Office Hours, May 6

[bigdamnprincipal]

Considering the school somehow knew students were coming before they'd even arrived, Zoe was always surprised by how much physical paperwork the beginning of a new term brought. She currently had piles of folders scattered around her desk in organized chaos form; eventually, everything would be back in the filing cabinets, but until then there was a bit of a maze going on to get through the room.

This wasn't quite how she'd imagined her adult life to be, but it could have been a lot worse.

[Open!]

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[justbeingbay]

"Back in L.A.," Bay nodded, and wiped an eye with the side of her hand in a way she knew made her look like a kid. "It's strange, you know? Portalocity really didn't want to sell her the ticket, and I finally bought it for her, and --"

Deep breath, Bay. She blinked hard again before going on.

"Someone had kidnapped one of her friends," she said flatly, keeping the story as short as she could. It wasn't like extra details would make Gert less dead. "She was stabbed trying to save her."

[bigdamnprincipal]

Sorry Bay, you might have graduated, but you were still a kid to Zoe. Still, Zoe didn't hide her upset expression at hearing how Gertrude died. Of course it couldn't have been something simple and painless. Life just wasn't that fair to these kids sometimes.

"I'm very sorry to hear that," she said. "No one should ever have to get hurt like that, and I understand how you're probably feeling right now." Very, very well. "Is there anything you need?"

[justbeingbay]

One of the ways Bay was still a kid was that she'd had some secret hope Zoe would be able to say some magic words and make it all better -- bring Gert back to life, or, if not, make Bay's heart stop hurting like this. She hadn't realized how much she wanted that until she saw it wasn't going to happen.

She was disappointed even as she knew how silly it had been.

She shook her head. "No, I mean, someone should clean out her room and all of that, but that's --" She waved a hand vaguely. It wasn't what she was thinking of yet. "I just wanted someone from the school to know. Officially. She deserved that."

[bigdamnprincipal]

"Absolutely, and I'm glad you told me," Zoe said. "I can have someone clean her room, or you're welcome to do it if you feel like you can." Zoe figured it would be more personal that way, but also potentially a lot more awful. "You should also find someone to talk to about this in town, maybe the new counselor the clinic's got." Sorry Electroclash, but you were not on Zoe's recommendation list for this sort of thing. "The bad news is, I imagine a lot of folks in town have been through this sort of thing, but the good news is, you don't have to deal with this by yourself."

[justbeingbay]

"So I get to join a club of 'this sucks,'" Bay said, with a weak smile. "Thanks. I'll go see the guy in town. And I'll clean out her room, but maybe not right away."

She wasn't ready to handle Gert's stuff, but she didn't want some janitor to do it either.

[bigdamnprincipal]

"Take your time, there's no rush," Zoe assured her. It wasn't like they'd be rushing someone else into Gertrude's room any time soon. "And if there's anything else you need, just come back and let me know, all right?"

[justbeingbay]

"Uh-huh," Bay nodded. "I will. And ... thanks for listening and everything."

[bigdamnprincipal]

"You're welcome. It's an unfortunate part of the job, but I'm glad you came and told me," Zoe said. "Make sure you take care of yourself, all right?"

[justbeingbay]

Bay nodded. "I'll try," she said. "I haven't been sleeping great, but that's to be expected, right?"

[bigdamnprincipal]

"It's an unfortunate side effect to this sort of thing, yes. But that will pass, just like the heartache," Zoe said, sighing softly. "I won't lie to you. It'll always hurt, just a little. Some days, you're going to be fine, and other days you're going to see something that reminds you of her and it'll be like it happened all over again. But those days get fewer and further between, and it does get easier, I promise."