The further adventures of gays in my life

It's been pretty quiet, actually. We managed to get N enrolled in school, and that was more difficult than it needed to be. Things went swimmingly on this end, but people at the school he left were being a$$h0les. He had to officially withdraw from the old school before he could officially enroll here. The bitches at the old school said he had to come in person, fill out the withdrawal form and sign it, and either turn in his books or pay $150. N turned in his books the day before he left. He gave them to the classroom teachers, so the office didn't know about it. Did they investigate? Not until I mentioned the possibility that the teachers might know something. It was the secretary in the guidance office who was being the biggest roadblock, and she was downright ugly to me. I smiled and turned on the sticky-sweet. That works for me. It's heavy with sarcasm, but on the surface it looks so nice. It's a southern thing, like when we say "bless your heart" it really means "fuck you." Depends on the situation, of course. Sometimes I say "bless your heart" and genuinely mean it. I meant "fuck you" when talking to Ms. Secretary.

I happened to be driving in the general direction of that small NC town when I spoke with the secretary. I was taking Light back to school Monday afternoon, and her college town is between here and there. There was some urgency that he be enrolled here by Tuesday because this school was administering the test that all students must pass in order to graduate high school, beginning Tuesday and going through Thursday. Ms. Secretary was stalling for no good reason. I suggested they fax the paperwork here so N could do his magic to it in our guidance office and fax it back. But he still owes $150 for the books. If I take care of the obligation for the books, could you fax the paperwork? No. But why not? (Maybe I shouldn't have used the word 'obligation.' That big word might have confused her.) Well, we just don't do it that way. OMFingG! No, I didn't say that out loud. At that point I told her I was on my way to the school and would pay what he owed for the books, suggesting also that she check with the teachers as to what books he might still be missing. Ms. Secretary realized that I was going to show up in the flesh and beat her bitchy ass, so she let me talk to the lead guidance counselor after putting me on hold for half a fucking hour! On my cell phone, outside my local area. I dunno, do they still charge roaming fees? Superman pays the bills, I don't keep track of shit like that.

So I finally talked to the guidance counselor. She was pretty nice, actually. I told her I was coming in to pay for his books, and asked about the fax option. Well, if his guidance counselor calls me, I can fax the papers, then stay on the phone with him while he witnesses N signing the forms, and he can fax it back. That will work. What the fuck ever. Thankfully our guidance counselor here was super nice and willing to work with the bitches there. And I did all the leg work, so it worked out fine.

Once the bitch (Ms. Secretary) realized I was on my way for real, she backtracked a bit on the book fees. She agreed to talk to the teachers about his books, too. N assures me that he turned in all the books he had, and some of the classes only had a classroom set of textbooks so he wasn't issued a book in the first place. Yeah. Exactly. I had the foresight to ask if these people would take a check. They would take a local in-state check, but... obviously I'm from South Carolina. Can they make it more difficult for me? S-u-u-u-re. Once I got into NC I stopped at an ATM and withdrew $200, just to make sure I had enough to cover whatever bribe they asked for.

I got there just before 4:00. Oh, I forgot to mention that we were in a race with time, because the school offices close at 4:00. I made it with 10 minutes to spare. Arrrgh! I don't like rushing like that. Face to face, Ms. Secretary said that she found two of the teachers who said N had turned in his books. The other teachers had left for the day by the time she looked for them. Um-hm. She said the book fees were "about $40." About? Do we have any kind of invoice? I didn't ask, because I knew what was really going on. I did, however, try to pin her down on a specific price for "the books" because "about $40" means diddly squat. All I got was "$40 will cover it." So I peeled off two twenties and asked for a receipt. Ya know what I got for a receipt? A note on a pink post-it. Come on! I know they have a receipt book. We mustn't leave a paper trail, though, right?

We got it done. It cost $40 (plus gas) and took me 100 miles and three hours out of my way, but I accomplished the mission. The guidance counselor here took care of the rest of the details with N on Tuesday, and he is now enrolled in school again. If he passed the tests he took last week, and passes all his courses this semester, he will graduate in December.

N has received a couple of letters from the mother. She whines and cajoles in print now, but doesn't call and hasn't shown up. No, neither has his sister. I doubt she'd come here, anyway, if she did run away from home. Mother is using the cat as a tool to guilt him into returning. The cat meows at his bedroom door, misses him so much. What I know is the cat is well cared for, and N isn't worried about him.

The household has settled into the new normal. N is very easy-going, easy to get along with. He's not the drama queen S was, and has a much more cheerful attitude about helping around the house. I like that part particularly. All my flatware is still present and accounted for!

And that's pretty much the way things are. Less than a week of drama, and smooth sailing ever since. It's good, very good.