They handed out the new timetables. Thicker paper. A different font. Room 14B was now Room 9A. Group B had merged with Group C. Sensory Break was moved to 10:15.
Leo arrived early on the first Monday of term. The Academic Support Centre hummed with that particular September light—too bright for indoors, too pale for outdoors. He sat in his assigned seat (C4, according to the laminated chart beside the door) and stared at the timetable.
“I know,” Mrs. Dhillon said. “But you’ve learned something bigger than the timetable this year. You’ve learned that you can survive the change after it happens. Not before.”
He didn’t cry. He took out his red pen—the one he used for corrections—and copied the entire timetable into his notebook. Every time. Every colour. Every minute.
“Leo,” Mrs. Dhillon said one grey November afternoon, kneeling beside his desk. “The timetable is changing next term. New groups. New room.”
Literacy Intervention (Group A) 09:30 – 09:45: Sensory Break 09:45 – 10:30: Maths Reinforcement (Group B) 10:30 – 11:00: Break – supervised courtyard 11:00 – 11:45: Social Communication (Roleplay) 11:45 – 12:30: Study Skills / Organisation 12:30 – 13:15: Lunch – quiet room available 13:15 – 14:00: Subject Support (English) 14:00 – 14:45: Emotional Regulation / Check-out
Leo held the sheet with both hands. His thumb traced the old, familiar grid in his notebook.
On the last day of 2018, Leo pinned the old timetable to his bedroom wall. He left the pushpins slightly rusted. And on Monday morning of the new year, he walked into Room 9A, sat down in seat D2, and unfolded the new timetable like a map to a country he hadn’t visited yet.
