His brows furrow, and he narrows his eyes at me. “Ms. Quinn, is there some reason you don’t want me looking in your locker?”
“No. I just want to know why mine is being searched but no one else’s is.”
“Step aside, please.” He reaches for my locker door.
I move out of the way and watch as he takes out my books, one by one, flipping through them as if he thinks I’ve hidden something in the pages.
“Hey, Ella.”
I immediately recognize the deep voice, dripping with arrogance, and look over at Briggs walking by, giving me a wink and a smile.
I fucking hate him. I can’t believe he’d stoop this low. Making me an outcast at school wasn’t bad enough? He hasto get me arrested and ruin my life? Just so he can be valedictorian? If he’s seriously going to take it to this level, I might just have to give him the stupid title. I want to be valedictorian, but I’m not giving up college and my entire future to do it.
“What’s in here?” Principal Perkins holds up a blue plastic pencil case.
“Just some supplies.”
By supplies, I mean tampons, some pads, and acne cream for those times when a giant zit the size of a crater decides to show up on my face the minute I arrive at school.
Principal Perkins tries to open the box, but the latch is stuck. He yanks on it so hard it pops open, and a tampon flies out, landing in the middle of the hall. Right in front of James.
Just when I thought this day couldn’t get any worse.
James looks over at me, then back at the tampon by his feet. He steps over it and continues down the hall as my face turns what I’m guessing is a deep shade of red.
“Sorry about that,” Principal Perkins says, shutting the box. He puts it back in my locker. “Well, everything appears to be fine.”
“I don’t do that stuff,” I tell him. “I’ve never even touched it.”
“I didn’t think so.” He folds his arms over his chest. “But you never know. Sometimes when people your age are unsure where they fit in, unable to make friends for whatever reason... they turn to substances to make themselves feel better.”
“That’s not what I’m doing. And Idohave friends.” I’d like to add that the reason I don’t fit in here is because of Briggs, but I’d probably get detention for daring to say something negative about the school’s Golden Boy.
Principal Perkins rubs his hand over his jaw, his eyes now down by my feet. “I should probably check that too, just in case.”
He’s looking at my backpack. Shit!
“I’m going to be late to class,” I tell him.
“This won’t take long.” He motions to my backpack. “Give it here.”
If he finds the drugs, I’m done. Everything I worked for is gone, just like that.
“You want to fight me?” someone yells.
I look over and see Finn shoving a guy in the hall. It’s Lars, one of the soccer players. He’s a junior and trying to become the next Finn by sleeping with as many girls as he can. He’s okay looking, but nothing special. He gets girls by knowing what to say to get them in bed. And he has an Australian accent, which girls seem to love.
“Go ahead and try, fucker!” Finn shoves him again.
“Boys!” Principal Perkins races over to them, grabbing Finn and holding him back. “Stop it, right now!”
“He came afterme,” Lars says. “I was just trying to get to class.”
“You’re a fucking liar!” Finn yells at Lars, who’s standing there, calm and collected, which makes Finn even angrier. “You ever take my shit again I’ll—” He stops, his jaw working side-to-side.
“I think you need some time to settle down,” Principal Perkins says, keeping hold of Finn as he leads him away.
Charlotte appears beside me. “What happened?”
