At that moment, two things dawned upon Jane Bender. One, she really needed a smoke, and two, the chairs in the main office were very uncomfortable. A piece of turquoise hair fell in Jane's eyes, but the generally apathetic sophmore made no move to fix it. She just sat there, awaiting the principle.
She imagined now what would happen when she would go home to face her father after this. It would probably go as it always did.
"Why did you do it?" He'd sigh.
"Because I wanted to." She'd reply.
He'd shake his head and look at her with a deep disappointment, then excuse himself to go to bed early, mumbling something like, "Have to be at work early.." Or some other bullshit excuse. Jane knew her father loved her, but she also knew he resented her, and she was a constant disappointment. That's the way it'd always been. Jane didn't care about anyone but her father, and he had cleaned himself up for her, but imagine his disappointment when his daughter turned out just like him. Apathetic, violent, a real troublemaker with no regard for the rules.
"Bender, in here, NOW." The principal's shrill voice called out, snapping Jane back to reality,
She dragged her feet when walking into the tiny room, and even the thick tension in the air couldn't break Jane's ever present "I'm so bored" look.
"Jane Bender, where do I begin..." The principal, Ms.Thwaites said, a fake syrupy sweetness to her voice.
Jane popped her gum, "How about you just cut the crap and yell at me or something."
The principal looked up, slapped Jane's file down and said, "No, I don't think I'll yell. Yelling doesn't affect malcontents like you who don't care about anything."
Jane rolled her eyes.
"I'm just going to tell you the truth."
Jane rolled her eyes even more dramatically and sighed.
"People like you never amount to anything. You'll end up in a dead end job, or a trailer park, probably pregnant and alone. You'll die alone and with nothing to your name. You will never be anything, Jane Bender, your father was nothing, you will be nothing, your children will be nothing, you will just be another forgotten name because no one cares about you, and you mean nothing." Ms.Thwaites said, not breaking her gaze as she said that, and when she was done, dismissed Jane with a, "You can go now."
Jane fought to keep her composure, the unreleased anger boiling in her veins. She threw open the door and stomped out of the office, breathing heavily and trying not to explode right in the school lobby.
There was no way she was going to class, what she needed right then was a smoke and she whipped around to change her current course when she smashed right into someone, sending both of them tumbling to the ground.
"Watch where you're going!" She yelled, instinctively getting defensive and rubbing her head.
"Oh my god, are you alright?" A male voice said, and as her vision cleared, she realized he was trying to help her up.
He wasn't overly attractive, but he sure as hell wasn't ugly. He was wearing a batman t-shirt and blue jeans, boots and a backpack was slung over his shoulder. He had short, dark brown hair and fairly light skin, and beautiful sparkly eyes that were now full of concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine.." Jane mumbled, helping herself up and turning her blushing face away.
"I'm really sorry about that, I should've been watching." He said, smiling at her and blushing a little as well.
"It's fine, don't worry about it.."
"Hey, I haven't seen you around before, are you new?"
"Nope, just constantly in the office or not in class." She shrugged.
"Oh, alright. Well I'm Carson Standish." He smiled, "And you?"
"Jane Bender, now if you'll excuse me I really need a smoke." She said, going to turn away from the perfect angel in her presence.
"Hey wait up!" He yelled, walking after her.
She turned around.
"Mind if I join you?" He asked sheepishly.
She sighed, then smiled. "Alright."
And they walked outside together.
