The Insanity of a Wallflower

Veracity- VIII

I stared quietly at my computer. The small font letters scrolled down my screen, and I absorbed their every word and every meaning. Faster and faster the mouse-wheel rolled and the texts and paragraphs gave me the illusion that I was falling full speed off a cliff of words, grazing letters as I scraped by.

I stopped suddenly. "There you are," I quietly whispered, highlighting the state's handbook for schools and their repercussions for senior pranks. I read through it with a small tilt of my head and was pleased to note that the maximum punishment for a normal year-end prank was indeed a minor suspension.

The printer next to me turned on and gritted out the page. I leaned back into my chair and closed my eyes. Karri had gone back to school after our small walk to the park. She seemed in a much happier mood after I talked her through our problem and explained why we both had dirt on Jackson. Shannon could howl and cry wolf all she wanted, the max Karri's poster stunt could do was a 3 weeks of expulsion.

Her grades were all top notch so they would not suffer. She would be back in time for finals and then we graduated. And this was all only if she was caught. Mr. Jackson might be on the hunt for her, but I didn't even care if he found out. He'd leave the picture once he realized whom Karri's shadow was.

I spun in my chair, but still felt the twinge of an unforeseen pitfall in my stomach. If Karri's father found out, everything could change. Everything would change. Karri's father was paying for part of her college tuition along with a scholarship she was awarded. But Kari needed them both, and something told me if any humiliation was cast against his ego, he would strike back.

Mr. Hendricks was the type of man to take every slight, intentional or unintentional, and a harbor it to an extreme. And from my experience with him, he didn't forgive and he didn't forget. He would send a slight right back at Karri, and considering the only thing he could hold over his daughter was her education, I knew what the punishment would be.

I wanted to believe he would only threaten to take it away...but I couldn't. He was the type of man to completely rip up any paperwork binding his money to her school, and never go back from that action. He would probably even find pride in his own actions for showing her she couldn't expect handouts from the world, especially after she stepped on someone's toes.

I sighed softly and stood up, grabbing the printer paper and the sketchbook before walking out of my house and down the road. The sun was beaming down on me as I paced quietly along the side of the road. For once my journal was quiet and didn't seem to be singing the song that was on all the sheep's lips today.

"Alys!"

I glanced over and saw Tim jogging towards me. "What are you doing outside of school?" he asked as he matched pace with me.

"I skipped today." I shrugged lightly, not caring about it. He glanced to me with a small smile but didn't say anything. "Where are you going?" I asked as I shifted my bag to my other shoulder.

"To the bureau building. Dad wants to meet me there for his lunch."

"Can I come? Just to the building?" I asked. I had yet to draw the people there.

"Sure." He shrugged and he led the way. Once we were inside, we parted ways- him promising to meet back up with me once he was done. I nodded wordlessly as he left. I turned around and glanced at all the people walking around behind me.

I slipped free my pencil and paper and drew them all as a whole. For an hour I sketched the random figures that walked through the front door and down halls out of sight. My sketchpad was near full, and I almost picked up my journal to finish when I heard his voice.