October 17th
“You are not stupid Alexis. I’m going to be honest with you. Teachers do talk about their students to each other, share information. They have a duty of care, not just for your education but for your wellbeing.” She looked across at the girl, eyes still on her book.
“What do the teachers say about you I hear you ask? By all accounts you are a quiet, sensible young lady. Most who have taught you have noticed you have difficulty relating to other students. You don’t have friends, and don’t interact with others on any level. The general opinion is that, if I you don’t mind me saying, is that you suffered trouble at home.”
That got the girls attention, she looked up.
She herself had a theory that the girl was being abused, or at least neglected. No one has observed violent behaviour other than this one occasion, it suggested a more non-violent method of abuse – perhaps isolation or neglect. She couldn’t act on a theory though.
“And if I were to say anything you would try and fix the problem right?”
“Of course.”
“Well, then I am suffering no form of abuse or neglect. So much for confidentiality.” She returned to her book. This girl clearly had trust issues.
“Yes, I’m required by law to inform the authorities if you are suffering from abuse. But it’s to help you.”
“Help me? How? What’s going to happen? I’d guess there would be some court case that’s going to take a few months – that’s going to be fun. Then what? Adoption? Not likely, I’m nearly 15. Forster care? That’s going to be a barrel of laughs. I’d rather stick with what I know.”
Kayla sighed, she was going to have to open a link that was confidential.
“Well, tell me about the bullying. I am not required to tell anyone about what happens between students. In fact – unless you give me permission I am required by law to keep confidentiality. If you don’t want me to say anything I cannot say anything.”
“What if I say I’m going to hurt somebody? Commit a crime?” Shit, she’s read the damn textbooks.
“Yes, of course I would be required to tell the authorities if you were planning to commit an actual crime, but not if you had committed any in the past. That is confidential. Now, why did you hit that girl?” ‘That girl’ kept this impersonal. Mentioning the name probably wasn’t going to help the situation.
Alexis looked at her while, then closed her book and set it down in her lap.
“If you believe me, I wasn’t planning on doing.” She left that hanging, what did she mean by that?
“Of course I believe you. So you just got angry and lashed out?”
“I wasn’t angry.” She broke eye contact and looked down at her knees.
“Well, tell me how you were feeling at the time.”
“You were wrong you know, when you said I’m not violent, that I’ve not done anything before. I have.” Ok, curveball. What did she mean by that?
“When have you done something like this before?”
“Not at school.” Ok, so she hasn’t been violent to other pupils before.
“Do you want to tell me about that?”
“No.” She said.
“That’s fine.” We could get back to that later when she’s more comfortable. Kayla made a scribble in her notes. “Let’s get back to what happened on Monday then.”
“Can you catch something from needles?” Wow, this girl came out with a lot of interesting stuff out of the blue.
“Hypodermic needles? Like drug needles?”
“I know what hypodermic needles are. No, normal needles.” Ok, maybe I was being a bit condescending. Still, she knows about drugs – maybe that was linked with her problems at home? Wait a second, why the hell is she asking about catching things from needles?
“What do you mean? Catch something how?”
“When I hit her…” A pause while the girl took a deep breath. “It was a reaction, I was expecting her to hit me or something but she stabbed me. In the arm. With a needle.”
What the fuck?
A Grey World 
typos:
Forster care? <– extra r
“If you believe me, I wasn’t planning on doing.” <– missing "it"?
“I wasn’t planning on doing” – misses an “it” at the end, I guess.
“We can get back to that later when she is more comfortable” – present tense, should be past tense.