Unexpected

Suspension

“I would do anything for my sister.” I stared defiantly into the eyes of the miserable, graying woman sitting before me. Her eyes were as dull as the once white wall behind her, now a sludgy gray-brown colour, reflecting the students emotions to this school they were forced into. I crossed my arms, I didn’t care about whatever ridiculous punishment she was going to give me, I had done the right thing and I knew that I had. I would take whatever she’d give me, and if I was faced with the same situation again I would have done exactly the same thing without thinking. 

“Very well and that is completely understood but we cannot tolerate violence in our school, we have standards to uphold here at Bridgewood High. I think you need to make an apology to Grace, don’t you?” She smiled her agonising smile, showing her lipstick stained teeth and tried to look superior. Her arms in their prissy blue blazer, rested upon the expensive glass desk, annoyingly tapping each fake fingernail against it. You know it’s bad when older people wear fake nails, I mean I know there’s freedom of expression but come on. I laughed loudly and mockingly, she seriously wanted me to apologize to Grace? And she didn’t understand at all, the only thing that she understood was that I hit one of the popular girls. They constantly bullied the shy people, including me, and they sometimes hit shy kids and they never got punished for it, it was dismissed as an accident just because they are the popular people, they run this school. That’s how everything is run, by the more perfect people, the one’s that everybody likes. But of course violence absolutely cannot be tolerated.

She stared at me in disbelief, probably wondering where on earth my manners were. They left me as soon as my sister was made fun of. By a girl whose name suggests peace and gracefulness, however she was anything but those things. She was one of those annoyingly perfect girls, she had clear skin and a toned body from dancing and her blonde hair was always exactly how she wanted it, without a hair out of place and she didn’t need makeup, she was just flawless. She had perfectly straight teeth and she’d never needed braces, her eyesight was perfect. She was incredibly popular, but not because everybody liked her, because everybody feared her, and they wanted the popularity that came with being Grace Darkin’s friend. They knew that it was better to be her friend than her enemy. But that’s how everyone is perceived isn’t it? Noone ever looks past physical appearances, they just cradle the people who look like our idea of “perfect”, no matter what they are actually like. Grace certainly didn’t have a perfect personality, she was cold and spiteful, she had always hated me for some reason, even though I had deliberately stayed out of her way and not said anything to her. I guess I was just a hateable person. I could live with that, and she had always said things to me which I had never retaliated but simply ignored. But saying those things about my little sister? That I couldn’t tolerate. 

“No. I don’t. I refuse to apologize for defending my younger sister.” A glare was met by my remark, and I flashed her a fake smile. She continued to tap those fake nails agonizingly, muttering to herself. She closed her eyes and sighed, I was very tempted to just walk straight out of the door and never come back.

“Forget your reasons you should not have retaliated to whatever she was saying to you. You gave her a reaction like she wanted and that is not how we operate here Allison and you should know that. We’ve never had a problem with you before and what happened was entirely unnecessary.” I stood up and slammed my hands on the table, startling Mrs Devil Hades so much that she pushed one of her nails into the glass desk and it snapped off. She didn’t dare look away from my gaze, only brushed her hand absent-mindedly.

“I don’t care if I broke her nose, I’ve been wanting to do that to Grace for years. You class it as violence? I class it as retaliation, as revenge. She taunts me and mocks me with her friends every day and she has done so since I was seven years old. I tried not to care but I will not apologize for defending my sister. She deserved it. And people like Grace constantly bully people and hit them, yet it’s always classed as an “accident” but no it’s not an accident it’s cruel and it’s bullying and it shouldn’t be allowed,” I slumped back in my seat and she stared at me in disbelief. A listener she was not, and when things didn’t go her way it made her furious. She sighed deeply, one of those sighs that only adults seem to be able to do, it’s a sigh that say “whatever you say sweetie but I’m still right” it’s a sigh that says “okay dear you have your opinion but I’m an adult and you are not and therefore you are wrong.” I vowed that when I had children, they would be treated with respect and understanding, I’d always listen to them and value their opinion, and never make that infuriating sigh.