"What the fuck? They can't just expelled you? Can they?" Amerie yelled out when I broke her the news.
"Keep your voice down. Nobody knows yet." I whispered putting my hand on her mouth.
We were hanging by our lockers. Amerie was the first one I told. I needed to told someone otherwise I would go mad. I was half-listening to what she was saying while the other half of my brain was thinking of ways to get out of this situation. The final bell of the day rang.
"I gotta go but Oi! I love you okay. Everything's going to be fine. We will fight this."
I gave her a small smile. We hugged and she exited the school. Leaving me all alone.
School now over. The halls were emptied of its usual crowd of students. I find myself alone, truly alone with my own thoughts. My mother and Mrs.Woodsy were in a meeting together, discussing about the maps and the tip and my possible expulsion. I was tired of waiting so I started wandering around the school and somehow made my way into the gymnasium. It was dark, only the sun was lightning up pieces of the room. I walked to the center, threw my bag on the floor and laid on my back. It was total silence. I found comfort in it, in this obscure ambiance. I laid there, arms and legs straighten out, body shaped like a star. In a few moments, I will be informed of my future, if I will have the chance to step foot again in this school. At the start of term, I would have done anything to get out of this hellhole. Right now, I'm desperate. I wanted to stay at Hartley. I had finally found my people, friends that loved me and that I loved back as much. This school made me grow into the person I was so scarred to be before. I've grown to spoke my mind and stopped being scared of actually living. Being expelled would mean not graduating with my best friends. I would have to stay behind and when they'd left, I would be alone all over again, just as the beginning of this year.
"Are you high again?"
I didn't move. By the sound of the voice, I knew who it was and I wasn't in the mood to deal with him.
"No. I'm as sober as a nun."
"That's a weird thing to say." He laughed. "So what are you doing here at this hour?" He continued, putting his bag down next to mine and laying besides me.
"My mother is in a meeting with Mrs.Woodsy. What about you uh?"
"I had detention. So, what did you do now?" He joked. I turned my head and when he red my face's expression, his smile faded.
"Justine, what happened?" He asked much more serious. I thought I even sensed a bit of worriedness in his voice.
I sighed in response. I was skeptical about telling him. If he would accused me like Mrs.Woods or defend me like my mother and Amerie. Sooner or later, he would find out so I decided to trust him. Don't know why I did. I just needed to empty my heart from every feelings otherwise it would burst.
"Today's probably my last day."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean today's probably my last day. In this school."
He stayed silent, I could sensed he was trying to figure out something to say. I could feel the questions hanging from his lips.
"It's not because of what happened at the Semifinals."
"Okay, then I can't think of anything you did that could have topped this. You're a great student, you study a lot. Hell, you're even polite with the teachers."
Now it was my turn to not have any words coming out of my mouth. My thoughts were overwhelming me, I couldn't even bring myself to form a full answer. I didn't know where to start, I didn't know how it would come out if I just said what I wanted to. So, I closed my eyes trying to organize my brain. I could feel his eyes glued on me. We stayed like that a few minutes, in silence and in the dark.
"Mrs.Woodsy received an anonymous call about multiple new maps under the SLTs tables. They said it was me. And now, they're still investigating but she's considering expelling me."
"That's fucking brainless." He replied shocked by my announcement.
"It isn't for Mrs.Woodsy. They already have some potential proof, they just need to concrete their theories and I'm out."
"I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault yeah."
He didn't respond. We both stared up, at the gym's ceiling. He took my hand in his and started caressing it with his thumb. He felt warm as always. A tear rolled down to my cheek and before it could reach my neck, Spider wiped it off with the same thumb. He rested his hand on my cheek, his fingers going over my ear and hair. I turned my head to look into his eyes, I wanted to see his eyes to assure myself I had done the right thing by trusting him. A man's eyes never lie or so they said. Spider moved his head forward, closing this tension between us.
"I've been wanting to do this again for a long time now."
He softly said with tiny side smile. His lips connecting with mine, our tongues were dancing with one another's. With everything that had happened, I never thought I would be kissing him again. I had gave in and let myself be all over this boy. This stupid boy that could make me feel like the angriest and also the most alive. The kiss intensified quickly. He sat down as he took me by the waist and pulled me into his laps. One of my hand at the back of his head caressing his hair and the other on his neck. We couldn't stop ourselves. I felt like we had known each other forever. Every kiss were perfectly placed, every caress were pleasant. We knew what we liked without even having to say it. It was electrical, magical and euphoric. He stopped kissing me and started doing repetitive pecks, each time going downwards. One on my cheek, one on my neck, another on my collar bone. I subtly moaned, I wanted him. I wanted all of him but I didn't want to give him the power of knowing it. A cough echoed in the room, interrupting us. We both abruptly stopped what we were doing and looked to the source of the sound.
"Justine, my office please." Mrs.Woodsy strictly exclaimed. "As for you Spencer, I think it would be a good time to head home." She walked out of the gymnasium.
"Coming." I softly answered, quickly getting up from Spider's laps and putting my bag on my shoulder. He did the same and started following me towards the exit.
"I'll wait for you outside the office." He declared. I nodded while grinning at him.
I entered Mrs.Woodsy's office and I could feel the weird tension in the room. I looked around and saw no signs of my mother. She understood what I was thinking, she knew when I kept frowning at her.
"Your mother is in her office... packing."
My mood completely changed. I was much more confused as before. I frowned angrier at Mrs.Woodsy.
"Now, I need you to carefully listen to me, Justine. Somehow, after many discussions, we have concluded that the best thing to do was for Miss Jones to gave her resignation."
"Miss, you fired her?" I furiously shouted.
She didn't have time to answer me that my sight rambled to the window where I saw my mother, a box in her hand, leaving the school's grounds.
"Fuck this!" I ran out of the office to go find my mother.
I would not let her take the blame for something someone else did. Spider quickly got up of the chair besides the office and started running after me.
"What's going on?" He yelled.
I finally reached the doors and pushed them. I ran down the stairs and went to meet my mother.
"Mum!" I cried out. Tears were flowing down my cheeks, I couldn't restrained them. They kept coming down.
Her body twirled and I embraced her. The box squished by both of our bodies. I cried in her arms.
"You can't go. This is so unfair, I won't let you take the blame."
"It's okay, honey." She cupped my face in between her hands. "As long as your future here is assured. I would have done anything."
She broke our hug. We hadn't hugged like that since I was a kid. It was the first time I was truly honest about my emotions with my mother, and so was she.
"I'll see you at home. Stop being so dramatic and wipe those tears off yeah?" She smiled and continued her way to the car.
I stood still, watching her leaving the school. I didn't knew why I reacted that way, in such an intense and emotional way. But the feeling that I had been wronged, that my mother's reputation and career were over because of some anonymous call made me resentful. I needed to find out who did this. Who ruined everything my mother had worked for? Spider walked up behind me, he put his hand at the back of neck and twirled my body around to meet his, giving me the warmest hug. My head in his chest, his arms around my shoulders. Keeping me close, keeping me safe.
"You're okay." He whispered, giving me a kiss on the head.
No, I wasn't but he made it feel like everything was going to be.