The Search for Us by Susan Azim Boyer EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Susan Azim Boyer
- Language: English
- Genre: Teen & Young Adult Fiction about Parents
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 4.9 MB
- Price: Free
Samira
Samira Murphy was the first to admit, she was an OF: an overfunctioner. If
shit hit the fan, she could be counted on to clean it up. She didn’t need help.
She helped.
Yet, here was her guidance counselor, Mrs. Sandoval, peering at her
with wide, sad eyes over her pink-rimmed reading glasses as if Samira were
as helpless as a newborn kitten.
“I know your grandfather passed, suddenly and unexpectedly, this year,”
she said in a low, mournful tone. “As I said before, I’m so deeply sorry for
your loss.”
It wasn’t that sudden or unexpected. The doctors had warned that
Grandad’s abdominal aortic aneurysm would burst. The advance notice
didn’t make it any less of a gut punch.
Mrs. Sandoval adjusted her glasses. “You’ve had twenty-two absences
this year. More than the student handbook allows.”
Well, yes. Between hospital visits, Grandad’s funeral, worrying about
her brother, Kamron, and bad cramps, she had missed a few days of school
here and there.
Samira gathered up her long, dark hair and twirled it around her finger.
“Mrs. Sandoval, didn’t the pandemic prove attendance was optional when
we could have done our work from a smartphone on a desert island?”
Mrs. Sandoval tapped Samira’s transcript with her glasses. “If you have
another unexcused absence between now and the end of the year, you may
not walk at graduation. You’ll have to go to summer school. And that could
derail your admission to Lewis & Clark.”
What felt like little invisible mosquitos zinged her abdomen and the
inside of Samira’s left knee, her autoimmune disorder going into overdrive.
Derailing her admission to Lewis & Clark would derail Samira’s dream
of starting her own business, which her econ teacher had ignited after he
said she had a flair for entrepreneurship.
Actually, he said she didn’t take direction well and would probably be
better off starting her own business. But he had already inspired her
million-dollar idea.
“I added my admissions deadlines to iCal and set up Siri with
reminders. I uploaded my ACT scores to the College Board. I’m still on
track to make the Dean’s List.” Samira nodded to the wall behind Mrs.
Sandoval, on which a bright blue YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU banner
hung. “Don’t worry. I’m responsible for me.”
She flashed a smile Grandad had labeled “the chomper,” wide and broad
with a mouth full of blindingly bright teeth she had whitened at the mall
kiosk with a half-price Groupon.
Just as her mouth began to tremble from the tension of maintaining that
smile, a photo of Mrs. Sandoval’s Jack Russell terriers sporting San
Francisco Giants kerchiefs caught her eye. Mom had taken her and her
brother to a game a million years ago, back when they felt like a family.
Mrs. Sandoval let out a deep exhale. “I’ll let you slide for now. But
again, no more unexcused absences.” She softened. “My door is always
open, Samira.”
For More Read Download This Book
EPUB