Limelight

Chapter Ten

Over her book cover, Aaliyah could see Solana in her periphery and she noticed her smiling as she shook her head. The corner of her mouth quirked upwards in satisfaction.

After the bell rang for third period, Miss Munroe called Aaliyah for a word with her in private. Aaliyah widened her eyes and glanced over to Solana who only shrugged mouthing "good luck" to her silently before following the rest of the class out the door.

With a deep breath, Aaliyah stalked over to Munroe's desk. "I'm sorry I was late, Miss Munroe. I was coming from study hall, and you know how these halls are between classes."

Miss Munroe was silent for a moment before she released a sigh, before looking up from her seat to meet Aaliyah's gaze. Aaliyah suddenly got the idea that she wasn't here so Miss Munroe could use her as target practice, or the other hundred and four painful scenarios Aaliyah imagined as the class progressed. She frowned, but before she could ask, her teacher flipped over the blue presentation folder and Aaliyah realized it was her report. With a red C on the top corner. Aaliyah widened her eyes at the sight, a soccer punch to her gut. She looked to Miss Munroe, who looked back at her with a disappointed glare. "You've been in my class for just over a month, Aaliyah, and I can say with some certainty that you're one of my brightest; a C seems a little beneath you, don't you think so?"

Aaliyah swallowed hard, her eyes burning at the sight. And she nodded tightly. She had never gotten below a B in any of her subjects, back in San Diego, Literature had especially always been a breeze she didn't have much else to do but read, and she enjoyed it. She didn't like this at all. "What happened, Aaliyah? On top of you coming to my class late, and talking over me, completely unacceptable, and then getting a grade like this just tops it off. You're getting distracted."

Aaliyah sighed, feeling the urge to run her hand through her hair, and being irritated by the fact that she couldn't because she had decided that a bun would look nice with the blue oversize fleece jumper she decided to wear. She settled with looping her finger through the gold chain hooked onto the belt loops of her khaki cargo pants Fashion was exhausting, she thought, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. "To be honest, I only remembered the book report last night. I've been so busy with other things, I completely forgot. This is not my best, I know. I've read the book before, and I've done papers on it before, and I know I can do better."

Miss Munroe breathed out a contemplative sigh. "I've heard from my students about you, Aaliyah. About your record deal with Blair Waters' father's label, I know that you're due to release a song with another one of my students, Madison. So I can understand the stress you must be under, having to be committed to other responsibilities—"

"Just give me another chance," She asked desperately, holding her hands together pleadingly, "I know I can do better than a C. Could you just give me an extension, or something, maybe?"

Miss Munroe sighed sitting back in her chair giving Aaliyah a look. "I'm not one for handing out extensions around here, Aaliyah. I'm sure you would have heard that by now," She answered tiredly. Aaliyah sagged her shoulders, disappointed. She didn't remember the last time she had a C and now she was going to have to deal with one on her record for Senior year. She didn't like the idea of that, "But. I've also seen your transcripts, and I know that you are an exceptional student, and maybe on top of your other commitments, you might also be having trouble adapting to life in a public high school across the country since you were homeschooled."

Aaliyah didn't mind people knowing some things about her, but she was well aware that when people asked questions about what they think they know it leads to more uncomfortable questions that Aaliyah didn't really want to talk about or be made known about her. She'd rather let her music do all the talking in that aspect. She tried her best not to talk much about her being homeschooled because that would lead to talking about her foster parents, and well, she'd rather not think about them. "Does that mean you are giving me the extension?"