Cell Mates

07|| A Sealed Fate

07

I tugged absentmindedly at my ripped stocking and made an even bigger hole in it. Revealing slightly tanned skin from the past summer I began to tear more holes, each one larger than the previous until I'd reached my boot and the material disappeared into my shoes.

"Sam!" my sister hissed under her breath from the chair next to mine. "What in God's name are you doing?"

I shrugged and fixed my gaze on the wall behind the desk of the school's principal. I didn't want to be here, much less with my sister who'd been punishing me non-stop since my arrest. This had to be the cherry on top of my sorry ass sundae. But then again what could Mrs. Clark possibly tell Mia that would shock her after the events of the last few days? And what more could she take away from me? Between my arrest, the courtroom and her kicking me out of the house I didn't see how whatever the principal had to say could be any worse. I hadn't anticipated the chain reaction of my misdemeanor that was for sure. Whatever she had to throw at me I was more than equipped to deal with it.

8:30 AM. Tic toc. Tic toc. The seconds and eventually the minutes passed, dragging their feet. The movement of the hands on the clock above my head turned into a pounding rhythm in my mind, measuring the time it took for my life to officially hit rock bottom. Worse than that was sitting here in this painful chair that was digging into my sore muscles. That's how some people may look at it and for a brief moment I was one of those people. Sitting in the seat across from the principal's desk, I started to think it was funny.

The seemingly cozy office of Pembroke High's principal, Mrs. Clark, was deceiving. The drapes were a deep forest green pulled back to let the sunshine stream in and light the work space. The dark teak desk was the centerpiece, all edges and smooth surfaces. And behind that, two bookshelves that went from floor to ceiling were filled with new and old volumes of various shapes and sizes.

Mrs. Clark went out of her way to showcase her smarts. And that bitch had 'em too, I wouldn't deny it. I think she outdid herself in that department, you could see discipline and the "I'll-eat-you-alive-if-you-don't-play-be-my-rules" attitude radiating off of her from a mile away.

My gaze swept the air-tight room. The door to the office opened and the devil herself entered with a back so straight you'd think she had a stick up her ass to keep it that upright. Oh right, she did. If she got run over by a bus I'd like to think there was justice in the world. This was why I preferred the precinct to the principal's office. Sad, really. She was a vacuum, sucked all the life out of everything living. Or maybe that temperament was reserved strictly for me, and three other lucky suckers that made it onto her list of 'Most Wanted' (preferably dead).

In Mrs. Clark's presence, dressed in her tweed blazer and matching pencil skirt, custom- design glasses perched on the tip of her nose and stern gaze piercing me from behind them, the room immediately turned ominous. There goes the sunlight.

My sister got up and shook her hand wearing her best solemn expression but pleasantries didn't go farther than that. She kept casting me the occasional glare as if it was just a matter of time before I did something stupid. I knew what we were here to establish, and believe me there was no one in this suffocating office that wanted to get it over with as much as I did.

Now my sister sat waiting patiently and I looked at her out of the corner of my eye, checking for reactions. Would there be anger, disappointment, hopelessness? A combination of all three? I hadn't seen much from her emotionally since my arrest. The only conclusion I could draw was she was accustomed to jolly "meetings" in Mrs. Clark's office every few months. Not much to react to anymore, really.

All right so who could really blame Mia? She probably wanted me out of her hair faster than I did. One more year -senior year- and I was off to college - that is if I got in. They'd most likely have to misplace my record for that miracle. With my grades I could manage to get in to a state college, but unfortunately all the past incidents have gone on my permanent record. This induced anyone who dared open my school folder to immediately suffer heart pains.