Arianna
"What's happening here?", came a voice that made everyone of us freeze in our places.
It was one of the teachers, Mr. Smith. He teaches geography to the higher grade students. He is a very strict teacher and does not tolerate any misbehavior. I doubt if he is equally strict with people like Elena and my brothers!
"What's going on here? What's the meaning of this?", he asked in a firm tone.
I looked at Angelina and she was looking at me, then at Elena, who by the way, is still on the ground with the juice and milk all over her hair, face and it was spreading on the upper part of her white shirt.
Eww!
I did it though!
And she completely deserved it!
But, I realize that I'm in big trouble. If my situation was bad before, it is terrible now. How am I going to explain all this to Vince!
"Who did this?", Mr. Smith's voice broke me out of my thoughts.
Angelina looked at me and then at him. My friends also looked tensed. Elena is fuming and glaring at me. Her so called friends were giving me dirty glares.
"I'm asking who did this?", Mr. Smith asked in a firm tone.
"Mr. Smith, I-", Angelina started to say but was cut off by one of Elena's so called friends.
"It is her, Mr. Smith.", Elena's friend said pointing at me.
"Karen's right, Mr. Smith. That girl did all this.", other one of her friends added.
So, the other girl I saw in the washroom is Karen.
"Is that true, Ms.", Mr. Smith asked looking at me.
I was getting tensed. Words got struck in my throat. I really did it, but how will I tell him the reason why I did it? I can't possibly tell them the comments Elena passed about Angelina. It would be disrespectful to her.
What do I do?
How will I tell Vince? Will Angelina support me? Will Vince listen to me if I say I'm not at fault? Will he get angry because I broke one of his rules? Will he punish me? How will he punish me?
Thinking of all this, my heartbeat started increasing. My breathing quickened, it wasn't noticeable to others, but I could feel it. I am starting to panic. All the memories of my past experience are flashing in my mind. That's making me even more restless.
"I'm waiting for an answer, Ms.", Mr. Smith said.
My palms started sweating and I fisted my palms to prevent everyone from noticing the slight trembling of my fingers. I'm on the verge of a panic attack. The past memories are just worsening my situation.
"Mr. Smith, there is a reason why Arianna did what she did.", Angelina said to Mr. Smith.
"Yes, Mr. Smith. It wasn't Arianna's fault.", Mae supported me.
"No. She did this in front of everyone. How can someone do like this, Mr. Smith!", Karen exclaimed.
"Yes. She humiliated Elena in front of everyone. It's completely her fault.", her friend added.
"It's not. She deserved what she got!", Julia scoffed.
"That's not the way to speak, Ms. Evans.", Mr. Smith said and Julia looked away.
"Mr. Smith, it's not Arianna's fault.", Angelina said calmly.
Each passing second, my anxiety is starting to increase.
"Ms. Scott and Ms. Arianna, go to the Principal's office after getting cleaned. Your parents will be called.", Mr. Smith said firmly and walked to the Principal office to call our guardians.
Oh no!
Vince will be called!
What should I tell him?
I can't tell him all the degrading words Elena used for Angelina. That would be so disrespectful to her in front of others, mainly the Principal and also Vince.
Someone put their hand on my shoulder and I flinched. I looked up and found Angelina looking at me concerned.
"Are you okay, Anna?", she asked softly.
Somehow, her presence calms me down a little.
"Y-Yeah.", I manage to say.
"She won't be for long. Once my dad comes here, she's going to regret big time. This b**ch is going to fall on her knees and beg me for forgiveness.", Elena gritted out glaring at me and Angelina.
"I really doubt that.", Angelina said calmly.
"You just wait, Marino. I'm going to make your school life a hell!", she said angrily and walked away, with her friends tailing behind her.
"Arianna, what are you going to tell your brother?", Leah asked concerned.
"I hope you won't get expelled, Arianna. Can your brother manage this?", Mae asked with a frown. Julia didn't say anything, but she looked really angry.
"Do you want us to come with you to the Principal office?", Leah asked and before I could answer, Angelina spoke.
"I'll go with her.", Angelina said.
My friends frowned and looked at me. They still don't know that Angelina is my sister. I wonder what they thought about Angelina helping me.
I'm really happy that my friends are concerned about me, but right now, Angelina's presence and support calms me more. And moreover, I can't deal with my friends finding out about my identity right now. So, I gave them a small smile and nodded.
"Why are you helping her, Angelina?", Julia asked with suspicion.
"Because I want to.", Angelina said with a small smile.
Before anyone could say anything, Angelina turned towards me and said,
"Let's go, Arianna.".
I nodded, waved at my friends and followed Angelina to the Principal's office. We passed a few hallways and finally reached the Principal's office. The assistant told us to sit in the waiting room.
We went to the waiting room and sat on the sofa present there. The room had glass walls on the three sides with one side of the glass wall giving the view of the garden behind the building. The other glass wall gave the view of the corridor, leading to the Principal's office. There were two sofas facing each other with a coffee table in between. There was a book stand in the room with some magazines and newspapers. Overall, it looked quite classy like everything else in this school.
We sat there in silence for a few minutes. Neither of us said anything. I started bouncing my leg, out of nervousness. I was thinking of all the possible ways Vince would react about this. And all of them were not good. All of them ended up with me getting hurt. I was growing restless and my anxiety was increasing each passing second.
Angelina placed her hand on my bouncing leg and I snapped out of my thoughts. I stopped bouncing my leg and looked at her. She smiled at me.
"Relax! Everything is going to be okay.", she said softly with a reassuring smile.
I nodded and bit my lower lip. But the past memories were haunting my mind.
Flashback
"You useless child! How dare you get in trouble at school! We had to come to school and speak to your principal about your behavior towards those students.", my mom said glaring at me.
"T-They w-were b-bullying m-me m-mom", I stuttered looking down at the floor.
"Stop giving reasons, you ungrateful brat! What did I tell you about not getting in trouble at school?"
"N-Never g-get into f-fights a-and any o-other t-trouble.", I replied.
"Then why the hell did you punch that boy?", mom gritted out.
"H-He w-was c-calling me w-with bad n-names mom."
"Shut up! I'm going to punish you so that you'll never repeat this again.", she said angrily.
"P-Please m-mom. I-It wasn't m-my f-fault.", I stuttered and I was trembling in fear of the punishment.
That's when a hard slap landed on my face and I lost my balance due to the force of the slap. I held my cheek and tears were flowing continuously down my cheeks. I didn't dare look up, afraid to face my mom.
"Get up.", she said.
I was still on the ground. My cheek was stinging from the hard slap. I was so scared that my body was not cooperating with my brain.
"Get up", she yelled.
I flinched and quickly stood up, still holding my cheek.
"Look at me.", mom gritted out and I immediately looked at her.
I was scared looking at her angry face. It never ended up good whenever she was angry.
She looked straight in my eyes and backhanded me. I again fell on the floor and cried out.
"P-Please m-mom.", I begged.
She clutched my hair tightly and made me stand up. She still held my hair in a painful clutch and slapped me on both the cheeks continuously.
My cheeks were going numb from all the pain and tears didn't stop flowing from my eyes. She didn't even give me time to plead to stop.
Finally, she left my hair and I fell on the floor crying from the immense pain. I was terrified was trembling very badly.
"Next time if I'm called to your school, it will be worse. Don't eve disturb us with your useless stuff.", she said and walked away.
I was still on the ground, trembling and crying from the pain and due to the emotional hurt, seeing my mom not bothering to even listen to me.
Flashback ends.
A pair of hands hugged me tightly. That's when I noticed I was trembling and tears were flowing down my cheeks.
"Shh. It's okay. I've got you. You're okay.", Angelina said softly, hugging me tightly and rubbing my back to calm me down.
I hugged her back and cried silently. I am scared. I am scared that the past will repeat again. That I will have to go through the same hurt again.
"Relax, Anna. You're going to be okay. In fact, you have nothing to fear.", Angelina said calmly, still hugging me and rubbing my back.
"I am s-scared.", I stuttered.
"What for? It's not your fault.", she said.
"V-Vince.", is all I managed to say.
"What about Vince, Anna?", she asked.
"H-He s-said n-not t-to get in t-trouble at s-school.", I stuttered.
"And yet the boys get in trouble almost five times a week.", she chuckled.
I didn't say anything. They are his brothers. I'm just an outsider. He's definitely going to be mad. Moreover, it is just my second day at school.
Angelina sighed and broke the hug. She took my face in her hands and wiped my tears gently. The tears didn't stop falling though. But, my trembling stopped.
"Hey Anna, look at me.", she said softly and I looked at her.
"You've got nothing to fear. Vince might look scary, but you never have to fear him. Especially when you're not at fault. He might give us punishment, but nothing else that we can't handle.", she said gently.
"W-Will h-he h-hit m-me?", I asked, my body trembling at the mere thought.
Angelina frowned at that and looked straight in my eyes while saying the next words.
"Never. Vince would never raise his hand at us. Nor at the boys. Never Arianna.", she said firmly.
I sniffed and bit my lower lip to stop its' wobbling.
"In fact, if someone so much as touches you, he will break their hands. Not just him, but Theo, Dylan, Ace and Ash too. I'm not bluffing. That's the truth. You're their sister, Arianna. They'll never hurt you.", she said seriously, looking straight in my eyes.
I sniffed and nodded my head. I don't know if whatever she said applies only to her or me too, but the way she said it, I felt like believing it. I am still not completely convinced, but I somewhat relaxed.
Angelina gently wiped my tears and gave me a tissue. I cleaned my face and nose. She smiled at me and I gave a small smile back.
"Do you know what Vince's punishments are?", she asked.
I tensed a little but nodded at her to continue.
"No screen time, no going out, no hanging out with friends, no art work. And the highest level is cleaning the vases at home.", she said and I smiled a little.
I am thankful that she offered comfort so freely without asking questions. I wouldn't have been able to answer her.
Just then, Elena walked into the room, all cleaned up and looks like she also changed her dress. She looked at Angelina and frowned. Then she looked at me and snickered. None of us spoke anything.
We were called to the Principal's office. All three of us were standing in front of the principal, who happens to be a man in his early fifties wearing a suit and his hair was neatly brushed. He had a stoic face and didn't speak anything.
After a while a tall and lean man wearing an expensive suit , who looked like he was in his late forties, walked into the room. The principal stood up and greeted the man.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Scott."
The man just nodded his head, but didn't greet back.
No wonder he is Elena's father!
Just then, the door to the principal's office opened and the principal stood up. Mr. Scott turned around to look at the person and when he did, his eyes widened and he stood up immediately.
I turned around slowly to look at the person who got Mr. Scott so scared, who just a few minutes ago behaved so arrogantly.
I turned around and came face to face with a pair of extremely cold grey eyes.
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So, here is the next chapter.
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Yours lovingly,
Author.