I'm A Delinquent? Since When?

Tin Man Has A Heart After All

..::Chapter Three::..

..::Faith Ellsworth's P.O.V.::..

It’s ten minutes until first period and I’m already sitting in Mrs. Piper’s empty classroom. Why? Because Mother Dearest had to go to work earlier than usual and dropped me off on her way. If getting up at five thirty in the morning is usual for paralegal workers, I’m crossing that off my list of possible career options for sure. Maybe I could be a novelist and lock myself up in my room all day, never having to see the daylight again!

*Insert maniacal laugh here*

“You’re in my seat,” says a powerful voice, interrupting my creepy mental discussion.

I look up and notice that the voice belongs to an Asian girl with dark brown eyes and long, straight black hair with purple tips. She’s wearing the uniform similar to mine except for she has studded black heels and instead of socks, she’s wearing black tights with rips and holes in them.

I put a hand over my eyes and pretend to look around the desk. “I don’t see your name on it anywhere,” I respond coolly.

She smirks and points to the back of my seat confidently. Well, what do you know? Two words are sketched onto the wooden back: Sylvia Tanaka. Sounds Japanese. I wouldn’t get too cocky, Sylvia Tanaka.

I press my palms against the desktop to help me out of my seat and I prance over to the teacher’s desk. Taking a thick Sharpie, I head back to the desk. I pop off the cap with my teeth while glancing up at Sylvia and draw a black line over her name so that it’s no longer there. I snicker and replace it with my own name.

“Like I said, I don’t see your name on it anywhere,” I repeat slowly.

Sylvia peers over at what I wrote and a grin appears on her face. “Touché. I think we’re going to get along fine, Faith,” she says, beaming.

Before I can reply, I hear a sharp intake of breath. Hesitantly, I look to the doorway and see an angry Mrs. Piper staring daggers at me, outraged by something.

“Miss Ellsworth, are you vandalizing school property?” she shrieks in a shrill voice.

I stand up, not so discretely hiding the marker behind my back, and look at Mrs. Piper with wide, innocent eyes.

“Of course not! Vandalizing school property would be preposterous. No, immoral. No, wait… illegal!” I announce with false sincerity as I hold out my wrists. “Take me away, Mrs. Piper, for I have used permanent marker on the back of an already graffiti-covered desk!” I continue.

If this were a cartoon, steam would be shooting out of her ears, but since we are (sadly) in reality, her face is merely tinted red and her hands are twitching. It looks to me like she's refraining herself from wringing my neck. 

“I might not be able to send you to jail, Miss Ellsworth, but I do have the authority to give you two weeks worth of detention!” She exclaims, probably feeling proud of herself right now.