Flawed (s.m.)

018.

There wasn't a groan loud enough in the history of humankind that could possibly express my frustration at the moment. I sat in Principal McKinney's office, my leg nervously bouncing up and down as I avoided the old man's gaze. Mr. McKinney was a great guy and I was so thankful to have him as a principal, but that didn't stop me from being at least a little ticked that he was actually agreeing with my psychotically protective mother right now.

Here's the run-down: Mom found out about the trouble I've been getting from Sam and his friends, and now, she wanted to pull me out of school. And she wasn't taking no for an answer, no matter how hard I fought against the idea.

"I can't say that it hasn't been noticed by some of our faculty that a few of the boys have been picking on Audrey lately," my principal explained. He folded his hands, one over the other, on top of his mahogany desk. I peeked up at him through my mascara-clad eyelashes, only to see him giving me a sympathetic look over the rims of his vintage glasses. My mom's eyebrows knitted together in confusion as she looked over at me.

"Boys?" she questioned, looking back over at Mr. McKinney. "But why only the boys?"

"Well, lately, the girls have been starting in on her, too. But I've heard that Miss Audrey here had some sort of meltdown at a --" I cut him off, appalled that he was willing to gossip so freely.

"Frank!" I exclaimed, addressing him by his first name as I shot up in my chair. Before, I really didn't care to be sitting in here as my back slumped against the back of the uncomfortable chair, but now I was in utter shock of how much this old dude knew. "Can we not?" I pleaded, taking on a defensive down.

"I'm sorry, Audrey. I'm afraid that Ken-," he stopped mid-sentence. "I mean, a fellow student was worried about you. I can't help but agree with your mother."

"Kenny?" was the only reply I could think of, my mouth hanging agape in disbelief.

"I'm not at liberty to tell you wh--"

"Holland..." I hissed, my eyes narrowed. I made a mental note to castrate him later. Who the hell did he think he was?

"Audrey Ann!" my mother raised her voice. "It is Mr. McKinney to you, not Frank. Gosh, what ever happened to your manners?" She shook her head before refocusing her attention on my principal. "You were saying?"

Mr. McKinney formed a tight line with his lips, his eyes filled with worry as his attention focused on me. "Would you like to explain, Audrey?" I sighed, troubled by the fact that I even had to tell my mother about this. I slid down in my chair and brought my hands up to my face for a brief moment before bringing them back down to my lap with  a slight smacking sound.

"I went to a party," I started, barely tilting my head to look up at my mom.

"Well, of course you did," she remarked. My features fell into an expression that told her she wouldn't be forgiven if she interrupted again. Sometimes, these situations made me feel like the mother.

"Anyways," I continued, keeping my voice monotone to show how unimpressed I was. "And a lot of people were there. I was hanging out with the Jacks and.. I don't know, I guess I had too much to drink. Somehow, I ended up telling everyone that I only have a little while left." I kept my explanation vague, making sure to leave out the fight between Sam and Gilinsky and the fact that Shawn was there. Shawn was the golden boy in my mom's eyes, and I really didn't want to ruin that. It was one of the only things we agreed on, considering that I thought he was pretty golden too. Gag.

"Oh no, Audrey," she cooed, reaching over to rub my arm gently. "Was it that Wilkinson boy?" I stayed quiet. I was never really one to rat people out, and I didn't want my mom in my business more than she already was. "Why would people make fun of you for this?"