"Hey, I know you have issues with social things, but that is no reason for you to not realize that doing that is not done by normal people. I mean, come on, does it not bother you when someone corrects you in front of someone else?"
"No. I think it's a good thing."
"Well, sorry, girl, but that is not done and typically makes people anxious and it is humiliating."
"Thank you for telling me. I am sorry for making you feel humiliated."
With that, Dottie walked away. Truthfully, the other girl's tone made her feel embarrassed. No, there were things that didn't make sense to her or that she didn't remember about social rules and when she was tired like she was now there were things that she missed. She may not know social norms, but experience had taught her to stay away from people sounding fake and that it generally led to trouble in the near future. It had taken exposure and watching the bullies be caught for her to understand what was going on. The memory of her teacher scolding those that had been bothering her friend with "happy birthday" and listening to her friend repeat "It's not my birthday" was still in her social lessons category of memories.
The girl behind her didn't try to keep up. Dottie could hear her making much of her social mistake with her friends. Speaking of, she should probably go find her counselor so that he could hear her side of the story before the exaggerated version came from those girls. She'd made a social mistake with them before and they had made it larger than it was into something that she could get in trouble for. Sadly, because she thought the issue was over, she hadn't seen someone about it and had ended up in front of the dean. After that, they had made gone and reminded her about their version of the story for days afterwards.
A short walk down the hall, and she was knocking on the counselor's door. She didn't have to wait long.
"Hello, Dottie."
"Hello, Mr. Camson."
"Come in, and find a chair."
Dottie walked in and sat in the chair next to the door like normal. Mr. Camson shut the door and sat down in his office chair.
"What are you here for today?"
"I'm here to talk to you about those girls again."
"Oh, what did they do this time?"
"Well, one of them was swinging her bag around, and that is normally not an issue, but today she was swinging the one with a long handle in the hall when people were going to classes. I told her that she should not be doing that because it was dangerous, and it was that for then. However, during lunch the blond one scolded me for scolding her friend in front of everyone else and humiliating her. I apologized and left and heard them talking about me. I would leave it be, but I have been sent to the dean's office by them before, so I wanted to tell you what happened before I end up in trouble again by the dean."
"Understood. If I remember last time, their version ended up being very different and now you have a strike against you because they collaborated their versions of events and you had put it off."
"Yes."
"Well, I'll send an email off to the dean so that when it gets to him that he has an idea where this started from and what actually happened. It is a good social lesson to know, and I understand that this is something you have done multiple times in the past?"
"Yes, as I have younger siblings, so I helped keep them out of trouble in public. It didn't occur to me that the way I was handling things was wrong to do as a general basis."
"You had a lot of siblings, right?"
"Yes, I had six siblings."
"I imagine that your mother relied on you."
"I helped my mom a lot."
"Do you see yourself being a mom?"
"I want to. Most people my age moved away or view me as a sibling or a close friend. I doubt I'll marry any of them."
"I know that you break more social rules when you're stressed or tired. What's on your mind right now?"
"My friend Paul and I send each other letters. Right now it is a while passed when he would send me one so I am trying to see if I can find him. I keep wondering why he hasn't. So far it seems that he may have moved and that is why I haven't gotten a letter yet."
"If he's moved out of the area, there is a good chance that the letter is caught up in the mail system still. I'd wait some more. Who knows? Maybe the reason is because of the mail strike right now."
"There's a mail strike?"
"Yes."
"You're right. That will definitely cause a delay in getting the letter, especially with how slow out of the area mail is."
"Right. I wouldn't worry about it for now. You may find answers when you aren't looking."
"Thanks."
"Right, let me send the email off. There, it's sent, so there is proof in writing of what happened. If you need it, there is a room where you can be by yourself by the gymnasium. It's on the east side and is the door by itself on the south side of that hall way. If you can't find it, ask me or one of the TA's in the help room for better directions."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Camson."
She picked up her bag, got up, and headed out the door.
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"I made those girls upset by accident today. I'm also going to put off looking for Paul, because I might find answers when I'm not stressed about it."