For Now | Dreaming Trilogy | Book 1 (HEAVY CONSTRUCTION)

Shyanne | Mr. Crowning

You're a perfect girl, Screamed my internal monologue. Perfect girls do NOT get in trouble on their first day at a new school! My stomach twisted in my gut, my throat tightening. Tears burned at the corners of my eyes, but I gulped them away.

Jael brushed her knuckles against mine, comfortingly. I managed a look towards her, but her attention was trained on the old bat ahead of us. Her furrowed brows and set jaw told me she was ready to explain to whoever this was that I wasn't at fault.

Staring at Jael, my anxiety momentarily subsided. A wave of calm washed over me.

However, it retreated as an inferno of a human being burned at my side. Phoenix had caught up with us, after staying behind with Shane for a few seconds. The blue haired girl radiated fury like heat off a fire. Every step challenged the woman leading us to turn around and face her.

Her raw energy shot flares into my anxiety, lighting up all the ugliest bits. My shaking hands moisted with blood from my palms. I'd been digging my fingernails into myself for a solid twenty minutes, from the moment we left the house to that very moment.

I worked up the courage to look at Phoenix. Her face was tight, her furious silver eyes focused directly ahead of her. For a moment, though, she broke character, shooting a concerned glance over her shoulder.

I looked to where she had. Shane trudged behind us, running nervous, habitual hands through his messy curls. His freckled face contorted in shame and terror, though its source was unclear.

I glanced one last time at Phoenix, then Jael, before dropping back to Shane. "Hey," I whispered.

He looked up and immediately plastered on a bright smile. "Hey, gorgeous."

"I have a name, you know," I teased, making extra certain my smile was kind and warm.

"Yeah," he replied. "But gorgeous fits you better than Shyanne."

I laughed nervously, batting my eyes down to my fists and reminding myself to unclench them. You couldn't calm someone if you yourself radiated terror. "Well, just call me Shy for now."

"Just for now," he affirmed, before letting out a relaxed chuckle.

I nodded, biting my lip for a moment. The woman ahead of us turned suddenly into a doorway, Jael and Phoenix following. I gulped, muttering in a hushed tone to Shane, "Who is she?"

"Mrs. Harde," the boy replied in a similar whisper. "Bitch-ass headmistress. She's known for unfair judgement, but she's rich so no one's gonna challenge her reign of terror." At his words, Dad flashed through my mind.

Mrs. Harde reared her ugly head, poking it out of the room to scowl at me and Shane. "You two. In here. Now."

"Yes, ma'am," I politely said, stepping into the cold room. Three huge windows overlooked the parking lot we'd come in by, a huge red armchair overlooking the windows. Bookshelves lined the walls, and a pitiful, dying plant shrugged in the sunless corner.

Mrs. Harde's neat desk, spotless, sat in the center of the room, facing two other, inferior chairs. Phoenix occupied one, her right foot rested on the desk as she innocently tied her black sneaker - but her eyes made direct, rebellious contact with the headmistress, standing in the doorway behind me.

Shane moved to behind Phoenix's chair, leaning against the wall with his fidgety hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. He stared at his feet.

Jael stood with her palms rested on the top of the chair across from Phoenix, waiting for me. I took a deep breath, taking the moment to close my eyes, before sitting with a straightened back in the chair my best friend had saved for me.