Chapter 8

Week 2, Day 19 Thursday

When I arrived at school, I noticed the Prom Committee was already putting up the decorations for tonight's Prom. I found Bella outside, hanging up some colorful streamers. I tried waving hello to her, but she just looked away. I guess she was still angry. I sighed, and continued walking to my class. Why was Bella still angry anyway? It wasn't my fault that Mortimer asked me instead of her, and she knows I wished he hadn't. I opened my locker and looked into the mirror attached to the side of my locker. In the mirror's reflection, I saw not only my own face, but Mortimer's as well. I turned around to see he had been standing behind me.

"Hey Cindy." Mortimer greeted, rather shyly.

"Oh, hi Mortimer." I replied.

We both stood in place, mostly eyeing the floor. I don't know how much time passed before Mortimer restarted the conversation.

"So you're going to Prom with Percy tonight?" Mortimer asked.

"Yeah, um, have you gotten a date?" I asked, somewhat awkwardly.

"I gotten a couple of offers, but none of them seemed to be right, you know?" Mortimer shrugged.

A couple of offers?

"Oh, I see. Well, what about Bella?" I asked.

"Oh, Bella? Um, well, I heard, she's, uh, sorta busy tonight, so, she, um, can't go to Prom." Mortimer stuttered.

"Oh really? Because I thought that you would ask her instead of, you know…" I replied, hating how awkward this conversation was.

"Hey, Cindy, who are you…" It was Percy, who had come running out of the crowd and just noticed Mortimer.

"What are you doing here?" Percy asked Mortimer, stepping closer to him.

Mortimer didn't look frightened, and took a step towards Percy.

"I was just talking to Cindy, but I see you obviously feel threatened by me." Mortimer verbally jabbed at him.

"Hey, how about you just step away from her, and we'll forget this ever happened?" Percy suggested.

"Sorry Keaton, I afraid that's not gonna happen." Mortimer taunted, standing his ground.

By now, a large crowd had gathered around Percy and Mortimer, waiting to see what would happen next.

Percy stood up straight, and punched Mortimer right in the face. There was a gasp from the crowd as Mortimer stumbled back. He tried disappearing into the crowd, but some of the kids pushed him back into the ring. Mortimer, not being much of a fighter, shielded his face as Percy threw another punch towards him. But before he could land his punch, another hand shielded Mortimer's face and took hold of Percy's hand.

"Boys, I think that's quite enough." Principal Wright declared, his soft but commanding voice ringing through the hallways.

The two boys separated, and the crowd began to disperse.

"Now, tell me what went wrong here." Principal Wright asked, firmly holding the two boys by their shoulders so they couldn't escape.

By now, everyone had left the scene except for me. Principal Wright turned to me.

"Ah, now I see. You two were fighting over her." he laughed, and set the two boys down.

"Alright then, I leave you two off with a warning, but if I catch you fighting again, there will be punishment. As for you Cindy, would you please meet me in my office at lunch?" he asked, and walked away, hands folded behind his back.

Mortimer, Percy and I walked to our classes, the boys glaring at each other the whole way. Principal Wright asked me to meet him in his office, but why? Why not have the guys meet for some sort of restorative circle? I wonder, was there more to Principal Wright than what meets the eye? As well as being principal of both the elementary and high school, he was also known as Mayor Wright, Chief of Police, the owner of Mega Corp, a celebrated Scientist, Stylist, Architect, Inventor, Chef, and lover of llamas. Nobody ever questioned him, but now I'm starting to wonder, how could Principal Wright have achieved all of these things? He didn't seem any older than sixty days old, but how could you reach the top of every career possible in just sixty days? It didn't seem right to me, but then again, Mr. Wright was an amazing man, why should it be a surprise if he is an expert in, well, everything?

I stepped into Mr. Wright's office during lunch. His room had light blue walls, with memorabilia hung all over the walls and on the tables. She noticed a trophy case of his near his desk. In it contained a couple of Simmy Awards, a high school valedictorian ribbon, a crown for Prom King, and the most interesting of all, a small, black control box that I couldn't make heads or tails of. It's light was blinking red and I was about to open the case when I heard the door open. I rushed to the front of the office to see Principal Wright, with his lunch in his hand.

"Hello Cindy, would you please have a seat?" Principal Wright asked, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk.

I sat down as he sat in his own office chair.

"So, being fought over by two young men is, shall we say, confusing? Am I right?" Principal Wright asked.

"Well, yeah. I guess." I replied.

"Teenage years are suppose to be confusing. They're there to help you learn a lot about who you are, and what you'll age up to be." Principal Wright explained, opening up his desk drawer.

"But sometimes, something in a young one's life may try to change that path." Principal Wright's voice suddenly became deeper, and somewhat malicious.

He reached his hand into his desk drawer and pulled out the book Mom had taken from me.

"Your mother was so kind enough to inform me about your late night reading. So, what did you think?" he asked, raising the book up.

I was token a back, looking at the book. How could, why would Mom give the book to Principal Wright? Unless he already knew she had taken the book from me and asked for it, there wouldn't be any visible reason for her to give it to him. Then again, it was weird how I somehow stumbled on the book at the first place. Maybe he'd placed it there so that I'd intentionally find it.

"It, was, weird." I stated, unable to find a better word to describe the book.

"Did you try anything mentioned in the book?" Principal Wright asked, flipping open the book and examining a random page.

"Yes, actually. I opened and closed a door with my own hands." I told him.

His eyes were instantly taken from the book to me, a look of surprise on his face. He then closed the book and put it back into his desk.

"Very well then. I don't advise you try anything else mentioned in this book. You may go." he said, sitting back.

"But, why can't I try anything mentioned in the book?" I asked, curious, since there didn't seem to be anything wrong opening a door.

"Well you see, it could confuse your PlumbBob, because think about it. The PlumbBob wasn't invented to be disobeyed, now was it?" Principal Wright asked, leaning in a little too close to me in the process.

I quietly backed out of his office, not saying another word.

"Have a good day, Cindy." Principal Wright called, as the door to his office closed in front of me, on it's own.

Quick Question (I will be asking a Quick Question for each new chapter I post for your feedback. ) : What do you think of Mr. Wright? Do you feel like he's too much of a Gary-Sue? Do you understand the reference to the person he is named after?