So, that’s how I get suckered in to subbing as the faculty advisor in Community Outreach Club after school.
As if I needed something else to put me in a bad mood. I was already going to be surly and hard on everyone today after my evening with Noelle.
From the moment she walks into my classroom, my mood darkens. I make a point never to look at her, so it’s the longest class of my life, but finally it ends and I’m free of her.
Or so I think, until I get to the Community Outreach Club meeting and discover that the student ambassador is none other than Noelle Harper.
Of fucking course it is.
She’s already standing at the head of the meeting table with a binder open and a whiteboard set up. She’s holding an uncapped marker and transferring information from her notes to the whiteboard.
Her natural reaction is to glance in my direction when she senses movement, but she does a double take and freezes when she sees it’s me.
Looking around the otherwise empty room first, she checks to make sure nobody snuck in since she last looked. Seeing we are, in fact, alone, she scowls at me.
“What are you doing here? I’m setting up for a meeting.”
I nod, lifting my eyebrows and the folder Miss Styles gave me with attendance and information about whatever projects they’re working on. “Your advisor went home sick. Guess who had to fill in.”
Her shoulders sag with dread. “You?” she complains, even though it is obviously me.
“Afraid so.” I walk to the front of the room and take a seat. “I’m told the student ambassador runs the show anyway, so I’m gonna catch up on some emails. You do your thing.”
Noelle rolls her eyes and goes back to the whiteboard. I half expect her to lose control in under a minute and sourly ask how my date went, so despite telling her I’d be checking emails, I keep most of my attention trained on the door to watch for other students who could potentially witness her inevitable outburst.
She doesn’t have one, though. She’s focused on her work and doesn’t look my way or speak to me at all.
Once the last of the kids wander in and take their seats, I expect Noelle to take hers, too. She doesn’t. She remains at the head of the table by the whiteboard and acts as the teacher.
“All right, let’s get started,” she begins cheerfully, smiling at all her club mates. “First I wanted to say, great job on the food drive. All the food we managed to collect at the school has been donated and it will go a long way in making sure underfunded families have what they need to make this holiday season a little easier.”
If she expects any of the other kids to care, she must be pretty disappointed right now. One girl is affecting a bored pose and snapping a selfie. A guy is sprawled in his seat, eyes down, not even hiding that he’s on his phone instead of paying attention.
Unperturbed, she continues, “On that note, the toy drive ending today has been a little less impressive. I know I’ve been asking a lot of you this season, but come on, guys, it’s Christmas—the season of giving. We’re all lucky enough not to have to worry about these things, but that’s why it’s even more important to do our part to help others.”
A couple students exchange eye rolls and smirks. Someone coughs.
These little shits. Is this what every meeting is like? They put club participation on their college application and let Noelle do every bit of the work for them just because she will?
It’s one thing when I take advantage of her, but it pisses me right off seeing anyone else do it.
“I do h
ave to deliver the toys we’ve already collected today,” she goes on, as if anyone cares. “Today is the day we made our appointment at the fire station so they’ll be expecting them, but I would like to vote to extend the drive through this week as well, and I’ll take the additional toys we manage to collect myself on Friday. All in favor, raise your hand.”
The other students seem to give fewer fucks than I do about this meeting. At first, no one raises their hand, but Noelle just stands there and waits for them to give in to the holiday spirit and agree.
Slowly, hands begin to rise as they seem to decide they would rather leave this meeting eventually than veto an extended toy drive.
“Great,” she says cheerfully, once she gets a majority. “The toy drive extension is approved.”
The rest of the meeting goes more or less the same way. The other kids get credit solely for showing up and Noelle runs the whole show. If I were her I’d be pissed, start demanding more participation, but Noelle keeps trucking like she doesn’t even notice the lack of enthusiastic support from anyone else in the club. Like she doesn’t need it.
Once the meeting comes to a close, I stand with the folder I never opened. I forgot I was supposed to take attendance, but it doesn’t matter. I’m only marking Noelle down as having attended this meeting. The rest may have been here in physical form, but they certainly weren’t present any other way.
She’s still at the table, straightening the new stack of flyers she printed off that announce the extended toy drive.
“You need help putting those up around campus?” I ask her.