AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She wasn’t in class today,” I shrug.
“At least we didn’t have any trouble,” Sister Ivy snorts. “Has she been good in your class?”
“It could be better,” I mumble as I bring a glass of water to my lips.
“We all have the same problem, believe me. She once broke every single piece of chalk in my class because I asked her to come to the board.”
“She carried a church candle all the way to my classroom just so I could watch her burn her notebook,” another sister intervenes. “She even said, ‘watch it burn with the flames of hell.’”
I have to press my lips together not to laugh at what she did. She’s a little minx but her ideas are original.
“She had the last male teacher we had fired,” Sister Ivy adds.
“She did?” I ask surprised. So she really has it in her.
“It was just before she escaped. She somehow smuggled enough marijuana in his case that we believed he intended to distribute it to the girls. He was fired, of course, and we learned a while later that it had been Haley’s doing. She was punished for it, and we offered the teacher to come back but he refused. I don’t blame him.”
“That seems extreme compared to everything else. Did he do anything?”
“Do any of us do anything?” Sister Mary snorts. “No, she’s such a horrible girl.”
“She tried to say he touched her inappropriately.” Sister Ivy shakes her head in disappointment.
My heart accelerates from the information.
“Did he really do it?” I wonder out loud.
“Of course not,” Sister Ivy snaps a little too hard. “He was a good man. A good Christian. He probably asked her to do her homework herself and she couldn’t stand it. She’s a spawn of Satan and she has no place here.” She does the sign of the cross and goes back to her plate.
Some heads bob up and down, agreeing with her before they start eating again. They all hate her. She’s just a troubled girl. Isn’t that what this place is for? What did they expect?
“Mr. Hayes, if Haley Stewart ever causes too much trouble, there are ways to deal with her,” Moore intervenes.
And don’t I know it. Although I don’t think my ways are the same as the headmistress.
“You can always tell her she’ll be sent to my office. That seems to calm her down. And if it doesn’t, do send her.” A sadistic smirk spreads on her lips. “That definitely handles her for a couple of weeks.”
Sister Ivy chuckles into her glass, like she knows why and she’s happy about it.
I do my best to not let my mouth twist in disapproval. I’m somehow okay with using the girl’s body, but not with whatever Moore does to her that makes Haley so scared of her.
“I’ll keep that in mind, thank you,” I lie.
Father Santo gets up and smiles at all of us, “I’m finished thank you. Have a good evening everyone.”
The moment he’s gone, Moore gets up from her seat and claps her hands. All the girls automatically stop talking and turn to her.
“You may go to your dormitories to change into your nightgowns. We will see all of you at evening prayer at seven sharp. Don’t forget to bring your plates to the kitchen. Miss Stewart, you’re on washing duty tonight.”
Chairs scrape against the floor as I watch Haley’s face fall. I don’t know if it’s because of what Moore just said or because she just noticed me sitting at the table.
“I’ll see you all at the meeting in ten minutes,” Ms. Moore adds to us before leaving the room.
There’s a fire in Haley’s eyes as she watches Moore leave the room. Their hatred is clearly mutual.
The meeting only lasts the forty-five longest minutes of my life. I’m free to go after that, but I hang around like a creep while I can hear them all praying in the chapel. I just want to see Haley. To talk to her and hear her version of life in this school.
Why? I’m not sure.
