It's a Cruel World, Sir (Student/Teacher)

Bonus Chapter | Chase Kingsley

"It was just white powder," another girl reasoned. "How bad can it be?"

As they past his classroom, he could see them exchange looks before smiling enthusiastically. When they went to walk through the door, however, they got too excited and tried to go through at the same time, getting stuck between the frames. They sputtered at each other, throwing out incoherent cusswords that made Chase chuckle a little, before they finally worked it out, the shorter one slipping under and coming to his desk.

"Mr. Kingsley, we... we have something to tell you," she said.

He watched as the other girl made her way to his desk, and noticed both of them were avoiding looking him in the eye. From the sound of their pounding heart, he could tell they were nervous, he just wasn't sure if it was because they had a meager crush on him, or because they had something important to tell him. Maybe both.

"What's wrong?" He put extra effort into making his voice soft and understanding.

"We just came from Mr. Canty's room, sir," the taller one explained, "and there was some sort of powder on one of the desks."

He tilted his head, confused. "Powder?"

She nodded, short hair bouncing. "White powder, covering the entire desk."

"And floor," the small one piped in, "but it was only that desk, no one elses'."

It was probably some prank one of the upperclassmen decided to pull, but Chase stood up anyway, needing to get away from the strong vanilla filling his every move.

"Let's go check it out, shall we?"

He had to resist the urge to smirk when the girls squealed quietly to themselves.

The moment he closed the door to his classroom, however, he registered another smell. It was faint, but it was almost like caster oil. And it was in the direction of Jeremy Canty's classroom.

"You said it was white powder?" he double-checked, heading down the hall.

"Yes."

He nodded, walking slightly faster.

"You go ahead," he heard Vixen say, voice void of any emotion. "I have class."

When he managed to get to the doorway, he saw Whitney reach her hand out. "Don't give us that," she snaps, trying to grab Vixen's wrist, "Let's go before—"

"What's going on in here?" he interrupted, stepping through the doorway. The girls who had been following behind him hid themselves in the crowd, like they didn't want the three girls gathered in a circle to know that they were the one who told.

His eyes caught sight of Nicole and Whitney, both crowding Vixen, who was standing next to the chalked desk, the powder covering the side of her palm. Out of reflex, he inhaled, breathing in the scent of vanilla and castor oil.

Ricin.

"Is that your desk?" His question was directed at Vixen, trying to keep himself calm.

Poison.

She nodded, eyes focusing on him.

He felt his anger breaching and tried not to grind his teeth as he looked at Nicole. "Get Dean Gibson," he said coolly, ignoring the way she flinched back. "Tell him to meet me in the lounge after he calls the police."

Her eyes went wide, staring at him with disbelief. "The police?" she repeated.

He gave her a curt nod. "And hurry. Run, if you have to. If anyone says anything to you, tell them it's an emergency and they can come to me if they have any problems with it."