I went into her office, bracing myself for the worst. Her blond hair flowed down over her shoulders and she gave me that Hatzilakos' stare. This wasn't fair, I mean, it was Craig's fault. He started it.
"Gavin, what happened?" she said, and I looked down. I kissed Ashley, sure, but did that make it my fault? It was a free country.
"Uh, Craig started pounding on me, he's-" I was about to say he's crazy, but I stopped myself. She must know he was crazy. Unlike Raditch she was pretty on top of things as a principal. I guess she didn't want one of us coming into school and blowing people away like Rick did. So my guess was that she knew Craig was a nut. I'd use that to my advantage.
"He's what?" she said, and her eyes were all squinted up at me, and she had one hand on the phone like she was about to call 911 or something.
"I don't know, he's just been acting different lately," I said.
"How?" she said, her voice lower, and I felt like the spider spinning a lovely web.
"Well, it's like he's not paying attention to anything, he seems so out of it. Except when he's getting all pissed off at any little thing, and then today, well. He just started punching me right out of the blue,"
She looked all concerned, biting her bottom lip. 'C'mon, Hatzilakos,' I thought, 'suspend Craig and not me,'
"Well, you were both involved-" she said.
"Yeah, I was involved because he started punching me! I didn't do it, I didn't start it! Craig's out of his mind,"
She looked fairly unconvinced, even knowing, like I knew she knew, that Craig had gone completely crazy not that long ago.
"One day's suspension," she said.
"What!"
"Gavin, that's final," Steel eyed gaze, steel voice, blond hair notwithstanding. My hands balled into fists. Ashley. She was always more trouble than she was worth.
"Send Craig in," she said, and I barely nodded. What a bitch.
Out in the waiting area again with the fat secretary behind her big desk and Craig slumped in the chair, his one eye puffed up and swollen shut, but with his other eye he gave me that evil stare and I knew he'd try to kill me at a later date.
"You're up, bud," I said, mock punching him on the shoulder, maybe a little harder than I should have. He flinched away and came up at me, punching my shoulder in the same spot I had punched him but so hard and my muscles instantly knotted up.
"Hey!" I said.
"Hey what, Spin! You were fucking kissing Ashley-" he was about to go at me again and I saw the fat secretary's eyes get all wide and then Hatzilakos' door flew open.
"Craig! Gavin!" I turned to her, because I saw another way to get out of this. Craig didn't even act like he heard her and he punched me again and then he knocked me down and I looked up at her with a 'see, see?' expression. He was the nut. It was his fault. Hatzilakos and the fat secretary were able to pull him off of me and drag him away, and I wiped the blood from my lips and under my nose.