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

Shyanne | Mr. Crowning

Mrs. Harde took her time sauntering to the other side of her desk, eyeing us each with an eyebrow arched in suspicion. She turned away from us for a moment, staring down at the parking lot. Then she slowly sat down in the massive, red leather chair and spun it to stare us down with those startlingly green eyes.

She tapped her red, manicured nails against the oak of her desk, pursing her painted lips, before finally looking at us like she expected us to say something. She didn't give us the chance. "So," she said. "Imagine you're me. You run a massive, expensive, private academy." She stressed the word expensive, as if it was the most validating part of her job. "You're called down to room 115 after complaints of loud noises, only to find the room vandalized. In that room, you find a senior failing the very class which takes place in 115," she peered over her glasses at Shane, who looked away in shame. "A well known delinquent," she continued, switching her gaze to Phoenix. She rolled her eyes. "And two strangers."

The headmistress stared at Jael, then at me. My breath quivered in my chest. You're a perfect girl.

"What do you make of this situation, young lady?" Mrs. Harde asked. I looked helplessly to the other students in the room, but Phoenix was too busy glaring daggers at Mrs. Harde, and Shane just sheepishly shrugged.

"I-I'm new here, Mrs. Harde. This is...," I paused, gulping back my fear and looking down at my lap. "This is my first day."

"Miss Crowning has done nothing to deserve this," Jael said sharply. Though my back was to her, I knew the exact, snarling face she was making; the same one she used when Dad unjustly blamed Mom and I for things. "I'm sure with one call to Mickey Crowning, her father, we'd have this all sorted out. Shall I recite the number?" Jael used my father's name as a weapon.

Crowning Realty was pretty well known in and around the Boston area. Dad only sold the best, biggest houses in the area. Dad was rich, powerful. Shane had said Mrs. Harde's wealth had kept her in power, so if there was anyone who could otherthrow her, it was my Dad.

Not that he would. But he could.

I risked a glance over my shoulder to Jael. Her blue eyes stormed with righteous anger. Her pink lips were pursed, her jaw set, and her brows pulled down. Damn, she was gorgeous.

"Oh?" Mrs. Harde finally breathed, after a long pause. She leaned back in her chair, considering what my best friend had said. "Well..."

"Yeah...," Shane agreed quietly. Awkwardly. "Call Mr. Crowning..." He clearly didn't know who my father was. Phoenix and I looked at each other and rolled eyes in unison.

"Mrs. Harde, look, we walked in and saw the room torn apart like that," Shane said. His words rushed out, nervous, like an avalanche anxious and afraid of heights. "We didn't do shit." As soon as the sentence left his lips, Shane's face burned red.

"Language," Mrs. Harde slowly hissed, glowering at the boy.

There was a pause as I sighed, feeling embarrassed for Shane.

"It was not Shyanne's fault," Jael finally said again, with far more conviction.

Mrs. Harde clicked her tongue in response. She opened her lips, inhaling, and clearly about to say something when Phoenix jumped in.

"She did nothing," the blue haired girl snapped. Her tone was sharper than the blade which glowed in her silver eyes. She slouched forward, elbows on her knees as she stared challengingly at the venomous eyes of Mrs. Harde. The two tacitly fought, a snake with poison dripping from his mouth against a sword, flaming and shimmering in the blinding sunlight.

Mrs. Harde cleared her throat and looked towards the paper stacks on her desk, straightening them though they were already perfect.

I was stunned. Dad always taught me that eye contact was a primal war, raging inside the minds of men. Whoever looked away first was intimidated. If you held the gaze longer, you instantly had the power. Those without power, you were weak, and therefore afraid of those with power.