Motive

Thin Patience

~Mary Jay~

"Hurry the hell up!" I banged on the bathroom door again. A group of freshman were in there doing God knows what. Probably planning on how they were gonna sneak into another senior party.

"Trouble in paradise?" I turned around to see Amelia standing with a towel in her hand along with some other stuff.

"More like trouble in hell. Where you coming from?" I motioned to her hands.

"Swim team. We had to swim extra laps and I'm just as eager as you are to get into these showers." She ruffled her hair.

I nodded in understanding. "You good at it?"

"I guess. I've won 12, maybe 13 races." She shrugged arrogantly and I giggled.

"I see, I see."

"Yup. You got somewhere to be?" She copied my motion.

"Unfortunately, I'm tutoring in place of taking English."

"We can do that?!" Amelia's eyes widened.

It was my turn to shrug arrogantly, "I make business happen."

She laughed and the bathroom door swung open. Out came 4 freshman dressed in skimpy outfits.

"Cute, but next time use the bathroom downstairs or I'll cut all your high ponytails off."

The four girls looked at each other nervously before running off into the hallway. Amelia and I laughed as we walked into the showers ourselves.

+++

I walked into the front office expecting to see Mrs. Harp at the front desk. When I didn't see her bright sundress swaying with the cool breeze, I looked further over the counter.

A strict-looking woman sat in a plain black cardigan with a navy blue skirt. Her hair was pulled into a slick bun and glasses which hung low on her nose.

I walked straight up to the desk and hit the small bell while smiling. This would be fun.

She looked over the top of her glasses as she cleared her throat, "And you are?"

"A student. Mary Jay Everette. I'm here to speak to the warden." I held eye contact as I spoke.

"Davis?"

"He is the only warden here, correct?" I smiled innocently.

She stared at me before kissing her teeth and picking up her traditional phone. She spoke lowly into the line.

"I have a student here who goes by the name of Mary who wants to see you."

I whispered and scrunched my nose up, "Mary Jay."

She glared at me before clearing her throat once again and going back to the phone, "Uh, I'm sorry, sir. Yes, thank you- I mean, okay."

She hung up the phone as she closed her eyes and folded her lips in before turning towards me.

"You may have a seat just over there."

I ignored her comment, "Where's Mrs. Harp?"

"She's in Georgia right now." She answered monotonously and formed a tight-lipped smile as I did the same.

"Hm. How nice. So you're like the understudy of desk ladies." I rose my shoulders in sarcasm.

"I'm just the replacement." She nodded slowly and bit her tongue.