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“Your brat happened to me,” Laura says.
“My brat?”
“Storm. She laid in wait for me and she pelted me with an arsenal of snowballs before sledding away before I could catch her. It isnotfunny!”
Laura adds the last part of the sentence as Jane’s lips start to quirk ever so slightly into what might be considered a smile.
“She is disrespectful, she is disruptive, and she is unappreciative of the opportunities she is being given. This is one of the finest institutions in the world. And she is practically…” Laura pauses searching for the word in English. “Feral.”
“Are you hurt?” Jane changes the subject slightly. “Come and warm up.”
“No, I’m not hurt. One schoolgirl with a snowball cannot hurt me,” Laura says, her pride clearly wounded. She turns her head away, and there is a mark on her face, a scrape of some kind under her eye as if she might have slipped while attempting to give chase.
“I think that might bruise,” Jane says, frowning slightly. “Let’s put some ice on it.”
“I don’t want ice. I want you to do your job and get that girl under control.”
Jane is not used to such robust feedback. Yes, Storm can be difficult, but she is not usually bad. But Laura is clearly upset, and on that level she is very concerned. Silence draws out between them as Jane attempts to formulate something to say that will not make things worse.
“I’m sorry,” Laura says after a moment. “You are very good at your job. That girl. She is under my skin. I do not usually have to interact with the students so much, and they are usually pleasant.”
“This isn’t acceptable,” Jane says. “She will not get away with this. I promise you that. She is not allowed off the grounds, and she is obviously not allowed to assault faculty, even with snowballs.”
“She will pretend to be innocent with you, you know that, don’t you. She’s a terror.”
“Terrors must be faced,” Jane says wisely. “And she cannot have gone far. It is almost lunchtime.”
* * *
Lunchtime is indeed Storm’s downfall. No sooner does she enter the dining room than one of the prefects hands her a note.
She bites her lower lip as she reads the note.
My office. Now. — SJ.
She does not like it when Miss Strict is terse. It makes her feel very guilty, and she has no intention of feeling guilty because as far as she is concerned, she has done absolutely nothing wrong.
Storm tries her best to look innocent as she enters Jane’s office. Her hair is curling in the places it got wet from the snow, but other than that there’s no evidence of her recent shenanigans. Maybe she can deny them? No. That would be a lie, and Storm really hates lying.
She draws in a sharp breath as Jane turns toward her. She appears to have been waiting impatiently. Her hair, quite often up during the school week is down, a dark flowing mane that frames her features and heightens the sudden sense of guilty fear that floods Storm’s body, even though she had promised herself she wouldn’t feel bad.
“There was an altercation between you and Ms König.”
“Ohhhh. Nah. It was just a couple of snowballs. Just a prank.” She smiles a little, not too much, not enough to come across smug, just enough to be a kind of calming signal.
Storm hopes like hell Jane buys this little act. Her entire plan of getting away with it depends on Jane being lenient, because it all sounds very funny. It’s quite a gamble, but Laura needed to be told what was what. She couldn’t be allowed to just go around talking shit.
“You know pranks come with consequences.”
Storm looks at Jane with the most innocent gaze she can muster, a hint of surprise with a side of concern. The next words out of Jane’s mouth justify that concern.
“Laura, could you come in please.”
The door opens behind Storm, and Laura walks in.
She’s trapped. Laura is behind her. Jane is in front of her. This is worse than a rock and a hard place. She would give anything to be stuck between a rock and a hard place in this moment.
Storm swings around to face Laura, her heart sinking when she sees the bruise under Laura’s left eye. Hell. She didn’t intend for anybody to get actually hurt. It had just seemed like a funny way to make a point, and she fucking loves funny ways to make a point.
