Free Coffeehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfors Page A

like an idiot? If only I had gone straight into the coffeehouse.
    The phone rang. Before I could say hello, Elizabeth screamed, "Turn on channel seven! Vincent's on the news!"
    Sure enough, there he stood, in his swim team sweatshirt, calmly answering Brad Stone's questions. His straight black hair looked extra chlorine shiny on TV. I might have noticed that he spoke eloquently and that he seemed more mature than his sixteen years. I might have noticed that he looked happier than I'd ever seen him look.
    But all I noticed was the Java Heaven coffee cup that he held in his right hand.

Ten
    W ednesday morning found me waiting in my guidance counselor's office for my mandatory appointment. I picked a few Ratcatcher hairs off my sleeve while Mr.
    Prince finished a phone call.
    Thumbtacked posters covered every inch of wall space. Most of the posters were motivational-- Reach for the Stars, Be All That You Can Be, Go for It! That kind of thing. The rest dealt with serious subjects like drugs, suicide, and school shootings--
    the ugly realities of the teenage world. Each poster was the exact same size. He had probably torn them out of some guidance counselor catalog. Or maybe he subscribed to a Crisis-of-the-Month Club.
    I tapped my feet. Get off the phone already. I wanted to get to class and talk to Vincent. He hadn't returned my call last night and he hadn't stopped by the coffeehouse before practice that morning. Maybe he was feeling bad about holding that cup on TV. He had to know that I'd be fuming. Java Heaven didn't exactly need free advertising.
    If I carried around a little black book with the words
    The Law written on the front cover, I would insist that the first law in that book be: Thou shalt never, ever partake of Java Heaven coffee!
    But I didn't need a little black book because my friends-- my two friends--already knew that law. And to break that law would mean disloyalty and serious hurt feelings on my part. Anyway, Mr. Darling had probably shoved that cup into Vincent's hand just before the interview. But, then again, Vincent could have dropped it. He should have dropped it. Law #2: If a cup of Java Heaven coffee is shoved into thy hand, then thou shalt drop it.
    "Okay, Katrina, let's get started." Mr. Prince slid a pair of glasses onto his long nose.
    "How are you?"
    "Fine." I smiled sweetly, unclenching my hands. The last thing I wanted was to get into a conversation with Mr. Prince about feelings. "Everything's fine."
    "Good." He cleared a space on his desk. "The purpose of this meeting is to check your progress and make sure that you're on the right track."
    "Okay."
    "You're a sophomore this year," he said as he opened a file.
    "Yeah."
    He pulled a piece of paper from the file, looked at both sides, then frowned. "Surely I'm missing some pages. Your file is awfully thin. What kind of activities are you involved in?"
    "Uh, nothing really."
    "Clubs? Sports? Basketball?"
    "I work."
    He sat back in his chair. "Working is admirable, Katrina, but surely you have time to get involved here at school."
    "I work every morning and every afternoon."
    "I see. Is that necessary?"
    "My grandmother can't afford to hire any more employees."
    "Ah. Well, have you given any thought to what you'd like to do after you graduate?"
    "Not really. My grandmother wants me to go to college."
    "Exactly." He pointed to a poster behind his head. Education Paves the Road to Success. "Nordby High has an excellent rate of college acceptance. Sophomore year is the time to start getting serious. It's no longer just about grades. Competition for all the top schools is intense. Admissions committees want students who are involved on many levels. Let me show you something." He heaved a notebook onto his desk. "I've been working closely with Heidi Darling. You know Heidi, don't you?"
    "Yeah." Ugh. Was it too early in the morning to vomit?
    "This is a work-in-progress, mind you, but her achievements are impressive--the exact thing every admissions