sHE'S brOKen

Angelina Prudence

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I walk into school with my iced americano in one hand and my purse in the other. Walking up to my locker I try to keep my focus on my goal for today. Finding out who gave those drugs to Maya. Caleb told me he wasn't going to be at school since he wasn't feeling well. I text the girls to meet me in the bathroom and on my way there I hear my name on the loudspeaker, "ANGELINA PRUDENCE TO MS. KEATING'S OFFICE! ANGELINA PRUDENCE TO MS. KEATING'S OFFICE!" I text the girls to tell them we'll have our meeting later and I head to the office.

I see the lady at the front desk and give a fake smile, "Hey Sheila. Long time no see." She readjusts her glasses nervously and points to the vice principals office. I walk in and take a seat. "Ms. Prudence, it's nice to see you." Ms. Keating beams with a smile. I roll my eyes, "Why am I here?" She clears her throat and picks up my school file.

She opens it up and lays it out in front of her. "I was going through the student files since I'm new and I want to try getting to know everyone but your file stood out to me." I raise an eyebrow, "Continue." She picks up a piece of paper and asks, "Who were your birth parents?" I furrow my brows, "Excuse me?" She stares back at me, "You heard my question." I set my purse down, I got the feeling that this was going to be a long talk. "Victor and Caroline Prudence. They died on May 6th. So what?" She nods and looks up, "I'm sorry for your loss." I cross my legs, "Thank you, next." She continues to interrogate me, "Who is your sister?" I almost gag at the thought of that bitch. "Cordelia Prudence," I answer with a low growl, "A horrible sister ever since our parents died. Usually drunk out of her mind." Her gaze on me softens, "Has she ever hurt you?" I scoff, "We fight sure, but that whore barely packs a punch."

I look her over as she asks me more questions. There must be some other reason she's asking all these personal questions. I hear a knock on the door and Sheila pokes her head in. "Sorry Ms. Keating, but Angelina, your session with Ms. O'Neill starts soon." I glance back at Ms. Keating and grabbing my purse starting to leave, "This little interrogation thing was cute, but just some words of advice, if you're going to 'get to know a few of your students' don't be so suspicious by only having my file on your desk. Clearly I'm a student of interest and I'm determined to find out why."

I walked to Ms. O'Neill's office and opened the door. I wave and take a seat in my beloved beanbag. It feels good to be back in my safe space. "Nice to see you again Angelina. It's... been a while. A little birdy told me that you wanted our sessions to continue and if that's going to happen, I want to be treated with the utmost respect. Do you understand me?" I look at everything except for her eyes and nod. A nod is all she'll get out of me and she knows that. "So tell me about your day and we can move on from there."

I talked about everything leading up to this point. I told her about me and Caleb dating, but I didn't tell her about the fake part. "You seem to really like this Caleb character and there's no doubt he likes you from the way you talk about him. However, I can tell something is holding you back in this relationship. What is it?" I look at my nails and think. "My need to be better than Cylyss Kong. My want for her boyfriend Ace. My care for not breaking Caleb's heart, even though I'm pretty sure he'd be fine. My basic necessity to succeed."

She looks me in the eyes and sees how serious I am. "Angelina, you know how this ends if you go too far." I groan, "You keep saying that but you don't see the difference do you. There's feelings involved, this isn't me trying to prove something. This is me trying to BE something. Caleb is my first real friend in a long time and I refuse to let him go." Ms. O'Neill checks her watch and says we're out of time. I leave her office with a weird sense of clarity.

I get to Psychology and take my seat. I scoot my desk over slightly away from Cylyss. I set down my coffee, after taking a sip and take out my notes. "For today's class, we will be discovering how our heritage shapes our personalities. Using the Dramatic Dreams DNA kit, we will find out what parts of the world we come from."

I look at Ms. Keating with a clearly uninterested expression and I think she got the hint. "If you don't do the test, you won't be able to do the essay or lab since you won't have any data. If any of you want to fail the first unit, be my guest. With the people sitting next to you conduct surveys for a heritage lab and then come get your DNA kits."

Cylyss looks at me and then back at her notebook. "Okay lab partner, let's work on this." I check my nails, I really need a new manicure. "You get started on some questions and I'll tell you if I approve. I'll go get the kits."

I walk over to Ms. Keating's desk and grab a kit. I turn to get back to my seat and hear the woman call my name. "Make sure you guys spit in separate tubes and mark them as well. Also, grab a few strands of hair for more accurate results." I nod and give a fake smile, "Oh really, I had no idea Captain Obvious." I turn and return to Cylyss.

She had like 15 questions by the time I came back to our seats. "Wow you really are a nerd." I giggle. She sighs and rubs a hand through her hair. "Angelina, can you at least be nice for this project? We have to get it done." I take a seat and dramatically push my desk against hers. "Sure. Partner."

We both spit into the tubes and I have her write our names. While she's occupied, I reach under the back of my lace front and pull out a few strands of my hair. A part of me wants to know if I have another family member that could get me away from Cordelia, but the other part doesn't want to be disappointed by another person in my life. I put my hair in the plastic bag and tell Cylyss to go turn it in while I go to the bathroom.

Meeting my minions in the bathroom gave me a chance to adjust my lace front and reapply some lip gloss. "Erica, who are the known drug dealers at our school?" She looks through her notes and recites their names, "Andrew Grey, Simon Carter, and Dylan King are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head." I think about the dealer that get the most customers. "Can you ask Dylan King for his most recent customer list and who still owes him money? I have something I want him to do for me."

Erica rubs her arm, "He's not exactly the easiest person to talk to. He won't talk unless it's about drugs." I roll my eyes and set my arms on her shoulders. "Just bat your eyelashes and tell him I sent you. If that doesn't work tell him to come speak to me so we can work out a deal. Otherwise, I'll give the school the tip on who provides teachers with drugs." She sighs, "Okay." She walks out.

"Now Brittany, try to find out what you can about the new vice principal. Every single detail. She wants something from me and I want to find out what." I flip my hair and get ready to walk out before she speaks up, stopping me. "What are you doing all of this for? Your mean girl act is getting old. Don't you want people to do stuff for you because you're nice and not blackmail them into it?"

I step up to her and stare into her eyes, "To be hated or feared is a luxury most people don't get to experience. To be pushed over and used is something I will never want. So to answer your question, I'm not mean, I'm strong. Don't ever question my authority again because if I didn't become your friend when I saw you beat up in that alley your old friends put you in last year, you would've died where they left you." I gather my stuff and finally leave.

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