Loving Wright

Chapter 18: The PTA

Kendra...

"We need someone in charge of baked goods," said the red-headed woman on the stage, "Any volunteers?"

I watched as hands shot up to help. Well, this was a helpful bunch.

I was at a PTA meeting for Kyle's school. The school dance was coming up and a meeting was called to get everything together. Normally I would sit these things out, or just quietly sit in the back. But this time, things had to be different.

See, Brooke's words had been playing in my head over and over. So much to the point where I had already started looking for schools. I began to panic when the search became difficult, I couldn't find schools that I liked that were close enough to our apartment and my job. Would I have to move to make things easier? Spend more money and time getting him to a new school? There had to be another way to deal with this, right? But an alternative option came to mind when Kyle reminded me of the PTA meeting. Maybe if I participated more with the association, they would see my dedication to the school and not kick my son out. It wasn't guaranteed, but it was worth a try.

So here I was, sitting in the third row, raising my hand as high as I could. I was a decent enough baker to make cookies for the dance.

I watched as other parents got picked over me. That continued for as she went down the list of tasks. It was like being in high school all over again.

Speaking of high school, little Ms. Hawthorne and her mean girl clique was sitting just a few chairs away from me. Her not so subtle glances at me and the looks she shared with the woman on the stage, had me thinking that it was all done on purpose.

"And last, but certainly not least, decorations," the woman announced. "Any takers?"

Unlike before, hands didn't shoot up. The group of parents and teachers looked around at each other, waiting to see who would be the first to volunteer and take on the responsibility. Their lack of enthusiasm about the decor should have been enough of a warning for me, but I was desperate. I needed to show this school that I and my son deserved to be here.

I raised my hand, getting the attention of the president.

"Ah, Mrs. Wright," she smiled. I could have sworn I saw an evil glint in her eyes. I should correct her, but it was probably a ploy to make me look bad. I wasn't going to play into it. "Thank you so much for volunteering to be in charge."

In charge?

I thought it was just to help decorate, not actually be in charge.

"Is there anyone who would like to help with the decor?" she asked.

The room went silent again, and the hands stayed down. It was then that Brooke decided to speak.

She stood up and faced the crowd. "Come on guys, help out. This is Ms. Wright's first time doing all of this. She's going to need all the assistance she can get."

Was she helping me?

Hands instantly started going up. She really did have a pull in this group.

"Great," she smiled.

I should be grateful that she helped. But that smirk she sent my way before taking her seat, made me feel otherwise.

The meeting went on for about another thirty minutes before we were dismissed. I met with the other parents who agreed to help and got their numbers. We planned to meet in the next few days to come up with decorations for the theme, which happened to be based on the movie, The Chronicles of Narnia. Apparently, it was big among the students at the school, and they thought they would enjoy it.