Hopeful and Hopeless

Ten.

"Despite everything, nothing can dictate who you are to other people." -  Prince

Friday, March 23rd, 2018

"YOU'RE NERVOUS, I CAN TELL. Don't be nervous. That just makes me feel even worse." Tilly says from beside me, putting her hand on my knee to stop its shaking.

"I'm not nervous. I'm ready for this. This girl has been bullying you and the school has been ignorant to the whole thing. This is absolutely ridiculous. What a bitch." I mutter, anger rising up in me. I couldn't sleep last night at all. All I could think about was the things that this girl was saying to Matilda. She doesn't know anything about what Matilda has gone through and she has no right to say anything about it.

"The bitch part is true. But don't refer to her like that in the meeting, for my sake." She says and I chuckle. I look around the school reception, an old lady at the front desk speaks on the phone in a hushed voice, glancing up at us every now and then. 

"Miss Atwood?" A man's voice fills my eyes and I snap out of my thoughts, looking in their direction. A man who I guess is Principal Wilkins is stood there in an ugly brown suit. His black hair is greying at the roots and is slicked back with way too much gel.

This will be very interesting, I can already tell.

Matilda and I get up and follow him to his office. The last time I went to the principal's office was when I cut off Ben Lewis' rat tail in year 5. I really hated that kid, he had it coming for him. This time I'm going for a very different reason, I'm the 'parent' in this situation. We get to his office and who I'm guessing is Mr and Mrs Hammond are already sat there, next to their daughter. I look at her and scowl. She looks like a real mean girl.

"Take a seat." Principal Wilkins says and we do, next to the Hammond family. Mrs Hammond looks me up and down, maintaining her posture. Her blonde hair is pulled up into a tight bun and her makeup has obviously been done with a lot of care. Mr Hammond is wearing a slick black suit, his tie is done up perfectly.

"Sorry, before we start." Mrs Hammond intervenes before Principal Wilkins can speak and I try my best not to scoff, "Are this girls parents going to be attending? No offence, you just don't seem fit to handle this situation." She says and I clench my fists, feeling the need to reach over her snobby husband just to smudge her bright red lipstick. That would really offend her. Why in the world do people think that saying no offence before you're literally about to offend someone will make everything better? 'No offence' means nothing! Nothing at all.

"First of all, no, Matilda's parents will not be attending. They are currently unavailable." I don't want to bring up what happened. We shouldn't be treated differently because of what happened to us. "Secondly, this may shock you but yes, I am very very capable and fit to handle this 'situation'." I use quotation marks and Mrs Hammond rolls her eyes. Jessica chuckles from next to her and I scoff. "On that note, can we please get on with this meeting because I have a lot of things to say." I sit back in my chair, relaxing. This is going to be so entertaining.

"Alright," Principal Wilkins says, very taken aback from what just unfolded. God, I've only been in here for 5 minutes and everything is already getting fun. "So, Jessica would you please tell us your side of this story." Of course, she's first.

"Well, Principal Wilkins." The look of amusement leaves her face and she grabs her mothers hand, acting as if she's about to cry. She's a good actress. "I don't know what I have ever done to Matilda. I've always been so friendly with her in the hallways and I thought we were good friends. But I don't know how long ago, but things changed between us. She started making little comments directed at me and laughed. I don't know whether its because she's jealous... or insecure?" She laments. I turn to Matilda and tears are welling at her eyes, she shakes her head and looks at me, just shrugging. Mrs Hammond squeezes her hand tighter and comforts her daughter.