Asked to Compromise

On Monday morning I was called to the main office during first period. The secretary typed away at the keyboard while telling me that Sanders wanted to see me. She glanced up at me a few times as if to check to make sure I was still there. Finally, she stood up and smoothed down her pencil skirt, motioning me to follow her.

“You rang?” I asked sarcastically once the secretary let me into Sanders’ office. I plopped down into the chair in front of his desk. It was the same chair that I sat in on my first day.

“You’re the last of your friends that I have to deal with today,” He said, leaning forward in his office chair and folding his hands.

“So…” I dragged out the word. “This is about Saturday night then.”

“You’re quite intuitive,” He said calmly, staring at me to intimidate me. “Mr. Sullivan explained to me that you had been high and you had this.” He pulled a can of spray paint from his desk drawer.

“We were just having fun,” I shrugged nonchalantly to piss him off.

“That might have been fun back at home, but you’re here on my campus now,” He said harshly. “My school, my rules.”

“I don’t even know where Eric got the weed from,” I said defensively. “And I wasn’t even going to use that paint. I stole it, because, I-fuck, I forgot why I stole it.”

“You’re telling me you stole this?” He asked, his voice rising. “Keep talking so I can create a bigger list of punishments. You put your foot in your mouth, Priscilla.”

“So what are my punishments then? Don’t drag this out,” I said bluntly, rolling my eyes.

I’d rather just get straight to it so I could get out of here. As long as Haner didn’t make me run around the track a thousand times I could handle detention and not going out on the weekends.

“Well, it’s pretty close to Thanksgiving and I’d hate to now have to inform your parents that you won’t be allowed to return home for this break,” He said and I could have sworn he smirked.

“What? You can’t do that! They’re allowed to bring me back home on breaks if they want to!” I yelled as if I was quoting the law.

“Priscilla, your parents contacted me on Friday morning,” Sanders explained. “With this stunt, I’ll have to tell them that you simply can’t be trusted to be back to environment you’re used to.”

“They- what?” I said, my voice dropping.

I’d gone two months without speaking to either of them since they sent me here. I wondered if Mom and Dad really called Sanders because they wanted me back home. If they did actually call him, I knew that I unknowingly blew the opportunity on Saturday night. That was the opportunity to see my parents, and my friends, and to make sure that my parents never sent me back after break was over. I fucking missed the opportunity to go home.

“I’ll call them once we’re done here and I’ll also work out a suitable punishment for you over Thanksgiving break,” He said.

I bit the side of my tongue to hold back the tears that I think were from anger or the fact that I’d been a complete dumbass on Saturday. I turned away from Sanders as I felt my eyes start to water. I wasn’t about to let him see me cry as I turned on my heel and headed straight through his office door.