Bad Reputation

Bad Reputation (10)

Chapter 10

“Melissa! How could you?” was the words I was greeted by when I walked into the dining room that afternoon.

Mother and father were sitting down in the usual seats. Their shoulders were tensed, their faces scrunched up in disapproval and the food lay untouched at their plates.

This was not a good sign for me.

“Your father called Mr. Hill last night, and asked him if he could talk Reagan into forgiving you for that outrageous behavior you showed on Tuesday. And Mr. Hill, kind man that he is, agreed. Can you believe my shock when I came out of a meeting this morning and was greeted by this voicemail?” she asked me.

I gulped loudly and walked over to my seat. This would be a long lecture, and it would be better if I could sit down while listening to it.

Mother began fiddling with her phone, and soon after, Mr. Hill’s voice came from the other end.

“Hello, Lydia, its Thomas here. It’s been such a long time since we last talked, and I’m sad to say that what I’m not calling for a friendly conversation. I got a call from Reagan today after her first period. My poor girl was in tears as she explained to me how mean Melissa had been to her this morning. My daughter had kindly walked over and offered Melissa a second chance after her outburst on Tuesday, but Melissa did not accept the offer. In fact, Reagan told me Melissa began threatening her. I’m sorry to say, that my daughter does not wish to have any further association with your daughter. I can’t persuade her to try once more, something I fully understand. Goodbye, Lydia.

My mouth popped open sometime during that voicemail, though I’m not sure exactly when.

“That’s not what happened!” I cried.

“Melissa…” mother sighed out loud as she shook her head.

“It’s true! I can explain,” I insisted.

“Melissa, did Reagan or did she not approach you at school today?” father asked.

“She did, but---”

“And did she or did she not offer you a second chance?”

“She did, but dad---“

“And is it not true that you refused her kind offer?”

“It is true, but I didn’t---“

“That’s enough, Melissa. I’ve heard enough from you for today. I think you should take your dinner and go eat in your room.”

I could hear from his tone that this subject was not up for discussion and that he was not interested in hearing my explaination. So I took the plate the cooks had prepared for me and walked up to my room.

I barely left my room that weekend. Mother and father had both locked themselves inside their respective offices, and because of this, I didn’t see them at all. I knew they needed time to cool off, and I needed the time to forget. Forget that they had believed Reagan and hadn’t given me a chance to explain myself. Time to forget that they had meddled in my life when I had no intention of forgiving Reagan. At least not anymore.

The heavy downpour had also ceased over the weekend. The sun was barely peeking out from behind the gray clouds and the temperature had sunk a good ten degrees in the past week.

I left later than usual on Monday. Mother and Father had been out of the house by 6:30, and I may have managed to oversleep.

Okay, I did oversleep. The clock was showing 8:04 when I was finally dragged out of my slumber by a blast of cold air escaping through my open window.