Nocens High

Lying to the Principle

"Hey did you hear?"

"About what?"

"About Mr. Whittle!"

Whispers filled the halls of Nocens High. Gossip hungry teens stood outside their classrooms in various clumps absorbing every little information.

"Yeah I did! I heard one of the students cracked and finally beat him to a bloody pulp!"

"Uh, I wish I was the one who did it. I would've mutilated his face so that no one would be able to recognise him."

"Yeah, but your too chicken to do it."

"What did you say?!" A little fight broke out.

"I wonder who did it?"

"Aurelia Bennet!"

The whispers stopped. All eyes turned to gaze at the two figures walking down the hall, but more specifically the short blond haired girl. Aurelia stiffened at all the attention focused at her. She smiled uneasily at the crowd of delinquents.

"Uh hello?" she stuttered questionably. Whispers broke out again.

"Are you kidding? It couldn't have been her!"

"She looks so weak!"

"Yeah! It was probably Max. He was there right?"

Max groaned as all the attention transferred to him. He sighed, "Great. Now they all think it's me."

Aurelia chuckled. "See? Underestimation," she said, "They never suspect a thing so when they come at me I will blow them away. An easy win."

"Right, well if I get in trouble, you better think of something," said Max.

"Alright, alright," said Aurelia. They stopped to see a teacher blocking their path. Aurelia bowed her head in respect. "Good morning sir," she smiled. Max just stood there frightened, knowing it's time to pay for the Mr. Whittle accident that was unknowingly blamed on him.

"Max Chase and Aurelia Bennet. You two are to report to the principle's office immediately," stated the teacher. Max gulped in nervousness and desperately stared at Aurelia. Aurelia waved him off and continued to the principle's office.

***

The principle. What is the man that governs Nocens High, one of the schools with the highest delinquency rates like? One of the many questions that swarms a person's mind. Was he ridiculously buff with scars all over him? Did he have menacing eyes that could immediately freeze all the students with one look? Was he one of those intimidating figures that brought shivers to a person with just a mention of his name? Well, Max and Aurelia were about to see for themselves. Now, just a flimsy door stood in their way. Max opened it with his sweating hands. The first thing he saw brought a scowl to his face. Stood by the corner, smirking, was Mr. Whittle. Aurelia grinned. It was Mr. Whittle, but a beaten up Mr. Whittle with bandages wrapped around his face, down grading his disgusting sneer.

"Max Chase, Aurelia Bennet please come in." Butterflies returned to Max's stomach. They walked into the office. Max paused for a second. In front of them was a short lanky man with practically no hair. He kindly smiled at them. "I've heard that you've caused quite some trouble to Mr. Whittle," said the principle. Mr. Whittle's smirk grew even bigger. Max was literally sweating bullets.

"I've heard from Mr. Whittle, that you and Aurelia violently attacked him for giving you a detention for hostile behaviour in class," said the principle. Max's face contorted in anger at the blatant lie. As he was about to protest, he felt two arms latch onto him. He looked down to see Aurelia hiding behind him, shifting her eyes ever so often between him and Mr. Whittle. Max recognised the look in her eyes. Fear.

"Are you alright Aurelia? You seem to be uncomfortable?" asked the principle."

"I-i'm alright," she said shakily, smiling to the principle, "It's just that Mr. Whittle..." She fearfully averted her eyes to Mr. Whittle. Max could feel her whole body shaking. He almost felt scared for her.

The principle gave her a questioning look, "Is there anything wrong with Mr. Whittle?"

"He..he.." before Aurelia could utter anymore words, she broke down crying. Everyone in the room looked at her in shock.

"Please don't be mad at Max. He was only helping me!" she said between sobs. "I-I was lost and I saw Mr. Whittle a-a-and then he," she sobbed trying to wipe away her tears. "He tried to rape me!" she cried. Max blanked out a second at Aurelia's even more far stretching lie, but was obviously convincing looking at the principle's empathetic face.

***

"Right, well if I get in trouble, you better think of something," said Max.

"Alright, alright," said Aurelia.

***

Max sweat dropped. Who knew she would go that far.

'What? That's not true!' yelled Mr.Whittle, ass kissing mask cracking, advancing towards Aurelia. From Max's angle of Aurelia and the tiny part of her face that wasn't covered by her hands, he saw a sly smirk.

Aurelia stepped back in fear. Going along with it, Max stood in front to shield her from the fuming science teacher.

"Mr. Whittle," said the principle's supreme voice. Mr. Whittle stopped his advance. "Please leave the room. I'll deal with you later," continued the principle.

"What! You can't possibly believe these children! I am a-" Mr. Whittle's sentence was cut off.

"Who do you think you are?" said the principle, his caring tone changing. Mr. Whittle clicked his tongue and begrudgingly left the room, the whole time glaring murder at Aurelia. Max internally wiped his head in relief.

"Max was only defending me and..and," Aurelia felt a hand on her head. She looked up. The teacher's kind eyes looked at her.

"You don't need to cry anymore Aurelia. Don't worry. Mr. Whittle will no longer be teaching at this school," said the principle. Max silently cheered.

"B-b-but I don't want him to lose his job," stuttered Aurelia. Max looked at her and she looked so sincere that he would've believed her.

The principle smiled, "You truly are kind, but as the principle I cannot turn a blind eye at this, but I'm just happy to see such great students in my school."

"Thank you sir," she smiled, the last tear dropping down her face.

***

Max happily cheered as he left the principle's office. He didn't know how much and how long he had been thanking Aurelia for. For one, she got him out of trouble and as a bonus, stupid Mr. Whittle was also out.

"See? Underestimation," she said, "life's just easier like that."

"Yeah yeah, I see," said Max. At that time, Max never really grasped the first hint to Aurelia's past. That little slip of tongue, 'life's just easier like that,' held much more significance than Max would ever know, but for now they celebrated. Max beamed at her and Aurelia gave her own thumbs up.