Principal on the prowl

As you considered the option of whether or not to call Lucy, a harsh voice rang out behind you that silenced most of the voices in the corridor.

“You should know by now that phones aren’t allowed!” the principal shouted, making you turn in time to see her snatch a phone from a nearby student’s hand.

You turned back towards Emma and Sarah to see Sarah glaring in your direction, still blaming you for her phone having been taken previously. You didn’t think you deserved as much of the blame as she made it out to be but if she didn’t have an outburst in front of the principal and make her punishment worse, then you were happy to be the catalyst for her anger.

Having another close call where your phone and the KDK it held could have been taken away, made you double down on not ringing Lucy or even having your phone out at all whenever you were at school. You would still need to potentially use it in Rebecca’s office or classroom but you made a mental note to triple-check your surroundings before your phone ever left your pocket.

You could see Sarah go to pull a note out of her bag as you assumed she had spoken with Mom about what had happened and most likely Mom had gone along with Sarah and wrote a permission slip for her to have the phone back. What Sarah didn’t account for was the principal's ability to actually care as before Sarah could even get a word in, she stormed off in the direction of her office, with the volume in the corridor returning back to its normal level when people assumed the coast was clear.

“Okay that wasn’t my fault this time” you said to Sarah, looking in your direction for someone to blame.

“You said you were going to get my phone back today so you better not forget your promise, come on Emma” Sarah huffed, grabbing Emma’s hand and taking her back to her cheerleading group of friends, much to Emma’s surprise.

You weren’t planning on joining them and the look on Emma’s face told you she looked betrayed that you weren’t coming to save her. The cheerleaders were a group you definitely didn’t belong with so you took the cowardly way out and let Emma fend for herself.

“Make sure you check your phone after school”! you shouted, making sure Emma would be around for your plan to work.

Wednesday was one of the unlucky days where some of your worst classes all fell on the same day and to add insult to injury, Emma wasn’t in any of them alongside you. You did have Gym class in the morning and did share a class with Sarah in the afternoon but before this week, that had been more of a negative to add to the horrible day that was your Wednesday.

Sarah had now become a positive event in the day but before you got to that, gym class came first. You were hoping for some more time to prepare yourself for what was to come but the bell rang just as the thought crossed your mind. With the weather being this bad, it would almost certainly mean you would get to stay inside but you now had to leave the safety of the main building and head outside towards the hall and the changing rooms where your lesson usually started.

With one last look to Emma, it seemed she realised what your next lesson was and stuck her tongue out at you for the small part of karmic justice that had fallen upon you.

A few hours had passed and you had wandered back into the main building soaked with your legs feeling like jelly. You felt like you were blessed throughout your next class where you got to sit down and rest for an hour but you still cursed yourself for choosing today to be the day you worked out with Grace.

The classes before lunch flew by and you were annoyed to have to get up again when the bell ran to signal it was time for lunch. With how tired you were feeling, you were actually hoping to just spend the time sitting in Rebecca’s office and grading papers to help her instead of spending the time stuck with everyone else in the now damp and humid cafeteria.

The thought perked you up a little and you made it up the stairs towards the faculty offices in hopes of Rebecca already being there. You were happy to see that she was in the corridor outside but unluckily, she was accompanied by her mother. Seeing her once in a day was already bad enough but running into her for the second time made you think the day was cursed with bad luck.

“I told you that you need to be setting an example for all of the other teachers! I can’t have you dressing like this in front of everyone” The principal argued, talking down to Rebecca in the now empty corridor, with you being the only witness to her outburst.

“It's just a skirt Mother” Rebecca replied, her hands clenched at the side of her as she tried to keep herself calm.

“Just a skirt, you should know by now that the dress code for teachers isn’t as relaxed as the one for students, not that I haven’t tried to make it stricter…” she shot back, mumbling towards the end of her sentence at her failed attempt to change the dress code.

You looked at Rebecca to see that the skirt in question was the one you had picked out for her when you met at the mall the past Saturday, making you feel partly to blame for the situation Rebecca now found herself in. Your anger won over your guilt as Rebecca had done no wrong in your eyes, seeing her as the victim in this situation.

“Ah Miss Ryan. I had a question about today’s class” you said, announcing yourself to the both of them in an attempt to get Rebecca off the hook.

“Can’t you see that we were talking boy” the principal chided, talking down to you immediately.

“Oh sorry I just really needed some help, I’ll just wait right here” you replied, not moving any further away and firmly placing yourself next to Rebecca.

The principal scowled at you and although Rebecca could only give you a glimpse before her eyes went back to her mother, you could see the relief in her body language that you had stepped in to help.

You continued to stand there even with the principal staring daggers at you, keeping a smile on your face and pretending to act oblivious to the situation as an excuse. The anger you were holding in quickly died down when you saw that your stunt was getting to her but it seemed she didn’t dare continue insulting a teacher while a student was in the vicinity, not willing to be accused of ruining the reputation she had mentioned only moments ago.

Still, it seemed that she wasn’t completely done with her lecture and she had some parting words in mind even with you there.