Stormy Weather

Vhorc

She ran her fingers along the lines of books, poetry. Shadyside High had a very small library, and a even smaller collection of books, especially poetry. Celeste had read every single poem in that library a month into freshman year. Only nine books in total, all with pages ripped out and covers torn off. She'd never seen anyone take them out, only herself, which made her think they were a lot older than anyone would like to admit.

Study hall was her last period of the day, most kids just skipped, so the library was basically empty. Her fingers stopping against a thick black spine of a book, pulling it out, it had no cover, and the first seven pages torn out, but she knew every beautiful word it contained. Beauty was from the inside or whatever all that bullshit people said was.

She lightly flipped through the pages, Celeste didn't know the name of the book, the cover being torn off and all, but she didn't mind, it was still her favourite. Before she could even get to rereading it, a voice thundered through the halls of the school "Celeste Slater please come to the office immediately" Then, the school bell blared in her ears, school was over.

She waited in the library while students flooded through the halls, running for their freedom. Or what was left of them. It wasn't a secret that attendance at Shadyside High was spotty, at best. No one wanted to be there, the students, the teachers, even the goddamn principal, the school was horrendous, and there was nothing they could do about it. The paint chipped, the pipes leaked, it was freezing in the winter and had no air conditioning in the summer. They didn't have enough money for repairs, let alone new books. The little funds they had went to the teacher's salary, and the only three clubs, the football team, band, and the cheerleading squad.

If you happened to be interested in anything else, you weren't important.

Once the halls had finally cleared, Celeste made her way to the school office. The halls were silent for once, no one hollering at her, no one glaring or gossiping, it was bliss. When she got to the office, it was empty. Hesitantly, she rang the bell that sat on the office attendant's desk. "Ah, I'm coming child, just wait" Ms. Nelson grunted from a back room, in seconds, she appeared out of the room, holding a large bucket of water, soap, and a sponge. She shoved it towards Celeste "For your locker"

Celeste looked down at the supplies, then back up at Ms. Nelson "Scrub until it comes off, Principal Gardener doesn't wanna see it, and frankly, neither do I" Ms.Nelson explained, easing down into her chair

Celeste wanted to protest, shouldn't the people who put it up have to clean it up? Why was she being punished? Before Celeste could protest, Ms. Nelson shooed her away with her hand, turning back to her paperwork.

Celeste sighed, picked up the supplies, and left. She walked down the hallways, lugging the bucket of water, which was heavier than she expected. The water splashed everywhere, getting on Celeste's pants, lapping against the sides of the bucket, then evidently crashing against the floor. After arriving at her locker, Celeste got to work.

Whoever did this (she had a few suspects in mind) had put multiple layers, so no matter how hard Celeste scrubbed, the word remained.

Putting all her arm strength into it, she pushed up her sleeves once more and scrubbed against the letters like there was no tomorrow. Setting down her sponge, Celeste crawled backwards, inspecting her work. Now, the word said vhorc.

Just fantastic.

Wiping the sweat off her brow, she glanced up at the clock, it was 4:30. She'd been working for over an hour, and she was getting nowhere. She could feel tears prick at the corner of her eyes, fuck. Celeste bent down, picked up her sponge, and whipped it at the locker, creating a splat, as it collided against the metal.