I sit in the library peacefully, working on an assignment for my math. Trigonometry: a bit hard, but fun. I continue to sip on my leaf water out of my nice cat mug; the one with a cat and under it the word ‘ Catffeinated’ on it. Then Stephaniey, the daughter of the biggest man in the city, comes over.

“Hello, Stephaniey.”

“Ah hello, friend. Could I see your tea set?”

She points at the box by my backpack, a clear mocking tone to the word ‘ friend’, but I pass it off as a mishearing. I have the set with me today because my Chem lab teacher was interested in my collection, as he, too, is a collector.

“Yeah, sure, I guess.”

She opens the box, removes the protective padding, and picks up a cup. She lifts it up to the light for what I think is further inspection. I then see her grip on the cup loosen, dropping it, causing my life to appear in slow motion. I do a sort of leap across the table, in an attempt to save the cup, avoiding everything else, not to cause further damage to my heart. I can hear her cackling while my world is crumbling.

SHATTER.

That’s the sound both my cup and heart make.

I twist my head toward Stephaniey, doing so because during my leap, I landed on the floor.

“Why would you do such a thing?”

As I speak, pure fury is radiating off of me. The feeling of sorrow and a strong urge to cry balls up, deep inside my heart.

“Hmm? Do what?”

She puts up an act of innocence as if she didn’t break my hea- I mean tea cup.

“Okay I don’t- ow- know why you’re being such a bitch.”

Pain spills from my words, totally not from the shards embedded in my face.

“What, I’m not being a bitch and if I were, you’d know why. I’d have wonderful, okay wonderful’s not the word, let's use good, I’d have good reasons.”

“So you’re saying I should know why I have tea cup shards in my face?”

“Uh yes, I mean, no, definitely not, I am not at all at fault for the condition of your face.”

“Alright, I’ll be on my way to the nurse, now.”

I slowly get up trying not to do any further damage to myself.

“Oh, Mowow let me help you.”

She steps on the back of my head, pushing me further in the shards.

“FUCKING SHIT!”

I howl out as pain explodes from my face. I reach up toward her legs, causing more discomfort. With a firm grasp, I flip her over onto the floor. In the process, I get up, my body hunched over her. The blood on my face drips onto her. Screeches of horror come out of her mouth.

“AH, YOUR BLOODS GETTING ON MY DESIGNER CLOTHING!”

“Alright, I wasn’t too mad at the cup breaking, but PUSHING MY FACE INTO ITS SHARDS WAS WAYYY TO FAR!”

“Eh so, it doesn’t matter. Cause you’ll be in trouble and won’t be able to run for head councilman.”

“That’s what this is about?!?”

“Of course, what else?”

“That’s such a dumb reason, I don’t really care about the place. Also Jennifer is more likely than the both of us.”

“Nuh uh, she can’t run, she’s been hospitalized.”

“What!!? She was fine yesterday!”

“She was hi-”

“Both of you to Mr. Moore's Office; take this note with you. You two have disrupted the library’s learning/studying environment.” Mrs. Geoff, the librarian, interrupts us. As I begin to reach for the note, she stops me.

“Oh, no. Mowow, you head straight to the Nurse's office. We’ll take care of the issue after you’re alright, I’ll have a student bring your things to the front office and get a janitor for the glass.” She gives me a warm smile, having watched the event unfold, but not being able to stop it right away. She knows I didn’t start it or partake in the violence.

“Hmmpf.” Stephaniey huffs and starts walking in the opposite direction of Mr. Moore’s Office.

“Oh, no. Stephaniey, you’re definitely going. And to make sure of it, I’m walking you.”

“But I didn’t do anything.”

“Sure you didn’t.”

An ‘ooh’ is heard from about two tables away.

I hear this going on while I’m leaving.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You’re lucky, not too much damage. Nothing that’s in need of a hospital visit.”

“Alright. Thanks, Nurse Kim.”

“No problem, Sweetie. Also, I forgot to ask what happened to you. I was very panicked by your bleeding face arriving at my office.”

“Well, Rosemand broke my cup, I landed in the shards, then she stepped on my face, pushing me further into shards.”

“Oh wow, I knew she played dirty, but this was way too far.”

“Yeah. But now I must be on my way to Mr. Moore’s office.”

“Alright, but if anything happens, immediately get some medical assistance.”

“Okay.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I arrive and knock on Mr. Moore’s door.

“Come in.”

I walk in and immediately see Stephanie with her arms crossed, sitting next to her father.

Mrs. Geoff is also here, probably because she was the teacher in charge when the whole ordeal went down. Mr. Moore looks up, eyes wide. He then quickly, as if in a blink of an eye, composes himself.

“Take a seat, Mowow.”

I sit down in the chair to the right of Mrs. Geoff.

“Mowow we have been trying to contact your guardian, Herald Shame. He hasn’t answered. Is there an issue?”

“Oh. No. He’s probably in class, but he should have been out at…”

I look down at my watch.

“Well about ten minutes ago.”

“Alright, we’ll call him again.”

As Mr. Moore picks up the phone to dial W’s number, my phone rings.

“Oh. That’s my guardian’s ringtone. Can I take the call?”

I stand up and walk to an unoccupied area of the room.

“Hello, Mowow. Are you alright? The school’s been blowing my phone up.”

“Yeah, but I need you to come to the school.”

“Already here.”

After I hear those words, I hang up the call.

There’s immediately a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

Mr. Moore invites my guardian into the room. W. walks in dressed in a white button up shirt, blue sweater, and khaki pants. He takes my seat, so I sit in the empty chair. He then quickly grabs my face, a look of concern thrown upon it.

“What happened?”

He looks at Stephaniey in both curiosity and anger.

“Actually, Mr. Shame, that’s why you are here today. My name’s John Moore.”

Moore semi-answers his question.

“Yeah, the psycho Meowio threatened me and he only got hurt due to self defense.”

Stephaniey interjects as if she was the victim in the situation, while I have bandages all over my face and she has a tiny blood stain from my blood.

“Actually, Ms. Rosemand is lying, sir. She broke Mowow’s cup and Mowow fell onto the shards, and after that, while he was down, no threat or anything to her, Stephaniey stepped on the back of his head, pushing him further into the cup’s shards, causing more damage to his face.”

Corrects Mrs. Geoff, a look of annoyance on her face.

“Are you calling my daughter a liar!?!”

A threatening tone comes from Mr.Rosemand’s words. I hear W. growl before he grabs my arm in a protective manner. Mrs.Geoff shrinks into her seat before quickly recovering.

“Yes, I am. In fact, that was what I said in my first sentence. She isn’t in the place to play the victim; this isn’t a theater class.”

Mr. Rosemand lets out an audible gasp.

“I ought to fire you.”

“Both of you, be quiet. I’d like the student’s points of view first. Well, I’ve heard Stephaniey’s. Mowow, I’d like to hear your side.”

“Alright. Stephaniey asked to look at my tea set, which I brought to show a fellow collector. I allowed her, she brought it higher up and dropped it, but in an attempt to save the cup I leaped forward from my place and was too late. I ended up on the shards, then what Mrs. Geoff said is true from then on.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Alright, Mowow and Stephaniey, you are both suspended for a week.”

“Huh? Why Mowow? He did nothing wrong.” W questions Mr. Moore.

“Mr. Shame, we can discuss this in private.”

Mr.Moore whispers to him.

“Mr. Rosemand, Stephaniey, you are both dismissed to grab Steph’s items and leave for the suspension.” Leaving the room, Stephaniey has an angry face and crosses her arms until her father tells she isn’t grounded or in any trouble.

When the door finally closes, Moore turns to W. and begins explaining.

“I apologize, but Mr. Rosemand can cause a lot of trouble. If you would like, I could get Mowow an after school study group of sorts together for him so he could have the assignments the same day and not have to catch up the following week with all of the regular work. In this, he could get help from students that volunteer for the study group.”

“Alright. Seems like a good idea for Mowow. I understand, John. He does seem a bit like an ass. Oh. I apologize for my language.”

“It’s just fine. I’ll email you the information for the study sessions, but you are now dismissed to gather your things.”

“Alright. We’ll be on our way now.” We get up, leave the room and head for my locker. My stuff was brought to Mr. Moore’s office so I don’t need that, but I do need my jacket and helmet.

I grab them and head to the parking lot, but before I get my helmet on W. grabs my shoulders and makes me face him.

“Kid, you are in no condition to drive. I can call someone to pick us up. You can have someone else drive the bike home.”

I flop my arms around W, crying into his chest.

“Yeah, I know… It was my third life’s grandmother’s set.”

“Fuck. I’m sorry.”

He seems deep in thought before his eyes light up.

“I know! I’m aware I can’t replace the value of that tea set, but i’ll buy you a tea set for this generation. How does that sound?”

I look up and smile before giving off a small nod.

“Great. Now, let me call and see if Max can pick us up.”