Vanilla

Fifty

[Birchwood]

"Okay I'm leaving this conversation before it gets any worse than it already is," I had to leave before the onset of a migraine. Talking to him always required more brain cells than necessary and I couldn't afford to spend more than the remaining amount I had from hours of fuming over Pierre's lack of common sense last evening. "Bye nerd."

I made a quick time check just in case, but one of the things I actually liked about talking to him was the speed at which it would end. Like, at a proper conclusion. Some people take forever to decide on something and, hours into the discussion, wouldn't stop going back and forth on something we thought we'd decided upon in the first minute. Three-thirty. Dad should be in his office by now.

Pierre was a bitch but I could not get him out of my mind the entire evening after yesterday's elimination list fiasco, knowing that I'd been unfairly marked down over some stupid little opinion of his. So with the ranking stuff settled and my path to receiving an invitation to the spring bake-off cleared, I headed straight for the headmaster's office on the third floor of the administrative building.

Being the youngest of the family and the only daughter was like, a free ticket to making as many complaints as I wished. Dad's never refused me five minutes of his time in his office, usually stopping his paperwork to give me his full attention and then reverting back to it once I was done.

Like, I've always warned him about the so-called 'friends' he invites to evening dinner parties because he's honestly too damn nice all the time to see their little back-stabbing eyes actively looking out for some material they could blackmail our family with. Kind of like mom, but less hysterical? Thank god she moved out. Lindy's a lot less dramatic but Dad and her got remarried only a year after the divorce so obviously, we weren't all that keen on the wedding. Five months later and we're still keeping an eye on her bank account. Just in case the numbers go up too much, too fast.

Honestly though, the thought of Pierre taking advantage of dad's kind nature got to me just as I took a turn down to the end of the corridor, where the double doors to the headmaster's office were. How dare he embarrass me in front of—oh. I paused right outside the door. Someone's in there.

The voices inside didn't sound like they were coming to an end anytime soon so I was about to turn back with a worse mood than before when they started becoming a little clearer and louder. Yes! He's sending them out, which means the guest is leaving.

I waited outside by a corner, three feet away from the double doors. Dad's voice, I could easily recognize as they got closer and I think he's got to be, like, a foot away from the door when the two of them decided to stop. It was painful, waiting for one of them to reach for the knob or something because, lol, I needed to vent about Pierre, like, now—

"Henri. There is a limit to my influence..." That's dad. "I cannot... increase the number of plates... is a... number for that. Things like leadership and teamwork... yes. The rubrics are vague."

Henri? I was still waiting for their exit. It took me horrifying moments to realize who it was he was talking to. Henri Pierre?

I couldn't make out what he said in response but could, however, tell from his tone the kind of face he was making. Tldr; he wasn't happy. And somewhere in his agitation, there was Cox and Chen in it. Just their names.