“Ah, Ms. Alister, a pleasure to meet you,” Principal Whilhaem puts his hand out over his desk for Diana to shake it.

“Unfortunately, principal Whilhaem, I do not share such pleasure.” Diana walks in, sits down across from the principal & crosses her legs. She looks at the principal’s hand, looks in his eyes & shakes her head.

The principal folds his hands on his desk & says, “Okay. Ms. Alister, are you aware of why your child is suspended?”

Diana raises her eyebrow, “No, I am not. You said it was too important to say over the phone & that we had to talk in person.”

“Yes, but I have a good reason for that. You see the reason is tha-”

“Why don’t you stop stalling & get to the point.” She leans in a little.

The principal reorients himself in his chair. “Okay then. I called you here because your son assaulted a tea-”

“What’d you say?” She leans in further.

“...um, I said that your son a-”

“See, that’s the problem,” She stands up & clasps her hand together. “That’s my daughter. Her name is Jacqueline. We discussed this last year & on the first day. Just because you knew her before doesn’t mean you don’t have to try.”

Principal Whilhaem nods & breathes out heavily from his nose. “I understand your frustration. However, I do have 256 students under my jurisdiction and it’s difficult for me to keep track of their-” he gestures toward Cecil & Jacqueline, “insignificant changes.’

As he says this, something inside of Diana snaps. Her entire body heats. She chuckles a little. “So referring to people properly is insignificant to you. Creating an environment where people feel safe is insignificant to you. Hmm? And out of those 256, how many are trans. Do you even know.” He opens his mouth to speak & then closes it again. “No, you don’t because with all the talk this school does of being tolerant, it’s not. This is a school where my daughter & her friends are repeatedly subject to torment for just being themselves. This is a school where their principal misgenders & then instead of correcting himself makes flimsy.”

“Well, Ms. A-”

“I’m not finished.” She slams her hand on his desk. “Now, what you’re going to do is tell me accurately why these children are sitting in the corner of your office with a bubble of silence surrounding them. What you’re not going to do is flounder or misgender either of them.” She steps back & crosses her arms, eyeing Principal Whilhaem

The principal wipes sweat from his forehead with his trembling hand. He gathers his shaky breaths to say, “Yes. Okay then. Umm,” he pauses for 2 seconds as he swivels his hand in the air “Cecil aided Jasmine in assaulting Mr. Lux with this textbook.” He holds up a book covered in blood. “Cecil handed the book to Jasmine & she decided to throw this book at Mr.Lux, using her powers to aid her. The teacher’s nose was smashed in & he’s been rushed to the hospital. I hope you understand why we had to suspend her for the rest of the week. It’s quite dangerous to have this behavior in this establishment & I hope disciplinary action will be taken at home.”

Diana chuckles. “Principal Whilhaem, are you aware of the reason why she threw the book at this teacher.”

“Uh,” he furrows his brow & shakes his head, “no, she didn’t tell me.” Looks to Jacqueline & she flicks him off.

"Good thing, Cecil’s a telepath & relayed the full story to me. Your bubble of silence does nothing to mental communication.” She taps her left temple twice. “Now, he’s telling me that this teacher sent a ray of divine punishment at my daughter.” A lump appears in Principal Whilhaem’s throat. “Now, both of us know that this is in blatant disregard of the Act of Smite. Imagine what would happen if this went public. I wonder what would happen to your funding.”

A faint smile reappears on his face. “Well Ms. Alister, as a journalist, you must know the evidence is key & as it stands, all you have is the testimony of two impulsive 15-year-olds. Seems your case is a bit shaky at best, Diana.”

“You see Gailen, that’s where you’re wrong.” She takes out a device from her pocket & plays back his speech about evidence. His face goes white. “I’m a very connected woman & it would be quite a shame if, I don’t know, this got put onto the front page of The Crystal Lede. All your donors would probably go bye-bye & I guess your lavish lifestyle would go poof. We would want that would we?” Principal Whilhaem shakes his head. “Now what you’re going to do is stop being willfully ignorant to people’s gender, revoke my daughter suspension & crackdown on child abuse in the faculty. Otherwise, this is going public. Deal?” She puts her hand out for him to shake.

“Looks like you’ve got yourself a deal.” He shakes her hand.

“That’s nice. Now no further business, we’ll be taking our leave.” She dispels the bubble of silence. “C’mon children.” They walk outside the classroom. “Cecil, is Shaelyn coming home with us today?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Okay honey, could you go get her, I need to talk to Jacqueline for a second.” Cecil runs off & Jacqueline & Diana make their way outside. “Jacki, I’m going to get you in therapy okay.”

“Mom he-”

“I know honey, he attacked you & I grilled the principle for it, but I can’t keep bailing you out like this forever.” She sighs & closes her eyes briefly. “We just...need a way for you to let out your anger in another way. I just don’t want you to get in major trouble because of your temper. Okay.”

Jacqueline sighs, “Okay.”

Diana kisses Jacqueline’s forehead, “Love you honey.”

“Love you too mom.”