Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

Oh, hush

Mervyn POV

"I'm... confused." I admitted. "I'm in trouble... for making a speech on Speech Day?"

The VP pressed her lips together, like I was annoying her. Oops. "No, the act of giving a speech isn't in itself what was wrong. It's the fact that you took school time to further your own agenda."

"Um, well, Miss Loredan..." I tried to defend myself. "I don't mean to be rude, but I always thought that the whole point of this was to influence as many students as possible. I found a topic that interested me, and I influenced them."

Miss Loredan's expression remained perfectly still, as always. Her grey eyes flickered to the door for a second, and then her face softened with amusement and a hint of annoyance. 

"You, with your ears stuck to the door out there," She called to someone, "You can come in, too."

A shamefaced Meggie opened the door a crack and slipped in obediently. "Sorry Ma'am." She apologised.

"Take a seat next to your friend." She waited a second as Meggie obeyed. "Now, as I was saying, you nearly caused a revolt in there. I think I should put you in detention for a few days. Does that sound fair to you?"

"Yes ma'am." I replied.

"So I suppose you've learned your lesson, then?"

"No ma'am." I replied, just as quick. "I still believe what I believed half an hour ago, what I believed two weeks ago. A great part of my education here was about thinking independently, and I still choose to stand by Mikelah more than I choose to stand by 'principle' of the matter."

Miss Loredan sighed. "Very well. I don't see that there's much I can do for you. Detention twice a week for one month. For both of you."

"But Meggie didn't-"

"No protests." Miss Loredan cut me off curtly. "I see what goes on in this school. I know exactly what Meggie's done, and she gets detention."

"Yes ma'am." Meggie mumbled. "Are we excused?"

"Yes, go to your lunch. And speak clearly." And with that, she opened some sort of book and the conversation was over. We got up awkwardly (it's very difficult to be anything other than awkward when you're in the Vice Principal's office and she's ignoring you, just try it.) and left.

"That was fun." I smirked.

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Mikelah POV:

I groaned. "You see, this is what I didn't want." I said. "Now you have detention."

I was cross-legged on the floor of Meggie's bedroom, staring up at everyone. Cain wasn't here, for some kind of training. It was hard to keep track, but I think it was baseball. It was 4:00 pm and I was still wearing pyjamas, because I hadn't gone anywhere all day. The plaid shirt I was wearing- it was Mervyn's, matched with my own cut off shorts- was startig to feel tight around my stomach. I was so... pregnant. It was disgusting. I poked my stomach with a finger before I even realised what I was doing. Everybody had the grace to ignore it.

"Come on, Mik, it's detention." Meggie pointed out. "Not exactly the end of the world."

"Not even a really bad punishment." Mervyn added. He looked all around like there might have been a spy before continuing. "You have bigger things to worry about. Do you need some help with tomorrow?"

I flinched. "T..tomorrow. Yeah. A little." Tomorrow, I was going to see my lawyer. He was a really great lawyer, that Hazel's dad found for me. It was amazing, these people. They were wonderful. But tomorrow I was practicing my testimony for the first time. It was not going to be easy- I remembered how hard it was to rip everything out of me that one time with Mervyn- but since when was life ever easy, anyway? That was the point of the practice, that I would be able to do it better by the court date. Which was approaching in a month. Mervyn was keeping me sane right now.

"Later. I'll stay here to help you. My mom won't mind if I sleep over here, and she's home tonight, so I don't need to watch Mel." He winked, reassuringly, and I sat in his lap. He smelled good, but he kept putting a hand on my waist. What used to be my waist. I had no waist anymore. The better part of 10 minutes was wasted squirming and trying to push his hand away. Hazel giggled.

"You look fine." she claimed, but I kept right on squirming.

"You do." Mervyn agreed. "And even if you didn't, it wouldn't matter."

"You say that now." I mumbled, under my breath, not meaning for him to hear. But he heard, of course. "Could you please move your hand?" I finally asked.

"Why? You have no reason to be so self-conscious."

I gave him a long, questioning look. "I'm... pregnant." I reminded him.

"Which isn't your fault. The man you made him with doesn't matter anymore." Sometimes, I wondered if Mervyn practiced those lines in front of a mirror. There was no way he could sound so smooth talking off the top of his head. I sighed.

"Okay." I replied. "But could we get this court business out of the way as quickly as possible?"

Mervyn finally moved his hand, to rest it on my knee. "Are you sure you want to do it here, with everyone around?"

"We're her friends too, Mervyn." Hazel snapped. "We've known her longer than you, and-"

"And there'll be a lot more than just you three on the court day, right?" I cut in, to avoid a flare-up. Hazel had been awfully feisty lately. I guess it was because we were all sort of on edge, with everything going on lately. It was rough. A bit too much for a group of teenagers. "When are school elections?"

"They're..." We turned to look at Mervyn, who just rubbed the back of his neck shyly. "To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure when they are." He admitted. "I've been too distracted to follow school stuff for a while."

"Aww." I leaned my head on his shoulder. Meggie rolled her eyes and made a loud, frighteningly sincere, groan. I got up and sat on the chair leg instead. "And... what's her name? Savannah? What's up with her?"

"She's going to win." Mervyn said, a little sadly. "I mean, she'll do a good job, but..."  

"It'll be a miserable year." Meggie cut in. "She's a snob."

"Now Meggie, don't be mean." Mervyn chuckled. 

"I can be mean if I want to." she replied, half joking. "She's mean to me."

"Meggie-"

"Don't 'Meggie' me! She's mean!" She snapped back. I laughed.

"She really is." I agreed. Meggie seized my hand and pulled me towards her. 

"You see? Mikkie's on my side!" She stuck her tongue out at Mervyn. I lauged again.

"Oh, hush."

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