This choice: Hunter Black—a shy, academic freshman and her sponsor for the Yeng scholarship • Go Back... Dr. Schwartz had watched Hunter very closely, and not just since her enrollment into Buttercombe Academy.
Call her a family friend—Helen had been over Research & Development of the Yeng Corporation's Daven's Port branch for years, where plenty of the Black family had worked at various points in their lives. Her mother Harper had been her secretary for a while (and put on a good clean 40 pounds to even out her hourglass figure that seemed to have stuck to this day) and the oldest sister Parker had interned there for a few weeks before being... let go. The second-oldest Black daughter, Piper, was still working diligently as a lab rat consultant when Dr. Schwartz had been reassigned. They kept in touch, and Piper was how Helen had heard of Hunter's application to Buttercombe, and pulled the requisite strings with the Headmistress (the ones attached to her voracious appetite) to net her a sure thing in the form of a scholarship.
Helen had been so happy to hear of Hunter's academic aspirations and accomplishments over the years; she felt almost like an aunt towards the young girl! She'd known her since not long after she was born, after all.
But looking at the picture of her old staff that she kept on her desk, as she often did during her moments of nostalgia, it wasn't difficult to see another side to Helen's fascination with Hunter...
Ach, Helen clicked her tongue as Hunter's voicemail played in the background, she looks so much like her sister.
***
To Hunter, Dr. Schwartz was really more of another source of anxiety. It was all well and good when she was trying to get Hunter into Buttercombe Academy, but her mama had made it very clear that she was in that tiny, blue-haired woman's debt—and deeply so.
"Dr. Schwartz got you a seat in that nice school, so make sure you don't go a day without thanking her!" her mother had told her probably a billion times before they'd arrived, "Ya got that?"
And it was just so... ugh! Like, not only was she the first person in her family to get into this kind of ritzy school, but it almost felt like she didn't earn it. Like, just because Piper's old boss works here, she got in for free. And... and.. Hunter was smart! She earned this! And... And...
"You feel invalidated because of my involvement in your enrollment." Dr. Schwartz clicked her tongue, and her pen, as she listened dutifully from the other side of her desk, "Is that not right?"
"No! Of course not!" Hunter hastily corrected herself, "I just... I mean..."
Hunter looked so very much like her sisters when they were her age. Olive skin, dark hair, and perfectly sculpted features. The women of the Black family tended to be gorgeous, Helen had noted over the years. From Harper to that freeloading older one to Piper, even as she continued to swell up. Especially as she continued to swell up, Helen corrected herself.
How much had Piper weighed before she left, all those years ago?
"I feel like my Mom's just putting so much pressure on me." Hunter continued, oblivious to Helen's inner monologue, "Like, okay, I get it, Parker dropped out of college. Whatever, I shouldn't have to work on the line like Piper does... no offense."
"None taken." Helen flashed a smile. Was it 500? "Continue, please."
"Okay, it's just. I'm not either of them, you know? I'm my own person and I'm already under so much pressure. The school work is a lot harder than I'm used to and I've never been goodatdealingwithgirlsandI'mjustso—"
"Hunter." Dr. Schwartz softly interjected
"IfeellikeeveryoneknowsthatI'mnotsupposedtobeherey'knowan d—"
"Hunter."
"I'mjustsofreakedoutallthetimeand—"
"Hunter." Dr. Schwartz said a bit more sternly, her German accent slipping through a bit more roughly than she would have liked, "I understand. You feel that you are put under a lot of pressure here, yah? It's completely understandable for you to want to avoid comparison with your sister."
"Sis...Sisters." Hunter weakly corrected
"Is Parker really a comparison to you?" Helen said with a smile, "You have come so very far and, honestly mein libschen, I had very little to do with it. Everything you have earned here, you have earned yourself."
"R-Really?" Hunter sniffled. Her eyes were watery. She'd clearly worked herself up quite a bit.
"Of course I do—would I ever lie to you?" Helen paused
"Now, about your stress." She switched to a more informal seating. Her plush tummy cut into the desk as she leaned forward on her plump arms. She did her best to seem "soft" to Hunter. The poor girl was so skittish as it is, and it wouldn't do her any favors to seem untrustworthy...   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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