Don't Let Him Get You

Chapter 14

At the end of the school day, Kiara stood at her locker with her friends, gathering her things before heading to detention.

"Do you want us to wait for you and then we can all hang out?" Alisson asked sweetly as she placed her hand on Kiara's upper arm.

Kiara shook her head. "Since there's no rehearsal today, you guys can just head home. I really just want to stay home today."

"We understand," Dani reassured.

Kiara smiled back gently before walking to the Chemistry classroom where she was to serve out her detention. As they watched Kiara walk away from them with slumped shoulders, they all felt overwhelmed with the feeling of resentment.

"This is so stupid," Devon said. He crossed his arms and leaned against the lockers.

Austin nodded his head and tucked his hands into his jean pockets. "I don't understand how she is the one who is punished when she clearly didn't cheat."

"Principal Hughes just has a huge stick up his ass." Dani grumbled.

"Yeah, it's called Marissa." Kat scowled. "She is getting on my last nerve. Kiara has been here barely two months and is already being bullied for being smarter."

Austin scoffed. "I'd find it funny that the one doing the bullying is another nerd if it wasn't so serious."

"We should head out," Garrett sighed. "Let's call her later, maybe she's changed her mind about hanging out after detention."

**

Kiara knocked on Ms. Walters' door and stepped in. "Ah, Kiara. I'm so sorry that you have to go through this. It's absolutely ridiculous. And if anyone is showing favoritism, it's that old sack we call a principal." Ms. Walters ranted as she aggressively stapled some papers together.

Kiara stifled a laugh. "It's alright. We can't really do anything else about it."

Ms. Walters smiled back. "You're too kind." She picked up a stapled package and placed it on one of the desks. "I wish I could just pretend that you re-wrote the test and give you the original mark you had, but Mr. Hughes said he would look over the test—as if he would understand anything. Stupid principal can't even see that you got a 95 while Marissa's grade is lower; if you cheated, why would your grade be higher?" She huffed out.

Kiara smiled as she sat down at the desk and looked down at the new test. "Did you have to make up a new test?"

"No, I used the one from the other class. Well, you know the rules and you can start now. You have an hour to finish."

Kiara took out her pencils and calculator before getting started on the test. This one seemed to be easier than the one she had written before. Ms. Walters continued grading the previous day's tests. Occasionally, she glanced up to watch Kiara.

Her hand sped across the page as she wrote down the necessary information. Even while using the calculator, Kiara wrote down everything, making sure to show all the steps in case she went wrong somewhere. Ms. Walters smiled as she watched Kiara's lips move while she recited the different laws and information.

Kiara finished the test and looked it over twice. She put it on the corner of her desk and looked up at the clock. It was now 4:30 meaning there was fifteen minutes left.

"Done?" Ms. Walters asked as she stood beside Kiara's desk. After Kiara nodded, Ms. Walters took the test to her desk and looked it over. "Since there's a couple minutes left, I'll mark it now so you know how you did and then you can go home. Do you need to call anyone to pick you up?"