chp7

Interrogation Day

There are several reasons why I hate Mondays. Here's just a few of them; it's the end of the weekend, school is prominent, walking through the rain is a certainty and 6am is my outrageous wake up call. I'm practically dead at the moment, sitting at the breakfast table, staring down at my Cherry Pop it tarts(or pop tarts..whatever). I'm not hungry, just exhausted. That's the last time I stay up till 2am watching Nightmare on Elm Street.(maybe it had something to do with Kellan lutz being in it...maybe..) And it's not helping that mom keeps making the noise, sending chills down my because Horror is my favorite genre doesnt mean i gotta watch it,Besides id already seen it, I don't even know why I watched it again.

"Eat," Mom ordered, noticing I had not touched my breakfast.

I grumbled something to her that even I couldn't understand and slouched in my chair even more. She took one look at me and sighed, I was hoping she'd let me stay home from school today - but knowing mom, that was not going to happen. My arms didn't hurt anymore though they were still bandaged and my ankle was no longer swollen and I had perfected limping yesterday for a more dramatic effect when I got to school.

Dad came into the room dressed for work, he was cleanly shaved and his suit was new. This is the same dad that would play football with me and my brother in the backyard, letting mud cake his hair for days on end. It was a new him and I didn't like it.

"Wish me luck at my meeting girls," He said as he poured himself coffee. Caffeine is what I was desperate for,preferrably Mountain dew, but I couldn't make myself comprehensible enough to ask for some. He glanced at me half bemusedly, half disappointedly.

"Caffenine ," I managed to mumble, but it came out sort of like: Caff I neee. I know, only slightly coherent.

"English please," Dad answered instead of getting me my own drink. I frowned and cleared my throat. He was smirking all the while, obviously very entertained by my little show.

"CAffenine!" I raised my voice involuntarily, the prospect of holy Mountain dew closer. Dad shook his head and laughed.

"No dice kiddo, get your own." My eyes literally bugged out - my dad picked now to be mean, right in my time of need.

"But-" I started, but was cut off by my cruel mother.

"Have a good day honey." Mom kissed him on the cheek and he was out of the room again, coffee in hand.

"Why is dad at work all the time now?" I asked her a few minutes later, after the front door had slammed shut.

"He's been promoted, that means he gets extra work for extra pay. He's just doing his job Anya," She told me, taking my plate. I didn't protest as she chucked my food into the trash, I simply stood and went to the refrigeration machine, succumbing to the smell of freshly poured Mountain dew -liquid-goodness. I held the cup in my hands and an impish smile plastered itself onto my face, the pull even stronger. I took a sip and then screamed, dropping the cup from my hands. It shattered on the floor, the drink going everywhere. I gasped, my tongue practically on fire. Mom didn't even blink.

"Flat?" She raised an eyebrow and all I could do was gasp. So much for my saviour...

I glared at my mother and simply said, "I'm going to school." Dodging round the broken china cup and still yummy mountain dew-ness. My heart wrenched, oh deww...

She once again made the blood freezing noise from Nightmare on Elm, causing me to momentarily stop in my tracks before maneuvering myself round the table and into the hallway.

"Do you want a lift to school, you know with your ankle and all…" Mom started, but I stalked out of the house before she could say anymore. I wasn't in the mood for motherly kindness, I just wanted two things. Sensibly caffeninated drinks and the comfort of my canopy bed. I slammed the front door behind me, the thud echoing. I had never noticed how quiet it actually was without the sound of pouring rain here, there wasn't even any wind whipping through the trees, this was strange.

Pain shot up my leg as I began jogging down the street, trying to get away from the silence. I ignored my screaming ankle and sped up. I missed my motorbike so much.

The distant roar of an engine flooded the street, I stopped and turned on my heel to face the noise. Sure enough the black Lamborghini came up beside me, Nicole stretched over to open the passenger door for me and grinned.

"Care for a ride to school?" She asked and I sighed.

"You know there's a line between friend and stalker, your getting close to crossing it Nic," I told her and she shrugged.

"I just thought you might like a lift, but if you don't could you-" I cut her off by sliding in the seat and buckling my belt.

"Thanks." She beamed at me and put the car into drive again.

"What's up with your arms?" She asked a few minutes later, I glanced up from where I had been looking through her Cd collection. She had a whole box of discs under the seat consisting of Paramore, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, The Spice Girls? ew , and even some Johnny Cash. Weird range of music taste, but I'll have to admit it's good music anyway - 'part from The Spice Girls part at least.

"Oh," I was wearing a sleeveless band shirt and when I took off my jacket I guess I sort of left my bandages showing, "I fell in the forest and grazed them, I hurt my ankle too." I explained and she raised her eyebrows.

"Anything else happen?" I debated whether or not to tell Nicole about my run in with Embry. I decided to tell her some, but not all of what happened; like my bliss at being in his arms. I blushed at the thought of anyone knowing that and Nic quickly caught on that there was something else, I cursed myself mentally.

"I saw that Embry guy," I said simply and she went into girly mood. Oh boy…

"Any sparks?" I frowned at her.

"Of course not. We just talked." I decided to leave out the part about him carrying my home and how I longed for the beat of his heart under my palm again. I mentally slapped myself, the rational voice screaming once again. I don't like Embry, I don't like Embry, I don't like Embry, I don't fucking like Embry;( hehe when I typed that my mind had a "moment".. I typed in "I like fucking Embry"..) I chanted, trying to make myself believe it. But the more I said it, the more those four words lost all meaning and I could only blink as the peninsula forest rolled away outside the car.

"About what?" God, nosy much?

"About how he is not allowed to call me short."

Nicole was quiet and when I glanced at her, she had that daydream look in her mind, her hands only moving slightly as she turned the wheel. I just had to hope she would drop the subject now.

"Did you kiss him?" I turned to her in horror. So much for dropping the damn subject.

"Say what?"

"Did. You. Kiss. Him." She repeated, saying each word slowly as if I were five years old.

"NO." ( I would do more than kiss that boy...)I said firmly and she sighed, I wondered if she was disappointed, "Why the hell would I kiss him?"(cause hes lickable..dur..)

"No reason." She said quickly and stopped. We were already at school, some freshmen had stopped to once again ogle at the expensive car and I put her Cds back under my seat.

We got out and walked round to the cafeteria, she kept sending me funny looks instead of pushing verbally for more info about my encounter.

"Stop it." I demanded of her and she giggled.

"Why are you so embarrassed about it?" She finally asked and I groaned inwardly, today was not going well and I was still extremely tired. So tired, that I didn't at first feel the arm snake round my shoulders for a few seconds until I grasped that some jock was about to flirt with me, as if on cue…

"Hey babe, come here often?" I couldn't help but laugh at his attempt.

"It's school," I told him and shrugged off his shoulder. Karnisso Loveless, the school's best quarterback and worst player, and I'm not talking about sports for the last one.

"Well, do you go to Wendy's diner often? Because if not, we'd better change that." He smirked at me and I felt the urge to punch him in the face. But facts were facts and as much as I despised this particular fact; a lot of boys were inevitably stronger (physically!) than a lot of girls. Sadly, I was in the latter. I just gritted my teeth instead.

"Sorry, I have a boyfriend," I told him and Nic's eyes widened for a second.

"He don't have to know," Loveless(ima refer by last name, thats how we do in rotc..) continued and I sighed and slapped him. In those three seconds that he was in shock, I was back in the hallways and halfway to my first class.

History, French and art passed quickly and soon it was chemistry. We were meant to be working on our projects, but I was too tired to pay attention to anything tiffanie said.

"Anya!" She half yelled as my eyes flickered shut for the seventh time. I sat up immediately and yawned.

"Hmm?"

"If your just going to nap instead of help me, go ahead. But I would suggest you transfer from eleventh grade to kindergarten." Tiffanie glared at me and I rested my head in my hands.(bitch ..you need to get laid)

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"It's fine," She sighed and I turned to face her.

"What's wrong?" I asked her and she sighed again.

"Nothing…I just need a good grade, I'm gonna fail otherwise." That explained a lot at least.

"Ok, I'll try and help." For the rest of the hour I tried to make myself helpful, but fatigue bound I couldn't do much.

When the bell rang announcing lunch period I practically did a happy dance, earning a few raised eyebrows from people. Tiffanie had asked if she could sit with me today, for whatever reason I wasn't sure, but the company was welcome. Well, if not for me then Nicole at least - I just wanted to go back to bed.

"Nightmare till 2am?" Chelsea questioned as we sat down, Nicole had texted me saying she would be here in a few - she had to finish some class work before Mrs Maclaughlin let her go. Unfortunately, Mrs Maclaughlin was the strictest teacher in school when it came to the quantum of work we did. My lack of work last week had gained me the majority of my detentions. And even worse, I had dad's old phone now...due to my little 'accident' with mine on Saturday night.

"And my mom was unknowingly singing the melody during breakfast."

"Ooh," She sucked in her breath in sympathy and I opened my Mountain dew . Never did a beverage taste so good before, never did I want to marry a beverage before... I grimaced, thinking of my little incident this morning. I shivered once, then hugged my jacket round my torso. We were inside. And it was cold. That basically just screamed that the school's new central heating plan was going to waste - maybe we could have polar bears as class pets?(or very yummy wolfs instead..?)

"So why are you failing in chemistry, your actually good at it?"

"Well, I'm fine when it comes to projects - they're my strong points. But during tests I can't show off everything I know, the questions are ready made and I can't go into detail about a lot of things because they aren't on the exams." She explained, shoving several fries into her mouth.

At that moment Nicole's tray slammed down on the table and she confronted me straight away, grinning wildly. I was actually scared.

"Embry. Embry's your boyfriend." She stated and Tiffanie turned to me smiling.

"What?" I said in disbelief, how could she come up with that? And great, now Tiffanie believed her too.

"You told loveless you had a boyfriend and you went bright red when I questioned you about Embry, it all adds up and you didn't tell me!" tiffanie giggled.

"You didn't tell me either," They were both against me now.

"Embry? Boyfriend? No. You've got it all wrong Nic-" She cut me off again.

"Well, are you dating him or not?"

"No." I said finally and she narrowed her eyes at me.

"You aura says your telling the truth, which I'm sure your not. But auras don't lie…" She stared at her lunch, her eyes glazed over in thought.

"Auras? How the fuck did they come into this?" I shook my head at her and took a long drink from my dew, "I barely know Embry," I muttered.

"So you do have a boyfriend though?" Tiffanie prompted, tossing her brown hair over her shoulder.

"Ah, sort of…if you count the DOS as my boyfriend,if not then no." I'm pretty sure it was 'Interrogate Anya day'.

"You need some serious help." Nic stated rolling her eyes.

"Do not! your just Jealous cause you cant have him." I mumbled, annoyed.

"GET HELP!." Chelsea and Nicole said at the same time and exchanged glances. I scowled at both of them.

"Shut up," I banged my head on the lunch table, a little too loudly I might add. I looked up to see all eyes in the cafeteria on me. Megan was the first to make a comment, the first I heard at least.

"Told you she was a crack head," Her little posse laughed and I glared at her.

"I wonder if she inhales?" Another person said. I clenched my fists.

"She's probably still depressed 'cos I turned her down."Loveless stated and that snapped me. Fuck facts. I grabbed my can and threw it as hard as I could at his head. Bull's-eye.

"What the hell!" He stood up as I crossed my arms across my chest.

"FOOD FIGHT!" Some seniors announced and before loveless could cross the cafeteria to scream at me, food was being flung from friends to enemies, upperclassmen to lowerclassmen. Some of Megan's Barbie friends were crying as pie or pizza got matted in their hair and Tiffanie and Nicole tried to pull me under the table. But I resisted their tugs and grabbed the biggest handful of tuna casserole I could and threw it at the head slut. Megans's ear piercing scream echoed through the hall and everyone seemed to stop.

"I'm going to fucking kill you Anya Reese!" I snorted and then the cafeteria doors flew open. Principal Manning stood there, her face a mask of fury.

"Who started the food fight?" She asked calmly and all arms pointed at me and loveless, whose hand was frozen mid throw. Principal Manning beckoned us to follow her and I groaned and did so, Loveless protested a lot but complied too.

We were sitting outside her office two minutes later as she spoke to vice principal Lewis. The phone in the main foyer rang a few times till the receptionist picked up. Loveless turned to snipe at me but instead burst out laughing.

"What?" I asked, irritated.

"You have mushy peas in your hair," He told me and I frowned, running my hands through my Curly black-red- brown hair to get the food out.

"You know, it's your fault the food fight started."

"How exactly? I didn't force you to lug a can at my head." He shot back.

"I wouldn't have if you hadn't made that comment, which by the way is not true at all."

"Babe, I have a reputation to uphold and it was just the right moment to crack a remark." He smirked at me and I felt the anger bubbling inside me again.

"I think now is the right moment to crack your skull," I seethed and pulled my arm back, ready to punch him as hard as I could. Even if it didn't crack his skull, he might lose the few brain cells he has left . The door to the principals office opened at that moment and I froze, Loveless snorted.

"Miss Reese, my office please." She ordered and I groaned. Today was not going well at all.

Principal Manning's office was not as large as my previous principals; with only a large desk flooded with documents of some sort, photographs of previous year groups were abundant on the walls over a disgusting peach wallpaper. The carpet was a coarse grey, stains less obvious in the dim lighting. I sat down in one of the armchairs opposite the desk, by a group of cabinets and waited for her to begin.

Manning stared at a photograph for a moment, then her cold gaze turned to me, I immediately felt like a deer in headlights. "Now, from your record I had seen that you were a troublemaker in the past...but because of your impeccably high grade averages I decided to generously overlook your past and allow you into my school with open arms." She started, brushing a black hair out of her eyes. Her perm was that of midnight, but was greying near her forehead. I couldn't imagine the day when I would be old with grey hair, I decided to cherish my youth at the moment.

"But your actions today...may I just ask why?" I had my chance at redemption. I took it as graciously as I could with cafeteria food matted into my clothes.

"Well," I began, slouching in the seat naturally, "Loveless has been bugging me. He made a totally untrue comment and I have anger issues, I'll admit to them. I threw a can at his head, then before I know it everyone is chucking food at each other. I never meant to start a food fight," I gave her my best innocent smile and she was thoughtful for a moment. But I still knew she was impassive.

"But still, you did. Actions always have consequences; we either have to take them with dignity, or never do those actions again. I shall expect the second comes into mind right now, and I shall also hope you never have to audicity to do something like that again." She lectured, I hate lectures, which unstoppably made me hate her.

"Oh, ma'am, I don't have the audacity to do it again. But I do have the backbone to stick up for myself, nothing you can say will change my opinions or reactions." I shot back and she stiffened.

"Well. If nothing I say will change your mind about what you did, then we best get to the successor of your actions." I new what was coming next. "Your punishment. But first, lets call mr loveless in to confirm your story." Jerk-off took a seat next to me a minute later, pale with guilt and worry about what Manning would say to him or even what I had said to her.

"Before you say anything principal Manning, I'd just like to point out that I am undeniably the victim in this situation." He pointed at the invisible bruise on his forehead where my can had supposedly hit him.

"Yeah, also the catalyst." I spat at him under my breath and he glared.

"Well, your arm seems to be a catapult," He retorted.

"Oh? Well I-" ... was cut of by the slamming of a heavy hardback book on the desk. Manning glared at both of us.

"Stop it." She ordered and told loveless what I had said happened, jerk-off reluctantly agreed that I was telling the truth - only after he realized I had not mentioned him too badly.

The interrogating continued until both of us had received a months detention. After that, we were asked to go home - suspended for two days. I thought it was awesome, today hadn't been so bad after all. As I walked down the street, loveless drove past me in his old Ford and I was showered by water from a puddle his wheel sped through. Drenched, I stuck up my middle finger at him and tried to wipe down my jeans. My bandages needed replacing now and guess what? It had just started raining.

I was halfway down the street when I heard footsteps behind me, shoving my hands in my pockets I ignored it. Then they got closer and eventually I turned round to face the source.

I don't know why, but I felt myself slowly smile.