The Unknown

Dean Banfeld

Julie's pov

Well, that didn't take long. It's only the second week of our freshman year and Dean Banfeld already knows me by name, out of almost eight hundred students in my grade. My friend Sharla was kind enough to point that out to me this morning as we made our way through the halls to second period.

"Yeah, well that's kinda your fault you know," I told Sharla, as we headed up to the second floor for English.

"My fault? What do you mean?" Sharla asks jokingly, for she knows exactly what I mean.

"You're the one who wanted to skip first period to go out to breakfast," I reminded her.

"Okay, but you're the one who extended it into second period and that's what earned you a trip to Dean Banfeld's office, so don't pin that on me."

"Semantics," I say, attempting to justify my choice to blow off English last Thursday.

"You know, you probably should have come to English class that day, then maybe you'd know you're not using that word correctly," Sharla says, as she shoves me into our classroom just before the bell rings.

Truth be told, we really lucked out as far as deans go. Dean Banfeld is by far the best option out of the four deans here at South Highschool. He is strict but fair and reasonable. Dean Cozzo is a total hard ass, he'll paddle students for any and every infraction no matter how minute. Dean Sands is the only female dean so she tends to air on the overly strict side when it comes to discipline because she feels she has something to prove to her male counterparts. Dean Greis is like a hundred years old, literally like a walking mummy and he has zero tolerance for kids, earning him the title of worst dean.

Let me give you a little background on our highschool.

South Highschool is a public school in the suburbs run like a private school with high academic and behavioral standards. Corporal punishment is the disciplinary norm for the deans of the school. It's rumored that thanks to Dean Cozzo, any child whose parent refuses to sign the corporal punishment authorization form somehow mysteriously gets denied admission to South and ends up enrolled at North Highschool across town. Like I said, that's just a rumor. Nobody can be refused admission to a public school. Right? The teachers at the school are allowed to use physical discipline but few do, leaving that unpleasant task to the deans. Most teachers use detention, disciplinary conferences with the parents, either in-person or via phone, and referrals to the dean's office to maintain discipline in the classroom.

I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty nervous meeting Dean Banfeld for the first time. When Sharla and I ditched first period to go to breakfast last Thursday, she went straight to our second period English class when we arrived back at school but I spent some time in the nearby park enjoying the beautiful weather. Dr. Curtis has had us on such a short leash since the Rockwell incident that starting school seemed like a treat. It just felt good to be anywhere besides our bedroom at the Center for a change and it felt really good to be outside again without having to run laps.

Our bus was late to school that morning, which prompted our decision to skip first period and go out for breakfast. We knew we could use the bus arriving late to get out of most of first period but I decided to press my luck and attempt to extend that excuse to second period as well. Let's just say, it didn't work out in my favor. When I walked into English class forty minutes late, I was met by an unhappy teacher who quickly sent me down to the dean with an unexcused absence slip.

I handed the slip to the secretary in the office and she told me to sit in one of the chairs against the wall and wait to be called. I waited for about ten minutes, ten very agonizing minutes. Was Dean Banfeld going to yell? Was he going to paddle me? Would he call Mike and Shane? My palms were sweaty and my heart was beating rapidly by the time I was called into his office.

"Hello, Julie, I'm Dean Banfeld. Please take a seat."

"Yes sir." I swallowed the large lump in my throat and wiped my sweaty palms on my shorts before  taking a seat.

He read the slip my English teacher gave me.

"So you told your English teacher you missed most of his class because your bus was late. Is that correct?"

Dean Banfeld spoke with unmistakable authority. The man exuded power and dominance and rather hotly, I might add. To say I was distracted by his commanding presence, would be an understatement.

"Uh, yes sir. Uh, that's correct," I stammered, unnerved by how attracted I was to this man who was barely old enough to be my father.

"Julie!" Dean Banfeld snapped.

Shit, it was obvious I was daydreaming and not paying attention. What the hell was wrong with me? Get a grip Julie. Damn hormones. I admonished myself to pay attention before I got into more trouble.

Dean Banfeld continued once he saw he had my attention.

"Your bus arrived at..." he typed something into his computer, "...7:33am and you showed up to your English class at 8:28am. That's quite the gap, Julie, fifty-five minutes to be exact. Care to explain?"

I knew his question demanded a response, despite his ambiguous phrasing. He was giving me a very stern look but he didn't seem to be upset, not yet anyway.

"We went out to breakfast, sir."

Dean Banfeld arched his eyebrow at the word we, curious as to who my cohort in crime might be.

Now aware of my faux pas, I panicked.

"Uh, she goes to another school. The one I went to breakfast with, I mean."

"She goes to another school yet she was on your bus?" Dean Banfeld smirks, trying to hide his amusement at my idiotic lie.

"Ummm." There's no plausible way out of this.

"Relax, Julie, you don't have to lie to me. In fact, I strongly suggest you don't ever make that error in judgment again. I'm not going to make you rat out your friend."

"I'm really sorry, sir. Are you going to call my guardians?" I ask, staring at my hands, too embarrassed to make eye contact at this point.

"I don't think that'll be necessary. Make sure you go straight to class the next time your bus is late, Julie. I won't be nearly as forgiving the second time around. Understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, now get out of my office and get to class. Oh, and I'll see you tomorrow and Wednesday after school since you have two days of office detention."

He handed me two office detention slips dated for the next two days.

"Oh, okay," I said, less than thrilled with this turn of events.

Dean Banfeld stood to open the door for me.

"You sound disappointed, Julie. You didn't seriously think you could skip two classes without consequence, did you?"

I don't get the feeling he's upset with me. It's almost as if he's giving me office detention because he has to, not because he wants to. Maybe I'm overthinking this.

"No sir, I didn't think that."

Now all I have to do is come up with a good excuse for Mike and Shane as to why I'll be staying late after school for the next two days.