Flipped

Chapter 6- Called Out

Sam

"Teachers and students, please excuse this interruption. I need Samantha Wyatt to report to the principal's office. Samantha Wyatt, to the principal's office please."

God dammit.

When I'm called to the office over the intercom in the middle of first period, right away I know I'm in trouble. I'm also pretty sure that it has to do with the fact that I'm not in my first period class. I never even checked in for attendance. Instead, I have been hiding in the boys' bathroom in the science wing, quietly reading a book for the past twenty minutes.

My only regret is that I only had twenty minutes.

I briefly consider ignoring my summons, but then decide that it's not worth it. I've been caught, and it's my own fault for thinking that I could stealthily skip class this early in the school year.

Sighing, I close my book and exit the bathroom, trudging to the office in defeat.

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The high school principal is a huge bearded guy named Mr. Suss (pronounced like "Seuss"). The first thing I asked him when he invited me into his office was if he had ever considered getting his doctorate, just for shits and giggles.

"Cause you know, then you'd be Dr. Seuss," I added when he didn't laugh. Unsurprisingly, he still wasn't amused.

"Samantha, what makes you think that it's okay to just not go to class?" He asks me, as I sit on the other side of his large desk, staring down at my shoes in pretend shame. "Do you realize that this would have made your fifth detention in two days? I would have had to call your parents personally, and on only the second day of school!"

My head snaps up. "What do you mean 'would have'?" I ask. "You're not going to call them?" Is there hope for me after all?

He leans back in his chair, giving me a familiar sympathetic look. "Well, I've spoken to the principal of your middle school. Apparently, you had a bit of an attendance problem there as well. As I understand it, your teachers were very flexible with you. They all seemed to agree that you had depression."

Ah, yes. Yet another reason why I have always been despised by nearly everyone in my grade. In addition to being a quasi goth, antisocial freak with an equally weird twin, I always seemed to get away with murder throughout middle school.

After I got my....thing....in seventh grade, I fell into a horrible depression. There were some days when I only showed up to half of my classes, and hid in the bathroom for the rest. Some days, I didn't go to class at all. I remember waiting for the day when one of my teachers would call me out on my constant ditching, or when my parents would receive a threatening letter from my principal. But that day never came. All I ever got were sympathetic nods from my teachers and free passes on homework and tests.

To this day, I can only assume it was something that Rose did.

"So what, I don't have detention then?" I ask.

Mr. Suss leans forward again, looking as if he has thought a great deal about what he's going to say. "Here's the thing, Samantha-"

"Just Sam is fine."

"Oh. Alright then, Sam. In light of everything I have learned recently, I've decided that starting high school on this kind of note wouldn't do you any good."