A closed thread for Jaylene and myself, read and enjoy.

An Apple for Miss Mindy Blake

Shawn Murphy was the only twenty-one year old senior at Jefferson high. The only student in the history of the school that could legally go into a bar and have a drink. He had been held back at three different levels, not because he was a bad student, he was far from that. He is, in fact, extremely bright, doing well in his classes when he is there. And that is the problem, when he is there. He was held back always for missing too much of the school year each time. In his first year of middle school, he spent three months in the hospital recovering from gun shot wounds inflicted by his drunken father. His father had pulled a gun and tried to shoot his mother, and he had stepped in front of her, taking the two bullets meant for her. His father was now in prison for attempted murder.

His freshman and junior years he was held back because he was working to support his mother and five younger brothers and sisters. Finally, his mother had gotten a job that paid well enough that he didn’t have to work so much, and allowed him the time to finish his high school education. That was important to him; he knew without an education that the future would be dismal. He was a tough kid, or rather young man now, which was forced on him by his upbringing. He had no close friends, most had moved on and out into the world. He also had no girlfriend.

Today was the first day of his Senior year, his final year in what seemed an eternity of schooling. As he walked into his first class he watched the back of the teacher write her name on the blackboard.

“Miss Mindy Blake” it read.