Gagnon's comment concerning an early release surprised him. He could understand why he might be released, but Rigby... and as for the choices offered to him by the man, would he really prefer being released from two hours of interesting, humorous conversation every day for the next three days of his school year to scrawl out an English essay? He knew Rigby probably would take that opportunity in a heartbeat, even though he loved hearing himself talk. Jeremy, however...

" Well, geez, that's such a difficult question... English essay... talking. Trig homework... talking. History reports... talking. " he held up one hand, then the other, over and over to emphasize his point, his voice sarcastic and cynically thoughtful. Once he felt the point had been emphasized plenty enough, he allowed his hands to drop back into his lap, leaning against the arm of the chair and lifting one elbow to rest there, chin in hand. " Oh, of course I'll choose homework. Can't get enough of those persuasive essays, oh, no. And sine, cosine, tangent? Sine me up, " he cracked cornily, laughing in an obviously fake manner and lightly slapping his knee. The 'amused' expression dissipated, chin returnign to his palm. " Are you freaking kidding me? I'll take talking to a counselor over homework any day, especially if I'm just going to have to be here for two hours and then some anyways. I may be antisocial, but the ADHD and claustrophobia win out on this one. " Holding his hands up in some sort of sign of defeat or surrender, he dropped them again. " I'm not that[/t] abhorrent of the human race. "

Glancing at the door, Jeremy held up his hands in a catching sort of form. " Here, toss me the stuff before we get caught, " he said dryly, almost as if the Tylenol painkillers were some sort of illegal drug he was sharing with the teacher. " Don't want you getting arrested, now. "

[.~[Misty.Muffin]~.]

ｔｈｅ Ｐ Ｒ Ｏ Ｔ Ｅ Ｃ Ｔ Ｉ Ｖ Ｅ ｃｏｕｎｓｅｌｏｒ

Josh pouted slightly at the boys comment, questioning his ability. Well, not quite. Just stating the obvious. It WOULD be pathetic if he didn't understand that they didn't like each other. That part was obvious enough to the entire school... the fight had proved that much. The counselor grabbed a water from the fridge before returning to his desk and dropping into his chair once more. "There's usually more to an argument and a fight than just one person being a completely a** ho-" Josh stopped and covered his mouth quickly, straightening as his face went pink. "I apologize, Jeremy. I don't usually slip up this much." he said quickly, clearly embarrassed. First yesterday and now... today?! What on Earth was wrong with him lately? He never cursed! In fact, he frowned upon cursing. It was a a terrible use of the English language and pointless. It got nothing done and was a waste of speech. He didn't curse... he didn't usually get angry or annoyed easily.. what was with him? Maybe it was just Rigby and the stress of the week. He needed a nice relaxing and work free weekend. It was bad to blame a single student for his frustration, sure... but... he had just broke his favorite mug, damn it!

The counselor cleared his throat slightly and moved his hands away from his mouth, still flushed pink. He apologized again quickly before falling silent and listened to the boy as he balanced the two out. Homework or talking to a man that was analyzing and making mental notes of everything you said. Surprisingly... Jeremy was using a great amount of sarcasm to explain the homework. He knew that homework was a bother, but that didn't mean you had to DO it. He knew students who brought books and read, snuck in games boys or their DS's. Fell asleep, listened to music, brought lap tops, drew... the list went on of things you could be doing. Ramone checked in every so often, sure. But as long as there was no one breaking the rules or smoking or doing lord knows what, he really didn't care. As long as the person was sitting in the seat quietly and doing SOMETHING that was keeping them out of trouble.

The corny and obviously forced laughter and knee slapping was a nice touch as well. The pink faded from the mans face and he found himself chuckling lightly and shaking his head as well. It had only lasted a few seconds, but it quickly lifted his spirits and the cursing slip up moments ago was far from Josh's mind. Jeremy was fun to talk to.. he was pleased to see that the boy was deciding to keep the two hours of talking to him instead of taking the time and deciding to spend it alone. Which was... interesting. He had gotten the impression that Jeremy was a loner. Not because of anything that Rigby might have said, but just because of his personality. The fact that he was deciding to not spend that time alone... it made the man happy.

"Ahh, that makes me happy, Jeremy." he said, leaning back in his chair as he voiced his thoughts. "With your company and the lack of Joe's, the rest of my week is looking to be quite pleasant!" he said with a pleased smiled.

Jeremy's statement, Josh noted, revealed quite a bit about him. He was sure the student hadn't noticed what he had said, but the counselor had and not shown he noticed. He was claustrophobic. That explained why he had darted through the crowd the way he had. He didn't want them to touch him and he didn't want to be close to them. It was that being in closed spaces fear. It made sense now. Not to mention he admitted there to being anti-social... but not so much as to not wanting to talk to Josh. That was another thing that made the counselor unusually happy. It wasn't often he got through a student who needed help so fast. Maybe he was becoming a better counselor? Better at helping students? That on top of it being Jeremy made him want to go home early and actually enjoy time with his dog. He was part of a small circle of people, or a nonexistent one, that Jeremy trusted.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Jeremy speaking and asking for the bag back. The comment about being arrested made Josh snort lightly in amusement. "It's legal for me to have these medications on campus, remember? I have a whole locked cabinet of various ones for students. It's you who would be- Wait, you wouldn't be arrested for having Tylenol on campus!" he said before picking up the bag, muttering amused to himself. "Like this is some kind of ridiculous illegal drug deal! Pft!" He handed the bag back to Jeremy, instead of tossing it to him, before leaning back into his chair again. He grabbed his water bottle and took a small sip of it before setting it back onto the table.

"So, what are your plans for after school, Jeremy?"

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[American_Flyleaf_Girl]

Ӿ Ⓣhҽ Ⓣroublҽd Ⓣҽҽn Ӿ


Jeremy laughed along with the counselor slightly, highly entertained by his mortification after lettign loose yet another small curse word. It must be his own loose tongue affecting the proper older male, making him more willing to let loose a few 'awful phrases' -- that in of itself was also rather hilarious to Jeremy and his twisted humor. Infecting other people with his bad mouth always tempted a smile to form on his face. Now that it was an adult -- someone of prestige, of respect, somebody he was supposed to look up at as a mentor -- whose mouth he was putting words into, that he was 'infecting' as he put it, that just made it all the funnier. He grinned, shaking his head. he hadn't laughed like this in a while -- he hadn't really laughed in... a long time. It was a good feeling.

" Well anything Rigby-less is ten times better, " he said, shaking his head and fully understanding. The teen had skipped school for a week to go camping, and it... had honestly been heavenly. No hallway brawls, no homosexual offenses screamed across the cafeteria, no shoves in passing, and certainly no bleeding nose for five school days. Not a very long breathing period, and it wasn't necessarily fear that kept him aware of those things normally, but it was one less annoyance to deal with on a daily basis, if for a short period of time.This last couple of days had also been helpful in keeping him far away from the other teen, perhaps not physically considering they were only twenty feet apart at all times, but he didn't have to deal with him, so he was happy.

" Oh yes I would, " he replied flatly. " Or suspended, anyways. You have no idea how often the girls get in trouble for having Ibueprofein in their gym lockers for their 'lady pain' days. Ramone will kick your backside until it turns red for having anything above the medicinal power of a gummy vitamin on you. I usually keep my drugs hidden well enough though, and its not like they do bag searches here yet, so no risk of random discovery. " He shrugged. " I just prefer to be able to cure random pain immediately rather than having to trudge all the way across campus for something I can just stash away for myself. Call me lazy. " He gave another slight twitch of the shoulder and jammed the baggy back into the inside pocket of his bag, making sure to zip it shut before he leaned back again.

Jeremy fell quiet for a good solid thirty seconds. What in the world were his plan after school? He never made plans, to be honest, perhaps sometimes he made mental notes of things he had or wanted to accomplish once school ended, but he never had a schedule or even a loose idea of what he wanted to do at what time. All he really knew for sure was that his curfew was eleven o'clock at the absolute latest, and that he had to make dinner for himself somewhere in there. jeremy's parents didn't cook as a group -- Mom never made dinner, Dad didn't cook at all, and therefore, jeremy was the only one who made food in the house that wasn't store-baught, boxed, canned or plastic-packaged. He'd eat about anything if he got hungry enough, but in the kitchen he was pretty much left alone unless his father came to fetch more beer to feed the invisible beer gut Jeremy knew he would surely grow if he hadn't been in the military and stuck with the excercise regime in the mornings.

" Uhm... I.. don't really know, " he replied slowly. " I don't make plans. I have to be home sometime, and unless I get called in I just loiter and walk around stores suspiciously for my entertainment. Either that, or I fing Mark and follow him around until he realizes I'm stalking him and flips out, which is of course, oodles of fun to watch. " He paused. " Until he comes runnin' at me, of course. That kid might be a beanpole, but he hits hard and he runs faster than I've ever seen a thirteen year old boy run.But.. other than that, staying out of the house is my only purpose. There's a library down on twenty-third I go do my homework at when I feel like it'll take me more than an hour, but that's about it. "

That was kinda pathetic, but whatever, he thought. Social lives are for losers anyway.

Attempting a shot at -- a dramatic gasp! now, all of you -- being polite, he looked up. " I already know you're a workaholic, but what about you? " There he went again, darn it all. It was a polite question, but the fact that it was drawing the conversation away from his own agenda pleased him even more, even if he did realize Gagnon would likely notice. He'd caught those little actions of Jeremy's rather quick, and even though he didn't immediately shove the conversation back onto the teen's life as a focus he was pretty good a turning a proverbial U-ey and catching the boy off-guard enough to answer questions he initially would have rejected. That scared him a little, sometimes -- anyone who could do that without being noticed was obviously well trained and smart enough to manage other distractions, and Jeremy had been stiuck in a room with plenty of professionals with such honed techniques as that. None of those... specimens... had been quite as nice and honestly human as Gagnon, but god, they had been hard to deal with. He remembered getting within inches of stabbing a man with his own pen once, but that had been cut short by a swiftly-dealt slap across the side fo the head and an announcement that the session was finished and he would be calling Jeremy's parents in next. That visit in particular had earned him another prescription, though it didn't last very long, considering it turned out to be strong enough to knock Jeremy out for a full nine hours in the middle of the day. He couldn't even remember what the prescription had been for -- he only remembered sitting in class in sixth or seventh grade, then waking up in the middle of the night after having slept the day away.

What wonderful parents he had. Giving him ungodly amounts of questionable medication. Ah, family.

[.~[Misty.Muffin]~.]

ｔｈｅ Ｐ Ｒ Ｏ Ｔ Ｅ Ｃ Ｔ Ｉ Ｖ Ｅ ｃｏｕｎｓｅｌｏｒ

Josh felt somewhat relieved when the student laughed that embarrassing little episode of his off. It was probably humorous to see a full grown adult blushing and stuttering over a simple wordy slip up. It was only a word, for goodness sakes! But... it was how he had been brought up. Proper and perfect. That was how everything had to be all of the time. There were no mistakes. No accidents. No mess-ups. No B's. It was everything he knew... and to be messing up? Gaaah! He felt his face heat up at the thought. But, luckily, to Jeremy it seemed amusing and harmless. The student didn't know what the mistake meant to him, and that it was a big deal. He just knew that someone who was supposed to be in a position of respect had cursed.. twice... and turned bright red. Ah, well. It didn't matter. What did, he noticed, was that Jeremy not only seemed amused, but was laughing, and fairly hard at that. It was almost, though not as much, as when he had understood the Monty Python question. Jeremy was laughing a lot lately and Josh was pleased to see it.

Rigby-less... how true that it was good to be Rigby-less. He chuckled slightly and eyed him to let him know that 'wasn't okay'... though he was clearly amused. He said nothing and merely rested his arm onto his desk and listened to the boy as he ranted about the pills. "I see your point, though I completely disagree with the school's policy. Girls, faced with their little monthly visit, should be permitted to carry their own medication, whether they keep it in their locker or carry it with them." The man sighed slightly and shook his head. He always carried a full supply of Ibuprofen for such reasons, but most girls felt shy and embarrassed to go to a man for those things. Not all of them, of course, but many of the ones that actually needed the help. What did they think the girls were going to do? Sell them? Anyone could go to a trusted teacher and get a pill for pains or a headache. It was simply asking and the teacher 'not seeing anything'. He knew a few teachers that had a bottle and 'left it out' or 'wasn't in the room' when the student took two for a pain or a headache. The male sighed. "Some of the policies in this school need to change." He shook his head before looking up to Jeremy, a small smile on his face but concern obviously shown in his eyes. "Promise me something, Jeremy. If you do get caught with these, whether by Ramone or a teacher, tell them to talk to me, alright? I'll do the best I can to see that it's excused. It's a stupid policy." The last part was more or less mumbled to himself, but he made no effort to hide his opinion. It was a stupid policy and it was one that desperately needed to be changed.

Then... there was silence. Josh watched Jeremy patiently. He was thinking about his answer. He either didn't have plans or was carefully deciding what he wanted to tell him. That was interesting. He had seen the student think about an answer before, but never being silent for to long. It didn't last more than twenty or thirty seconds, but it was rather significant. It showed that Jeremy was talking to him more and thinking about his responses. This was good. Blurting things out meant nerves... no trust. Thinking was either a good thing or a very, very bad thing. It turned out to be quite good. The reply he got was uncommonly honest.

Loitering around stores suspiciously for entertainment... he'd known the student two, maybe three, days and that sounded as if it would be something he might do. That was a thought that made the man smile. He only just met the student and he felt comfortable enough to agree with a statement he said. Maybe not agree with the action, but to understand that would be something in the boys character to do. Stalking Mark... that sounded entertaining enough. Now that he knew who Mark was he could understand it a little better... Stalking would seem like something like would make the small boy angry. Not because of being followed, but just because he was followed and may not have noticed. It sounded like it would be an entertaining thing to do for Jeremy, especially after he had been tackled as he had been. "He did tackle you pretty hard." he thought out loud with a small chuckle. Thinking back on it now that there were no signs of the previous injury he could chuckle lightly about it, though it was still no laughing manner.

After that he fell silent and nodded. Jeremy didn't seem like the type to enjoy time at a library... but he had mentioned doing whatever he could to get out of the house. When he wanted to do the same thing, meaning get away, he would go to the same place. The library. Granted, they were raised very, very differently but the library held some kind of salvation for every person. Even for people who didn't like to read... It was a good place to go to and stay out of trouble. Aside from the loitering, he was glad to know that Jeremy was doing his best to stay out of trouble. Avoiding gangs, the police, and overall bad things. It was good and he was happy.

The internal praising for his student was interrupted by a return question. Not so much a cocky 'what about you' to retort to the original question, but a polite return. He smiled pleasantly. "I'm glad you've caught on." he said with a chuckle. "I think that today i'll get home early, which for me means about six if i'm lucky, maybe five if i'm extra lucky, and relax. Take Charlie on a nice walk, cook something good to eat, then perhaps take a walk at night when it cools down without Charlie." Josh paused then laughed. "Sounds like quite an event packed evening, doesn't it? I can't tell if I'm pathetic or just about as anti-social as my parents." he said, more to himself than to Jeremy. His parents, aside from the parties they had to attend to keep their social status, were never ones for 'friends' or 'fun gatherings'. Josh had never had a birthday party. Never gone to a 'friends' unless it was for his parents gain. Never had any kind of graduation party... not even for college.

"I'm afraid I don't have much of a social life outside of school... Partly being a work-a-holic, as mentioned, the other part being from growing up as a social... reject, I suppose that would be the correct wording." He smiled thoughtfully and shook his head. "No matter. I enjoy Charlie's time and quite enjoy my walks."

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[American_Flyleaf_Girl]

Ӿ Ⓣhҽ Ⓣroublҽd Ⓣҽҽn Ӿ



The teen sighed, holding up his hands in a sign of defeat at mention of the medication issues. It was obvious that Gagnon didn't completely agree with the stupid rules the school had established, but he obviously wouldn't say it too loudly. " Yes, sir, " he replied with a small, somewhat sarcastic salute gesture before he dropped his hands again. " But I haven't gotten caught yet, so I don't intend on it in the future.

" He's a tough little brat, " he sighed when Joshua referred to Mark. As long as he'd known the punk, he'd been like that -- skinny, short, a shrimp by all standards, but a skinny stick of dynamite when he wanted to be.

Hearing about Gagnon's personal after-work activies was a bit amusing, Jeremy had to admit. He really had about as much of a social life as Jeremy did -- next to none at all. In fact, he supposed that they were both equally antisocial -- the only difference was that Gagnon had the immense pleasure of living in his own house, without the constant aggravating element of parents present, parents that managed to worm their way into his life even when he tried his hardest to push them away and solidate himself. Plus he had a dog. Jeremy had Mark. That thought amused him as well. How would Mark feel being compared to a dog in terms of the level of companionship? Probably not too happy, but Jeremy knew he'd laugh anyways after a moment or two to take it in and get over it...

Gagnon's childhood sounded like a horribly organized mirror of his own. " Well, geez, Josh, if I were born a few years earlier we could be twins, " he commented after a short while, if a bit dryly, which of course was a normality for him. His cynical, dry tone had become a part of him he used it so freaking often. " Dogs are cooler than ninety percent of the people on this planet, they're better company, they don't interrupt you when you're talking, they don't stab you in the back, and they don't gripe and whine about every little thing that goes wrong in life, yet they're willing to listen to you do just that for hours. " He folded his hands behind his head. " Perfect companions. Human beings are overrated, " he added with a slight, dismissive flick of the wrist.

Sometimes it wasn't hard to convince himself of that. People were cruel, and stupid, and easily misunderstood... they lied, cheated, stole, stabbed. Once you allowed yourself to become friends or even daresay good friends you immediately ran the risk of having your heart carved out of your chest with the dullest hunting knife available and torn into little shreds, and burned to cook marshmallows for the S'mores of the offenders. Friends were a luxury, not a requirement or a basic need. He had a couple of them, but they weren't life-threatening or life-saving. They were good to have. But Jeremy wouldn't die if he lost them. That was how he'd had to force himself to be. Losing people who you genuinely cared for was just too painful to bother with instigating relationships.

" I wasn't exactly the popular kid on the playground, either, " he said with a weak smirk, shrugging his shoulders slightly. " I was the kid that played tetherball alone and sat on the curb looking pissy along with the other eleven or twelve kids with no friends and no desire to make any. We were the lonely little jerks that threw rocks at other children when they didn't want to play with us and got in trouble for telling our teachers off in kindergarten, " he said, laughing a little. " Such a wonderful childhoo--"

Before he could quite finish his sentence, the bell in the main office rang loudly with the usual clanging echo of the school bell. Jeremy winced and rubbed his ears slightly, looking up at the clock. " Well geez, they could have made the bell a little louder, its so hard to hear, " he remarked with a roll of his eyes, standing up and cracking his knuckles with a stretch before he grabbed his backpack off the floor. outside of the office he could hear the thunder of students' feet bolting for the door, laughter and screaming and a sickeningly shrill combination of the two. Jeremy sighed, sliding his arm through the other strap of his bag and looking over at Gagnon. " Well, it's been fantastic, thanks for not busting me and my drugs, and i assume I'll see you tomorrow? " he said as he started to back up towards the door with a lazy stagger. He took his time leaving the building usually, to avoid the crowding. Once he could no longer hear the thundering stampede, he bid the counselor a goodbye with a thin-lipped smile and turned, heading out the doors and through the hallway. It certainly had been an interesting day, he thought to himself, realizing the semi-bloody kerchief was still in his pocket. Gagnon had told him just to trash it, but maybe he'd challenge himself and try to bleach it clean anyways...

-- -- --

By Friday afternoon, he'd gotten rather used to coming and talking with Joshua Gagnon. He was a pleasant person and overall a pretty cool guy, and he didn't treat Jeremy like he was a basket case so that was appreciated. Five days of sitting around in a room talking to a shrink hadn't sounded grand at first, but when the conversations involved bashign Rigby, Monty Python, and lengthy discussions on the suckish animation of popular kids' shows, it became a little less bland. He left each day feeling in a relatively decent mood, and he laughed, joked around, grinned. He had the potential, just not anyone to joke around with, was all.

He was currently headed in the direction of the main office and, glancing in to see Rigby making paper airplanes in the study room from Hell, he smirked to himself a bit and knocked at Gagnon's door, awaiting a response before he entered. " 'Lo, " he greeted simply, looking into the cool-colored room. he felt more at ease just letting himself in now, to a certain extent.

[.~[Misty.Muffin]~.]

ｔｈｅ Ｐ Ｒ Ｏ Ｔ Ｅ Ｃ Ｔ Ｉ Ｖ Ｅ ｃｏｕｎｓｅｌｏｒ

Josh smiled lightly when Jeremy agreed to the medication... rant... that he had given. In this place being caught with pills was a big deal... even if it was just baby Tylenol. It was ridiculous! But it did ease his worries that Jeremy would, to be blunt, shift the blame to the counselor. Josh could just smile and say it was necessary. Add a few big words and some ridiculous reasons, he would be scolded, the pills would be taken or locked up, and Jeremy would get away with just a slap on the wrist. He, as a teacher, might have to deal with a little worse but he would gladly take the punishment to save Jeremy from trouble. He would get in significantly less...

The mention of Mark went right over the mans head and instead he moved onto Jeremy's next comment. "Twins?" he asked, curiosity in his voice and a small smile in his eyes. "Why do you say that?" Josh didn't have any siblings... he was an only child and, as far as he knew, his parents had never tried for more than one kid. He heard stories from servants about how his mother had done nothing but complain and lay in bed only one month into her pregnancy, making the servants lives miserable for the rest of the pregnancy, including some time after. Though she had never actually cared for him herself, she complained about lack of sleep and back pains and anything she could. Having another one? Josh was pretty sure that his wonderful mother had her 'tubes tied' soon after giving birth to her only child. He supposed that he could see how the statement could be true enough though. He and Jeremy were rather alike and got along fairly well. They were both rather anti-social, for different reasons and to different extents, but they got along very well. He had never really met a student he got along with so well before. Not one that he could sit and just talk with randomly with. There was always some kind of awkward silence that he would have to break and try to force the conversation some way or another. Toward something they liked. With Jeremy... that was as easy as discussing Monty Python. Or the perfect that was his dog. There was no struggle! It was something new. Twins... hm. He supposed he could see that... other than the fact they were, of course, not related at all.

The statement about dogs... Josh smiled slightly and nodded. "I can agree to that to some extent though... but I'm afraid I must also disagree." he said, leaning back in his chair and thinking, his green eyes glancing just past Jeremy and toward the door. It was mostly just while he was thinking that he zoned out, not usually during actual conversation. "Don't get me wrong, I love Charlie. She's the sweetest dog ever. Like you said, she'll listen, she doesn't complain, she's always there to greet me, and no matter how long i'm gone, even if it's just a few minutes, she's always happy to see me. What's a person to that? But..." He let out a sigh and smiled at Jeremy. "Nothing can take the place of a good conversation, Jeremy. A dog can listen, but a dog can't reply. They can comfort you, but they can't hold you and tell you that everything will be okay. Ah, it's true that the good people in the world are becoming few to none, but there are some out there. It's just about finding them... until then a dog is quite a decent filler. But... I think I prefer people."

He smiled a bit more before taking a drink from his water and took a small drink. He did understand where Jeremy was coming from... people were rotten. He had seen the cruelest of people. The eyes of the abused and mistreated. He had almost given up on the human race a million times. Really, part of him hoped the zombie apocalypse would come soon and give those b*****d what they deserved. But then... when he almost gave up... someone came into his life and changed those thoughts. When he had been the closest ever to giving up, it was the superintendent of the Private School. He'd given him a chance to change the lives of young adults. To become someone they looked up to. He did his best to help the children..., but when he did that work to much and for to long... that was when he really lost faith.

His thoughts were cut off by Jeremy speaking again. The boy laughed slightly at the words. "I was no better, trust me. When I was in grade s-"

The male stopped and winced a bit as the bell rang. He needed to get rid of that loud annoying sound. The only bell that rang into his office was the bell saying that it was the end of the day. The other bells were all disconnected... but they INSISTED that one stay... he would have to do something about that himself. "I know, right? I'm afraid I didn't get the message." he said, joining the sarcastic flow for the fun of it. He ran his hands through his hair and glanced toward his computer, which had been in sleep mode for quite a while. He wiggled the mouse slightly to wake it up before stretching out. "Not a problem, Jeremy. Just be careful, alright? I'll see you tomorrow." He smiled at the boy and let out a small wave before looking at his computer.

Twenty-five new emails... ah. So much for leaving early tonight...

_________________________

What a week, what a week. To his intense pleasure Joe Rigby had accepted that his 'problem' was done with and took the all day in the study hall by himself. The left two hours with Jeremy, two hours alone, two hours with Jeremy, and so on until the end of the day. The 'two hours to himself' was non existent, of course. As soon as his other students found out about his free time he had other people to talk to. All of them were dismissed twenty minutes before Jeremy arrived so he was sure the other student didn't know that he was, again, back to his normal stressful situation of dealing with ten thousand problems, none of his own, at one time. Along with students, administrators found out and sent him e-mail after e-mail of things they wanted him to look up or things he had to do. It was... such a head ache!

But now it was Friday. He had just dismissed a crying girl having boyfriend problems and was nearly asleep on his desk when there was a knocking. "C'me in." he yawned, sitting up and rubbing his head tiredly as the door opened. He rubbed his one eye with his free hand while the other rested on the desk before he saw who it was. Ah! It was Jeremy for their very last mandatory session! "Ah, Jeremy!" he said, smiling and already more awake than he had been a few seconds earlier. "Ready for your very last mandatory two hour session?" he asked, cheerful as the sleepy look almost completely disappeared within a few seconds. As lovely as a nice nap sounded, a good conversation with Jeremy was more welcome. He could sleep tonight when he went home which, he was telling himself, was going to be after school.

Yeah, as if that would work out.

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[American_Flyleaf_Girl]

Ӿ Ⓣhҽ Ⓣroublҽd Ⓣҽҽn Ӿ



Jeremy headed into the familiar, cool-toned room, nudging the door shut with his foot and looking around briefly before he let his bag drop into a chair and plunked down onto the stool. He'd managed to achieve a sort of goal -- he'd sat in every chair in the room so far this week, even managing to sneak into Gagnon's an assume a very 'Godfather'ly pose after the man was called into the main office to retrieve some sort of paperwork or something. He had to admit, it had been pretty humorous seeing the man's expression as he re-entered the room and found his student plunked down in the armchair with his fingertips touching and a wicked grin plastered across his face. It quickly had faded into laughter violent enough to make him fall out of the chair, but the moment was worth it. Shifting around on the round seat, he managed to balance himself on his legs and leaned over forward, elbows on his knees, chin in his hands. " Oh, can't you tell? I'm absolutely elated, " he said with characteristic flatness. A grin eventually broke his poker-faced expression, though. " Nah, I'm glad. I mean, after this I'll never have to see you again and that'll just make me happier than a rat in a dumpster, right? " he teased the counselor lightly.

He didn't really have any intention of coming back to see Gagnon, but he had considered dropping in every once in a while to...well... he didn't really know. He didn't want to appear needy, dependent, anything like that, but.... he did have that faint yearning for company besides that of a barely-teenaged kid every now and again, and Gagnon was honestly good company. He could banter back and forth, he could joke, he could air his opinions without getting smacked, slapped or told off, and
hearing about Gagnon when he answered Jeremy's questions was undeniably fascinating. He may not have had a liking for people most of the time, but at other occasions the human mind was... ridiculous and interesting. And the brain of someone as intellectually gifted and as humorous as Gagnon really did make it all much more entertaining. he would... well, he supposed he would miss substituting class for conversations.

" So, anything special to conclude this fascinating experience inside the office of a trained school therapist, or are we just doing what we usually do? " 'What we usually do' was a vague, vague phrase, as they had managed to change subjects most of the days. They could go on for the whole two hours talking about television and movies and the increasing popularity of terrible music, and then switch to news, and on to whatever else popped up in Jeremy's addled brain. " Dare I say, you don't look like you have the energy for anything outside the realm of a floor nap, Gagnon, " he commented. His voice dropped to an obnoxiously loud whisper, the kind small children used when their parents told them to hush, while thinking they were being much quieter than they actually were. " I won't tell anybody if you want to nap. I have a fully-charged Mp3 player, an empty notebook, and a whole HELL of a lotta gel pens. " He grinned mischeviously. " Not sayin' the gel pens and paper would be used for anything good of course, but that's just a risk you're gonna have to take. Didja skip the morning coffee or something? "

Jeremy paused. Had he skipped his morning coffee? He was jittery -- ADHD-jittery, not caffiene-jittery. He rocked back suddenly, tipping the stool dangerously backwards and sliding off in time to catch himself on his feet and stand up, letting the round-seated stool wobble back onto all four legs. "You want some coffee? I'd really like some coffee. Pardon the invasion of personal space, " he announced suddenly, heading for the empty coffee pot on the counter nearby and starting to fix a pot. It was either unused for the day or had been emptied, both of which were possible scenarios depending on how Gagnon reacted to the magical substance known as liquid caffiene. He added the ground beans and sidestepped into the small bathroom to fill up the pot, pouring the water in up top and setting the coffemaker. He was used to making his own coffee, so most machines were easily wrangled by his coffee-need-fueled hands, even the ancient model in the lunch cafeteria he was occasionally allowed to use, depending on the mood of the lunch ladies. Turnign around, Jeremy put his hands on the counter and hoisted himself up, sitting between the coffeepot and a shelf. It was a narrow passageway and he nudged the coffeemaker to the side -- he was skinny, but his did have a skeleton in there somewhere.

" Seriously, though, if you want to sleep I'm not gonna run and tell. I have plenty to occupy myself with for the next two hours of the school day, my English teacher assigned us like twenty reading pages due monday with notes included, plus I have the essay to finish, and then there's some crap in trig I really need to get done and my GOD did I not take my meds today or something? " he began, cutting himself off sharply. " I'm never this hyper. I haven't even had anything sugary today. I must have skipped either the meds or the coffee, i remember takign the meds, so i must have skipped coffee... "

[.~[Misty.Muffin]~.]

ｔｈｅ Ｐ Ｒ Ｏ Ｔ Ｅ Ｃ Ｔ Ｉ Ｖ Ｅ ｃｏｕｎｓｅｌｏｒ

"Of course. I know how much you enjoy school." he replied cheerfully, matching the students sarcasm, but with joy instead of that flatness that he had grown used to over the week. The week had been... quite enjoyable aside from the lack of sleep and the over load of work. Jeremy was hilarious. They things they discussed weren't productive at all, but there were times during those comfortable situations that Jeremy would let something about himself slip and not even notice that he had done it. Those were the moments he aimed for and it worked great. He learned about the student and at the same time had a good time. With Jeremy that really wasn't very hard to do... it was ridiculous how their opinions were nearly the same. From things like politics, to music, to cartoons... they shared nearly mirror views. Aside from the little spats and disagreements, which were talked about a little bit of fun name calling, everything was great. It was almost... scary.

Out of all of his students, he always hoped that when he saw them that would be the last time that they met in his office. Because if they didn't come to his office that meant their life was going good. That they had things under control... that they were doing well. Not many students just stopped in to say hello (unless it was the end of the day and they had to come to the office for whatever reason). They only ever stopped in because they were having troubles. Josh wished the same thing for Jeremy. He wanted to talk to the boy and laugh with him, but just not in his office. His office was, more or less, a taboo. You were sent here because you were having troubles. Because you were an issue or needed some kind of help. He knew this. He understood this... but he couldn't help but feel a little bit of pity this was his last session with Jeremy. He had a lot of fun with the student... but at the end of the day Jeremy was a student. He had his life to continue on with and Josh had his. Ah! Such sad thoughts!

"This fascinating experience, hm?" he said thoughtfully, tapping his fingers on the desk as he thought. What could they do that would make the last counseling day memorable? There was nothing that really popped into his mind, aside from trolling on the internet again... that had been fun. He didn't put much thought into it before it was interrupted. Jeremy teasing him about walking on him half asleep on his desk. "Hey hey!" he laughed. "I don't appreciate that, Mr.Jeremy. Though a nap on the floor does sound quite... delectable, I think i'll pass. Me asleep and you with gel pens? I must say that I would likely wake up with a bright pink mustache and an ugly shade of green gel looking substance on my arms. Or do you deny your thoughts of that action?" he teased, a slight smile on his lips as he dropped his voice to mimic the loud whisper Jeremy had been using for the last statement. "And I did in fact have to skip my morning coffee. That obvious?"

Jeremy and gel pens... what a mixture. He was sure if he did take a nap that the student would stay in the room, stay quiet, and wouldn't draw on his face with the pens, but it was fun to tease him about it. He trusted Jeremy a great deal and he was fairly positive that the student trusted him as well. Or, at least, Josh really hoped so. He believed that he had made progress. The first day he remembered clearly. Jeremy had been angry, quiet, untrusting of the counselor, and sarcastic to where he meant it and it was less of a joke. Within the five days he perked up, talked a lot more, laughed, smiled, and joked. It was amazing. It was progress he had only seen a few times in his career, and he was glad one of them was with Jeremy. He was a wonderful boy and deserved nothing less than a perfect and wonderful life. Josh, from the discussions they had, knew that wouldn't happen until he graduated school and was moved out and away from his parents. All that Josh could do was smile and tell him to be patient and that time would come soon enough. It hurt that all he could do was tell Jeremy, and other students, they had to wait it out... but what could he do? He would offer them all homes..., but that was illegal beyond all reasoning. He'd sheltered a few teenagers at his house and always had a bedroom ready for one, but there was only so long that they could stay before they had to leave. He hated it.

The topic, however, was changed quicker than usual. Jeremy was apparently in a very good mood. It made the male smile as he watched the student perk up and make his way over to the coffee machine, working it like he had done it a million times. "I'd love some, thank you, and not at all. That's what it's there for." he said with a small laugh. He watched the other boy for a moment before turning to his computer and glancing at it. Oh... there was a half finished e-mail there that he should probably finish and get sent out. Josh reread what he had typed quickly before typing up the rest of the response and sending it out to the teachers. It was regarding the student open house. Oh fun. He looked forward to getting less sleep while he prepared for that. Sarcasm... it was really rubbing off on him. He really had to remember to act like an adult around the parents. He was already ridiculously young and the parents already looked down on him like he was someone they didn't trust their children with. Children born only around five years after him. He had to remember to act like he was fourty, not twenty.. whatever the ******** his age was. He hated to think about getting old.

As soon as the e-mail was sent off to the teachers the man turned the monitor of the computer off and reached across to the counter next to him and shut his laptop. Two computers as once was twice as productive than just one. He smiled a bit and returned his attention to Jeremy just as he began to talk. Talking fast. Saying a lot. And being quite excited about what he was saying. The man chuckled and sent the boy an amused looked.

"You're just happy. You can blame the lack of coffee or the lack of medication, but you seem fine to me. Anything you skipped today is not a bad thing, Jeremy. I'm quite happy to see you like this." he said with a smile, his smile and his eyes quite honest. There was nothing wrong with how Jeremy was acting. A parent might see it annoying... but there was nothing wrong with it. "As for a nap, I thank you for the generous offer, but i'll pass on it. If I nap i'll end up sleeping here until morning and I would much rather sleep in my own bed tonight." he said with a light sigh. That was if he got home in time to sleep at all. "And Jesus, all of that homework? What the hell are the teachers thinking assigning all of that?" Josh made a face. "If you would rather have some time to work on that, I understand and you're more than welcome to do it in here. I have some paper work or e-mails I can catch up on." he offered, though preferring not to do them. He was sure that Jeremy would laugh and decline the idea of doing homework when... he could be not doing it. Why do homework when there was a perfectly good distraction right there in front of you?

"And thank you for making coffee, Jeremy. I know I have that coffee maker there but I never really think to use it... I think a good cup of coffee is just what I need to keep me awake right now."


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[American_Flyleaf_Girl]

Ӿ Ⓣhҽ Ⓣroublҽd Ⓣҽҽn Ӿ



" Yeah, no problem, " Jeremy said, fingers drumming along the countertop with a slight lack of patience. He usually had his marble, but it had somehow managed to the get los tin his bedroom yesterday, so he would have to resort to the more simple methods of keeping his wandering, itching hands busy as he waited. It was enormously annoying sometimes, the sound of tapping, touching, kicking, but he managed to silence it for his own good. He was finicky and picky at times, and most of them occured when he was lacking in either sleep or coffee -- mainly coffee. Normally he managed to get a cup in sometime during the day and he was good, but he must have been too tired this morning to remember to grab a cup.

It took him a good few seconds of searching about to actually find the coffee cups, and that was only partly to his jitteyness. He was too proud to ask where they were, seeing how once he actually did find them they were sitting atop the microwave, practically in plain sight, a foot from his hands. He cursed himself in his thoughts for being so scatterbrained today, pouring two cups of coffee and seeking out sugar, or soemthing like it. he found some packets of substitute, and decided it was worth it, dumping two of them into the swirling abyss of dark brown liquid energy. Placing the half-full coffee pot back on its dish in the coffeemaker, he turned around and offered the steaming, somewhat schorchingly hot mug to Gagnon. Once he had taken it, Jeremy trotted back off towards his stool and sat down the same strange way he had before, balanced on his thighs, elbws on his knees, sipping at his cup, blowing the steam away, sipping again.

" Well, whatever I did, coffee can fix it, " he sighed, shaking his head slightly and blowing on his cup again. Gagnon seemed pleased by his latest set of behaviors, and Jeremy supposed it wasn't the worst reaction he could have had to forgetting the ever-wonderful hyperactivity-soothing coffee. Sometimes he just got downright pissy, even aggressive; he could recall a couple of times where he'd been the one instigating the fight with Rigby, a slap across the face, a punch in the gut, even once managing to get a good kick to the gonads in. That hadn't lasted very long, though, seeing how he'd just about been Mark-tackled by Ramone as a result. He didn't remember much. Laughing maniacally at the suffering of others was distracting.

" I...might have to take you up on that, " he sighed, taking another long drink. His mouth burned and he winced, swallowing slowly and letting out a breath of relief as it cooled on the way down. " I have a loooot of crap to do this weekened --- holy Bill Clinton, does Bennet have a SOCIAL AGENDA? Apparently for the weekend I do. " He drank again. " Not used to having stuff to actually do aside from the crudload of homework of course. It's wierd. "

Jeremy slid off the stool and was already finished with his cup after... maybe ten minutes? He didn't waste time in cnsuming his precious ADHD-quick fix, no matter what the situation, and he was tempted to pour himself a second cup, but decided against it. He'd be fine for now. Walking over he set the cup down and headed back towards his bag, sitting this time on the small ottoman to reach his backpack more easily, beginning to sift through it and remove a binder, then a second binder, a couple of notebooks, loose papers. He set them around on the different chairs and the floor and his lap, surveyign his workload with an uneasy face, then sighing. " I choose... " he muttered, closing his eyes and holdign a hand out, swaying it around over the various stacks of work he needed to get done. A finger stabbed down and touched the stack designated by a binder for his History class, and he opened one eye, sighing. " Eh. I'll take what I can get. "

He slid down to the floor and slid everythign else into his bag, leaving Gagnon to do what he needed to do and surrounding himself with the history textbook, loose paper, assignments. A pen clicked, and off he went, scribbling down notes as he read through one of the assigned chapters, crossing things out, re-writing them in less ridiculous wording when he needed to. It was slow work, but it had to be done, and he didn't want to have to take car of it over the weekend. Too much to do. Much too much to do...

[.~[Misty.Muffin]~.]

ｔｈｅ Ｐ Ｒ Ｏ Ｔ Ｅ Ｃ Ｔ Ｉ Ｖ Ｅ ｃｏｕｎｓｅｌｏｒ

It took Jeremy a few moments to find the coffee mugs and Josh couldn't help but chuckle as he watched. Why didn't he just ask? He supposed that no matter how comfortable he was around the counselor, Jeremy still had his pride. That pride which stopped him from asking where they were. It was amusing. He smiled silently when they were found and the coffee was poured. Usually he preferred just straight, black coffee but said nothing and offered no protest as Jeremy poured a packet of the sugar substitute into both mugs. Not his preference, but he was sure that the little bit of extra sugar would help him. "Thank you, Jeremy." he said, carefully taking the mug while offering the boy a smile. He held it, enjoying it's warmth, before taking a small sip. It was scalding hot, but that was just how he liked his coffee. If it didn't burn him, or feeling like scalding magma down his throat, then it clearly wasn't hot enough. "Coffee can fix almost anything." he agreed, his voice just as pleasant as it ever was.

"I don't know if I would call homework a 'social agenda', but apparently it can keep you busy like one." he said with a chuckle. It was a good thing that Jeremy was taking his offer to do homework though... Josh also had a decent amount of work. Most of it was having to do with open house, how he LOATHED open house night, but a lot of it was dealing with administrators, parents, students, and just about anything they could give him to do. While his age was a bother to the parents, it apparently wasn't to the administration. Josh sighed slightly as Jeremy started to pull out his homework. Agreeing that it was time to do something productive, Josh hit the button on his computers monitor and opened up his lap top. Both were alive right away.

He had just refreshed both pages of his e-mail that were open when Jeremy spoke. Josh felt himself sigh in agreement when Jeremy spoke. "How I wish these e-mails would answer themselves." he said. The counselor took a long drink from the still half full mug before setting it down and clicking open an e-mail.

Scribbling sounds from Jeremy as he wrote and took notes. Quick typing from Josh's computers. Sometimes the desktop... sometimes the laptop. Both had the same e-mail open but each computer devoted to different folders. One to the folder for faculty and the administrations and the superintendent, and the other, his laptop, devoted to the parents and the 'other' folder. That usually ended up being parents who may have never contacted him before and were new. Thankfully, the laptop was almost ready to be closed and finished. Not yet shut off... but he never turned his lap top off in case he needed it for whatever miniscule reason. Because whenever he turned it off he found he did... in fact, need it.

It wasn't the typing that took forever, no, it was the thinking. The rereading. The correcting. Josh prided himself at typing a 150wpm. He had gone through an 'official' site and was, stupid enough, credentialed at it. What a stupid thing he had been forced to put on his resume. But it was stupidly necessary.

Currently he was staring at a parent email on his laptop, his back turned to Jeremy. He read the e-mail over, mumbling a bit to himself, and made a face. Parents were annoying. This was the parent of a student he had been talking with for a while and the parent was concerned about the 'number of times the student had been seeking help and not going to them'. And, literally, asked him to deny the student from seeing him. What was wrong with these parents? Did they think that because they didn't see him that they would run to them? So he, the teacher, had to find a way to politely point out that he could not turn away and a student who wanted to see him and if they had a problem with the student talking to him to talk to them. To ask Josh to reject them? What kind of parents were they?

Josh mumbled a few profane words under his breath before grabbing his mug of coffee and took a drink, successfully drinking the rest of it before he set it down and went to answering the e-mail. He replied quickly, sent the email, then pushed himself back to his desk with a sigh. Parents... what a headache. Students he could deal with. He liked his students. It was their over-protective rich and snotty parents he couldn't deal with. He was just so well with them because he had grown up with the same kind of people surrounding him. The male picked up his mug before making his way over to the coffee pot and pouring himself another cup. At least the parent e-mails were done with now. Josh leaned against the counter, not finding the energy to make his way back to his desk before rubbing his head with one hand then moving to take a drink from the mug. Not as hot as he would like... but it was still what most people would call 'scalding'.

It would have to do for now.

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[American_Flyleaf_Girl]

Ӿ Ⓣhҽ Ⓣroublҽd Ⓣҽҽn Ӿ



The room was quiet save for the conjoined background noise of Jeremy's ballpoint pen scritching away on looseleaf paper, and Gagnon's fingers clicking away at his two computers. He knew some of the teachers also carried a laptop along with their desktop computers in class, but he'd never seen anyone work on them simultaneously -- it was somewhat impressive. he had his vague computer skills, but he was no genius, and his typing speed was average. Gagnon seemed very familiar with both of his computers, though Jeremy could understand considering the considerable workload he seemed to be supporting.

Ah, History class. Such a pleasant thing to explore, the wonders and secrets of the world's past, every major event in the greater Britain in the last several hundred years splayed out on notecards he'd made a couple of weeks ago before him on the floor, like a set of Tarot cards waiting to reveal his destiny. Except instead of future predictions and cryptic messages, they contained vocabulary words and scribbled events, occasionally important figures and places. Kings and queens and dukes, vicious lords, notable criminals -- charming characters in the story of the world. He glowered darkly at Elizabeth 'The Virgin Queen' for a moment and realized he'd misspelled something there, crossing it out sharply before rewriting it above in the same plain black ink and setting it down again. He hated timelines and the like so very very much, but he had to admit the four-hundred-year exspanse he'd covered along with the notecards was an impressively thourough detailing.

He heard Gagnon mutter something quite rude and glanced up, not laughing aloud but smirking to himself as his eyes returned to the notes he was finishing up. The counselor didn't seem to be enjoying his emails very much, he noted with a slight bit of amusement. He could only wonder what the man might be dealing with -- angry parents, too much work. A multitude of problems could arise when one was such a well-known figure amoung the students, he imagined; especially when students had problems that they didn't go to their parents with, but to Gagnon. That would always make a parent feel betrayed, angry, upset. And of course, Joshua Gagnon would be their proverbial whipping boy.

After a while the man stood and refilled his coffee mug, though he stood by the counter looking tired and quite sick of working. Jeremy looked up from a series of -- in his opinion -- obnoxiously painted portraits of English queens and kings, raising an eyebrow at the man. " You look like you're having fun, " he commented dryly. He'd become noticeably calmer, though he was still quite alert, pen flipping back and forth and tapping against his book a couple of times before it settled in his hand. " Enjoying the crapload of work? Cuz I totally am. " There it was again, the sam flatness. After Gagnon's reply he was about to open his mouth and reply, but his phone buzzed in his pocket suddenly, making him jump. He could have sworn he'd left it off.

He removed the device and gave an unhappy groan -- 'Call from Diane'. His mother. He had both of his parents listed by their names -- Diane and Robert -- and it annoyed them to death, but whenever they made him change it he just switched it back. Eventually they had given up, and he usually didn't call them by name to their face unless he was pissed enough, so they seemed not to care anymore. He would have to take the call, or risk being blasted once he got home. He clicked 'recieve call' and lifted the phone, glancing at Gagnon apologetically.

" Why, hello, Mother dearest, " he greeted in a sarcastically cheerful voice. " What do you want. I'm in school. "

Yammer yammer, gripe gripe gripe, whine, yammer, whine, gripety-b-tch. That was all he could here. " No, " he replied. " Why don't you get your own milk, you work five minutes away from a grocery store. "

Gripe, gripe, snark snarkety snark snark SNAP. Yeesh. " It's not like you people give me an allowance, what makes you think I have any cash? "

Grumble grumble SNARL snarkety snark. " Fine, fine. You know, a please would be really nice sometimes. Actually, something other than a demand would be great too. "

He didn't really listen to whatever she said after that, hearing various curses and snarls rattle through the reciever. He dropped the phone and set it face down against his leg, waiting a moment before picking it up again. " Ya done there, Pacino? " he asked flatly.

" JUST DON'T FORGET THE G-DDAMNED MILK, YOU F--KING p***k, Jesus H. Christ, Jeremy... " she snapped, thouroughly wounding his ears. He winced.

" Aww, I love you too, Mom~ " he purred with syrup in his voice, his face smiling broadly at first then dropping to a flat frown. " I'll get your stupid milk, woman. You don't have to be a b-tch. "

Without bothering to pay attention to the annoyed reply, he ended the call and turned the phone off, stuffing it into his pocket and looking up at Gagnon with a forced smile. " You see why I prefer dogs? At least if they're being a b-tch it's justified, " he stated flatly. " I guess I get to go to the store after school. Whoopie. "

[.~[Misty.Muffin]~.]

ｔｈｅ Ｐ Ｒ Ｏ Ｔ Ｅ Ｃ Ｔ Ｉ Ｖ Ｅ ｃｏｕｎｓｅｌｏｒ

When has his head started to throb? Josh lowered the mug and massaged his temples slightly. Probably just after he finished reading that last e-mail. He loved his work, but it was the sitting on front of the computer and sending e-mail after e-mail that became a pain. His career was very technology based and he hated it. He would prefer a face to face conversation over a damn e-mail or phone call. Did parents really not care for their child enough to come down and meet with him? Granted that not every parent was like that... some did meet with him. Ones that were legitimately worried for their child or cared enough to understand the person their students may have talked about to their parents. But then there were som-

His thoughts were interrupted by Jeremy's voice. His sarcasm, instead of being annoying to his headache, was welcomed and brought a smile to the counselors lips. "Oh, it's a blast." He replied. He saw Jeremy open his mouth to reply, but it was interrupted by a familiar buzzing. Josh raised a disapproving eyebrow. He had made his views on cell phones clear from the first day when they had been interrupted. He nodded gently at the apologetic look he received and decided to allow it. Jeremy had never given him trouble and it wasn't like they were in the middle of some kind of heart felt conversation... Jeremy was doing homework and he was doing work. Allowing him to take a cell phone call wouldn't interrupt anything they were doing. Nothing to important, anyways. Jeremy also looked like he could use a break.

Josh took a small sip from his mug and blinked hearing Jeremy speaking. His mother? Why on earth was his mother calling him when he was supposed to be in counseling? Why, he could practically hear the woman through the ear piece of the cell phone! Did she have any idea how she sounded? How rude and inconsiderate and.. well... The man wasn't really eavesdropping, it was in his office after all, but couldn't help but try to hear what Jeremy's mother was saying. While he couldn't make out more than 'blah blah', he was catching every other word. The way she was talking to her son? What was wrong with this woman? Granted, Jeremy wasn't exactly giving her any amount of respect, but after years of being talked to by her that way? He had to take the students side. He was sure that he could give Jeremy hints on how to make it calm a little and maybe get her off his back, but he was positive that Jeremy wouldn't want to hear them. No teenager believed that there was a way to shut their parents up... and sometimes there wasn't. Josh was convinced that this could be one of those times.

Eventually, not long into the conversation, Jeremy dropped the phone and chose to ignore his mother. An unwise choice but humorous. Josh sipped his coffee and winced hearing the mother screaming. He got all of that one. ******** p***k? The b***h comment from Jeremy was uncalled for, but likely what any person listening to that conversation would have said or agreed with. What a terrible woman. "Your mother sounds like an angel." he said sarcastically once the boy had hung up his phone. The counselor frowned at the forced smile. It was so obvious the boy was unhappy that it might as well just have been written on his face. "Do you need money for milk?" he asked, remembering that Jeremy had pointed out to his mother that he probably didn't have cash. What was wrong with HER picking up milk on the way home? He hated how some parents look at their children as servants. Or tried to use the guilt trip by saying 'after all the stuff I do for you' and so on.

"My parents spot me more than enough money a month, and on top of that i'm overpaid by the school district anyways." he continued, raising the mug to his lips and taking a small drink, his eyes focused on Jeremy. "And you're more than welcome to leave early to beat the crowd and go to the store."

Josh fell silent and thought for a moment. Seeing Jeremy so unhappy wasn't pleasant... so maybe he should give the boy something to look forward to on Monday? "Mmm.. maybe Monday i'll see if I can bring Charlie in." he said, mostly to himself, but as well as to Jeremy. "Perhaps your dog preference and the idea of seeing Charlie can get you through the weekend and to Monday? Because, I must say for your ears only, your mother sounds terrible."

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[American_Flyleaf_Girl]

Ӿ Ⓣhҽ Ⓣroublҽd Ⓣҽҽn Ӿ



Jeremy sighed, shaking his head and rubbing the back of his neck for a moment. The offer of money was appreciated, but he did have some cash on hand, even if he'd given his mother a hard time about the lack of money he was given. He did weekend jobs every once in a while, and he earned his money doing whatever else he could -- sometimes he babysat, cleaned yards, walked dogs, did house work if need be. Any way he got it, he did get his money, and he saved it like a cheapskate. The teen patted his back pocket and removed a ten. " No, I'm good. Just gotta nag a little sometimes, " he said with a shrug, returning the cash to his pocket. It was a little -- what, embarassing? He supposed it was -- for Gagnon to have heard that less-than-pleasant conversation, but the man seemed understanding.

" Nah, there's hardly ever a crowd anyways, I'll just stop at the little Food Mart and get a couple of gallons. Besides, that would mean I'd be getting home earlier, and I'm not keen on that one bit, obviously, " he sighed, leaning against the ottoman with a slightly irritated look -- not towards the counselor, but the situation as a whole. He really would prefer to have just recieved a text or something. A written exchange was always less frustrating. A simple 'can you get milk' and 'yeah' was all it required to accomplish what had just been done without the wasting of time and the additional swear words thrown in.

He listened as Gagnon considered bringing his dog in... and for Jeremy's sake, no less. Surprising but not entirely unwelcome. He did have quite a thing for dogs, he always had, and the fact that he was never allowed to have them himself had been unfortunate and quite an unhappy situation. He'd always enjoyed going to the park when he could and playing with other people's dogs, whether they liked it or not.

" Yeah, she's kind of a.... " He paused, attempting to come up with something a tad more creative than 'b-tch' to title his mother with. " ...character, " Jeremy said finally. " But I'm used to it. She's usually worse, but I think she tried to tone it down for the fact that I'm in school. Normally she curses like a sailor. I was actually impressed that she managed to calm herself so 'well', " he replied, holding his fingers up in imaginary quotation marks. " As for surviving the weekend, I'd love to meet your dog, but I don't see my parents on the weekends. I've literally gone days at a time without seeing them at all -- I stay in my room or I leave before they get up, and come back after they go to bed or whatever. " He laughed a little, and it felt forced. Getting griped at always brought him down a notch. " Gagnon, I've lived with these people my whole life, I know how to avoid having any contact with the two of them whatsoever. It's a trained, hoend art I've got down, I must say. " He smiled a bit wider. " Besides, I got places to go and people to piss off over the weekend, so I'll be nice and occupied and as far away from either of them as possible. "

He'd managed to get a job for saturday cleaning out gutters on top of a roof and pressure-cleaning the shingles, and even though it would only pay about thirty dollars, he had relented on asking for more. The guy was in his eighties and hadn't been out of his house alone for all of two months, so his 'good samaritan' gears kicked in and he took the measly pay for what could easily be a full four or five hours of work, depending on how bad the house was. Then he had to walk a dog, which would be pleasant -- he'd worked for the lady before, a nice old widow with a small house closer to the outskirts of the neighborhood. She was on crutches after some knee surgery though, so she'd asked Jeremy to come walk her corgi around for a hour or two. Apparently he went stir crazy without a daily walk. The teen could feel for him.

[.~[Misty.Muffin]~.]

ｔｈｅ Ｐ Ｒ Ｏ Ｔ Ｅ Ｃ Ｔ Ｉ Ｖ Ｅ ｃｏｕｎｓｅｌｏｒ

Josh made sure to watch Jeremy carefully. He knew that there was an emotion change after his mother had called... The student was no longer as good at hiding his emotions as he had been when the pair had first met. In fact... Josh could practically read the boy like a book. He was sure that Jeremy wasn't pleased about it, but the counselor was. It made his job easier and made for noticing lies as well. The smiles were currently being forced. He was a lot more tense than he had been when he first entered. And... he just looked over all less happy. Josh looked away from Jeremy and down at the boy pulled out a ten. Ah. so he did have money... so that meant he worked. Josh let out a small nod at the nagging comment and took another sip from his coffee. "If you ever need something, just let me know." he commented anyways. He wasn't sure if Jeremy would actually ever take him up on that offer, but it was at least worth putting out there. And it wasn't quite a matter of if the student would take the offer, but if his ego would allow him to.

When the boy spoke again, Josh let out another small smile and nodded a bit. That was true... if he left earlier then he would get home earlier, and he supposed that that was something that the student wanted to avoid. Being home earlier meant that he had to deal with his parents sooner... why do that when he was more than welcome in Josh's office? Here he didn't have to deal with any kind of yelling or being nagged at. If he should wish it, he and Josh could sit in perfect silence. Or sleep. Or listen to music. At home? Who knows what Jeremy would have to deal with while he was at home. Or even right when he got home. "Alright." he agreed with a nod, deciding to allow the subject to simply drop. Josh finished what was in his coffee mug before turning and pouring himself another. He was pretty sure that while Jeremy spoke of being addicted to coffee... he was just as bad. And he drank his black without sugar or creme... ahh. He needed something new to keep him awake. It took to much, or coffee that was to strong, to have any affect on him anymore.

While the student spoke, Josh finally found the energy to remove himself from the comfort of the counter and made his way back to his desk. He set the mug down gently before he sat back into his seat, his eyes falling on Jeremy not long after he was comfortable. The word 'character' seemed to be a bit of an understatement for that woman, but he could see that Jeremy had stopped himself and gone out of his way to think of a more appropriate word. A word that wasn't b***h or whatever else he might have said. That right there was what Josh called progress. It was helping a student think before they spoke. To think about their actions and the consequences before it took place. Instead of commented, his green eyes brightened slightly and he merely nodded in agreement. Character could work.

Well? Josh couldn't help but let out a small sound. One that was between a snort and scoff. That was tone down? He could hear the woman through the phone! And it wasn't like he had the best hearing in the world either. For him to be able to hear that woman? How loud was she yelling? What did the people that may have been around her think? Or did they all think that she was just on the phone with her 'delinquent' of a son again? Parents really were a pain.

The next bit that Jeremy ranted on about, Josh paid close attention to. A 'master' at avoiding them and it, hm? He forced a small smile at the boys last statement. Well, not quite forced, but a little more than he might have usually done. He hated that his student was good at avoiding his parents... but wasn't that how he had grown up as well? He disliked speaking with his parents growing up because it was always about his studies. His lessons. His skills. What he was doing wrong. So he, like Jeremy, had masted how to NOT meet with them. He did exactly what he had to do so that he could avoid them. It was... painful remembering that and thinking that Jeremy was doing the same thing he had. Different reasoning, of course, but to Josh it all felt the same.

"Well, I hope things go well for you this weekend, Jeremy. It would be a pain to have to have a bad weekend and then come to school and not have any time with me. I know how much you enjoy it." he teased with a smile. After all... normal classes for Jeremy started back up Monday's. No more sitting around and doing nothing for poor Jeremy. "As for Charlie, i'm afraid I can't really promise she'll be here, but i'll talk to a few people and try to sneak her in if I have to. I'm sure she'd enjoy being here instead of stuck in my house and the back yard." he said with a chuckle. "That does, of course, leave my little house unguarded... but she's not much of a guard dog anyways." He smiled pleasantly thinking of his dog. "She'd go up to someone with her tail wagging before she'd snap at them."

He knew that perhaps ranting about his dog was silly... but Jeremy looked like he needed to get as far away from the topic about his parents as he could. What better way to do that than talk about something he loved: Dogs. Charlie was the perfect way to get Jeremy's spirits back up! He remembered how the boys eyes had lit up the first time he had mentioned he had a dog. So then, perhaps Charlie was a good way to get his mind back to something more... pleasant. His parents were obviously not the way to go for that.

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