| Amelia |
[ This chapter is dedicated to my wonderful readers for taking this story so far. Wow, I'm actually taken aback. Thank you all so much for the amazing support, I couldn't be happier that you're liking the story! ]
"Well?"
I seated myself down on the chair across the headmistress's desk, rubbing my sweaty hands on the fabric of my jeans.
This was not good.
"I didn't do anything."
That was all I could bring myself to say when I raised my head and saw the menacing look on her face. She folded her hands together and leaned forward stoically, resting her elbows on the surface of her oak desk and looking straight at me.
Power pose! Leila's voice rang immediately in my head, but I put that stupid thought to rest and gulped my fear down.
"Miss Carpenter," I took in a deep breath and spoke in the most calm voice I could muster, "please believe me, I have nothing to do with this. I don't know how the pages ended up in my locker, I wish I could give you an explanation. I didn't even know they existe-"
"Then how do you explain the five students who witnessed you, Miss Winters?"
"I-" I shut my mouth seconds after I began, for I didn't have any answer. Why would they lie so outwardly? I hadn't ever even talked to them in school before. "I...I don't know."
She let out a dry scoff at my response and diverted her attention to a few papers scattered on her desk. Moments passed in silence as she adjusted her spectacles on the tip of her nose and drawled out a sigh.
"Miss Winters, this school has a strict no-cheating policy. I'm afraid you have violated that."
"But Miss-"
"And unless you can provide me with substantial proof and an explanation for, once again, the five students that place their case against you, I'm afraid there's only one option. I'll have to expel you."
My heart felt like it had lodged itself in my throat within seconds.
Did I hear her right?
"What?" I all but screamed, hands beginning to tremble as I stared at her in utter disbelief. "I didn't do anything, you have to believe me, this isn't fair-"
"Don't tell me what's fair and what isn't, Miss Winters." She reprimanded me harshly, clearly not appreciating my tone. I shut myself up but I could feel the water building up in the pools of my eyes, threatening to spill embarrassingly at any moment.
She noticed my expression and took in a deep breath, sighing quietly. "I have no other option. It's school policy. And the fact that you were going to sell the answers to other students doesn't make it any better."
"Please," all I could do was beg. "This will go on my record."
"I'm afraid it will. But you should have thought about that before."
-
"What happened in there?" Zoey asked me as soon as I stepped out of the headmistress's office, my head hung low in the dreadful feeling I couldn't even begin to describe.
I was going to get expelled?
"Yeah, we heard about everything. We tried to get in but someone," Leila glared in the direction of the headmistress's assistant, "wasn't letting us in."
"Anyway, what did she say?" Zoey asked again, moving closer to me. "Amelia?"
"I'm getting expelled."
Saying that fact out loud did nothing to appease my turmoil.
"WHAT?" They both yelled at the same time, capturing the attention of the assistant a few feet away who raised his head prepared to reprimand us before Leila threw him a dirty look, shutting him right up.
"I'm sorry, you're getting what now?" She turned to me, eyes widened in disbelief and anger.
"They can't do that, you didn't steal the answers!" Zoey joined in, both of them now standing in front of me restlessly, almost as confused as I was.
"She won't believe me, I tried. She's calling mom right now."
"That's so unfair, they can't just fucking do that-"
"This is Noah's doing." I raised my head to look in Zoey's direction when she said that. She gave me a quiet, pitiful look. "He's the only one who could have threatened those students to lie so blatantly, right?"
And that was when my two brain cells joined the pieces together.
It was Noah. That was why the headmistress refused to hear me out or probe further into the matter, and why those five people supposedly 'saw' me steal the answers. Because he told them they had. And, as always for Noah, they complied.
He said he would make sure my punishment ruins me; he was simply delivering on his promise.
"I cannot believe the audacity of that guy." Leila gritted out as she connected the dots as well. "This cannot be fucking happening."
I couldn't believe it was happening either.
I had always known about the power Noah's father - and consequently, Noah as well - held in the school; but I had never known that it extended its roots to this depth. They held the power to get me expelled - he held the power to get me expelled, and he was acting on it without mercy.
"My idea about selling that necklace doesn't seem too bad now, does it?" Something told me that this time around, Leila wasn't totally kidding about that.
The pendant. Was I going to give it back to him now?
"Nuh uh," It seemed like Zoey had already read my thoughts before I could voice them outwardly. "Don't even think about it, Amelia. There's no way you're doing that now."
I bit my lip, inwardly cursing at my naiveté and stupidity.
I wanted to pull my own hair out in frustration. What was this stupid, foolish thing inside me that wasn't ready to smash that pendant into a thousand pieces after all that he had done? After he had literally gotten me expelled ?
"Amelia, this isn't the time for all your good girl bullshit." I could sense the anger in Leila's voice, clear as crystal. "We're breaking and burning that thing, that's final."
"I..." I battled with myself desperately. I knew I was being an idiot. But it slipped out helplessly before I could even stop it. "I'm going to give it back to him."
"This bitch." She muttered immediately after, making me guffaw and smack her on the arm.
"HELLO? I'm right here."
"And you're being stupid." She shrugged, pinching her temple with her fingers. "This isn't the time for you to be fucking nice."
"It's not about being nice. He thinks I snitched on him, that's why he's doing this-"
"He's getting you expelled!"
"But-"
"No fucking buts!"
"Okay, stop!" Zoey finally weighed in the argument, face-palming herself and walking in the space between us. "This could be agreed on by both of you."
"And why would I ever let that happen?" Leila crossed her arms across her chest, refusing to concede. "She's making a fucking mistake."
"Well, think about it this way then," Zoey, as always, reasoned, "If she gives him the pendant back, he'll realise it wasn't actually her who snitched. He might fix all of this then, right? Amelia won't get expelled, and she'll get to be her annoying self at the same time."
I wanted to retort at the 'annoying self' comment...but Zoey wasn't exactly wrong...
So, I turned to Leila instead and nodded in agreement. "Exactly."
"Fine." She uncrossed her arms and gritted. "But we're trusting that asshole a bit too much if you ask me."
-
Dumb, foolish, naïve little...
I couldn't help cursing at myself as I walked on the pathway leading up to his house.
He was the one who had - without mercy or regret, so much as even a second thought - gotten me expelled from the school, putting a stain on my record permanently and proving, once and for all, that he really did earn his reputation.
And here I was, tiny wooden box in one hand and my expulsion letter in the other, walking up to his house to return the pendant to him.
This was almost comical. What was I doing here? Would he even give me the chance to explain everything to him?
Was he even in there?
"And who might you be?"
I jumped up in my spot in front of his door as I heard the voice behind me and immediately turned around.
Noah's butler...Agatha, I think she was, stood a few feet away from her car, holding a massive bag of groceries in her arms and looking at me in interest.
"Oh...I-"
"You're that girl...Amelia, right?"
I blinked a few times, slightly taken aback by her ready recognisance. It was then that I remembered that she had met me that first morning that I had been here, after the night of the party. The morning Noah and I made our first deal.
Easing a bit, I smiled graciously. "Yes."
She returned my smile with a highly contagious one of her own. "I see. What brings you here, darling?"
"Well, I was wondering if I could see Noah for a bit."
She raised her brow with the suspiciousness of a homicide detective investigating a suspect. "And why's that?"
"Oh, no, it's not what you're thinking-" I opened my mouth to speak but shut myself right up when I saw her gaze travel to the little box I was clutching in my hand.
Shit.
She raised her eyes back onto my figure, dropping her bag of groceries on the porch and slowly walking upto me.
"Why do you have that?"
I couldn't help but notice the distinct tone of danger that had coated her voice, so unlike the woman that I had previously interacted with.
I gulped and let out a shaky exhale. "I..."
"You think you and Calvin can threaten our family all you want just because you're in possession of this?" She pointed at the box but kept her eyes fixated right into my scared brown ones. "Do you even know who we are?"
"No, I-" I took a step back when she took one in the forward direction, almost backing me against the surface of the door. I fierce fire shone in her eyes as she looked at me, expecting an answer any second.
It was then that I realised that Agatha would do anything - anything - to protect the Carters.
I better speak, or I'm toast. "I'm not allied with Calvin." I mustered up my answer, straightening in my spot and curving my lips into a crooked, almost disfigured smile, "I came here to give this back to Noah...I got it from Calvin."
Please don't laugh right at my stupid face.
Her brows pooled together as she leaned her head closer to my face, seeming lost in thought for an extended period of time. I felt like I was under inspection, like she was using the state of my eyes to gauge whether I was hostile or friendly.
Moments passed before she suddenly retreated her neck and picked up the bag of groceries from the ground. "Well, you could've just said that then, darling."
Before I knew it, the smile was back on her lips and she was placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I get intense sometimes, sorry. It's just...that boy means everything to me, and I never really know who's out to get him."
"I...I understand."
"Yet you're still shivering a bit, honey." She chuckled, tightening her hand on my shoulder in comfort and rubbing it reassuringly. "I'm not going to kill you, Amelia. Not when you're actually helping that rascal of a boy."
I breathed out my discomfort in a deep exhale and smiled feebly. "Thanks."
She widened her eyes in comical disbelief at my response, almost as if to say 'you don't need to thank me for not murdering you'.
Getting the message, I pursed my lips and lowered my head in embarrassment.
She laughed once again, seemingly back to her old self, and pulled the keys out from her pocket.
"Now, let's get you inside, shall we?"
-
Hey there?
Sorry for the confused hello, but I'm still a bit shook right now.
The story has reached 8K, wow! I can't believe that it's currently #1 in mafia, #2 in highschool, and #2 in goodgirl!! This is truly amazing. I can't thank you all enough for voting and commenting. It means so much to me, and I cannot wait to write more!
Speaking of, I'm sorry I've been M.I.A. these past few weeks. Finals :( Nevertheless, you can expect some updates coming real soon!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read. I love you all<33
Until next time,
Kiara❤️