The Original Crowd (A Whole New Crowd 0.50)

Leaving the classroom, I realized I had left my books inside. Oh well.

I started getting a funny feeling in my stomach and, as I continued down the hall, it exploded inside me, leaving me gasping in surprise. It took me a moment to recover. This was new. Was this guilt?

I never cared about getting in trouble before I came to Rawley. I’ve walked down this hallway so many times before—they were all the same, with the same destination. In the old days, Brian would’ve gotten kicked out beside me, and he’d already be dragging me out to the parking lot by now. I could picture his grin and almost hear his laugh.

But this time, I cared. I cared that Mandy was probably going to get some slack for this, because of something I’d done. And it bothered me.

Turning the corner, walking towards the office at the end of the hall, I saw Mandy standing with six other cheerleaders in the hallway. They were coloring a poster for the game tomorrow night, or at least that was my guess since it said, “Pedlam Sucks.”

Mandy was nudged by a girl that was standing beside her when she saw me.

“Taryn? What are you doing here?”

“I’ll go to Carter’s party.”

“You will?” I felt guiltier seeing the smile that stretched across her face.

“Yeah.”

“Wait. What are you doing here?”

“I…uh…I’m sorry.”

Mandy paled. “What did you do, Taryn?”

“Uh—” I brushed her off, turning and walking back towards my locker.

“Miss Matthews!” The principal had come to look for me. I stopped and looked around, seeing him just behind Mandy, frowning fiercely. His tie flung across his shoulder, as if he’d dashed out of his office.

I didn’t say anything. What could I say? So I met Mandy’s gaze as I walked steadily past her and through the office door the principal was holding open.

“Miss Matthews, take a seat.”

He shut the door and walked around to sit behind his massive mahogany desk. His black leather chair creaked slightly as it tipped backwards under his weight.

“Señora Graham tells me that you assaulted a student,” he said coldly.

“It wasn’t assault.”

“Mr. Travers and Miss Klinnleys have bruises proving otherwise.”

“It happened like thirty seconds ago,” I pointed out. “The bruises aren’t from me. And it wasn’t assault, I moved a chair.”

“Two students were harmed from your actions. Under my classification, that can be considered a form of assault.”

“I didn’t even touch ‘em,” I said calmly.

I sighed, settling back in my chair.

“You have quite a history, don’t you, Miss Matthews? I think you should learn what appropriate boundaries are and how to implement them in your life.”

I smirked, folding my arms. “You have nothing on me. I pushed a chair. That’s it.”

“There were two students in that chair.”

“Exactly,” I deadpanned. “Two students. In one chair. If anything, you should be hauling my teacher in here and not me. Shouldn’t she be supervising such inappropriate behavior? Since when was it school policy that we could sit on laps here? At least in our classrooms.”

As he stuttered, I knew it was over. The breakdown was right and I did point out a much more serious issue than my supposed assault. I saw the decision made in his eyes before he even opened his mouth.