The Amulet of Kryshar

Chapter 8

"Silence!" roared Principal Whit, supporting himself on his grand oak desk. His greying moustache was quivering in agitation. Melanie and Ms Rose fell silent and sat back down in their chairs, but they were still glaring daggers at each other. When I came into the Principal's office Melanie was already standing up and talking to the Principal about what happened during the math test and what Ms Rose said, while Ms Rose was busy interrupting and trying to get her superior's attention. When she succeeded, she started rambling about the insufferable behaviour she had to endure from Melanie and me. That was when she noticed that I was still standing in the door way, taking in the scene.

She started yelling while pointing a rather fleshy finger at me: "Why are you late, Ms Tinkers? I told you, one o'clock sharp. What kind of behaviour is this?" She then turned to Mr Whit and said pleadingly: "Do you really expect me to accept this outrageous behaviour Mr Whit? The have been like this and worse throughout the entire double lesson. They were ignoring my request for them to be silent and distracted the entire class from their—"

That was when Mr Whit screamed for silence.

I slunk to a faded red armchair next to Melanie's and set down my bag quietly, while muttering an apology for being late. Mr Whit nodded curtly. When he fixed his gaze back on Ms Rose, I discreetly looked at the grandfather clock ticking away behind Mr Whit's high-backed director chair. The hour hand was directly on the one, the minute on the twelve and the second hand was on the six. I furrowed my brow. I was right on time. I glanced at Melanie, who was sitting rigidly in her seat and was still glaring at Ms Rose. Her arms were resting on the armrests on the chair she was sitting on, giving me a clear view of the red handprint that was still clearly visible on one of her wrists. It wasn't as bright red as before, instead it dulled to a brownish-red colour. I quickly looked away guiltily. I still didn't know what to think of that: did I actually burn her with my bare hands? That shouldn't be possible though.

Mr Whit cleared his throat and twirled one end of his greying moustache around his thumb. With his free hand he stacked some stray papers on his desk in a neat pile and pushed it to one corner. Then he folded his hands together on his desk and wore a thoughtful expression. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. Melanie was twirling her thumbs and Ms Rose was tapping her foot repeatedly. Her heels made a hollow sound on the polished wooden floor of the Principal's office. She was getting impatient, I could tell.

"Dear Mr Whit, I—"

"You are fired, Ms Rose."

She blinked and tucked a stray strand of short, brown hair behind her ear and said sweetly to Mr Whit: "Excuse me?"

"You may leave now," the Principal said.

Ms Rose stuttered. "Surely, there must be some misunderstanding... You have no reason to fire me!"

"Ms Rose—," Mr Whit started with a warning undertone in his voice.

"Mr Whit, please, you can't fire me. I'll change. I'll become a much better teacher in the future. I promise! Just please give me a chance and don't fire me!"

Mr Whit stood up and glared down at Ms Rose, who was cowering in her seat. Her eyes were glistening, as if she was about to cry. I almost felt bad, but then remembered the way she treated the entire class during the test and I started feeling angry again instead of sorry for her. I balled up my fists in my lap.

"Ms Rose, there is no more room left for argument. You are fired and that's the end of the discussion." Mr Whit slammed his hands down onto the desk to emphasize his point. "Your attitude towards these students will no longer be tolerated. They are another school's problem from now on. Good luck in finding a new job." With that said he sat back down and folded his hands on the desk and looked at Melanie and me.

Melanie and I were staring at the floor as Ms Rose quietly got up and walked towards the door. Her breath hitched as she opened the door. I heard faint sobbing right before the door closed on Ms Rose, cutting off all outside sound once again. Melanie absentmindedly scratched at the red mark on her wrist and winced in pain. She dropped her hand again.

"Now, on to you two." The Principal fixed us with an icy stare. He cleared his throat and twirled his moustache. I pushed my shoe through the plush carpet and admired the groove of flattened fabric my shoe left behind. "What do you have to say about your behaviour during the math test? The end of year math test at that."

Melanie groaned and I supported my head with my hand. Why do teachers always ask that? What is there to say? We did what we thought was right. The Principal frowned in disapproval at our reaction to his question. He leaned back in his chair. "You do realize that Ms Rose wasn't the only one at fault today. Your behaviour was completely unacceptable. I admit," he continued as Melanie opened her mouth to protest, "that she had no right to give you a test today even though our school program for your year group clearly states that you still had one major area to cover. This is strange enough; however, both of your behaviour today will also not be tolerated. Alright", he stood up and towered over his desk, "I have decided on your punishment. This is only the first warning and you two are generally good students from hat I have heard, which is why you only will be staying after school today, writing an essay regarding your behaviour. And if you finish early," he flashed a cold smile which made me slightly uneasy, "you will be doing additional grammar and math work to catch up on the time you wasted during your test time today." The Principal sat back down with a satisfied huff.

Melanie and I froze. I had actually expected a worse punishment than that, especially when I heard Ms Rose throw such a tantrum. But I wasn't going to tell the Principal that. I was just thankful that I wasn't expelled or in Ms Rose's case, fired. Melanie obviously thought differently though.

"Excuse me? You can't just give out overtimes on the same day as you announced it! We—we need to tell our parents. What if we are busy this afternoon? You have to at least give us a one day notice ahead of time." Melanie' voice got shriller the more she ranted.

The Principal gave her a calculating stare. "No need to worry, Melanie Campbell. I have called both of your families personally and told them of your predicament. Your mother didn't pick up the phone though, Melanie, so I left her a voice message and sent her an email. Once she reads it, she will be well informed. Since I have given you this punishment for math and not your former teacher, you two will be coming to this office again as soon as your last lesson has ended. I will then issue your next instructions and I will not tolerate any tardiness. This is your chance to redeem yourselves; don't make it any worse. You may leave now." With that, the Principal busied himself with a stack of papers and sorted them into different folders of various sizes, some as wide as my palm.

I muttered a quick goodbye and strode towards the door. I hesitated when I noticed that Melanie was still standing in front of the desk. Her eyes seemed o bee burning with anger. I was slightly taken aback; I've never seen Melanie look this angry. Or maybe it wasn't anger, but extreme annoyance and frustration. The only time that came similar to this was the time two years ago when I got sick of Melanie's stuck-up behaviour and swiped her pencil case for a couple of minutes while she wasn't paying attention. I removed all the ink from her pens, taking special care to render her fountain pen inkless because I noticed how much she loved writing neatly with that pen in particular. When I placed her pencil case back on her desk and she had to take some notes during English class. Ah yes, pranks are the best form of revenge.

Meanwhile, Melanie was fuming. "What gives you the right to just dish out overtimes like that? Don't you have an ounce of consideration for your students? I don't want to miss my horse riding lessons because of some stupid overtime. Now I don't even have a chance to reschedule it for another day because of this impromptu overtime!"

I raised my eyebrows in surprise and frowned. Melanie was concerned about skipping a riding lesson? I also had things planned this afternoon. I was going to invite Lena over to my house to binge on ice-cream while playing video games and lament over the math test.

The Principal didn't even look up from his sorting. "Then that will be part of your punishment, Melanie." He waved his hand dismissively. I quickly stepped to the side to avoid Melanie barrelling into me as she stormed towards the door and slammed it shut. When the coast was clear, I followed suit, although I didn't slam the door like Melanie.