Steering the Stars Read Online Free PDF Page B

school and that was all. Actually, the more I thought about it, the more I thought that Hannah must have put him up to it. Yep, that would explain why he showed up this morning. She must have read my sad email and begged her brother to rescue me.
            So, that begged the question: was a pity ride to school better or worse than having your dad drive you to school? I couldn't be sure. Both options made me feel pretty pathetic though I knew which one I preferred. It was a no brainer. I’d take the pity ride with Henry any day. Especially if it came with a pumpkin spice latte. I took a sip of my glorious caffeinated coffee.
            “Have you talked to Jellybean much?” Henry asked, finally breaking the silence as he pulled into the school parking lot. Jellybean was a nickname Hannah’s family started using when she was a baby, and it stuck.
            “Yeah, I got a message from her this morning.”
            “Cool.”
            “Yeah, cool.” I didn't know what else to say and the uncomfortable silence inside the car was becoming unbearable so I figured it was time for me to make my exit before this got any weirder.
            “Well, thanks for the ride,” I said awkwardly. I did a wave/shrug thing before turning to fumble with the door handle. Then, of course, my foot caught on the strap of my bag which caused me to tumble out of the car. N ice. Real smooth, Care.
           “You okay?” he asked, jumping out of his side of the car with obvious concern while at the same time trying not to chuckle at my expense.
            “Yeah, I'm good. Fine. Golden.”
            “At least you saved your coffee,” Henry said, pointing to my still upright cup.
            “Right. You gotta have priorities. So… see you later. Or not. Whatever. Bye!” I scrambled like an idiot to make an escape.
            Yep. I should've just stayed in bed wallowing. Too late now.
            Little did I know that my day was about to get even worse and it wasn't even officially 8AM yet…
            “Ah, Miss McKain!” Mr. Kant, the school counselor, waved when I entered the building. He was panting like he’d been walking too fast and he had a phone gripped in his hand. “I’m so glad I ran into you before first period. I was going to have to come and find you.”
            “Um, okay?”
            “Let’s head into my office. We have a slight problem.”
            Dread filled me. What could possibly be wrong? I had never ever ever had a problem at school. The only time my name was called during announcements was to commend me for perfect attendance. And the only reason Mr. Kant even knew me was because he ran a peer counseling club and Hannah and I had both been members freshman year.
            “Can you tell me what it is?” I asked nervously as I followed him to the administration office. I had a photography class first period and it looked like I was going to be late.
            “Just a moment.” We walked past a group of students who Mr. Kant assured he’d see in turn, and ended up in a corner office. I tried to make myself as comfortable as I could on one of two stiff wooden chairs situated in front of his desk. You’d think a counselor would have comfortable chairs to be, you know, counseled in. But I’d only been sitting for about five seconds when my butt and back started to hurt. I noticed Mr. Kant’s chair was plush and comfy looking.
            After sitting down, he wheeled himself over to a filing cabinet and started rifling through a drawer full of papers. My nervousness kicked it up a few notches.
            “The first day is always hectic so we try to help out in different ways,” he told me. “I’m working on clearing scheduling kinks.”
            “Okaaaay?”
            “It seems that the photography elective you signed up for last year is full so you’ll have to switch to an