The War of Wind and Moon (Season One)

Chapter Two

"Sorry about that." Vice Principal Kostopoulos put his phone down and turned a bright smile on Mia. She'd been waiting in his office for ten minutes. "I saw Tak showed you to the office. How do you know him?"

"I don't really," she said. "He lives in the flats we just moved into. His Mum offered me a lift."

"That sounds like Hiroko. You could do worse than make a friend of Tak. He takes his school work almost as seriously as his sport. In fact, why don't I put you in the same home room?"

"I don't know if he'd want that..." Mia said but Kostopoulos was already tapping at his keyboard.

"There. Done. While we're setting you up, here's a locker key - I'll show you where you are in a minute... I'll just print your timetable..." More keyboard tapping and the printer on the corner of his desk whirred and spat out an A4 page. Grabbing it, he leaped up. "Okay! We're ready. I wanted to have a longer chat but we can do that later. Mrs. Paige is waiting for you."

Mia hustled to stand and pick up her bag. "Mrs Paige? What class is that?"

"She's the school counselor." He turned another enthusiastic smile on Mia but it faded when he saw her reaction. "I thought it'd be a good idea. Don't you?"

She did not. She may not intend to be a social butterfly for the next four months but it was another thing entirely to be a pariah. She dropped her bag and sat down again.

Kostopoulos left the door closed and returned to his chair. "Mia, you've got a lot of work to catch up on. Mrs. Paige can help you plan how to do that and make sure you stay on track – talk to teachers if you need extra help." He paused and placed his elbows on the desk, steepling his hands in front of him. "If you also want to talk to her about what happened at your last school, then she could help you deal with that, too."

That answered the question she hadn't wanted to ask. Of course he knew. Her mother had lied when they'd come for an interview last week but he'd have spoken to someone at her old school. "Who else knows? You and Mrs. Paige and...?"

"I won't treat you like a child, Mia. I've only spoken with it to Mrs. Paige and Principal Clarke – the three of us won't discuss it with anyone else. But I'd be lying if I said it hadn't been a subject of conversation among the teachers. These things get around."

Mia wasn't a child. She'd assumed the teachers would be talking but that wasn't what worried her. "What about the students? Do any of them know?"

"Not that we've heard, and we've been keeping an ear out. If any talk does start, you let me or Mrs. Paige know immediately. We won't stand for it."

Mia nodded but had no intention of doing so. What could they do but confirm there was something worth talking about by giving out detentions which Mia would be blamed for anyway?

"So," he said. "Are you ready to meet Mrs. Paige?"

Mia could see no way out of it. She could invoke her mother but last time Mia had been asked to see a school counselor her mother's objections themselves had become an issue on both sides. The school apparently believed good mothers were all for strangers poking their noses into out-of-school life and her mother had not appreciated having her motherhood questioned. Mia had paid the price with a new school and new set of bruises.

"Does it have to be today?" she asked. "It's hard enough being the new girl without also being the girl who had to see the counselor before she was unleashed into the school."

Kostopoulos laughed. "Fair enough. I'll talk to Mrs. Paige and get back to you with a time later this week. But I don't want you trying to wriggle out of then. Deal?"