298 Jake’s Old School 3 (1/2)

The receptionist opened a hallway door, leading to another part of the front office. The school could definitely rival the size of her sons high school, it was almost frightening. Mary really wondered how Jake survived here.

The population was more dense so it was a given that this school would be bigger since multiple elementary schools would join together for 7th and 8th grade.

The receptionist waved her on to an open area where a couple of school employees were sitting at their respective desks. ”This is Mary Atkins. She's here to see Mr. Conley.” And with that she turned around and left Mary standing there, feeling a little awkward in the quiet atmosphere.

One of the younger ladies stood up and gestured to follow her. ”I'll take you to his office.” She took Mary down a hallway with wooden doors all closed, nameplates hung beside each one. Finally one labeled: Henry Conley, Advisor for H-L. The lady knocked on the door before slowly opening it, revealing an older man behind a mahogany desk. ”Mary Atkins is here to see you.”

The man got up, walked around the desk, and held out a hand for Mary to shake. ”Yes, hello, Mr. Doug Duncan has called me quite a few times regarding Jake Hollander. Come in, have a seat.” He welcomed Mary into his office, which was spotless compared to the previous school she had went to.

The lady who showed her the way quietly left and he shut the door before going back to his chair behind the desk. ”I've been told that you're his current foster mother?”

His only foster mother, Mary wanted to correct him, but settled for a polite nod. ”Yes. I'm in town with my eldest son for college visits so it's a good time for me to take a look into Jake's past. His therapist has come to the conclusion that he may have had an older brother or maybe an older boy he looked up to. As you know, we're looking for his birth father, so if he really had a brother, that could help us tremendously.”

Mr. Conley nodded before grabbing a folder out of a nearby filing cabinet. ”Yes, Doug has called before, asking about boys with similar last names in the years before Jake came. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything like that.”

”Oh well. It was a long shot.” She glanced at the folder. ”Is that Jake's file?”

He tapped it. ”It is. His school records. Just what classes he took, grades, teachers he had, disciplinary action taken against him, those kind of things.”

”Disciplinary actions?” Mary's eyes widen. ”He wouldn't have that would he?”

Mr. Conley gave a short nod. ”He had excessive tardies and absences. Students receive detention to discourage students from ditching.”

”Even when it's the parents fault?”

He grimaced. ”Most parents don't want such things on their student's permanent record.”

She frowned. ”Then you can't hold it against him.”

”That's the way it is. Of course, we send this information to a truant officer who works in the field and speaks with the parents. He reported Jake's mom to the police a few times, but they have bigger fish to fry(1). But if you want to know about his academic performance, I can tell you that he didn't slack at all. He had straight A's even after missing so many classes. He's a very talented kid.”

Mary's clenched fist relaxed at hearing how bright he is. ”Yep! That's the Jake I know! Very outstanding! He was allowed to skip a few math levels at his high school now.”

”That's nice to hear.” He smiled. ”I'm sorry I couldn't help, but I'm glad to know that he's doing better.”

Mary felt kind of brushed off. She glanced back down at the folder, then looked him in the eyes. ”Did his records state how many times you reported his mother to child services?”

He hesitated. ”We actually never made a report for him. Jake did well at school.”