Kaider Shots

Eighteen Years Apart (1)

(Monday)

"But I didn't do anything wrong!" Rose screamed. Principal Kaito only pinched his nose and shook his head.

"Well, a claim came in today that you cheated off another student's paper. Can you explain that?" he sighed. This was the third time this week this student had been accused of something. He knew she was innocent, but according to school rules, he had to investigate.

"Who was the person who said I looked at their paper?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Did they ask you not to?"

"No," he decided to just give up resisting. "Laura Mira-Park. She came in and said that you copied off of her test."

"That's impossible. We don't have any of the same classes. If you don't believe me, compare our class lists." Kai took her advice and logged into the school files on his laptop. He took up two tabs, one for Laura, another for Rose. True to her word, they shared none of the same classes. Just like all of the other students who attempted to force Rose into trouble.

"It all checks out," he said. Rose stood up from her seat, and headed for the door. "Wait, Rose." She halted. Next, she slowly turned around to face him again. "Do you know why all of these students are trying to get you in trouble?"

"I-I don't know. I guess they just don't like me. But it's fine. And .. can I go now?"

"Not yet." Protocol demanded that he speak to the parent of the student in question. Since this was looking more and more like a case of a bullying. "On Friday, I'd like you to come back to the school at six with at least one of your parents."

"What? Do you seriously still think I cheated?!"

"No, Rose. I need to talk with your parent or guardian so we can find a way to stop your classmates from mistreating you."

"Fine," she groaned. A typical teenager's response. "I'll come back with my mother. Happy?"

"Sure, now you can return to class." She instantly turned tail and left. He sat back down and picked up his smart phone to set a reminder. Once his phone turned on, several texts popped up. Eight texts, all from a relentless Super Intendant, Levana Blackburn. He despised that woman, who got his number by "skimming" through personal files. He swiped away all of the texts with disgust.

It wasn't just that Levana was a terrible person. But Kai just refused to date or be in relationships after what happened to him almost two decades ago. His friends just said he was holding on to the past to much. That was only because they didn't understand. He met the only girl that loved him for who he was. Not because his family was rich or because of his looks. She loved him for who he was. An awkward, silly, nerdy twenty-two-year old. She'd been twenty at the time.

She hadn't left him. He left her. What an idiot he was for even thinking of leaving her. He told her that he was moving to Asia to take charge of a company his father owned. In the airport, he chickened out at the last second and ran back to find her. He had everything planned too. How he would confess that he should have never even thought about leaving her. That she was all he ever cared about. That he wanted to be with her forever.

When he went to her doorstep, a bundle of flowers in hand, a velvet box behind his back in the other. He rang the bell a dozen times with no answer. When he finally backed off the steps to go find her, he saw a red rectangle being held up by a post in the ground. The writing on it read, "SOLD". She was gone forever.

Kai remained single in hopes that he would somehow find that girl that was above all of the others. The fragment always in the back of his mind. The glass window left untouched after the storm. What was left after every fire, the soot and Cinder.

..............

Cinder was washing her hands in the warm water and frowning with disappointment. "Three times this week you've been called to the office. Three times you've been accused of school violations. Three times the office lady called me to tell me that my kid has been seen being pushed around by a group of students with bullying issues." She turned around to face her daughter, who looked as ashamed as she must have felt. "What am I going to do with you, Rose?"

"It's not my fault that most of the kids at school are jerks. They just torment me because I'm one of the smart kids who doesn't talk to anyone." Cinder had to agree to that. Rose had gotten four full college scholarships. One to U-mass, Yale, and to two other, less relevant places. She was also nominated as her class valedictorian and representative. She held the first slot on the charts for grades and had kept in that way since her freshman year.

"And," Rose began. She turned her head down. Even more filled with embarrassment.

"What?"

"The principal ... wants you to come to a one-on-one meeting about these .. events."

"Are you kidding me?" Rose shock her head. "Who does that man think he is?"

"I don't know. But I know that he's not level in the head, if you know what I mean."

"How so?" Cinder was curious about why the school board would allow a mentally unstable man to work at a facility with hundreds of kids.

"It's just that Ms. Blackburn, the Super Intendant, is always bugging him. She's really needy and takes it out on him."

"That's disturbing in more ways than one." Cinder returned back to the meal she had been preparing before Rose came into the kitchen. She was forced to clean her hands after handling raw beef for home made tacos. The meat was now in the pot, cooking until it was safe to eat. "What time do we have to be there?"

"We? As in both of us? Do I have to go?"

"Yes," Cinder placed the rubbish left over from the packaging in the trash can and the other tools she used in the sink. "You need to go to give your statement of what these kids have been doing to you." She turned back to her darling daughter and smirked. "Plus, if this principal is as unstable as you make him out to be. There is no way I'm staying with him, alone, for possible hours."