“How many times am I going to have to bring you into my office, Miss Carlyle?”
“I dunno.” Roselyn shrugged and slumped further down in her chair.
This scene wasn’t one that was unfamiliar to her. She and Principal Braysen saw each other quite often. Roselyn didn’t care much for him; she would rather not be stuck in this shoebox that he called an office sitting with only one window in an old, wooden chair that squeaked and always gave her splinters in her thighs. Yet, here she was again.
“At this rate, you should get me a coffee mug and nameplate of my own. And maybe a nice, little desk to put them on too,” She continued, smirking.
Principal Braysen was never fond of her jokes, but she continued to try anyway. She always tried to convince him that he was too much of an “old man” to get such quality humor. Plus, a plaque with her name on it didn’t sound half bad, not that she thought he would actually give in to her demands, but she thought it was fun to see the vein on the side of his forehead pop every time she tried.
He sighed and took another deep breath. “Joke around all you want, Miss Carlyle,” he continued, his hands clasping together so tight that they were shaking. “No amount of humor can save you, so let's just get straight to the point, shall we?”
The death glare he was giving her didn’t phase Roselyn one bit. Principal Barysen could intimidate other students with his booming voice and stone-cold expression, but not her. She’d survived much worse than a middle-aged veteran yelling; the body odor in the hallways was more threatening to her than he was.
“Sure, sure,” Roselyn bantered back as she sat up again, still keeping her arms crossed. There wasn’t much room between her chair and his desk to put her legs, and they were starting to cramp from the awkward angle. “What am I in for this time?” She couldn’t hold back the mocking tone in her voice any longer; it was too much fun to mess with him. “Oh yeah, I remember now.” She smirked again, laughing a bit. “I beat the snot out of that one kid with the giant gap between his teeth who’s always trying to touch my hair in class.” She rolled her eyes. “He should be lucky. I think I might have knocked his teeth into place. Then he wouldn’t be confused for a beaver all the time.”
“Miss Carlyle,” Principal Braysen interjected, his voice stern and firm. He, unlike her, was not smiling and having a good time during this conversation. “Fighting with another student is a very serious infraction that we here do not take lightly, and this is the third student you’ve sent home with bruises and a bloody nose this spring.”
“Only three?” Roselyn purposefully looked surprised. “That’s lower than usual. Maybe I’ve just been in a good mood this year.” She laughed.
“The time for laughing is over,” Principal Braysen continued, the vein on his forehead pulsing again. “We’ve tried to be accommodating to someone of… your kind. But enough is enough. I will not allow you to run amuck in my school harming innocent students who just want to learn.”
Roselyn instantly snapped out of her half-listening daze. “And what’s that supposed to mean? My kind?” She sprang to her feet and slammed her hands on his desk as her face turned bright red.
“Come now, Miss Carlyle.” His composure was much calmer than she had expected. “Surely you must know you’re not like the rest of the students here.”
Roselyn could feel her fighting spirit slowly dissipating. It was that obvious, was it? She knew she stood out from her peers in more ways than one, the main one being her bright white hair that reflected sunlight like freshly set snow, but other than that she didn’t think she was that odd, was she?
“The school administrators and I will be calling your guardian and social worker later to discuss what will be done with you and what a suitable punishment would be for such inexcusable behavior,” he added, still unphased by her outburst. Roselyn knew that he had already won. Plus, he was used to it by now. Their meetings weren’t over until at least one of them yelled at the other; it wasn’t uncommon for his secretary to come in and break up the arguments they would have.
Roselyn glared at him as she made her way to the door; she didn’t want to see his face anymore. “Don’t think you can get rid of me that easily,” she said.
“You’re no threat to me, Miss Carlyle,” Principal Braysen bantered back, grinning. “Other schools may not have tried that hard when it came to your behavior, but trust me when I say I will do everything in my power to make sure you don’t lay your hands on another student here again.”
“Good.” Roselyn flung the door open so she could look at him from the other side. “The day I never have to see you or any of these other morons again will be the happiest day of my life.”
With that, she slammed the door and walked out, storming angrily down the hall. The two secretaries yelled at her as she left the administrator’s office. They always told her not to slam the doors, giving her dirty looks when she walked in and out of the office, which was quite often as of late.
“I’ll show him,” Roselyn muttered as she kicked every loose piece of paper and pencil in her way. “I’ll show them all not to mess with me.”She could feel her anger rising with every step; it was bubbling over by the time she got to the corridor.
“Dammit!” She screamed. Roselyn kicked over the nearest garbage can, spewing papers and food wrappers down the hall. Her temper was slowly taking over her again. She had a quick fuse, she knew it, but it’s not like anyone had wanted to help her keep it in check. They just sent her to detention or rehabilitation for troubled teens when she acted out, neither of which helped her. It only fueled her anger more.
She punched one of the nearby lockers over and over. The small dent she had initially made got deeper with each punch, making the door cave in so much she thought it would snap. Roselyn could feel her hand throbbing, but ignored it. The adrenaline told her to keep going until she had gotten the last of her fury out.
“Hey! What are you doing! Stop that!”
Roselyn turned to see David Finley, the class president, running down the corridor towards her. He was nothing but a 4th-year goody two shoes who sucked up to all of the adults in the school, the principal especially. He made her sick. Posters of his face were still plastered everywhere, reminding students to “behave” and “be responsible and respectful.” Roselyn always enjoyed tearing them down or drawing him with devil horns and other inappropriate things.
She scoffed and glared at him. “What do you want?” She raised her throbbing fist to him. Her knuckles were already split; small streams of blood trickled down her hand and onto the floor.
“Damaging school property again, I see,” he replied, his eyes wide with shock and horror as they scanned the hallway. “It’s a wonder you haven’t been expelled yet. An animal like you should be in a cage.”
“Funny.” Roselyn rolled her eyes. “I was about to say the exact thing about you.”
Suddenly his face twisted from shock to anger. “You think you can talk to me that way?” he said, almost as angry as Roselyn was just a moment ago.
“Um, yeah?” Roselyn was uninterested in conversing with him any further. Talking to Daniel was more boring than starting a conversation with a cardboard box. Actually, Roselyn would rather have the cardboard box; it was far more interesting. “You’re not special just because your dad is chummy with the principal and president of the school board. You’re just another spoiled brat who always gets what they want.”
“I’d rather be a brat than a feral animal lashing out at everything they see.” Daniel took a few steps towards her. “Principal Braysen won’t be happy to see you in his office so soon would he? Hopefully, they send you back to juvenile detention where you belong.”
Roselyn couldn’t help but laugh at the phony confidence he was showing. Most of the underclassmen would be trembling and begging for mercy, but she wasn’t one to back down to a fight, especially against someone as spineless as Daniel. “You think I’m scared to go to juvie? I’m one of the baddest bitches there. Even the guards are scared of me,” she answered, smirking. “And when I get out I’ll be able to kick your ass again.” Her gaze narrowed. “You should know not to mess with me, you pathetic excuse for a human being.”
“You bitch!” David walked up to her with his hand out, ready to fight back.
Roselyn saw that coming a mile away. She grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind his back as she shoved his face into the locker she almost demolished just moments ago.
“I hate guys like you,” she said. Her voice was low and menacing, matching the deadly stare in her eyes. “Always overcompensating for your small dicks with power and confidence.” Roselyn twisted his arm further, causing him to cry out in pain. “You’re nothing but a weak little bitch hiding behind daddy’s money. You think you can pick on anyone you want and automatically assume they won’t fight back. But you messed with the wrong person. I’m scarier than any animal you could ever imagine.
David struggled and tried to get out of her grasp, but her hold on him was so tight that her knuckles were turning white. Roselyn’s mind was racing just as fast as her heart was. The fury and adrenaline were still driving her. They told her to keep going, that beating up someone like him might make her feel better. It was almost like she wasn’t even in control.
“Y-you monster!” he cried between short breaths. “Angels like you should have never existed in the first place!”
“Go ahead, call me an angel, monster, whatever the hell you want. You’re not the first and I know you won’t be the last,” she sneered. “No matter what I do you’ll say I’m a monster. Trying to live a normal life isn’t possible. I’ll always get glaring looks and be an outcast, so why should I bother to keep my anger in check?” Roselyn laughed. “I wish this wretched place got rid of me years ago; any place in the world is better than Godiva.”
High pitched screams suddenly filled the hallway. Roselyn turned to see two female students gawking at her from the end of the hallway. They instantly dropped all their books and supplies, making an even louder commotion.
Shit, I didn’t think anyone else would be here this late.
Roselyn definitely didn’t want Principal Braysen to scold her again, and she especially didn’t want the police to be involved. She immediately dropped David and sprinted towards the stairs. Her anger had blinded her; she was so focused on beating the shit out of Daniel that she forgot she was still at school, that was already in trouble for beating up another one of her classmates. She grabbed the railing and jumped down to the next platform, skipping most of the stairs entirely. They would only slow her down. Roselyn wanted to get out as fast as she could, away from everyone at school, away from the girls’ home she was forced to live in, away from everyone in the hell that Godiva had made for her.
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