Fire Meet Gasoline

CH. II

TROY HIGH SCHOOL

OFFICE REFERRAL

Student Name: Zara Wright

Grade: 12, Senior

Room: J22

Teacher: Mrs. Langford

REASON(S) FOR NOTICE:

☑ Failure to observe school rules

☑ Uncooperative and defiant

☑ Discourteous and disruptive to classroom

☑ Social Harassment

☑ Unacceptable language

RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):

☑ After school detention 

☑ Parent conference

☑ Community service

TEACHER'S SIGNATURE:
Laura Langford

PRINCIPAL'S SIGNATURE: _______________

Social harassment? Community service? Are you fucking kidding me?!

Lameford is seriously pushing it.

I read my referral and slowly make my way to the gremlin's office. How could I forget that this was my mom's first day? This killer hangover must be contributing to my memory loss.

I pull out my phone and begin to text Talia as I walk down the halls towards the front hall of my school.

"omw to the principal's office... smh"

"btw, guess who just started their first day as our new principal?  -____- FML"

Talia immediately texts back saying, "OMG your mom's here... LOL ur fucked. Good luck hun ;* "

I reach my mother's office and see Theodore, our school's maintenance manager, using a scraping tool to remove the previous principal's last name from the office door.

Damn, am I going to miss that woman.

Dorothy Newman was a 4-foot-9, adorable old lady, who seemed to be the only figure of authority here that acknowledged my existence, and saw some light down the shallow tunnel called "my future". Every time I was sent to her office I was, of course, given a lecture. Now, those wise words that once lulled me to sleep will be no more. She, unfortunately, had to retire due to various medical conditions. Plus, she was perhaps a little too old to still be a principal.

Newman's mother named her after the main character of "The Wizard of Oz" because the movie premiered on her birthday.

Need I say more?

Principal Newman remained in this shit-hole for 20 years, and then she abruptly left, leaving me with a plague of Troy High School students.

You see, Troy High is practically an asylum disguised as a high school, filled with a bunch of snobby assholes, obsessed over achieving or maintaining a high status. 95% of the students have contracted this disease. I am, however, a part of the other 5%. Yes, the 5% of the students who are immune to superficiality and could honestly give a rat's ass about fitting in and having a high reputation. 

Theodore turns around from his work and greets me with a smile. 

"Hey, Theo," I utter in exhaustion.

He turns around and quietly chuckles to himself, emphasizing the crow's feet around his eyes as he smiles.

"Señor Theodore, mija. When will you learn?"

He scrapes off the last 'N' and grabs a plastic 'W' out of his fanny pack.

Haha. Fanny Pack.

As I lean on a locker adjacent to where Theo's working, I feel the pulsating pain in my head grow. 

Why were Mondays created? 

Hey God, can you come back to Earth and take back Monday because we don't want it. Much appreciated.

"Sorry about that, Mister Theodore," I chant while purposely stressing his preferred title. Theo has been a family-friend of ours for over a decade. Adding the irrelevant "Mister" to the front of his name seemed too damn formal and unnecessary. I practically considered the guy to be my uncle.

"¿Qué onda, Zara?"

Ditching class and hanging in the halls with Theo really helped me catch on to the Spanish language, and I've actually grown to fucking love it!

"I've got a date with the devil," I grimace and wave the office referral in the air like a white flag, except there will be no surrendering coming from me.

"Ay, Pobrecita..." he trails off and pastes the last letter,'T', onto the office door, "How could you forget?"

It seems as though everyone is aware of her arrival and I'm just here brain-dead and forgetful. 

I fix my eyes onto Theodore's finished work.

"WRIGHT"

My mother's last name is now completely plastered on the Maplewood door in bold, black plastic lettering. My eyes widen as I realize that we share the same last name, and everyone in the school will now officially know that the biggest fuck-up of Troy High is ironically related to the top-dog of school. I smash the palm of my hand onto my forehead and sigh in exasperation.

Once again, are you fucking kidding me?

"Theo, how much does it cost to legally change your last name?"

"You should be proud of your name, mija," he replies, "You have a very prestigious family." 

 I roll my eyes at his response. I'm not the kind of person to even bat an eye when it comes to prestige. 

Sure, my family is well known for their good looks, success, and wealth, which is basically society's wet dream. But that is not me. Being myself unapologetically and having a good time is what I live for. 

"You could have so many new, well-mannered friends and opportunities with the help of your mother," Theo adds jokingly, but I take his comment offensively.

"If I could care any less about whatever the hell my family is doing, I honestly would," I protest and cross my arms over my chest, "I'm not going to bite the bullet and succumb to these snobby bitches."

Before I can continue, I hear the sound of heels clacking and echoing down the hall. The sound slowly grows and it eventually comes to a halt a few feet away from me.

A figure clears their throat behind me and I slowly turn around, already aware of what's waiting for me.

Standing in front of me is 3-inch, Christian Louboutin heels, a suit that screams Harvard graduate with honors, and a jawline that could seriously cut a bitch.

"Speak of the devil and she shall appear," I mumble.

"In my office. Now."

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Hiiiiii, to anyone out there! I really hope you enjoy this chapter & continue to read on. c: You don't want to miss this next chapter. I'm currently a full-time student, so I'll try to update and add more chapters as much as possible.

I LOVE comments! If you'd like, please comment and give me feedback on my work. :) I don't mind grammar nazis. lol 

Thanks for reading, hot stuff ;*

-$el