To Know You

Chapter Ten

~Chapter Ten~

My friends and I met up before classes started and I told them everything that happened at the boutique regarding the robbery, while Penny listened in over the phone from the hospital parking lot. They were all in awe and shock at finding out what I had just been through the day prior and are all calling me a badass for how I handled being literally put at gunpoint.

I didn't really do much, though. I just followed his orders and prayed he wouldn't accidentally pull the trigger.

Penny apologized profusely through the phone as if it were her fault and could have foreseen the terrifying incident. And, if she had been with us, she would probably strangle me to death with the sheer force of her apology hug. Maybe that would've been a good thing, though, because she would have distracted me from my shakiness and remaining underlying fear.

Anyways, I made sure she understood that I'm okay, that Delilah is okay, and that it definitely was not her fault that it happened. I even told her that I would cover for her again if she needed me to while she stayed with her brother.

I think it relieved her to hear that.

Now, I sit in art class putting the finishing touches on my painting. The excitement to finally be finished is building up now, and I am officially in pure concentration mode from this point on until the end of the period.

Well, at least now that I have my earbuds in my ears.

I mean, who could concentrate with the endless stream of verbal diarrhea coming from the girls in front of me? They are gushing over this new boy band that's putting on a free concert at the park and I had heard enough of it to last me a lifetime. They're apparently super excited, considering they've been going on about it for the past hour, and good for them, but I'm tired of it... hence the loud music.

Over the music, however, I hear the classroom phone ring and quickly glance up to see the teacher walk over to answer it.

I look back down at my painting, using the tiny paintbrush to smooth out a small section of Reggie's hair, when I'm interrupted again. "Casey?" the teacher says, gaining my attention, and I stop painting all together and pull my earbuds out of my ears, awaiting what will happen next. "You're wanted in the office," she informs me, looking at me with judgement as if to say what the hell did you do to get called down to the office, but I ignore it.

I also ignore it when the whole class turns to look at me and lets out a low 'ooh' at the thought I might be in trouble. Apparently I'm not known to be a trouble maker--but I thought we were past this kind of stuff. 

Standing up slowly as to not knock my painting over, I roll my eyes and grab my phone before sauntering out of the classroom into the hallway.

The stroll up to the office makes the nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach grow significantly, but I immediately relax when I notice the two police officers from the day before standing with the principal in the corner of the room and speaking in hushed tones about something.

I walk through the heavy door and stand awkwardly by the secretary's desk, waiting to be noticed. After a few moments, the officers and principal turn to face me and walk over in telepathic agreement to greet me.

"Hi Casey, good to see you again," the female officer says with a curt smile as she removes a stray strand of hair out of her eyes that got loose from her short ponytail.

"We just stopped by to update you about the progress we've made since yesterday," the male officer chimes in and puts out a hand to signal for us to go somewhere more private to talk, to which I nod my head in agreement.