CHAPTER SEVEN
“What do you want to tell me?” Greenfield Academy’s headmaster, Mr. Nathaniel Radforde, looks at me as if is drilling a tunnel through my forehead straight to my brain.
“Sir, I do not know what to say,” I say as my head wavers from left to right.
“You do not know what to say? This is the third, I hate to say it, but the third time you’ve come before me for not following rules. Maybe some time without your id badge and time at home will change how you handle grading your classmates’ assignments.”
Whew, I thought I was in trouble of being fingered in the library after school.
I still don’t like being in this office for doing something wrong, but I didn’t change any grades.
“Perhaps you can learn to follow the standard procedures and remember proper protocol to use when a teacher endows you with the privilege of being a classroom assistant. One month lunchroom duty, which is thirty days washing dishes.”
“Please, sir, I can’t…” I shudder and begin to sweat. Faint drops of moisture appear on my upper lip.
I have to tell the headmaster thirty days working in the café will make me look like the poorest student at GA. I want him to know Lowell Bartlett and his clones did this to me to create a living hell for me. He has to know I am one of the best students the academy ever had. I am intelligent and know how to follow rules and procedures. I know how to solve the hardest equations and scientific mysteries on a high school level.
My science project will be stellar this year. I am the kind of student every headmaster should dream of having. If I get evidence on a hard drive that I could turn in to him. The same as they used against me.
The headmaster is dealing with his cancer-stricken wife. He does not put in the time to pay attention to everything going on at this school.
There was no mention of continuing to work as a student classroom assistant. “Sir?” I ask.
“Time to leave,” he says focusing on his computer.
“Let’s go.” The uniformed security officer grabs my arm and pulls me out of the office.
I turn to look back into Headmaster Radforde’s office but did not see a bit of concern on the commissioner’s face. He already forgot about me.
I am led back to my classroom desk to gather my things. This looks like the scene of every person who was ever fired and told to pack their personal belongings in a little cardboard box. Or, a sad, brunette with running make-up handcuffed to a police department bench.
My teacher, Mrs. Allen, is holding a clipboard standing next to her desk. She is busy writing something. I try to catch the woman looking at me, but she never does. Nobody cares about me being escorted out like a criminal. This is not the exit I want to portray for the day.
I hold my backpack and a few books in my arms.
“You know I am capable of walking out of here on my own.”
Officer Levingston did not offer a comment. He only grabs my elbow and nudges me away from the desk. We walk down the cream colored hallway. Before we come to the end, I see the restroom door with the word GIRLS written on it.
“Wait, can I make a stop here, first?” I ask.
“I’ll be right here waiting,” Officer Levingston says.
I throw open the door, walk across the blinding white marble floor into the last stall. I pull out a seat cover to sit down on the closed toilet.
I sit down with a thud.
I am crushed.
How could I have gotten myself in this shitty situation?
I closed my eyes in silent meditation. I comfort myself by shutting the bathroom out of my mind. I learned to do this from a meditation and yoga video I used to watch with my mother.
It’s not freaking working.
I can only see the harsh eyes of Headmaster Radforde.
I want to cry. Tears well up in my eyelashes.
What am I doing to myself by staying at this school?
I could be thinking about enjoying my time away from GA. I could be planning my beach spring break trip. A vacation I have always wanted to take before, but we could never afford it. I should be thinking about what I will tell her mother when I see her again. I should be thinking about how I am going to survive thirty days working in the café.
I am mad at Headmaster Radforde for being so hard on me. This would never have happened to Lowell Bartlett, Alec Weathers, or Myles Walston. They never have to worry about the possibility of this happening to their little group.
I should have known something sneaky was going on when I had a sinking feeling in my stomach every time I saw Lowell’s girl fans hanging around.
They are the ‘Goodies Goodies’. They want everyone to believe they can do no wrong. They are all good. More like too good to be true. They go well with Lowell and his little group. They are the untouchables of this school.
I don’t want to have anything to do with any of them, but Lowell can’t take my negative response to his advances.
Yes, I fucking hate him.
Sometimes, I’m fucking scared of him. My body tells me to run from him every time I see him.
I know to listen to my body. It never fails me to give signals that something might not work out. I chose to ignore the signals and dig deeper into my schoolwork and my sole friendship with Katelyn.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Igrab some tissue to blot out the tears falling from my eyes as they race to fall to my knees. I have to change who I am to live here. I have to change my circumstances.
My mother should have never relocated us to this state. This is what
