SCARLET STORMED OUT OF the office, reeling from her inescapable fate. She didn't even bother to wave goodbye to the secretary, although she was probably more concerned with whatever hogged her attention on her computer.
When the door slammed behind her, the sound gratified her. She wanted them to know she was upset.
Out of everything, they chose to subject her to the pure torture of working on a theatre production.
With Lexton Prep no less.
The feud with Lexton Prep meant nothing to her. She could care less, but she did get annoyed when one of those Preppies tried to get under their skin. Just because they had money, better schooling, and a renowned name to follow them forever didn't mean they were better than everyone. And it irked her to have to work with people like that.
Especially when she had a sick mother to tend to.
She grabbed at her hair, not caring that it would look terrifying when she pulled at it. For a moment, she wished she could yank it out. Something to feel other than anger at the stupid play she had to work for.
With her hair over her forehead, covering her line of vision with bits of auburn, she blew a raspberry before brushing it back behind her ear.
She found the school entrance quickly, swallowing hard as she walked the empty halls of Winter Bay. She had never seen it so vacant late in the afternoon. She was normally home by then, checking in on her mother and starting to cook dinner.
Principal Padilla and Ms. Stanford were to blame if her mother had an emergency.
Scarlet pushed open the heavy entrance doors and got hit by an unwelcome wave of heat. She bit back a groan, opting to stop acting like a child having a tantrum. But another part of her wanted to smash a window and key a car.
At the thought, she unzipped her bag to fetch her car keys. She struggled with the mess inside, and everything she owned fell onto the gray pavement. She cursed, loud and clear, and knelt down to retrieve her belongings.
"It doesn't look like it's your day."
Scarlet looked up to find Elliot Casselbury kneeling beside her, gathering together a stack of her school books. "Thanks," she mumbled.
He slapped the top book—her physics textbook of hell—and offered her a small smile. She fought hard not to snap at him for being so calm and collected, but reminded herself that he wasn't going through the frustration of being forced to work for a stupid theatre production.
"What's going on, Scarlet?" he asked. His amber eyes studied her face, and she pushed a strand of her hair that she had pulled earlier behind her ear. "Something happened?"
Scarlet laughed humorlessly, packing up her things inside her bag. "The stupid Principal and Stanford are making me volunteer for some theatre production they're doing."
"That doesn't sound like you're volunteering," Elliot pointed out.
She shook her head, finally zipping back her bag and grabbing her keys. "Want to know what's worse about all this? It's a joint theatre production with none other than Lexton Prep."
"No." He gasped. A goofy, crooked smile spread over his lips, and she had to stop from mirroring him. "It can't be that bad, but I'm sorry you were forced against your will."
Scarlet shrugged. If she denied going to the meetings, then she risked her graduation. The pain was inevitable, so the best she could do was look for the bright side.
She hoped to find it soon.
"Anyway, thanks for hearing me out and for helping me..." She motioned for the now cleared pavement. "I'm sure you have other things to do now, so I'll leave you to it."
YOU ARE READING
Forever Crimson
Teen Fiction"The vultures are disguised as humans." Scarlet Turner has her last semester of high school planned out: graduate as best as she can and take care of her sick mother. But when she's told she won't graduate because of the pile of tardies she's collec...
