Educated

I tried to ignore the ache and focus on my classes, but it felt as though I
were being asked to sit through a lecture while a wolf gnawed on my jaw.
I’d never taken another ibuprofen since that day with Charles, but I began
to swallow them like breath mints. They helped only a little. The pain was in
the nerves, and it was too severe. I hadn’t slept since the ache began, and I
started skipping meals because chewing was unthinkable. That’s when Robin
told the bishop.
He called me to his office on a bright afternoon. He looked at me calmly
from across his desk and said, “What are we going to do about your tooth?” I
tried to relax my face.
“You can’t go through the school year like this,” he said. “But there’s an
easy solution. Very easy, in fact. How much does your father make?”
“Not much,” I said. “He’s been in debt since the boys wrecked all the
equipment last year.”
“Excellent,” he said. “I have the paperwork here for a grant. I’m sure
you’re eligible, and the best part is, you won’t have to pay it back.”
I’d heard about Government grants. Dad said that to accept one was to
indebt yourself to the Illuminati. “That’s how they get you,” he’d said. “They
give you free money, then the next thing you know, they own you.”
These words echoed in my head. I’d heard other students talk about their
grants, and I’d recoiled from them. I would leave school before I would allow
myself to be purchased.
“I don’t believe in Government grants,” I said.
“Why not?”
I told him what my father said. He sighed and looked heavenward. “How
much will it cost to fix the tooth?”
“Fourteen hundred,” I said. “I’ll find the money.”
“The church will pay,” he said quietly. “I have a discretionary fund.”
“That money is sacred.”
The bishop threw his hands in the air. We sat in silence, then he opened his
desk drawer and withdrew a checkbook. I looked at the heading. It was for
his personal account. He filled out a check, to me, for fifteen hundred dollars.
“I will not allow you to leave school over this,” he said.
The check was in my hand. I was so tempted, the pain in my jaw so
savage, that I must have held it for ten seconds before passing it back.