Guilty As Charged

Chapter 5

~Tabitha's point of view~

Let's settle this once and for all. I'm absolutely fed up with all these taunts. She deserves to be exposed. If I can't get justice here, I will take it into my own hands, I thought as I sat nervously in front of Principal Griffin. Before I can even realize it, I was in her office, swiftly I looked around to make sure Derek, Alex, and Beatrix were here with me. Principal Griffin paced around in her desk, looking for a pen and pad, not sure what for but it was a typical response to any situation. Including my own. Just keep cool. You are the victim here.

"So, what brings you in here?" She says as she clicked her pen as though she were to be an undercover detective, "Was there an incident of some sort?" she asks. "Yes, I'm being bullied." I finally got it out, "I been bullied since middle school but this time, it was different. The bully threatened to kill me." I say softly so my pounding heart could relax. I can already feel the panic kicking in. I looked up and Derek gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze of comfort.

"What is the bully's name?" Principal Griffin asks as she took notes, "Threatening to kill a student is not tolerated in my school." she mutters. Derek then looked at the principal and added in, "She's bullied me too, ma'am. One of her jock friends tripped me yesterday at lunch. Tabby helped me out too." I gave him a friendly smile before answering the principal's answer, "Her name is Andrea Baxter." I say softly before looking down at my feet.

It was quiet for a few minutes which felt like a lifetime but this kind of process always takes forever. I couldn't wait to see the look on Andrea's face when she get's down here. "Oh, Miss. Baxter. What a shame." I hear the principal say in a wry voice, "I will call her down now." I watched as the kind principal scanned through a list of numbers, presuming that those numbers are the teachers' classroom numbers before punching in one of the numbers for Andrea's classroom number.

I felt a sense of relief. I felt Derek's tight squeeze on my shoulder along with Alex's and Beatrix's. It felt good to do good. Justice has been served. As Principal Griffin made and finishes the call with the teacher, she turns and faces me, "She will be down here shortly, would you guys like anything to drink or snack on?" she offered.

We all shook our heads, Beatrix finally sat beside me until Andrea got here. She gave my hand a tight squeeze, indicating that I'm doing just fine, "You've waited your whole life for this." she says softly as we waited. For the next ten minutes, I sat in my chair, anxiously waiting and for her to arrive, but as she enters the room, her perfume filled the room, instantly making my nose itch, "Hello, I'm Andrea. Andrea Baxter." she said in a fake worry tone, "Is there something wrong?" she asks before walking closer to the chair Beatrix was sitting in.

Beatrix quickly slid out of the chair so Andrea sat down next to me. Her perfume started becoming overwhelming, "Do you have anything other perfume that can't possibly kill someone?" I scowled quietly. Just watching her jump slightly by the sight of me also made me laugh but this was no joking matter. I wanted payback.

"Sit Andrea," says Principal Griffin as she folded her hands in front of me and Andrea sat next to me with a disgusted look. "What's going on?" Andrea asked again in a fake worry tone. I watched as she got uncomfortable because of the guilt she is carrying on her shoulders.

Principal Griffin looked her right in the eye, "Have you been bullying on school grounds?" Andrea bit her lip, "No. Why would I do such a thing? These people are my friends. We always tease each other about everything. Don't we guys?" she asked as she looked over at Derek, Alex, Beatrix and I.

"Because in this school, we do not tolerate bullying and threats. There are serious consequences," Principal Griffin continued. I soon see the true horror in Andrea's eyes, "We always kid around," Andrea says softly, "But I didn't mean to." She says as if she was the victim now.

Principal Griffin held up her hand, I think she had enough of what Andrea was saying, "Andrea, in my 15 years of working as a principal, I have never dealt with a case like this. Therefore, I'm suspending you to out of school suspension for 5 school days. If I see you on these school grounds during those 5 days, I will expel you. Do I make myself perfectly clear?" She says in a stern voice.

Andrea nodded, "Should I grab my things and go?" she asked as rubbed her wrist as she looked at the principal. She knew she was in deep shit. "It's best if you stay here in my office for the rest of the day, I will have someone send me your bag and I will be sure to call your mother and father," Principal Griffin says as she broke eye contact with Andrea and grabbed Andrea's file in the file cabinet, "Tabitha, you are free to go back to class."

Alex stood up, "Um, Principal Griffin? We need passes to get back to class." he said boldly. Apart from every bad guy, there was always a good guy, to begin with. "Oh! That's right! Lunch is over, isn't it?" exclaimed Principal Griffin as she scrambled through her disorganized desk and wrote us each a pass and placed Andrea's file under her arm, "Have a wonderful rest of the day!" she says as we leave her office.

"I feel like a weight has finally lifted off of my shoulders," I say as I looked at my friends, I wondered if they did too. Derek was walking beside me as we walked together down the hall to our next class, he had literature, the college course, and I had art, which happened to be in the same hall as Derek's literature class. Alex walked to a different hall, he had history and Beatrix had math, the hall next to the science hall.

It was a long walk but it was worth it because Derek and I got to talk more and learned more things about each other. Derek began to ruffle his hair to make himself cooler, "So, I was thinking," He started the conversation off, "I think we should have a get together at a bowling alley or something." he says shyly. In my defense, it was the cutest gesture ever, "You know, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. We can bowl, talk, get competitive, and eat pizza," I smiled at him as we got closer to my class, "Well, Derek, this is it, I'll see you after class, yeah?"

He nodded, "Yeah, of course." he laughed as he pulled me in for a hug. Not just any other hug but just a hug that I been dying to have for a while now and it was happening right now. Not to mention, he smelt really good. He then pulled away, "Here," he handed me a small piece of paper, "It has my phone number and email if you ever get lonely," He joked as I got to class, "See ya!" He said and waved. I couldn't help but smile. He is such a complete goofball. 

I soon walked into my art class and handed my hall pass to the teacher, H. Grimms. She gave me a gentle smile, "You must be Tabitha. It's nice to meet you, I'm Miss. Grimms," she says, "I'll be your art teacher every Tuesday and Thursday. Here is your art portfolio and we just finished up writing notes, I don't expect you to get them all done in this class period but you have till next Tuesday to have them done." Great, more notes, I smiled at her before I took my art portfolio and sat at my assigned desk and began writing my notes.