Troublemaker

Chapter One

     Parker sat in the Dean's office with her legs spread apart and her forearms resting on each leg. Her right leg bounced up and down in an impatient manner while she waited for the said Dean to arrive. She absentmindedly fiddled with the fraying edges of her maroon hoodie thinking of all the things that could possibly happen at this new school.

     New schools meant new schemes and pranks. Testing the limits of the teachers and principles just to see how far she could get before getting detention for a year or expelled. There was only one particular reason for Parker's interest in doing these activities and that was so she could read people. Her whole life she'd always been interested in knowing what people think, seeing the signs of the agitation, happiness, aggression.

     Everyone was so inexplicably different and it caught her attention. To her three previous school administers and peers, she was simply a good for nothing troublemaker. Parker couldn't say that anybody really knew her real reason behind her schemes either. She never had any real friends or family that she close enough to tell.

     The sound of the door opening then closing brought Parker out of her thoughts and then there stood the Dean himself.

   "Ms. Robinson, hello I'm Edward Parker, the Dean here at Regis High."

   "Hello sir. Can I just say what an honor it is to finally meet you in person." Parker replied sarcastically, leaning back in the chair with her legs still placed evenly apart.

     The Dean let out a small chuckle, his stomach moving along with the sound. Edward Parker was a tall black man with gentle eyes. Although Parker could tell that there was a low tolerance look right below the surface.

   "Ms. Robinson I'm going to tell you this once, I don't tolerate much in terms of behavior and your current track record isn't playing in your favor. So I suggest you have some respect when talking to me and the other adults around campus. Am I making myself clear?"

"Yes sir, sorry sir." Parker mumbled, glancing away from the Dean.

"Now we don't currently have any rooms empty, otherwise we would be putting you in there because of a certain lack of trust I have in some of these boys. So I've done my best to narrow it down to the best boys who are likely not to bother you too much. There's two rooms just take you pick."

     Dean slid a paper over to the young girl along with pen, patiently waiting for her to sign her name under one of the rooms. Parker read carefully the names of the boys, one specifically catching her eye, J. Trotta. She wasn't sure why that specific name intrigued her, but it did and that's where she signed.

"Ah, I wasn't too sure about offering that room, but Dr. Gould convinced me that Joseph is a good kid. I find it debatable but nevertheless I took his advice."

Parker nodded her head and stood up grabbing her bag, wanting nothing more than to get out of Dean's office and get away from the mans kind, talkative aspects. Parker didn't do kind, she struggled her whole life with returning the kindness that other people shared towards her but she could never quite get it right. So she stopped being nice and resorted back to sarcastic comments and pranks as a form of escape from the swirling abyss that was her emotions.

She was a hurricane inside, trapped by never ending walls that were impossible to break down despite the roughest of storms. There wasn't an emotion strong enough that Parker could conjure up that would so much as crack those walls.