Brave (New Earth Saga)

Ch. 16

Monday was finally here, and I finally had a real excuse to get out of the house. The rest of my weekend with Joe was... distant. We never spoke about our emotional Friday or the possibility of any type of legal dispute. I tried to bring it up once, but Joe was quick to deflect and keep the mood light. We also never talked about my outburst about co-inhabiting space with giants. I felt the most guilty about that. Joe's entire mission for FUSE was to make it easier for giants and humans to co-inhabit space and exist in a perfect equal harmony, and I had basically shot that down. I'd basically said he was failing. Because of this, I vowed to be on my absolute best behavior to make it up to Joe. I'll get good grades, I'll be the most thankful daughter, and he'll see I didn't mean to make him feel bad.

Leaving my locker I ran into Aaron.

"Morgan, can I talk to you for a second?" Aaron asked. He seemed almost nervous?

The two of us rode our e-scooters into a human lounge where we parked and found a seat at a bench. It's a good thing the two of us tend to get to school early, because we still had a solid 15-20 minutes until first period.

"Morgan, I wanted to know if you heard about Fall Ball?"

"Fall Ball? Yeah, it's all Jade talks about when I ride the shuttle with her and Monica."

Aaron gave me a knowing grin at the mention of Jade. He knew as well as I did that Jade talked a mile a minute about allll things dance related.

"I bet she does... Well, I wanted to know if you were going?"

"I don't know. I think I'd like to. I have to ask my dad, but I bet he'll say yes. He's just happy I've made friends."

"Well, I wanted to know, if you would, maybe like to,"

"Morgan Mangello, Please report to the principal's office, immediately" said a voice over the intercom. WHAT???!!!! Why was I being called to the principal's office? And at a time like this? I was pretty sure Aaron was about to ask me out to Fall Ball. Literally one of the cutest guys I've ever met was about to ask ME to Fall Ball...

Reluctantly, I politely excused myself from Aaron, grabbed my e-scooter and made my way to the principal's office. My journey to the office felt like a walk of shame. Every human kept turning heads, and I swear I heard whispers of my name until I was finally alone in the elevator.

Once I exited the elevator the first person waiting for me was our human Vice Principal, Mr. Marshall. He raised his red eyebrows that matched his red hair as I approached.

"I was hoping not to see you back here so soon Miss Mangello," Mr. Marshall said by way of greeting. Some greeting that is. Mother earth, I don't know what I did to this guy Mr. Marshall, but he really doesn't like me.

Mr. Marshall escorted me into Principal Howards office where I was extremely surprised by what I found. Of course behind his massive desk sat Principal Howard. That wasn't what shocked me. It was who I saw sitting opposite Principal Howard, that first made my stomach drop. I saw an angry looking Trent.

Trent and I locked eyes, and he gave me a quizzical look like he was searching for some type of answer or recognition. I didn't know what answer I could possibly have. I didn't even know why I was here.

Once Mr. Marshall and I were seated in the human area on top of Principal Howard's desk, Principal Howard began.

"Good morning Morgan. Do you know why you're here?" Principal Howard asked.

"No, I-I don't," I replied honestly.

"Well Morgan we found some, offensive terms written on a locker this morning."