Confessions of a Queen B*

Untitled Part 52

"Have a seat, Ms. Wyndham."

"Listen, I don't know why you've called me here, but it's interfering with my academic achievement, and I don't appreciate you keeping me from the stimulating discussions in health class." I sat down, crossed my legs, and waited for him to respond to my opening argument.

He merely narrowed his eyes and seemed to take even longer to return to his chair. "Will you please check your attitude at the door?"

"I'm here to learn, Mr. Lee, not twiddle my thumbs outside your office."

"I could suspend you."

"For what? Being a voracious student?" I smiled sweetly, daring him to. I could use a vacation from this place. But just to cover my bases, I reached into my pocket and hit the record button on my phone. If I was going to take the heat for this, I wanted everything documented.

"No, for this." He tapped his computer screen that displayed my blog post. "If word gets out about this to the local media-"

"Are you suggesting I don't report the truth?"

"I'm suggesting you keep your stories to subjects that do not slander our school."

I pulled out my notepad and started scribbling notes. If he wanted to play hardball, I'd give him something to sweat about. "So you're saying I should censor my blog?"

"No, I'm not saying that."

"But you are restricting my First Amendment rights to free speech." I scribbled some more notes. I already knew what next week's blog post would be about.

"Put your pen down, Ms. Wyndham, and answer my questions." His voice darkened. He was playing bad cop, and there wasn't a good cop in sight to rescue me.

I set the notepad in my lap. "Ask away, Mr. Lee."

"How long have you known about those videos?"

"They first came to my attention last week. One of the victims was quite traumatized to discover them."

"And why didn't you bring it to my attention then?"

"Because I wanted to handle it." I shifted in my seat and re-crossed my legs.

A bead of sweat rolled down his temple. "No, because you wanted to make me look like an idiot, just like you did my predecessor."

"No offense, Mr. Lee, but you do a good job of doing that on your own if you have no idea what's being posted about your school on YouTube."

I was pushing his buttons, and I enjoyed it. It seemed my Queen B powers weren't limited to just the student body. And based on the way the conversation was heading, I knew what he'd eventually ask. However, I was still trying to decide how much information to give him when the moment came.

He blotted his forehead with a tissue. "I want you to remove this post."

I picked up my notepad again. "And we're back to censoring the presses."

"No, I'm trying to protect the reputation of this school."

"Correction-you're trying to protect your reputation as principal of this school."

He pointed a shaking finger at the screen, his face paling with each word. "If there is any truth to your allegations-"

"And there is."

"-I'm going to have to answer to the school board about this."

"Probably not a bad idea, especially considering how easy it was for the person to use the school's network to record and upload videos from the girls' locker room." I decided to play up the moment, steering the conversation away from Principal Lee's wounded pride and toward a solution. "As a female student of Eastline High, I have never felt more violated in all my life, and I wasn't even one of the women featured in the videos."