Dakini's Hope

Chapter 22

I'm about to settle at my desk in my fourth class for the day when the teacher comes over and asks me to talk with her outside. I knew this was coming, but that still doesn't make it any easier. Chase doesn't react or give off any notion that he cares as I leave the classroom with our teacher. The teacher waves her hand in the direction of the principal's office and asks me to head that way, saying that the principal has called me to his office.

Anxiously, I head out in that direction; trying to stop my heart from bursting out of my ribs as I do so. I've never been called to the principal's office and - like I said - even though I knew this was coming, it's still shocking to be called there for the first time. I make my way there with no resistance and I take a seat outside the door, waiting to be summoned instead of being rude and barging in. I need to act like I don't know what I'm being called in for.

"Dakini Bailey?" asks the principal's assistant as she opens the office door and pokes her head out of the crack.

I nod in reply. "I was summoned...?" I answer, my voice quiet and nervous.

The assistant nods, then gives me a reassuring smile as she opens the door wider as I get up from the chair and head over.

"Don't worry. The principal just wants to ask you a few questions." She says as she shuts the door behind me after entering. She stands to the side by a bookshelf as I look around the office.

The walls are decorated in old-fashioned style scarlet wallpaper and two arching windows stand guard either end of the wall on the left and behind the principal's chair which is now occupied. The other wall by the door I just came through is packed full of wall-height, gleaming dark oak wood bookshelves - freshly polished from the smell of it. The principal's chair is high-backed (sitting an inch taller than the actual principal's head) and his desk offers up an array of decorations - ranging from his computer to a small ornament of a wolf leaping into the air gracefully after a sparrow.

Realising I've been dawdling, I meekly take a seat to the right of my mum so that I'm as far away from Ryan as possible; who has occupied a chair on the far left of the principal's desk. I cast a nervous glance up at my mother, who returns it with a well-rehearsed scowl of rage.

"Thank you for coming, Dakini." greets the principal, Mr Baradon, after clearing his throat to break the tension of the room. "I'm afraid you've been accused of a very severe matter and we need to discuss what happened on Friday in the gym."

I lift my head up in surprise, then duck it back down guiltily. "O-oh...Ri-right..." I stutter, putting on my best performance of getting in severe trouble for the first time.

"And what exactly did happen on Friday, Mr Baradon?" snaps my mother, her voice taking on an obvious tinge of frustration. "From what my daughter has told me, Ryan has been attacking her for a very long time now - and your school has done nothing to prevent it. I'm missing valuable hours of work for this, so I hope you have a good reason for my being here."

I flinch at my mother's tone instinctually and Mr Baradon sounds flustered as he hastens to answer. I catch Ryan giving me a threat-filled grin out of the corner of my vision, but I don't react to it. He's not going to see me thrown into the government building any time soon; no matter how much he wants it. Unless he has solid proof, he can't prove that I have Black Eyes.

"I have very good reason to have you here, Ms Bailey. You see, your daughter has been seen with wolf ears and a tail. In our documents, she is registered as a human." Now it's Mr Baradon's turn to sound furious.

Mum narrows her eyes at his tone; her Alpha instincts taking over for a brief moment. She quickly corrects herself and keeps her voice level. "Oh? So her ears and tail finally came through.." she mutters to herself as she bends her head down to look at the smooth wooden floor, but keeping the volume up so that everyone can hear.