CECE, DISRESPECTFULLY | rewriting

21: BURN THE WITCH

            Diwa pulls me outside and the cold slaps me. A shiver almost yanks my spine out of my body. It's raining globs of sleet that splat onto the forecourt, the temperature barely above zero.

Diwa's hand is warm in mine.

I wrench it free, an easy escape thanks to the sweat of my palms. Her eyes thread with mine. Just two regular eyes. But there's summat strange in them—human, but all the more nauseating for it.

Hatred.

No. Fear. She's afraid of me.

'Stay away from me.' The hiss is sandpaper in my vocal cords. Blood spreads on my tongue.

But Diwa must understand because she don't follow me as I creep the perimeter of the forecourt to get to the back of the school body that tries to shove under the few umbrellas that managed to be grabbed in the panic.

I sit on the soaked tarmac at the edge of the car park. The sleet washes all my sweat off. It cools my head, easing the dizziness and soon my heartbeat too.

None of my organs are failing. There's no infection. There's no fire. There are no termites. No pool, no church, no doctors. Everything's fine.

Everything is fine.

Until a pair of black Air Forces with neon green laces step into my sight. What does he want now? I already let him win once today, does he need to claim a second victory?

'So apparently it were a real fire,' Sakda says. 'You'll take the fall for it, won't you?'

A laugh claws out of my throat. I push myself up to my feet, vision blackening save for the web of Sakda's scar across his nose and mouth. 'Why the fuck would I do that?'

He shrugs. 'I do recall Cobham holding an entire assembly about how he'll expel whoever did the vandalism on the school doors in October. We did live together for three years, Cece, I'm sure I could gather some evidence, and given you're so committed to being a good kid, I'm sure you wouldn't want that.'

Here it is, my punishment. I shouldn't have gone to his party, shouldn't have crossed into his territory.

I shake my head, humourless grin growing. 'And you reckon he won't expel me for starting a fucking fire?'

'Probably will. But you don't trip and paint summat like that. With a fire, you can still plea negligence.'

This is fucking insane. Insane that he has a point. Cobham has already made the threat about the graffiti; he can't go back on his word now or no one will take him seriously again. It'll be anarchy. A school like Isaac Evans requires a reign of terror to operate or there's nowt to stop us from cannibalising each other. I have got better chances with the fire.

Sakda wins again. One more victory and I might end up drowning.

'Since when do you care about breaking rules?' I ask.

'I don't.' His mask thaws and maybe for the first time since we were thirteen, he speaks sincerely. 'It were Adio who started it. His dad would kill him.'

Boyfriend of the fucking year.

'Why don't you take the fall then? That would be the noble thing to do.'

'Why would I when I can make you do it? I consider that killing two flies with one swat.'

I scowl at him one last time before turning away.

Unbothered to go around, I shoulder through the gaggle of pupils. They spit insults at my neck but I shove through until I break out at the front where Cobham is shouting into a megaphone that the fire was put out quickly and the dama were minimal but he'll dismiss us for the rest of the day so the fire crew can ensure the building is safe. Staff will collect our belongings from inside one form group at a time.

I raise my hand and he stutters to a stop in his speech. Lowering the megaphone, he looks at me with the utmost impatience. 'Yes, Mix Velez, is there something you have to say?'

I grin though the gesture is naked without my grillz which I took off to eat and are still in the canteen with the rest of my stuff.

I hope Sakda suffers a horridly painful death.

'I'd like to confess.'

            'What exactly about damage to school property do you struggle to understand?'

Cobham has his face buried in his hands, elbows propped up on his desk. The fire were in one of the boys' lavatories though, luckily for me, it were only now-unidentifiable debris that burnt and the only damage to the building itself came from the smoke. So Cobham can't be that concerned with his budget; it's just being in my presence that gets on his nerves.

I pick at the scab on my middle finger that I managed to puncture with my teeth earlier. 'It were an accident. I'm well sorry.'

Unlike every other time, now I actually mean the apology. Ironic, considering I ain't do shit!

'This is serious. Really serious. Four years you could get for arson if the damages were worse.'

I tear off a chunk of dead skin. I can still bleed if I go deep enough.

Cobham sighs. 'But it would be wrong to pretend as though you haven't made some progress. You did contribute to us winning the first round of maths olympiad and Ms Pathirana reports that you have been attending form every morning. You're doing most of your homework and your detentions actually have gone down significantly. Maybe Miss Atangan has had a good influence on you.'

I bite my tongue to keep myself from laughing. 'Yeah. Definitely. Thank Diwa,' I sigh the way people usually thank God.

'I'm giving you detention every day for the rest of the term unless you've got maths olympiad practice.'

My sarcasm vanishes. 'I'm not expelled?'

'Not this time,' Cobham says, finding an empty detention form and a pen. He don't write yet, cuffing my eyes to his instead. 'But this is your final warning. I need you to understand that, Mix Velez. I really am trying to give you chances here but now you're endangering other kids. You end up in that chair one more time—I don't care for how small of a thing—and I will be expelling you.'

I nod. 'Yeah... Thanks.'

Cobham stays silent as he fills in the slip. I stand.

'Your brother is on his way,' he interrupts. 'He needs to sign your detention form. In my presence, this time.'

I lift my finger to my mouth, gnaw at the scar tissue. 'Is it fine if I wait for him downstairs?'

'Alright.'

I force myself to stay calm as I exit the office and then the staff spaces. Don't run. Don't run yet. But I have no intention of sitting around and waiting for Nicolás.