Authors: Christine Kersey
“Hannah Jacobs,” a female voice stated.
I looked up and felt my eyes widen. It was Mrs. Reynolds. The woman who had led the counseling group every night. The woman whose gaze had turned me cold every time it had zeroed in on me. This was my caseworker? Perfect. I blinked and forced myself to settle down. “Yes,” I said.
She smiled briefly. “Follow me.”
I followed her down the hall, pretending to adjust my glasses as I turned the camera on. I wasn’t sure exactly what kind of information Dani and Jack were looking for, but I figured this meeting could be interesting.
“Right this way,” she said, holding open the door to a small office.
It looked just like Mr. Madsen’s had looked and I assumed all the caseworkers’ offices were identical—although it was smaller than Dr. Tasco’s. I remembered the office of the man who ran the place—Billy and I had quite literally dropped into his office through the ventilation system on the night we escaped. Remembering that night brought a small grin to my face and a small degree of comfort that I had done it once, so I could do it again.
“Have a seat.” Mrs. Reynolds motioned to a straight-back chair. She sat in her seat, her desk between us.
I slid into the seat and tried to avoid eye-contact—her gaze still had the effect of making me want to run away.
“How are you settling in to Camp Willowmoss?”
“Okay, I guess.” I stared at my lap, my right hand absently playing with the nails on my left hand.
“Look at me when I speak to you.” Her voice was harsh.
Reluctantly, I lifted my gaze and met hers. I waited for her to accuse me of impersonating Hannah Jacobs, but instead, she picked up a sheet of paper and quickly scanned the contents.
She looked directly at me. “You have quite a bit of weight to lose, Hannah. Dr. Bradley said you need to lose thirty pounds.” She paused. “Are you aware of that?”
Was this a trick question? Of course I was. I nodded.
“I can’t hear the rocks in your head rattling. You need to speak.”
Though I was used to her meanness, I’d always thought it had been for show to keep control of the little group of criminals that I belonged to. But evidently she just enjoyed it. “Yes, Dr. Bradley told me.”
She smiled, but her eyes were cold. “Good. And do you know how you’re going to go about it?”
Again, this sounded like a trick question, but I played along. “I’ll need to exercise and eat healthier.”
“That’s right. And when you leave Camp Willowmoss, what will you do?”
“I’ll continue my good habits.” She nodded and I almost said I couldn’t hear the rocks rattling around in
her
head, but bit my tongue instead.
“I’d like you to recite the pledge for me, Hannah.”
The request was unexpected, but I began. “I pledge—”
“Stand up when you say it.”
Slowly, I rose from my chair. “I pledge to always follow the rules and to take care of my body.” I felt like a fraud as I uttered the words I despised, but I continued on like a good little camper. “I will strive to put the good of all above the desires of one. A healthy me is a healthy world.”
She smiled again. “Very good. You may sit.”
I sank back into my chair, my knees feeling weak to be under her eagle-like stare.
“Now, let’s discuss the rules that you must follow to have a successful stay with us.” She paused. “I understand you came here voluntarily. What made you decide to do that?”
This was a question Mr. Madsen—whom I was beginning to miss—had never had the opportunity to ask me and I wondered if it was part of the standard questionnaire they asked people who turned themselves in or if I was being asked for a different reason—perhaps because they knew I wasn’t really Hannah Jacobs. “Well, uh, I had gained some weight recently and my mom thought—”
“Your mom thought?”
The way she pounced on my words startled me.
“What about you? What did
you
think?”
Wasn’t it time for her to give me my work schedule and send me on my way? This was pure torture. Then I remembered that this whole thing was being recorded and who knows how many people would see it. I needed to step up my game. “Well, my mom and I discussed it and we agreed that it would be in my best interest to come here and get the help I needed.”
“What do you think you need help with exactly, Hannah? To learn to stop putting food in your mouth?”
Her attitude shocked me. Did she really not care at all about helping teenagers who were struggling with weight issues? Or did she just despise us and put up with us because we allowed her to have a job? I was pretty sure it was the latter. “I guess I need help getting into an exercise routine and to learn about nutrition and eating healthier.”
“What you mean is, you have no self-control and you need us to
force
you to exercise and to
prevent
you from eating what you shouldn’t.” She paused, her eyes glittering with undisguised disgust. “Isn’t that right?”
I was so glad I wasn’t assigned to her before, when I’d been so terrified and uncertain. And what was Katy talking about when she’d said she wasn’t so bad? Had she actually met this woman? “I guess,” I muttered. What was I supposed to say.
Actually I’m here to get dirt on you and the rest of the people who work here. And while I’m at it, I’m going to get my sister out of your evil clutches.
Even though I would have enjoyed the look of shock on her face, it really wasn’t the time for me to reveal my plans.
“Do you have any idea what it costs to house people like you?”
So that’s what this was about. I wondered if money was becoming an issue.
“It’s bad enough when we have to take in the delinquents, but when someone has no control over what they eat or how they take care of their body and their family thinks we can magically fix them, well they don’t seem to realize that the cost is much higher than what we make them pay.”
“How much does it cost?”
Her eyebrows shot upwards. “Do you really think I’m going to answer that?”
Evidently not. “Isn’t my mom helping to pay for this?”
“Families are
required
to pay a certain amount, but do you really think that covers all the costs?”
I assumed that was a rhetorical question and kept my mouth shut.
She sighed dramatically. “The sooner you can get yourself under control, the better for everyone. You’re actually being quite selfish by coming here.”
My mouth fell open at this. Did she think us campers
liked
being here? We didn’t make the rules that put us over some government approved number, requiring us to come. My complete shock at her attitude made me bold. “Maybe if the government changed the rules about weight, the issue of housing us would disappear.”
Now her mouth fell open. “Didn’t you
just
pledge to follow the rules? Do you take that pledge so lightly? The rules are there for a reason. When people are overweight, the burden of healthcare for those people overwhelms our healthcare system, making it unaffordable for everyone. Do you really believe it’s fair for someone who takes care of himself to have to pay extra for someone who refuses to do so?”
Her question reminded me of the counseling sessions I was forced to endure. I also remembered that she wasn’t happy if we didn’t give her the answers she wanted to hear. “No, I don’t think that’s fair.”
“Then you need to re-think your last suggestion about changing the rules. Wouldn’t you agree?”
I knew the answer she wanted to hear. “Yes.”
She glanced at her watch. “I have another appointment in a few minutes so let’s go over the rules and your schedule.”
About time
. The rules were the same as before except for one addition that I found very interesting. We were required to eat the power bars that were given to us at each meal. I wondered what Jack and Dani would think of that.
“Now, here’s your schedule.” She handed me a sheet of paper.
DAILY SCHEDULE FOR HANNAH JACOBS
7:00 – 7:30 Breakfast
7:30 – 11:00 Work assignment
11:00 – 12:00 Exercise or work on homework
12:00 – 12:30 Lunch
12:30 – 3:00 Work assignment
3:00 – 5:00 Classes
5:00 – 5:30 Dinner
5:30 – 8:00 Exercise or work on homework
8:00 − 9:00 Nutritional counseling - Room 908
9:00 – 10:00 Exercise or work on homework
10:00 Lights out
My schedule was just as I remembered from before—except instead of going to a counseling group, I had to go to a nutritional counseling group. And I assumed my work assignment would be bathroom duty again.
“Go back to the waiting area. Someone will come get you.”
As I walked to the waiting area I turned off the camera, then I sat in one of the chairs and wondered if Kyle would be my work supervisor again.
Chapter Seventeen
Katy came and got me a few minutes later and I followed her to the elevators. “How’d it go?”
“Okay.”
“What did you think of Mrs. Reynolds?” She wore a lopsided smile.
“I think she really
is
that bad.”
“I’m going to tell her you said that.”
I looked at her, frightened.
She laughed. “Not really, Hannah.”
I smiled, but on the inside I wondered if she really would.
“I don’t even need to check your work assignment to know you’re assigned to cleaning duties,” she said as we rode the elevator upwards.
“That sucks.”
She laughed. “All the new kids get that job. Some actually like it and some get stuck with it.”
“Can I change to a different job?”
“If your supervisor likes the way you work, he might recommend you for another job.”
We got off the elevator on my floor and walked down the hall. A moment later we stood in the doorway of a supply room identical to the one I’d been in during my last stay. And there was Kyle, my old supervisor.
“Kyle, this is Hannah.”
“Hi there, Hannah.” He walked toward me. “I’m glad you’re joining our little crew.”
“Hi.”
“I’ll take it from here, Katy.”
“See you around,” she said to me, then she left.
Kyle gave me the list of things to clean and showed me the cart I’d be using, then sent me off to start. Apparently there was one other girl who cleaned this floor, so it wouldn’t all be on me. He suggested I find her and see what still needed to be done, so I headed down the hall toward the nearest bathroom. I found her in the second bathroom, washing the mirror. “Are you Jessica?” I asked, using the name Kyle had given me.
She looked at me in the mirror, then turned around. “Yes. Who are you?”
“I’m Hannah.”
She set the bottle of glass cleaner on the counter. “Kyle didn’t tell me you would be coming.”
No, I thought. My arrival was kind of a surprise to everyone. “Well, here I am.”
“This job sucks, but at least now there will be two of us to do it.”
I nodded. “What’s left to be done?”
“I’m almost done with this bathroom, but if you can clean bathroom four, I can do the vacuuming.”
“Okay.”
She turned back to the mirror and looked at me in the reflection. “Do you know what you’re supposed to do?”
I held up the sheet Kyle had given me. “I can figure it out.”
“Good.” Then she turned back to her task.
I went to the bathroom that hadn’t been cleaned yet and got to work.
Soon it was time to stop and go to class. I dropped off my cart of cleaning supplies, then took the elevator to the classroom floor. I went straight to the office to get my schedule and my supplies—this time I knew they were supposed to give me my books—then headed to class. The first class was English. When I walked through the door class was just getting underway. I scanned the room for an empty seat and was surprised to see my sister. And next to her was an open desk. My heart pounded with a mix of fear and happiness. Fear that she’d recognize me and shout out my name in front of everyone, happiness that I might have the chance to talk to her.
“Why are you late?” the teacher asked, clearly irritated.
I immediately remembered this teacher—Billy had given her the nickname The Gray Witch—and I remembered how she’d hit me in the back of the head with a textbook when I’d fallen asleep in her class.
“I’m new.” I handed her my late pass.
She snatched it out of my hand and threw it in the trash. “Find a seat.”
I went directly to the empty seat next to Amy. I glanced at her, but she ignored me, which kind of hurt my feelings. I knew it was dumb, but she was my sister and I was here because of her. I knew it was good she hadn’t recognized me, but I wanted her to somehow know I was there for her.
As the teacher droned on, I thought about what I would say to Amy to somehow hint that I was there to help her.
“You there,” the teacher said. “You in the glasses.”
I looked at her and realized she was talking to me and I’d been totally daydreaming.
“Come to the front of the class and in your own words, explain what I just said.”
A wave of fear washed over me. I had no idea what she’d said and I really, really didn’t want to stand in front of the class and make a complete fool of myself. All eyes were on me and I felt my face redden.
“Well?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t remember what you said.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You mean you weren’t paying attention. That is unacceptable in my class. You are to write a three page paper on how you can be a better student.”
My eyes widened, but I kept my mouth shut.
“I want it at the beginning of our next class.”
I just stared at her, too afraid to say anything. Finally she looked away from me, and I released a sigh. When class was over, I turned to Amy. “Hi, I’m Hannah.” When I spoke to her, I made my voice a little higher—I didn’t want her to recognize it.
She looked at me, fear on her face.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Don’t talk to me,” she said in a soft voice. “You might get me in trouble.”
“But class is over.” I motioned to the kids who were leaving.