Temptation Not Included

It had been a while since Meru embraced herself for romance. Ever since she hit puberty she had been in the dating circle. When she was a young girl she never understood the courtship process or its means, and to this day, she still doesn’t. If she had her way, she would rather marry the first man she laid eyes on. However, if she had the choice, she’d pick the first extraordinarily handsome man she came across. If she had the same mentality back then as she does now, she would have broken less hearts and her name on hit lists would be a very few.

“No matter how hard we try, we always end up stepping on a few fingers.” she mumbled to herself in distraught. “Why couldn’t he just keep me? It’s not like I’d be a bother. I promised him I’d fall asleep. Ugh, and he knows just how much I hate him. Does he find amusement in this all? Granted, he’s a teacher but his friend is causing all my misery. That bastard won’t even let me skip the test. God, and I was really looking forward to actually studying for it this weekend. Why can’t he just push it until Tuesday? I know the vice hardly does anything, but I’m very busy. Hmm, I wonder if he’ll buy that and allow some wiggle room for me. Eh, what the hell am I saying? I hate him just as much as he dislikes me. Why in the hell would he grant me anything? Damn foreigner.”

Meru’s words fell upon deaf walls and even deafer floors on her slow journey to her AP Chemistry class. She had just spoken of her wishes for her future with Lennox and, unbeknownst to her, the supposed important conversation barely lasted ten minutes. Unfortunately for her, Sauvageau had gotten to Lennox before she could with skipping. Either Sauvageau had a personal vendetta out for her, or he just found a twisted amusement in her suffering.

Despite her down mood, instead of reviving it to prepare for her upcoming science exam, she pushed herself deeper in the dumps. Two boyfriends ago, was just the same as Sauvageau, or well, her opinion of Sauvageau. Spencer Nixon had been the worst boy Meru ever entangled herself with. Months prior to their kick-off to a semi-rocky relationship, she had heard rumors of the mysterious boy. She was intrigued. He was everything Meru disliked in finding a perfect guy, yet she knew with her crooked attitude, she would never find what she was looking for and settled with settling for less. She was at a downward spiral at the time with coming to terms with reality. Even though she had Aeron one hundred percent, she wouldn’t suffice for just him alone.

She was surprised to hear her acquaintances’ opinions of her dating Spencer once word spread. Those on her dance team expressed how happy they were for Meru finding another boy so quick, while the more faithful of her acquaintances in her student council voiced how concerned they were for her. She was confused. Why would anyone pay any mind to her decisions? At the time, she believed her dysfunctional parents barely looked at her twice. She had no morals and no textbooks relating to rules, so she went all-out with a relationship she knew would shake her up.

Spencer never once laid a hand on Meru during their six months together. He ruined her in every aspect but physical abuse. He enjoyed her pain and anguish. After three weeks with Spencer, Meru knew he was off his rocker but thought nothing of it. They only spent three weeks together, after all. She couldn’t make assumptions off of what others said. It took six and a half months for her to make her own assumptions and to act on them.

The moment they broke up, he dropped off the face of the earth. The boy that arrived in style, stopped showing up with his motorcycle. The boy that always stalked into class ten minutes late, stopped showing up late. In fact, he stopped showing up period. Meru was curious, but not curious enough to where he went. He never had the best of grades, for he finished nothing, and his thoroughly scathed attendance record meant nothing to his disappearance.

‘Good riddance’ she had thought.

She enjoyed the adrenaline rush while with him, but that was the closest she ever got to feeling anything remotely affectionate towards Spencer Nixon. She truly believed he hated her, and women of all kind. He enjoyed getting in brawls, smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, and unlocking his parents’ alcohol cabinet nightly. He was everything opposite of Meru, but at least she could say she tested everything. She knew both sides of the street and can safely say she walked on both sides. She had moments she could be proud of, and moments she dared not to look back at.

It was just a part of growing up.

Facing every demon life laid out. And, for now, her demons were in the form of AP Chemistry tests. The moment she stood outside Sauvageau’s door, she inhaled and exhaled slowly. She had no idea how she was going to pass the test. She didn’t study, after all, as instructed by the foreigner her teacher.

“Just seventy minutes more to go.” she mumbled before opening the door.

A few heads crept from their situated positions to see just what force had disturbed the suffocating silence. When the students recognized their student body vice president, most smiled in her presence. Meru, of course, returned the grace and quietly headed to her seat. Which, unfortunately for her, rested on the completely opposite side of the room from the exit and in front of Sauvageau’s desk. He had rearranged the seating arrangement in the room after one month of constant arguing with Meru and purposely separated her from her acquaintances. However, Meru was lucky. Seated in the four-sitter marble lab table behind hers was Kyler Trestrail, the student body president of McElderrey High. If he weren’t there for her, world war three would break every time she and Sauvageau butted heads on a matter.

“Pres.” Meru greeted quietly to Kyler as she slung off her bag, scarf, and jacket onto the backseat of her chair.

“Vice.” Kyler greeted just as quietly with a smile, smirking in her defeat. If she had won as she had promised him the night before on their phone call, she wouldn’t have seen him all day. How unfortunate.

Meru was quick to grab the only lone test packet and answer sheet at the front of the room - laying on Sauvageau’s main lab table for presenting the class - and was quick to retreat to her desk. She glanced at the girl to her right and nearly gagged at how far the girl had gotten on the test. The first twenty minutes into the class and she was already nearing question thirty. Meru rolled her eyes at the girl’s perseverance, but smiled when the girl looked at her questioningly.

“Do you need my notes, Meru?” she asked softly, timidly looking in the direction of Sauvageau’s desk just ten feet in front of them. Written clearly on the whiteboard were the words ‘no talking’.

Meru rummaged through her binder neatly labeled AP CHEM before cursing under her breath. “I passed my locker on the way, too.” she suddenly remembered her notebook full of notes resting soundly in her locker.

The girl folded her notebook shut before sliding it towards Meru. “I don’t need them anymore. All that’s left are vocabulary and graphs.”

Meru feigned the pleasant smile she returned to the girl. The girl didn’t fake the relief contorted expression for completely the first third of the exam. Meru would be lucky if she finished two and a half thirds of it before dismissed.

Puffing her cheeks, Meru scooted closer to the desk before flipping open the test packet.

Not even ten minutes later - when she truly believed she was losing her mind to scientific logic - she was being disrupted from thought by a voice. A voice, in which, she wished would die. “Take it off.”

Meru, slightly startled from forming in line with the complete silence hazing over the room, looked up in surprise to take notice of the hard stare being sent her way from her teacher. He had spoken to her in the same spiteful tone she always heard from him. The only thing that made it sound perfectly okay was his accent, and even that, she wished she could strip from his tongue. She loathed everything about him. His perfect blue eyes, his perfect dark hair, his perfect skin complexion, his perfect clothing ensemble, his perfect accent; his perfect everything.

Most importantly, she loathed the way he always stared at her. It were as if he stared directly into her soul in hopes of corrupting it so she would bend to his ways. Like hell that would happen.

Instead, she sent him a small - almost untraceable - smirk his way before leaning back into her seat. “Okay then.” she murmured softly before slowly removing her sweatshirt. She knew wearing clothing that clearly stated her personality struck a nerve, especially one as coherent as ‘will not shut up’. It was against school rules to wear anything with offensive language or profound mannerisms, but being the student body vice president led her to have leeway. She felt a wave of triumph just knowing Sauvageau couldn’t take a scratch at that. Far too many people gave her recognition, regardless that she didn’t consume it herself.

Once her sweatshirt was off, she held it pointedly before placing it in the open space of the empty seat beside her. Her lab partner was smart in ditching for the day.

Meru made sure to flip her hair over her shoulders before concentrating back on her work. Her concentration had barely even focused on the exam before the voice spoke once again. “Take it off. Or I will send you to Principal Roeth.”

Meru matched her gaze with Sauvageau’s and noticed how darker his obnoxiously perfect blue eyes had become. Tilting her head in the slightest, innocence played dumb on her features. “I already did, Mr. S.” she spoke his name almost condescendingly. “Surely Principal Roeth would not appreciate you interrupting the meeting he is for sure having at this time, over something so trivial as a profound sweater.”

“No hats are allowed in the classroom, Miss Lang.” Sauvageau matched his tone to hers, which sparked something in Meru. “Surely, Principal Roeth would not appreciate you interrupting his meeting over something so trivial to not following the school’s rules.”

Although Meru knew she was wearing a hat, she had not realized its presence. It fit so snugly atop her head she had forgotten about it. “You are disrupting Miss Hanson’s train of thought with your fiddling of the hat.”

Meru looked in the direction of Sauvageau’s simple glance and noticed the girl beside her was now shifting her eyes between their AP Chemistry teacher and Meru. Once she caught Meru’s eyes, she immediately returned her gaze onto her test. Meru’s eyes narrowed in the slightest. She looked back to Sauvageau only to shrug before mimicking the girl’s actions.

“She seems to be doing just fine.”

The entire class knew to agree with one or the another when they were brought in on their arguments. Their opinions were not welcomed when the two stormed along with their educational disputes. In most cases, the class found the disputes amusing to an extent, whereas most believed Meru’s words were too bold to be true. It was basic moral to never question a teacher.

Unbeknownst to Meru, she had indeed begun to fiddle with the stringed balls hanging pass her ears to her hat. And indeed, the actions of twirling the dangles from the hat were disrupting the girl beside her from concentrating. Sauvageau didn’t care whether Meru knew she was doing it purposely just to irk him, or if she were too zoned into his exam. He stood up silently from behind his desk and made his way around until he stood in front of Meru. He waited for three seconds before he snatched the hat from her head, evoking a shrewd of gasps from the girl. Her lips blubbered against the other in shock, not fazing the older man in the least.

“This is confiscated, Miss Lang. You can take the matter up with the Principal and your parents.”

Anger surged within Meru’s dark honey eyes. She was sure if she were part demon or part anything evil in the movies she watched, she could launch a wave of molten lava at Sauvageau and end all her worries and problems in a nanosecond. In that moment, she desperately wished for the raging thunder and lightning just outside McElderrey walls to smite him and be done with it. She believed in no God that wouldn’t sway to her wishes.

However, she didn’t believe in them to begin with.

She let out a heavy sigh and stared daggers at her exam. There was no way she could concentrate. All that plagued her mind were ways of disposing his body in the dead of night. She had already come up with a bulletproof plan of assassinating her teacher. She had watched plenty of CSI episodes to get around traces of evidence leading to her, her accomplice, and him. The only flaw to her plan was that there weren’t any alligator reserves in Baltimore.

Ten minutes of doing nothing but crease and un-crease the edge of her answer sheet nearest her limp forefinger and thumb passed and - after much deliberation - she risked a look at Sauvageau. He was grading papers manually, flipping through various stacks of packets and piles of inked papers. To any other student under his teaching wing, he looked so perfect. He was a desired picture. He looked as if he belonged behind that desk, gracefully scanning a pen with a student’s well-earned or ungracefully deserved grade. He looked untouchable to the students’ population.

For Meru, he looked completely vulnerable. His defenses were lowered being in a school environment. She could get away with murdering him right on the spot right here, right now. However, she would have to deal with all the eyes in the room. Murdering one of the most beautiful teachers in the school would not earn her any statements veering towards her false innocence. There were plenty of sharp objects on his desk too…

She could easily jump over the desk she was seated at like a mad woman, snatch one of the sharp objects just begging to be touched, and gouge out his eyes after stabbing his face a multitude of times. Eyeing each sharp, metallic inanimate object sent shivers down her spine. It was so welcoming, so tempting.

But, two things occurred. There was no way she ever could be capable of murder. Dating Spencer Nixon proved so, or else he would have been six feet under long ago. Sure, she envisioned murder countless times - watching every criminal law show on TV has its effect - but she couldn’t place herself in any of her fantasies. It was near impossible.

The second was her staring at all the possible murder weapons drew eyes to her. While every student in the room was focused solely on the test before them, only hers were up. An evil, yet dangerously curious, glint sparkled in her dark eyes. Sauvageau assumed she was daydreaming when he looked up to notice she was no longer finishing her exam. Instead, she was staring intently at his desk. Her eyes were nowhere near him or on anything he was doing. She was simply staring at the trinkets on his desk. All the paperweights and necessary items for an administrator that aligned his desk captured her undivided attention.

‘She has the attention span of a goldfish’ he thought to himself.

As soon as the thought appeared and dispersed, her eyes caught the glaze of reality and she averted her gaze in the slightest to match to his dark, blue haze. Her gaze hardly changed, but Sauvageau knew after his actions, he was definitely not on her top ten favorites list. He simply rose an eyebrow at her which provoked an all-out glare. It was the first time she ever glared at him. Well, directly at least.

Meru quickly diverted her hatred at her exam and split her focus into two. One for finishing the exam before the end of class, and the other half for calming herself down. The last thing she wanted was to explode in the middle of class. She had the following period of lunch with Aeron to do so.

She could feel her brain reeling at all the mathematics it was required to do in order to solve the equations. Normally, she wouldn’t mind. But she was hardly allowing her brain to accelerate once shifting gears. Replacing her anger was taking more of her concentration than she had thought. It was an underlying emotion, which didn’t strike a nerve until she realized she would have to speak to Principal Roeth.

That hat was nothing special, but it was still hers. To have it ripped from the comfort of her head outraged her. It was one of her favorite hats for the obvious reasons. It was cute and it matched her ensemble for the day. Every time she wore it, she liked to forget that it was one of Spencer Nixon’s first gifts to her. Although he had been a complete asshole to her, he showered her with gifts from time to time. He liked spending money on her when they went out. Only when they were stuck in one setting did he really let his mannerisms fade for the weed and alcohol to present itself. Meru tried to let it fade from mind, because when they argued when he was drunk, they argued. He said hateful things, and she returned them just as strongly. Their entire relationship had been a release for her. She was able to let go and strip the chains and locks from her binds.

She loved the hat more than she let on. Her affection towards things were fickle, but it was an affection nonetheless. She treasured every single thing she had under her possession. Be it gifts, things she acquired through the expenses of her hard-earned money, or Aeron. She loved them all because they were hers and hers alone.

Simply snatching it away was just not acceptable. Snatching away her wits every other day wore her out so much she just accepted it as a routine. Which is probably why she liked Lennox so much more than she did Sauvageau. The fact of them being friends hardly dawned on her until one of them mentioned the other.

Just as she was putting the finishing touches on her exam did she think about her Trigonometry teacher. She wondered if by any chance she could talk her way into their life so Sauvageau wouldn’t be so evil to her during the ninety minutes she endured with him every other day.

“Fat chance.” she mumbled just as the bell rang, dismissing the class for lunch.

She stood up with a few others to place their exams and answer sheets on the front table where they were found at the beginning of the period, free of any marks. When Meru returned to her seat, the door ten feet east of Sauvageau’s desk - leading to the storing hallway for the science equipment shared by all science instructors - swung open and closed, engulfing what Meru could see of Sauvageau’s backside. A scowl was present on her features.

“Can’t muster enough courage to do it to his face?” she could hear Kyler’s mock from behind her as she replaced her sweatshirt, jacket, and scarf.

“One day,” she paused to place her pencil and pen into her bag before shoving it onto her shoulder. “He will know just how much I hate his guts. That was so disrespectful what he did.”

She turned around to see Kyler shrug just as he was placing a beanie over his head. “Rules are rules vice president. Learn ‘em.”

Her stare was dull towards Kyler as they left the room. “I’ve worn hats in his class before and he never said anything before. He gives me looks, but every class he does that; nothing different. That--”

“Foreign bastard.” Kyler finished, throwing a handsome smirk Meru’s way. “By the time October is up, everyone will know your nickname for him after all your inexorable complaining.”

“My complaining is not that ruthless.”

“That’s a load of bull and you know it.” Kyler laughed at the slight pout to Meru’s lips. “It’s a well-known fact that you dislike him. No one knows his thoughts since no one is sufficient enough for his time of day, but I can bet he’s not clueless to your spiteful words. Words, believe it or not Meru, do carry. Besides, he’s not stupid.”

“Only a stupid person would butt heads with a person as stubborn as her.”

Meru looked up from watching her feet descend the stairs to be met with a pair of doe-eyed brown eyes behind a familiar pair of glasses. “Aeron!” Meru whined, hopping the last two steps to wrap her arms around Aeron’s heavily clothed body. “You wouldn’t believe what I’ve been through today.”

“Lemme guess, that foreign bastard ticked you off yet again.”

“That is no longer a guessing game.” Kyler added, smirking to Meru before waving his way off through the crowd towards the cafeteria.

Meru looked up once she watched Kyler disappear and smiled softly at Aeron. With a sigh, he shook his head lightly before they joined arms and headed in the same direction as everyone else. “If I don’t hear about it now, I’ll hear about it later. So tell me how awful a person Mr. Sauvageau is so we can eat peacefully.”

“He yanked my hat off during class!” she exclaimed, blowing her lips together in frustration. “I was just doing as instructed, which was my test, which, in fact, I couldn’t get out of.” she pointed out aloofly in disappointment. “I was focusing on constructing a plausible element to explain a sudden outtake of some tick originating from South America when he walked up to my desk and ripped off my hat. And when he yanked it off rather aggressively, he pulled a few strands of my hair with it. It hurt, Aeron. And I can still feel a slight tingle.”

Aeron looked down to Meru to watch her circle her fingertip on a spot atop her head where he assumed a strand of hair was pulled from the forceful encounter. Without fault, she continued in her story as he purchased their hot meals and lead them towards their usual spot near the front of the school. He placed their meals on a vacant stone bench before sliding off his bag to let it drop carelessly onto the floor. Meru mimicked his actions, being wary of the dirt splotches on the large tiling. Her lips never ceased in explaining the dark thoughts that clouded her mind while Aeron’s never ceased in devouring the food in his lap. He was listening intently, but he had heard it all before. The theme of her stories were all the same, give or take an extra detail or two.

During the change of seasons, he and Meru would sit and chit-chat over their days up till the present minute and watch the weather occur just outside the doors while eating their lunches. It held the perfect view for the first snow of the year, or the first Spring raindrop. They either dreaded the walk home in the Winter, or plead for the day to be over with in the wake of Spring. For the past three years, they loved watching the seasons mold and pass. For the past two months, he almost forgot how to time the seasons with Meru’s newly found obsession. Her hatred for her teacher was unbearable at times, but he put up with it. Just as much as he put up with every other thing Meru brought to the table. She did the same for him, so he had no right to be angry or flustered.

He dealt with her bull, and she dealt with his. He would be thankful for listening to her now when he needed to rant in the near future over something he has yet to endure.

“Oh, is it my turn to speak?” he questioned once she probed for an outlook on her list of decisions. She scoffed and nudged his shoulder. “Well if my opinion is welcome, I hated that hat.”

Her lips fell detached when she turned away from watching the lightning show to face him. “Really?”

Aeron nodded, not bothering to lock their gazes. He could see it clearly from the corner of his eyes her surprise. “You know I hated that scumbag you dated. What was his name? Stanley?”

“Spencer.” Meru deadpanned, already disliking speaking his name aloud when having thought about it earlier.

“You know I hated that guy. If I had any muscle on me at all and any expertise in the defensive arts, I would’ve done something to him. He was such a lowlife.” he shook his head at the memory of Spencer Nixon dating his best friend.

“I wonder what happened to him…” Meru’s eyes wandered thoughtfully to narrow in Aeron’s direction at his low growl. She smirked.

“Good riddance that asshole. Ugh, Meru, can we talk about something else? I’m really starting to get pissed just thinking about him.”

Meru chuckled before crossing her legs and directing her attention towards the doors displaying the hatred of Mother Nature. It seemed her and Meru were on the same page. If only, Mother Nature could linger her powers over Sauvageau’s precious sports car. Then, Meru could be defined as a happy girl. She could just imagine how distressed Sauvageau would be if his transportation were destroyed. She almost chuckled darkly at the thought.

The action didn’t go unnoticed by Aeron. He rose his eyebrows and tilted his head stiffly at Meru. “What’s so funny?”

She shook her head, releasing her tension with a sigh. “Nothing. It’s nice out there, huh? I wouldn’t mind going out there. Maybe take a few pictures or something.”

“If only you weren’t the Wicked Witch of The West.” Aeron teased, chuckling at the snort that blurted from Meru. “I’m surprised you haven’t melted yet, you wretched woman.”

“Me too.” she played along, tickling with laughter.

With jokes spared in between sharing their meals, once they were finished they grabbed their belongings and headed towards the main office. By now, Sauvageau should have clearanced any items he had confiscated throughout the day. Hopefully for Meru, she could persuade Principal Roeth in allowing her to take back her property without the involvement of her parents. Although her parents would be understanding - more likely her father - she really did not want to admit defeat to her science teacher. It was a desire she would see out to the end of the year. When she would never, ever have to deal with him again.

“Fuckin’ hell.” she hissed, her face already contorted into a scowl.

Aeron rolled his eyes but followed his friend in the direction they both saw Sauvageau and Lennox head: Principal Roeth’s office. Meru acknowledged those around her who greeted her while Aeron nodded and gave a thin-lipped smile. Everyone knew Meru, and everyone knew Aeron Webster was not far behind. He didn’t mind the notion, nor did he care if the notion didn’t exist. He was merely amused by those who surrounded Meru and that she barely paid them any attention. She had told him before that he was the only friend she had, in despite of all the people she was encased with.

And truly, he felt the same way, in despite of his four older sisters.

“Ah, SBVP Lang.” Principal Roeth greeted from the knock against his door. “You seem to be a recent infatuation to discuss.”

“Hello Principal Roeth.” Meru smiled, blatantly ignoring Sauvageau. Until, of course, she noticed Lennox standing beside him. “Oh! Hello Mr. Lennox.”

He smiled politely and adjusted it on Aeron as well. “Hello Aeron.”

Aeron returned the kind gesture before placing himself against the wall. He knew if Meru was asked for her opinion, they wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon. “Well, it seems your hat was confiscated during Mr. Sauvageau’s class, Miss Lang.”

Meru nodded to the accusation. “Yes, Sir, it was.”

“It was a hindrance towards the students.”

Principal Roeth nodded, seating himself comfortably in the leather chair behind the desk labeled with his name. Although his facial features secluded him from his age bracket, it was easily detected in his voice. He had been a Naval Corporal in the military before he retired. The mystery as to why a retired Navy personal become the leading man at a high school would be questionable if it weren’t for the history the school has been through since it opened five years before.

“You know the rules, Miss Lang. However, most of the rules can be overlooked by the superior.” he looked to Sauvageau once Meru nodded apologetically. “Rules are rules. But since the both of you are here, I can allow you to take back your hat. On one condition, Miss Lang.”

From the look in Meru’s eye, it was obvious she had yet to master self-control. That, and a well-strung poker face. She didn’t need to jump up and down to express how gleeful she felt; it was evident in her glassy eyes. “I promise not to wear it in class for the rest of day, and any other day I choose to wear a hat to school.”

Principal Roeth nodded in satisfaction before looking to Sauvageau. He didn’t budge from his stance, but his aura was enough for the Principal to interpret. Nodding in conjunction with Meru’s actions at taking back her hat that lay flat on his desk, Principal Roeth adjourned the minor settlement. Following behind Sauvageau’s exit was Aeron and Meru, whom the latter whispered their triumph over the miniscule matter. Now having his undivided attention focused on Lennox, Principal Roeth gestured to make his thoughts known.

“Well Sir, my presence here also involves Miss Lang.” Lennox stated, seating himself in one of the chairs the others disregarded. “I’m sure I don’t have to explain myself when I ask for the release paperwork.”

Principal Roeth shook his head as he opened one of the many drawers to his desk and withdrew a small stack of papers. “Of course not. But why? I’ve glanced at her recent transcript not too long ago and she seems to be doing fine.”

Removing the paperclips in each pile, Principal Roeth withdrew certain papers before stapling them together and handing them to Lennox. Lennox placed them on his unspoken space of the desk before relaxing into the sleek leather of the chair. “While her work ethic is impressive, her grades are starting to slip. At least in my class. We’ve discussed what she wants out her curriculum before she graduates and in order to help her achieve her goals, I feel she needs extra assistance. For seniors, standardized tests are approaching. Colleges have already begun to approach her.”

“I see nothing wrong. For how long?”

Lennox shook his head and shrugged, squaring his shoulders as he ran his hands over his thighs. “I’m not sure. I would like to have her for three months. The third enrollment for the SATS are December 13th, right before they leave for break, and I would like her to be ready for that. Beyond that, I am willing to help her with the other tests she will surely take.”

Principal Roeth nodded understandably, intertwining his fingers together in his lap. “If you believe she can mature from your added guidance, then by all means. By Tuesday, please return the paperwork to me.”

“Will do Sir.” Lennox stood up and grasped the paperwork in his hands. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Just moments after Lennox left the office, Principal Roeth was slightly surprised to see Meru return. “Hello again, SBVP Lang.”

“Hello again, Sir.” Meru greeted before edging the inside corner of her lip in between her teeth. “I, um, actually would like to donate this.”

She held up her hat before walking across the length of the large office. Meru sorted through the different marked boxes before placing it in the missing and retrieved box. She had wanted to donate something of hers for quite some time. Being years out of practice, it didn’t occur to her until Aeron voiced his obvious distaste for the hat itself. She knew what the hat meant, but she hardly acknowledged the factor. It seemed Aeron acknowledged it every chance he got. Only now he decided Meru come to terms with it, if she hadn’t already. Which, she hadn’t.

“Students in this school are little thieves,” she joked, smirking at the box before turning her back to face her principal. “and I would appreciate it if one of them had something of mine.”

Principal Roeth sat up in his seat to share Meru’s humor. “The hat is of nice quality. I’m sure someone would fancy it.”

“I might even see it on someone’s head by Homecoming.” she chuckled lightly before dipping her head in the slightest. Numerous people have pointed out her tendency, but it was just one of those natural qualities of Meru Lang: respect for others… with the minor exception pertaining Daniel Sauvageau. “See ya later Mr. Roeth.”

“Have a nice afternoon, Miss Lang.”

She walked out of the office with her head held high; delighted that she gave back to the society of her high school, yet deflated that she gave away something that was stripped from her. She was sure Aeron knew how she felt, emotion derived from their minor argument just moments earlier. It wasn’t the fact that she still held some sort of attachment to who gave her the hat, it was just the fact that he gave it to her in the first place. It meant, somewhere deep within their dysfunctional relationship, he was good. He cared enough about her to treasure her with gifts. It was of sentimental value.

Now all she has of Spencer Nixon was the memory.

… and the other gifts she has stowed away under her bed.