"I'm sorry Dr Carter but our policy requires us to have a formal conversation with you about this," Principal Keen and Miss Crowley were talking to her mum one afternoon while Melissa stood outside the classroom door waiting to be able to go home from school.
She didn't even know why they were still there. That little bitch Jessica had it coming.
"We have already met with Miss Porter's parents and they've kindly agreed to forego pressing charges and we've told them this is a first-time offence..." Melissa could hear Miss Crowley telling her mother.
Melissa had been asked to wait out in the hallway while the meeting was being conducted. She'd complied but made sure she didn't close the door all the way and now listened through the slight gap curiously.
"But the honest truth is that it isn't," Miss Crowley continued.
"I don't understand?" Her mother asked cautiously, "this has happened before?"
"Please understand, Melissa is a very bright girl," the principal was talking now, "her grades are fantastic, she's in the top three for the fourth grade-"
Melissa knew that meant she was third. She was going to have to do something about that.
"The truth is that most of the other students avoid her," Mrs Crowley pointed out.
It was true. Melissa smirked about that.
"But she has friends, she tells me about..." he mother seemed lost for a moment, "I'm certain she's mentioned names,"
The teacher and the Principal added nothing for a moment, seeming to want her mother to come to her own conclusions.
"I don't understand where this is coming from?" Her mother continued, "we don't even smack her,"
"I believe... perhaps, Melissa is bored," the Principal suggested impishly, "I'm not sure we're able to challenge her adequately in our school,"
"You're kicking her out?" Her mother's voice rose an octave.
That was a surprise. Melissa didn't think the teachers in this school had a backbone.
"It was the only way we could convince Jessica's parents not to press charges," Miss Crowley added.
"We'd much rather you chose to cancel her enrolment," the Principal pointed out, "Windsor College hasn't had an expulsion in ten years, and she's so very young,"
"You don't want this on her permanent record," Miss Crowley added.
There was silence again and then her mother added, "she's not an aggressive child,"
There was another moment of silence before the Principal added, "we will need to agree to disagree on that, I'm afraid,"
What a laugh.
"The school board will meet tomorrow to discuss this as it is quite a negative event," the Principal continued, "unless you end her enrolment now, there will be a recorded discussion which will end with a decision to expel,"
"We need to impress upon you that it is more than likely to pass," Miss Crowley added.
"This is ridiculous," Dr Carter responded aghast and upset, "this is the first I am hearing of this, you have enough records to expel her?"
"Not records but- we've tried very hard not to blemish your daughter's record," the Principal added at last. "But teachers will provide testimonies if necessary..."
"Oh, bullying? Or aggressive behaviour? Have you need keeping it a secret from other parents too?" Dr Carter demanded, "your reputation is so important you've lied to other parents,"
"No, Doctor, we do not keep anything from parents, that incident was the first of its kind." The Principal declared, "I am talking about testimonies from staff and teachers whom you daughter has harassed or bullied,"
More silence. Miss Crowley was such a little bitch if Melissa harassed or bullied her it was because she deserved it.
"Push it if you wish," the Principal said finally, "this is best for Melissa, I would recommend some counselling before you place her in her next school, we will provide glowing records, as I said her academic scores are at the highest level,"
Her mother stormed out of the classroom with a folder full of what looked like the contents of Melissa's pigeon-hole where she kept all of her books and papers.
She said nothing to her until they had marched from the school grounds and she was sitting with her head in her hands in the car.
"Stupid fucking school," her mother fumed, "this is the last thing I need right now,"
"Jessica Porter really was asking for it mummy, she was picking on the special ed kid in the playground at lunchtime," Melissa informed.
"Did you tell your teacher this?" Her mother asked without any mention that pushing the girl into the school pond was an extreme punishment.
Melissa nodded. "None of them like me. Miss Crowley has said nasty things about the Special Ed kids before, in front of the class and I've called her out. She was on duty in the playground when Jessica was picking on Ellen Campbell and didn't do anything to stop it."
Her mother considered this. "So you were standing up for student with a disability? How can they call that bullying?" She asked rhetorically.
Melissa shrugged. "Jessica Porter singles out Ellen Campbell all the time." She explained, "Ellen has Down syndrome, she'd really quiet and doesn't stand up for herself."
Which was why Melissa stepped in on her behalf.
Presented with the opportunity again? She wouldn't hesitate to act.
"Well this isn't over, they think they've seen the last of me, they're wrong," her mother pressed the ignition button in her BMW and it pitted to life.
"Are we going to Daniel's this afternoon?" She asked this almost every day, as almost everyday, they did.
"Yes darling, I'm sorry, I know you've had a bad day but Douglas is very unwell," her mother apologised as she watched for cars in the rearview mirror and backed out of her car park. "We're already so late, but I'm afraid we won't be needing to do it for much longer,"
'Good,' Melissa thought.
They called into the Hennessy's manor house on the way home as promised and as usual, they passed the gatehouse without being stopped. It was late autumn now and the days had grown cold. The grounds were brown and orange and yellow instead of green and the pond the driveway wrapped around was almost always filled with leaves.
When they arrived Daniel met them at the door of the steps. He was almost an adult now and had filled out nicely. Melissa might only be ten but she knew what handsome was and Daniel was handsome.
"Thank you, dear," her mother said as she moved by him into the house without really looking at him.
Melissa approached him, eyeing him cautiously. He eyed her back stiffly as he always did.
"Where?" She asked him after a moment and he paled just a little.
"Follow me," he told her and reached out as she clasped his hand, interlocking their fingers.
They moved carefully through the big quiet house heading for his room, or so she thought until they walked right by it and he paused by a statue of some short French general on a horse.
She eyed him the whole way through the house and was watching him even now as he stood seeming to want to make sure no one had noticed or was following them.
She could see it now, just tucked beneath the high collar of his shirt. She reached up and pulled at the collar and he gasped and slapped her hand away.
At least he would have, except that her reflexes were so good that she snatched her hand out of the way before he could.
"Show me, John" she demanded and he nodded and leant back against the wall.
The panel that hadn't seemed to be there a moment ago moved onwards revealing a doorway. She was intrigued by it but single-minded in her resolve to know about his latest bruise.
"Go, Lissa" he ordered and pushed her ahead of him into the new corridor. It was as bright as she'd expected in the secret passage. Clearly it wasn't well known as the light fixtures in the roof were extremely old and more than half the bulbs were blown and those that weren't flickered occasionally.
"I saw one of the cleaners using this walkway last week," he explained. "At least they keep the spiders out,"
"Why didn't you tell me about it yesterday?" She demanded. Looking about to see he was right, there wasn't a single spiderweb.
"Because I didn't," he growled, "move it before someone finds us in here, I've been investigating and learning and I've found... just wait until you see it,"
"Are you going to tell me about your neck?" She demanded as she followed the much taller boy along the rabbit warren they meandered along. Even in the poor lighting, she could see his face grow red.
"He's not well at the moment, more than usual," he explained to her, "it doesn't matter, next year I'll be going away to university and he won't be able to hurt me anymore,"
"He won't be around that long," Melissa told him as a matter of fact, "my mum said we won't need to come here much longer,"
He looked back at her with a troubled expression on his face. "Do you promise?" he asked.
"Yes," she added coldly.
"I'm sorry for... all of that," James said to her and sounded genuinely regretful.
Melissa had thought about his accusations while the four boys had taken their long walk and considered how she felt. Her natural response was to let it slide. Especially since Sarah was busy with Brittany and the baby so James could have as easily come back to her with more anger but he didnt.
James might have accused her of being manipulative and playing games with him, but she'd expected him to come out of their conversation; fists swinging. She was forcing him to face the real inconvenient truth, which was that he was still in love with Blake.
"Maybe I could have had a bit more tact," she responded, exhaling the breath she hadn't known she was holding while he approached, "I just want to bang your heads together sometimes, you know,"
She was certain he did.
"It's not something you can fix, just like that," he admitted, and she was pleased that at least they were talking about it.
"I know, I know," she admitted with frustration, "I just don't like seeing either of you hurt, and the only thing worse than seeing you together is seeing you apart,"
He nodded.
So he agreed?
"I'm not trying to cause problems for you and Spence," she continued, her eyes moving the beautiful almost stranger who was sitting on the sand by the wash with Jack next to him, their heads low and talking calmly. Even from here she could see the claw marks Jack left in Spence's tanned back and regretted not stopping the fight before it had happened. "I've accepted that you and Blake can never have the relationship you both wanted, but that doesn't mean you cannot be friends,"
His eyes steeled. Would he rather just be unhappy about it forever?
"I can see this isn't something I can help you with," she admitted as the realisation settled in. "I've been in the middle for years, and yes, maybe I've tried to push you together, but I'm figuring now that maybe I went about it the wrong way,"
He nodded. So he still felt she'd manipulated them? She'd take that on board. Maybe rage about it later when he wasn't around.
"I don't like seeing Blake hurt," she admitted, just in case James wasn't paying attention, "I will protect him fiercely, always,"
"I know," James responded quietly, "I would too if I could,"
She smiled as she remembered Jack's comment from the previous night, "the way I heard it you very nearly did, after the fact perhaps, but Josh Charlatan could have used a few lessons about the consequences of hurting people,"
She knew that wasn't really fair. Josh had entered that fight to save Blake's career and reputation. Since then, however, he'd been a little wanker, so she was happy to hear James had almost gotten into a tussle with him on Blake's behalf.
James laughed. "It was a tense moment," he agreed. "I still don't think Jack is comfortable around me, thinks I'm going to snap at any moment,"
She wouldn't point out that he just had. Friends didnt do that.
"Ok, so" she began dusting off the sand from her thighs where the rising wind had plastered it, "I'll back off. Blake doesn't need to know any of this happened,"
"Thank you," James smiled weakly. She could see him thinking about Blake now and could feel his pain.
It was the same pain Blake carried when he saw James.
She hated this. All of it. But now she knew there was nothing she could do about it. That had to give her some sort of closure, right?
Not really.
As the wind continued to pick up and the sand began to buff them all, they soon realised their day at the beach was over.
Brittany was the first to flee with her baby and Sarah was right behind her.
Jack and Spence even hugged while Tyler shook hands with both James and Spence before they all trudged back through the dunes to their respective cars.
She told Jack during the journey on the way home that she and James had been friends since they were kids, and that sometimes friends argue. They listened respectfully and by artfully tying it back to the fact that Jack had left scratches down the back of Spence, whom he considered his friend; they seemed to understand that sometimes friends hurt one another and the best way to deal with it was to talk it out and move on.
Which was what they'd just done.
She didnt tell them not to tell Blake when he would return tomorrow, because that would ensure they did. She hoped that they understood enough was over and they might all just move on.
Plus. She didnt really know when they'd see James again anyway.
Once they were home, she tossed her keys into the bowl in the hallways by the dining room and moved through the kitchen and down the hallway feeling the sand falling off her.
She hated sand and needed to be clean for tonight so removed what few items of clothing she was wearing and stepped onto the warm tiles of her bathroom. The shower burned hot. It would have seared the skin of someone who wasn't used to it, but she liked the pain.
Reaching for her special body wash at the back of her 'shelf of confusion' as Blake called it. She carefully selected a small bottle Daniel Hennessy bought her.
She only required the smallest amount and rubbed it into her neck, nipples, and her naval. Then she went back for just a little more and began carefully tracing around the tract between her legs. It caused the slightest burning sensation but also tickled and she shivered at the feeling. She might have continued with her own hand except that John was so much better at it.
Daniel's father lived for another six years. Melissa's mother's continued success at keeping the wealthy oil magnate alive became the stuff of legends in the medical world and whatever fame Dr Carter had; only seemed to increase as the years went by and Douglas Hennessy continued to live.
More than her mother's fame was the fact that Melissa had not kept her promise to Daniel. Even more than that were the injuries and mishaps that seemed to befall him whenever he was home.
"What the fuck, John?" She'd demanded of him when she visited during the school holidays. He had just graduated from University and she was about to start eleventh grade after the summer holidays.
It was Christmas time and their families came together as they did every year that her mother prolonged Mr Hennessy's despicable existence.
She eyed the plaster cast up his arm with burning cheeks and he managed to look contrite as if it had all been his fault.
"He broke your fucking arm?" she snapped, looking at it. They were in the secret room they'd found years ago. It was an odd room with red velvet curtains around the wall. In the centre was a bed with silk sheets that had locked handcuffs from each of the four posts. About the room where shelves and racks of peculiar tools and items that they'd looked at enough time to have grown bored with long ago.
They'd come here so many times, that by the time Melissa had realised what this room actually was, it seemed almost insignificant anymore.
"It wasn't his fault, he's not well," Daniel stammered and tried to move it out of her view but she grabbed the cast causing pain to shoot up his arm.
"You can't keep letting him do this to you," she snapped, her arms trembling with anger. "It's not right, we should report him,"
"You can't," he muttered without much conviction and sat down on the edge of the bed looking lost and staring away from her into the dark corners of the littered room. "I know he doesn't mean it,"
"How many bruises, do you have John?" she demanded, "You've been home what? A week?"
He nodded and with his uninjured hand he pulled his collar up.
She slapped his hand away and pulled the collar back. There were purple marks all about his collar bone.
"Let me see them," she demanded, but his handheld the collar shut.
Determination drove her hands forward to overpower his and remove it. Then she quickly unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it opened. If his usually beautiful chest was a canvas than this was a masterpiece of pain.
She gasped at it and he did too as she pulled the shirt down his uninjured but also bruised arm until it was almost entirely off of him save for where it was snared on the plaster cast of his left arm.
He was almost completely covered in bruises. It was like a second shirt.
She saw red, and not the silk sheets or surrounding drapes.
She turned on the spot and was moving towards the door they never used. The one that they knew led to his parent's bedroom.
"Don't do that," Daniel called to her scrambling up off the bed and clumsily trying to pull his shirt back on to cover his shame.
"He's not doing this to you anymore," she told him swiping a particularly large dildo from one of the racks. It was a so large she and Daniel had joked at length, over the years, about how ridiculous it was.
She'd known exactly where it was as she'd thought about it more often than not these days and had already decided that during this visit, she was finally old enough to ask Daniel to use it on her.
But it would also now do nicely for a different purpose.
"Don't do that, if you wake him up he'll-" Daniel warned her but she grasped the handle firmly and pulled the door open. It had taken a bit of effort as Mr and the current Mrs Hennessy hadn't used the room in years due to his declining health. And as the rubber soundproofing ripped apart from one another, she pushed her way with dreadful purpose into the bedroom beyond.
No one else was there.
"What are you doing?" he hissed at her, keeping his voice low as the sound of his father's snoring filled the room. Melissa should have been surprised to see that her mother wasn't here, but right now it wouldn't have changed a damn thing.
He was just laying there, a frail, not-quite-old-man from his prolonged sickness. He looked pathetic even as she stood over him and Daniel approached the bedside looking down at him too, but not moving to admonish her.
"What are you going to do?" Daniel asked her again, though now it sounded more academic, rather than with concern.
As if it was what he wanted, the bastard of a father shifted in his sleep and his snoring mouth gaped open in guttural song.
Her heart hammering and hands trembling she lifted the massive dildo. It's length and girth more than sufficient for the job.
"He will never hurt you again," she said to Daniel, tears of anger in her eyes, "this is my promise to you," and she plunged the gigantic length of solid rubber into the sick man's mouth.
He woke as the tip pushed past his uvula and filled his throat. His frantic hands rose but Daniel grabbed them both. Injured but strong in his new adulthood he held the frail man down as Melissa pushed the dildo all the way into his mouth that that barely any of it protruded from between his gnashing teeth that struggled for purchase. Unable to swallow. Unable to pull it out. Staring up at them in horror as he could no longer breath.
In almost silence, Mr Hennessy gasped around the sex toy as he tried feebly to keep living.
In complete silence, Melissa knew she had kept her promise.
They both stood there over the body of Daniel's one time father looking upon it with passive aggression.
"We should pull it out," Daniel said after a while.
Melissa could admit it did look kind of ridiculous. Or maybe that was just the way Mr Hennessy's eyes bulged.
"No," she said to him, "this way they'll know why he suffocated, it will be the eternal shame he suffers for everything he did to you," she said coldly.
They heard a knock at the door and a maid call, "Mr Hennessy, are you awake?"
They moved quickly on soft feet back to the red room and pulled the door shut so carefully that the last sound they heard was that of his father's bedroom door opening.
They couldn't hear anything that went on in the adjoining room and now stood in semi-darkness with their hearts pounding and their whole bodies trembling.
Melissa never felt so alive.
She turned to Daniel who was still standing there with his shirt open at the front. She could see his heart thundering in his chest as it rose and fell with his frantic breathing.
She could see he was about to have an all-out panic attack.
She moved quickly, stepping up to the front of him, clasping the back of his head with her hands and pulling his mouth down to meet her lips. He stood there awkwardly for a moment but soon pushed back into that kiss as his plaster pressed up against her right and his other hand cupped her waist.
She pushed him back towards the large bed in the middle of the room and he fell backwards onto it.
"Are you sure?" he asked her as her hands went to his pants, his bulge within them straining against them already.
"What?" she scowled at him distractedly as her fingers didnt stop their hasty extraction of his belt, "You're not my first, Daniel," she pointed out to him and he didn't seem very surprised.
"But you're only sixteen," he reminded her, "I'm twenty-four, it's not exactly legal,"
"Neither is murder, but we know what we need," she snapped at him, as she removed him from his boxer shorts and went down on him enthusiastically while he rested his head on the silk to appreciate the pleasure she now knew was washing over him.
She said goodbye to Jack and Tyler who were huddled up in one another's arms on the couch watching A Christmas Chronicle on Netflix. She'd hoped today might have opened both of their eyes a bit more about the relationship they were supposed to have, but that fight with Spence had James only seemed to bring them closer together.
She collected her house key, leaving her car keys behind and rode the elevator to the lobby while pulling her coat about herself to ensure full coverage.
"It's very warm out," the nosy woman at the concierge pointed out to her as she walked by without so much as a 'thanks for pointing out the obvious,'
She walked the thirty or so metres from the front door of her building to that of Daniel's and swiped her card once she got into the elevator.
It rode quietly and efficiently up the twenty-six floors to Daniel's apartment. When she stepped out of the elevator she looked about the quiet, private little foyer with confident anticipation.
Daniel knew she was coming. The concierge must have called ahead and the door to the apartment opened carefully and there he stood in the business suit she loved to see him in, with the shirt slightly open at the top.
"Good evening," he smiled at her, his eyes twinkling at the coat he didnt comment on and she walked by him without a word.
"John," She nodded by way of greeting and moved confidently from the front door into the large open and sunken living room that was the centre of his multi-level penthouse apartment. She could see the shimmering light of the pool reflecting against the eastern windows and considered she might like a dip once they were finished.
He followed her into the living room where she turned in time to see him lift a large glass of red wine. She raised it to her lips and smelt it. It was rich and fruity. She drank from it deeply and slowly and felt the buzz of it come over her almost at once.
"Did he like them?" he asked her and her eyes went stony.
She placed the glass down upon the curved coffee table by their knees and slowly undid the coat one button at a time.
She could see the eagerness in his eyes as he watched her, there was humour there, but also hunger.
She dropped the coat about her ankles and was standing there in the lingeries Daniel had bought her. The very same that drove Blake to fuck her twice yesterday and then again this morning.
"You win this round," she told him and he put down his own glass, approaching her, his fingers twitching as he breathed in the aroma she could also smell. It was her, yes, she could smell herself too, but also, she could smell Blake.
He breathed in deeply. So he could smell Blake too.
She moved into him, her hands going to his chest and splaying out upon the definition he had there. She parted her hands deliberately and buttons of his shirt ripped away easily as his jacket unfastened.
He went to try and remove her corset but she slapped his hands away whenever he did.
His jacket and shirt fell from his slim but solid shoulders and heaped up around his ankles on the floor. It occurred to her many times before how similar in build Daniel was to James but having seen the latter topless today and with Daniel standing before her now, it was almost eery how similar.
No wonder Blake liked him. But did he like Daniel for Daniel?
He tried to lean forward to kiss her again and she slapped him hard across the face. He turned his head with the slap but did not otherwise move.
"You can touch me, only when I say you can touch me," she told him fiercely. He already knew this, but every time he tried to push his luck.
He lifted his head back to face her, smirking with a large red handprint across it and a single scratch where he'd been too slow to avoid all of her nails. Blood trickled from that cut down his cheek onto his sharp jawline.
"Yes ma'am" he responded courteously and she proceeded to remove his belt and held it firmly in her right hand.
"Now," she said to him, watching him with a glint in her eyes. "Remove your pants," she ordered him, "Slowly, but keep your shorts on, I'll remove them when you deserve your reward."
He watched her with that same twinkle in his eyes as he unbuttoned his pants, unlatched the clasp, which allowed the pants to sit loosely on his hips, displaying his v-line and the waistband of his boxer briefs.
She soaked in his sensuality, and as he lowered his zipped and his slacks fell down she could see his eagerness already standing beneath the brief cotton of his underwear.
She stepped right up closed to him, breathing in his masculinity. He smelt sexier than he looked if that was even possible. He was free of cologne as usual save for the most subtle scents that mingled well with her own.
She placed a hand around his neck, softly at first until he closed his eyes and then she closed her fingers tightly until he looked just slightly uncomfortable and pushed him backwards. He stumbled out of his pants leaving his shoes behind now and allowed her to steer him backwards in nothing but his socks and his underwear.
She continued to push him until he was pressed up against a glass feature wall she'd used with him many times. It was cold, ice-cold thanks to his air conditioning, and she felt the goose flesh rise until her grip and wash over his body.
He stayed there as she stepped back, her stilettos clicking against the polished stone floor. He didn't move as she turned away. But he did open his eyes as she returned with a very large and very familiar black dildo she'd smuggled in inside her coat.
"Open your mouth," she demanded and he hesitated.
Silly boy.
She backhanded him and his face went the other way. She brought her hand up under his jaw with fierce confidence and his head smacked back into the glass door with a delicious thunk.
"Open your damned mouth," she threatened him and he breathed in deeply, but obeyed this time.
She lifted the dildo to his face, caressing his jawline with its tip. She could feel the teeth marks in its stem where her fingers wrapped about it. Some of them were his, some of them weren't. She'd known there would be more before they were done tonight.
She pushed the tip past his lips and his mouth opened to accept it. He was calm, collected.
He was ready.
She pushed it deep inside him until he choked.