Love is Stupid

Chapter Three: Some kind of partnership

   Not edited

    Principal Turner's office was only some turns away from the cafeteria to Goody's annoyance. She wished it wasn't. It would have been great having a little time figuring out what he would say and her appropriate reply.

   At the entrance, Mrs Creed was on the phone, her head bent over what she was scribbling down. Goody smiled at the forty-ish-year-old woman, who had sat on the Secretary's desk for as long as she could remember. She was a friend of her mothers. Her brown hair which now had two visible white strands was still cut short at her chin and her eyes, as sharp as ever.

  When Mrs Creed gestured to the principals' office, Goody nodded and walked towards it as fast as she could. God helped her if Mrs Creed finished her call before she made it to the door. She would have to spend another thirty minutes listening to how her twenty four years old daughter lost her first tooth. Mrs Creed was a lovable woman. Motherly. She just didn't know when someone wasn't interested in what she was saying.

    Goody grinned as she shut the door. Turning around, it slowly dissolved into a frown. There he sat. It was the dark overgrown hair that gave him up. And maybe the way he sat like he owned the whole school. Technically, he did own the school and some. Anger she believed, had her sucking in her breath when he turned to look at her. Her hands balled into fists when he rolled his eyes and turned back to their principal.

   "Goody dear, " Principal Turner said, with a smile. "It's nice of you to join us. Please, have a seat."

Quietly, Goody walked to his desk and sat. She avoided the green eyes she knew were fixed on her whilst fighting the overwhelming urge to scout her chair away.

Principal Turner, a stout and humorous man was another friend of her mothers and her recipes. Taking a file from his desk, he went straight to the point.

   "You know Blackthorn, don't you?" He asked in a voice that was laced with a Southern accent. He stood with his back turned to them as he opened a drawer, "Clay Blackthorn."

  Now, Goody turned to look at Clay and found a smug smile playing his lips. Jerk, she said to herself.

   "Unfortunately, " She then said, her lips thinning. It only made Clay's smile turn into a smirk and Turner turn sharply to her, his brows arched, "Unfortunately?"

   Goody replaced her sneer with a bright smile that died immediately it served its purpose. "I meant yes. I know Clay Blackthorn."

   Knowing it was all pretence, Clay rolled his eyes again but left his smirk on. Asshole, Goody thought and wished he could hear her thoughts.

  Principal Turner settled back on his seat, his thick shoulders stretching his suit. Withdrawing a single file from the several he had collected, he turned back to them.

   "The board has thought about this policy for a while, " He started, his eyes narrowing as they ran through the file. "It seems promising. It's going to help you both."

  Goody felt her fists ball when Clay spoke up, "What policy?"

  It had to be the careless but calculating way with which he spoke. It made her want to hit him whenever he opened his mouth. Most times, he behaved like he was bored with the world. He acted like he knew everything and that, Goody thought, was one of the many reasons he annoyed her.

   "Goody?"

  She jumped at the sound of her name. Confused from being pulled from her thoughts, she nodded her head and said, "Yes, I agree."