She was tired of arguing with her mother, but it seemed inevitable these days. She couldn't even remember the last time they'd had a pleasant conversation. The voice of her nagging and yelling was swirling about inside her head. She shook herself in an effort to stop thinking about it. She had some fast maneuvering to do. Graduation was in 2 days. She knew it was her fault for procrastinating. If she would have taken care of returning her books before school had let out, she wouldn't be here now.
Well what difference does it make anyway? She thought, I just have to get this paper signed and I'm free to graduate. I'll never have to set foot inside this building again!
She walked into the administrative office and looked around. There was no one in sight.
"Hello?" She called.
Just then, a willowy looking woman with reddish hair came striding in.
"Can I help you?"
"Yea..um...I just need to get this last box signed here, for turning in my books?" She said, handing the paper to the woman.
"Well it says here you haven't turned in your Spanish book. I can't sign this unless you have the book."
"I left it in my locker. It should have been there when they did locker clean outs."
"I'm sorry. You'll have to go to the old building and check with someone in charge of book returns." She said with a polite smile as she handed the paper back.
She sighed with mild frustration and headed down the long hallway towards the old building. The new building had been finished her freshman year, and still had that smell of fresh paint, tools and freshly cut wood.
It was a straight shot to the cafeteria in the old building, where the book return was. All she needed to do was get someone to sign her paper. It couldn't be that hard, right?
Her hopes were dashed when she saw who was running the book return: Mr. Reeves. They had never been exactly fond of each other. But she put on her most charming face and approached him, nonetheless.
"Mr. Reeves?"
He looked up, but said nothing.
"Um, could I just get you to sign this for me? It's the last thing I have to do before graduation."
He took the paper from her, wordlessly.
"Spanish book?" He said, and held out his hand.
"Uh...it was in my locker. With my other books. I left them there on the last day, for locker clean out."
"Well it says here that we're missing your Spanish book. No book, no signature." He handed her back the paper with curt smile.
She sighed again.
"I swear it was in my locker. I don't have the book Mr. Reeves. Could you please just sign it?Graduation is in 2 days." She pleaded with him.
"Well, I guess you should have thought about that before you misplaced your Spanish book."
She could see that she wasn't going to get anywhere with him, so reluctantly, she turned on her heel and stormed out, in a huff.
Fine. I'll just go to my old locker and look! Why the hell would I wanna keep a stupid Spanish book anyway!?
She trudged up the stairs of the empty high school, towards her old locker. When she reached the hallway where her locker had been, she saw that all the lockers stood ajar, and all of them were empty.
"Dammit!" She said aloud, to no one in particular. She headed back down the stairs,
and back to the new building, where her car was parked. In the fire lane. She silently cursed to herself as she remembered that fact. She hadn't thought she would still be here. She broke into a jog.
Guess I better move my car, since I'm probably gonna be here a while.
When she reached the front doors, she was relieved to see that her car was still there. She began to dig through her purse for her keys.
Where are my keys!?
Growing impatient, she dumped the contents of her purse onto the hood of her car. No keys.
She looked through the driver's side window of her car and cringed when she saw her keys dangling out of the ignition.
As if this day couldn't get any worse!
Now she would have to call her mom, who was already angry with her for putting everything off till the last minute. She gritted her teeth and thanked the heavens she hadn't locked her phone in the car as well. She pressed the 2 on the speed dial.
"Hello?" Her mom answered.
"Mom?"
"Yea?"
"I need you to come up to the school. I locked my keys in the car."
"WHAT!? I can't come up there right now! I'm on my way to go get your sister, you're just going to have to wait. Did you take care of that stuff yet?"
She sighed, "No, I'm still working on it. Are you sure you can't come now? My car is in the fire lane."
"Well WHY did you park in the fire lane! I don't have the spare key to your car, your dad does, and he's at work! You better hope you don't get towed! If you do, you're paying for it!"
"OK!!" She yelled, and snapped the phone shut. Clearly her mom was in no mood to help. She took a deep breath. Before she could stop them from escaping, tears began to trickle down her cheeks. She put her head down in the crook of her arm and leaned against her car. It must have been a hundred degrees outside. She decided she would sit just inside the front doors, where it would be cool, but she could still see her car, in case someone decided to tow it.
As she walked through the front door, tears still streaming down her face, an angel appeared to her, in the form of a heavyset woman with short brown hair.
"What's the matter sweetheart?" The woman said.
She looked up, surprised to see anyone. Before she could even answer, the angel pulled her in to her bosom, and she just cried even harder. Someone was hugging her. Someone she didn't even know, seemed to care.
The angel took the paper from her hand, and signed the last box at the bottom, without saying a word.
"There you go, Sweetie. Everything is going to be fine." She smiled, a tight smile that didn't show any teeth, but was still genuinely heart warming.
She wiped the tears from her face.
"Thank you." She said, "Thank you so much."
"Don't worry about it." The angel said. And just as suddenly as she had appeared, she was gone.
She later found out that the angel was called Mrs. Brown.
She would never forget Mrs. Brown. Her angel, in an office assistant's clothing.
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