After Curfew

Chapter 20 - Apologies

Chapter 20 - Apologies

"Rule number one to bullsh*tting your way out of trouble: go to them before they come to you." I said giving Slate a pointed look before turning around and knocking on the large wooden door of the principal's office. I heard a brusque 'come in' from the other side of the door and took that as my cue to enter.

The office looked as dull as always. Principal Salvador's wobbly desk was just as cheap as the suit he was sporting. Quite honestly, my closet alone was three times the size of his office and ten times as expensive. Maybe this awful office was the reason why Mr. Salvador always seemed to have a stick up his ass.

"Willow." Mr. Salvador said acknowledging my presence and completely ignoring Slate's.

"Good morning Sir. This is Slate..." I trailed off, suddenly realizing I had no clue what Slate's last name was. It surprised me that I'd never bothered to ask, but in my defence, it isn't exactly something that just pops up in an everyday conversation.

"Carver." Slate filled in for me, the word rolling of his tongue casually. I stared at him in surprise for a couple seconds, it was interesting hearing someones last name for the first time, it was almost like a piece of the puzzle that is Slate Carver, had fallen into place.

Slate clearing his throat brought me out of my daze and I realized I had been staring. With tinted pink cheeks I turned back to Mr. Salvador.

"Slate and I have come to apologize for the disturbance we caused in class yesterday. It turns out it was all just a big misunderstanding and I believe the two officers who barged in on Mr. Santiago's lesson will be coming later today to apologize for the trouble they caused." I told him, suppressing a smile when I saw him release a breath of relief.

Mr. Salvador was known for being strict and—as some like to put it—a class one asshole. However, since I'm the top student at South Sea High and I've been accepted at Harvard, I attract a lot of positive attention for the school which reflects well on Mr. Salvador, hence him treating me like royalty compared to the other students.

Which, might I add, is incredibly unfair and quite unprofessional, but who was I to complain when it meant I got to avoid being in the direct path of his unsolicited wrath.

"Good to hear. You can only imagine how surprised I was yesterday when Mr. Santiago came to inform me my star student had been arrested in the middle of the lesson. I told him it must've been a mistake. It's of no surprise that I was right, but that's besides the point. Have you thought about doing that evaluation I told you about a few weeks back?"

"It's the least I can do to make up for the trouble I put you and Mr. Santiago through." I said giving him what I hoped was a convincing smile although much like my words, it could not have been more fake and insincere.

"Wonderful. The warning bell is going to ring any second, you better get going so you aren't late for class." Mr. Salvador said still barely acknowledging Slate's presence as he sent me a wide smile that showed off his tinted yellow teeth. I grabbed Slate's hand and quickly led him out of the office, relieved at how well the whole encounter had gone.

"Who knew you were such a good manipulator?" Slate said smirking down at me as we made our way through the crowded hallways towards my locker. I bit down on my lip, fighting the urge to tell him that manipulation was something that ran in the family.

After my mother had stormed off yesterday and left me with tears running down my stinging cheek, I'd texted Slate telling them that I was "going home with my mother" but in reality I just went back to my hotel and watched Harry Potter in an attempt to try and lift my somber mood. It totally worked, Harry Potter makes everything better and somewhere along the way I'd managed to find an upside to the situation. I now had something to blackmail my mother with incase she ever decides to try and cancel my credit card or do something else characteristically evil. Luckily, her slap wasn't hard enough to leave anything except a red handprint which was easily covered up by some concealer and powder.