Future Ghosts • TWD

32. The Before.

"Banks! I'm gonna kill you!" Liam shouted at Rosie as she burst through the door of the classroom, almost slamming into some girl in the hallway. Her purple sneakers screeched on the shiny, marble tile as she booked it down the hallway, Liam right on her tale.

She sprinted through the hallway, narrowly missing a bunch of other students and even a few teachers. She don't know why none of the teachers intervened to get Liam to stop chasing after her, but none of them did.

Rosie turned a corner and ended up in an emptier hallway. She thought she might've gotten away when her eyes landed on the door to the girls' bathroom, but just as she was about to run over to it, Liam tugged on her backpack and shoved her back up against the wall.

"Got any other shit you wanna say about me?!" Liam spat.

"Screw y-" Rosie started, but Liam sent a punch right into her cheek, making her head whip to the side. "Oh-ho-ho," she groaned, squeezing her eyes shut. She quickly recovered, though, and turned to face Liam again.

"Jesus, you're so fucking annoying," Liam shouted in her face.

"You were givin' me shit first," Rosie spat, furrowing her eyebrows at him.

He sent another punch to her face. Her nose was for sure bleeding now. She could taste the metallic flavor dripping down onto her lips. It tasted like the water from the school water fountains. Like pennies.

"You need to learn when to shut your mouth," Liam said.

Rosie nodded and kept her mouth shut as she quickly kneed him in the balls. He groaned and let go of her, almost falling to the ground in pain. Rosie took that as her chance to escape, so she booked it to the principal's office. No way he'd punch her in there.

However, going to the principal's office only got her into trouble, because apparently she started it.

•

About half an hour later, Rosie found herself sitting in a chair outside of the office, kicking her legs back and forth as she waited. Soon enough, she heard the quick and heavy footsteps down the hall that she immediately recognized to be her father's.

As he walked past Rosie to go into the principal's office, he glared daggers. Rosie was about to say something in her own defense, but he pointed his finger at her. "I don't wanna fuckin' hear it," he said sternly. He went to knock on the door and waited for the principal to open it.

The principal opened the door and when David closed it behind him, Rosie could immediately hear him start arguing with the principal. "Did you see her fuckin' face? And, what, you're gonna suspend her? Because what? She fuckin' defended herself? That's bullshit!"

"Mr. Banks, your daughter started-"

"My daughter ain't fuckin' stupid! She don't start nothin' unless there's a damn good reason for it. Some little asshole kid started a fight with 'er, she defended herself, and now you're gonna suspend her? That's the stupidest shit I ever fuckin' heard!" Rosie could hear her dad going on and on, trying to get her out of the suspension. It never worked though.

After a long, futile argument with the principal, David left the office even more pissed off than before. He grabbed Rosie by the back of her shirt and marched her out the door. Rosie fiddled with end of her shirt anxiously as they walked to her dad's truck.

David aggressively opened the driver-side door of the car and slammed it shut behind him. "Get yer ass in the truck," he growled out when he glanced over at Rosie, who was standing by the passenger side door and looking at her shoes.