Chapter 17

As I made my way down the hallway I tried to clear my mind from all the questions that were already starting to form in my head. Just relax

, I told myself as I headed towards Ms. Kelly’s office door, She can’t possibly know you lied, Zane wouldn’t tell her. Of course he wouldn’t…Would he?

I wasn’t sure.

When I reached the door I knocked timidly and then waited until a flustered looking Mrs. Brown opened the door. Mrs. Brown, the over-worked secretary for Ms. Kelly, was a short, cute, younger woman, in her mid 30’s, with short cropped black hair, soft, soft brown eyes, and a pearly white smile. Everyone wondered why sweet Mrs. Brown had applied to be Ms. Kelly secretary, but whenever a student asked her about it she’d simply smile and reply, “Why, I can’t imagine living without you kids life,” in her soft, overly peppy voice that reminded me of a cheer squad anytime I heard it.

“Oh Summer, come in dear. I’m assuming you’ve come
to talk with Ms. Kelly?” She asked and as I nodded she quickly continued on. “Yes, of course you are. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until after she’s finished with the mandatory punishment for today,” She said and then after motion for me to take a seat, began quickly straitening the papers on her crowded desktop.

As I took a seat in one of the waiting chairs my
curiosity got the best of me and I turned back towards Mrs. Brown. “Mandatory punishment?” I asked. She’d finished organizing her desk and had moved on to filling out paperwork before she answered.

“Oh yes dear, in fact she’s in there now with that awful trouble maker, Tyler Droda,” she said shaking her head in disgust.

“What’s Tyler down here for?” I asked pretending that I thought it was unusual for Tyler to get into trouble.

“Well, originally he was called down to receive punishment for the violence he exploited on you,” She said and I made a mental note to ask Stephanie how she and the rest of her group got out of their punishment. “But then,” she continued, “There was the issue of that fist fight, and now that Zane boy’s down here too,” She said and her last words made my heart squeeze. I wasn’t ready to see Zane yet but as Ms. Kelly’s door swung open I knew if didn’t matter what I wanted.

As the door swung open wider I saw Ms. Kelly step out and hand both Tyler and Zane a green slip of paper before ushering them out of her back office. Green…

I wracked my brains trying to think back to our old school handbook. What does green mean?

I thought to myself impatiently. Suspension? Expulsion?

At the moment I didn’t which I was hoping for more.

As the boys walked out Zane’s sparkling blue eyes met mine and it took all of my self control to pull my eyes away from his, but not before giving him one of my signature annoyed eye rolls. I heard him sigh and then the door click as it opened and closed behind them. Good, you deserve to go through a little sadness yourself,

I thought moodily to myself.

“Summer, can I help you?” Ms. Kelly asked then flashed me one of her huge smiles that none of the students neither believed nor liked. “Yes, I was wondering if I could get a schedule change?” I asked before I could convince myself not to and then I desperately prayed I wouldn’t break down into tears as I thought about why I wanted it. I want this to get away, away from him.

I thought to myself, I couldn’t bring myself to even think his name of I was sure I’d break down again.