Sugar And Spice

~ 1 ~

"I'm going to be blunt with you, Paintbrush."

Paintbrush shifted their hands in their lap, staring down to the floor. Their fingers brushed atop the bandage wrapped upon their right hand, pulsating from even the lightest amount of pressure. They didn't have much courage to look at their school principal in the eyes, considering the reason they were called there to begin with.
And thinking about it, it was an absolutely regrettable decision.
Glancing upward, Principal Mephone looked at them with a stern expression. One of seriousness, and completely different from the vibrant and fairly rash exterior the student body had come to know. It was a bit off-putting, but it made sense.
Paintbrush took a deep breath, and looked at Principal Mephone in the eyes.

"This is a serious situation. You could face possible expulsion."
"I know you're on the path to a scholarship, and if you are indeed expelled, all that hard work will be gone."

Paintbrush's eyes widened, and gritted her teeth.

"Y-You can't just take something like that away!"
"I've worked hard to come to this point. You can't just retract that over something so silly—"

Principal Mephone leered at Paintbrush, and despite their fury, silenced themselves.
As he took out a wrapped cookie from what seemed to be a local bakery, he spoke to them.

"You really don't think injuring a student is a big deal?"
"Did you not hear the word expulsion correctly?"

Taking a bite out of his cookie, he continued to speak.

"There's no second chances. Your future—done for."
"I'm not certain if your scholarship will even be intact. You should be thankful the school board is even considering this."

Paintbrush pinched their leg in what seemed to be a total mix of emotions. It was something they could word to be nothing but indescribable. All they could really do was bite their lip in discomfort.

"Speaking of consideration, I need you to give me an explanation on what went down." Mephone asked.

"Wait, seriously?" Paintbrush asked.
"I thought you already got everything you needed to know ."

"Oh, I already do." Mephone replied.
"Kinda dumb in this situation, but we still have to get an account from the guilty party themselves."

Paintbrush let out a sigh as Principal Mephone had taken another bite of his cookie. Taking out a pencil and a notebook, he began to write as Paintbrush began to utter the beginning of it all.

~ Three Hours Ago ~

"Okay guys, listen up!"

OJ stepped up onto a chair, and looked around with a triumphant expression.

"This project is worth nearly half of our overall grade for this semester. The six of us have got to give it our all and work as hard as we can!"

"You say that like we already know what we're doing." Nickel retorted.

"And that's why I came up with a gameplan." OJ replied.
"Given that this is a huge presentation, I believe we should do it on a topic that can resonate with many—perseverance. Not just in a metaphorical sense, but in an empowering way that can at least get us higher than a B."
"Since I was appointed the leader in our assigned group, I decided to assign roles based upon the strengths and weaknesses of each and every one of us. Nickel can be our spokesperson, Trophy can be our multimedia manager, Paper can be our video creator, Fan can be our social media manager, and Paintbrush can be in charge of the presentation!"
"If anyone has an issue with their roles or anything of the sort, feel free to come to me about it and I'll try to resolve it the best I can."