It's that second time of the month! Update time! Double update time!
Warnings: sucidial ideation
Enjoy the chapter!
7. The New Kid
Principal Ishiyama stands in front of the coffee machine, patiently waiting for the last of the coffee to drip down into her already full cup. Manicured nails thrum against the counter, dark brown eyes glazing over her several dozen unread emails. The coffee machine whirrs to a stop, humming as she grabs the coffee and greedily sipped down the caffeinated drink, her arms jittering with newfound energy. She continued to sip her coffee while she walks out the teacher's lounge, down the empty halls of Casper High until she reached the Principal's suite.
"Morning Mr. Evelyn," she chirped out, leaning over the desk to grab her stack of paperwork. "How's this Monday treating you?"
Mr. Evelyn didn't bother to spare the principal a second glance before answering, "I'm tired, I want to crawl under my blankets and never wake up again," he deadpanned, fingers flying across the keyboard as he furiously typed away. "You know my answer never changes, so why do you ask me this every single Monday?"
Ishiyama shrugged, hugging the stack of papers closer to her chest. "Perhaps I enjoy hearing your daily dosage of cynicism," she said honestly, "It brightens my day just hearing it."
"You're insane," The secretary said flatly, returning to his task at hand. "But I suppose that's why I love you."
A rose red blush flushed across Principal Ishiyama's cheeks. "Aw that's sweet of you," she said, her lips twitching in amusement. "But I must continue on into my office and do boring Principal work."
"Sucks to be you," Mr. Evelyn stated simply. "Have fun."
She waved, strutting into her office and began setting up her workspace for a long day of work. Shoving aside unnecessary papers, Ishiyama casually tossed the stack of papers she had on the desk. Taking a long sip of her coffee, the principal grabbed an ink pen and started working, managing to squeeze in thirty minutes of work before Mr. Evelyn knocked on her door and peeked in. "Ishi Ishi, I hated to bother you," he said apologetically, "but there's a student who wants to see you."
Ishiyama sighed in slight irritation, if this kept happening, she wouldn't get anything done. "You know that-"
"This one wants to register to attend here." he interrupted quickly. "He's sitting in the office. Are you coming to get him or do you want me to bring him in?"
"Bring the student in Ev," she answered, watching as he left, returning shortly with an African-American child with bright blue hair tied up in a low ponytail, arching an eyebrow in bewilderment when she saw the frazzled state of the child when they walked in.
"This one worries me a bit," She caught Ev mouth, eyes watching carefully as the child took a seat in one of the empty chairs. "See if you can pry anything out of him."
The principal stood up, walking around to the front of her desk, leaning back against it in an attempt to not come across as threatening to the child. "Thank you, Mr. Evelyn." she said smoothly, brown eyes still staring at the child before glancing at her coworker with a terse nod. "I'll try my best, but no promises."
Mr. Evelyn nodded back, flashing a kind smile at the young boy before retreating, closing the door behind him. Now, the two were alone. Principal Ishiyama glanced at the child, silently mulling over her observations as the child fidgeted. He was probably just as tall as her, if not shorter, with an oversized purple hoodie covering his (what she assumes) lanky frame and knee long black shorts. Several purple bruises littered the lower half of the child's legs and she hid an amused chuckle at the one shoe on, one shoe off trend. "So is it safe to assume that you're the type of kiddo who's always on the run doing crazy, reckless shenanigans?" she asked with a smile, tightening uncomfortably when the child apparently flinched.
"That's me in a nutshell," he said with a self-deprecating laugh, rubbing his wrists rather nervously and obviously using less pressure on his left wrist, which she has to assume is either sprained or broken. "The kid does stupid, reckless, dangerous stuff all the time. That's me."
Ishiyama grabbed a pen, twirling it between her fingers. "I don't think that's the case." she said firmly, "Every child is prone to do something reckless at some point but you don't seem to be the type of student who would willingly do such things unlike some of my current students."
"Looks can be deceiving."
"That is true," she agreed solemnly, "What's your name?"
He looked at her, brown eyes widened as he jittered nervously. "Chrona. Chrona Dalum. A rather nice name for a young male like yourself."
"I'm not a boy," Chrona interrupted rudely. "I rather you use they/them pronouns.
"My mistake, but as I was saying, it's a pleasure to to meet you, Chrona." she said gently. "Think fast."
"What?" Was all that Chrona could say before the Principal tossed her pen at him, shooting upward to catch the pen and wincing when they used their left wrist to grab it.
Ishiyama doesn't say anything as Chrona hissed in pain before nursing their injured wrist, only frowning as her suspicions were confirmed. "How did you hurt your wrist Chrona?"
They looked away from her, unsure as to how to answer. Should he tell her the truth? But if they told the truth, then there would be an investigation, they would find out the truth, they would all find out that Chrona was a monster that should be locked away in an attic. Would she even believe them if they told her the truth? It seemed unlikely that she'd believe them yet she seemed so concerned about their welfare, actually concerned about them. The concept sounded so surreal, so ludicrous, so absurd. Someone caring about them? Preposterous.
With a heavy sigh, Chrona answered, "I fell outside while I was climbing a tree." It wasn't a complete lie, they had hurt their wrist even further after falling out the tree.
Ishiyama gave the child an odd stare, unable to bring herself to believe Chrona. They were lying, she knew it. Anyone with common sense can sense that. However, she couldn't do anything about it unless she had proof of her suspicions. Sighing in irritation, she replied with, "That sucks, I hope that hand isn't your dominant hand."
Chrona shook their head, "I'm right-handed."
"That's good. Still, you need to wrap your wrists in gauze or something along those lines." the principal said, reaching behind her to grab some stacks of paper. "I heard you wanted to attend Casper High?"
"Yes."
"You are aware that I'll need to acquire certain information from your parents right?" she asked, observing with an steady eye as to how Chrona flinched again. "Unless you have your SSN, birth certificate, two proofs of residency, and shot records on you?"
"You need all of that?" Chrona squeaked out.
"This is a school, and I am mandated by federal law to have this information," Ishiyama explained. "Unless of course your parent or guardians who objected, for religious reasons, to having you being immunized for school entrance must submit a Certificate of Religious Exemption, which has to be signed by a health care provider. Or if by some unfortunate circumstance you or your parents lost this information or lost your Social Security Number due to fire or some other mishap, then you'll have to prove your identity with the necessary documents required to replace it."
Chrona brought their knees to their chest and hid their face in their arms. "But I don't have any of that, my family sent me on ahead and they told me they would join in a few days," they bemoaned, voice thick with desperation. "I just wanted to come here."
'I just wanted to escape.'
There weren't many moments where Principal Ishiyama hated being Principal Ishiyama but right now, she absolutely hated her role. Does she deny a potential student because of lack of documentation or does she let them in regardless? She pinches the bridge of her nose in contemplation. It was obvious that Chrona was running from something but she didn't know what and she refused to deny a child any chance of calling Casper a safe haven, no matter the reason. She wasn't like the other principals who denied children in need because they didn't have the required items to be admitted in school. On the other hand, if someone had caught wind that she had admitted a child without the documentation necessary, Ishiyama refused to entertain the possibilities. At best, she would be fired. At worst, she would face a trial for violating federal law.
Should she follow the law or break it for the sake of one student?
Ishiyama decides when she bows her head down in deep thought, looks up and her heart breaks hearing muffled sobs coming from Chrona. Head held high, she steps in front of Chrona, bends down on her knees, carefully pulls their legs from out of the chair, making sure that her student was looking at her. She reaches out towards Chrona, grabbing them in a tight hug and shushes the child when they ask 'Why are you hugging me?', rocking back and forth as Chrona cried. Several minutes passed, Chrona's loud sobs quieted into soft sniffles, Principal Ishiyama pulls back, her dark brown eyes glinting with content.
"Welcome to Casper High, Chrona." she says with a gentle smile, reaching out to quickly wipe away unshed tears forming in the corners of Chrona's eyes.
To hell with federal law.
"Good morning Star," Valerie's voice rings in her ears through the phone.
"Good morning to you Valerie." Star sang happily, rising out of her bed to open her curtains slightly. Shuffling around her bed, the teen pulled the blankets back on her bed. "How did you sleep Mockingjay?"
"I work two jobs, how did you think I slept?" came the irritated grumble and a loud crash, "Let me answer that for you: I didn't. I'm not going to go see what fell and you better let me live in my state of denial, Star."
"Who said I wasn't going to? Are you going to fall asleep in class today?"
"...I dunno, maybe? I'm pretty sure it ain't gonna be in Lancer's, and if I hear anything from Ms. Flint, I'm gonna make her regret waking up."
Star laughed, closing the door as she walked into the bathroom. "Don't we all? Whatever class you decide to fall asleep in, let me know so that I can make sure that my notes are extra legible for you. I'm gonna brush my teeth, rant away for the next two minutes, Val."
Valerie grunted in acknowledgement and remained silent for several seconds, "I'm tired, ya know? But it's not the tired that you can cure with a long nap or something. Definitely not that. I mean, I get some good sleep sometimes, maybe once or twice a month. Three if my second job lets me off for the night, but you know that doesn't happen often. Sleep doesn't make my exhaustion go away. I mean it should right? Because what do people do when they're tired? They sleep and then the tiredness goes away. But it doesn't go away, I sleep but it's still there. I wanna disappear under my bed, just sleep forever, it's not possible but I wish I could. School, work, dad and everything else stands in my way, things that have to be done."
Star continues to listen to Val vent her troubles, reaches out to press the mute button on her phone to mute herself so that Valerie wouldn't know she was finished brushing her teeth. Star grabs her mouthwash, swishes it and spits it out. Grabbing her phone, she exits the bathroom and begins to get dressed.
"Don't get me wrong, I still do them… Just I feel… I dunno, empty when I do them? Like there's nothing inside of me, only exhaustion and-my body feels like somebody filled it with lead, each step I step takes so much damn energy out of me and-even speaking with you, my only friend, my BEST FRIEND, takes so much energy. I don't want to do these things, however, I have to and if I don't I'll just end up feeling worse than I normally do. And speaking of feeling, I just find it hard to feel emotions normally? Like it's just situational, if I'm in a conversation and the person I was conversing with was happy then I would be happy. Afterwards? Kaput! Emptiness. Nothing more, nothing less."
Star pulls her shirt over her head, and quickly brushes her hair to how she likes it, Valerie cleared her throat, clearing away the desolation tinging her voice, "I think I might experience a constant emotion, but it's just deep-seated anger and frustration. Always there, and nothing I seem to do makes it go away. I can't really notice the anger's there until something or someone makes me lash out in anger. Did I mention sometimes, I get really cold or numb for no particular reason? Odd, I know. Don't judge me Star.
"I don't know anything anymore, I just don't. Should I know something? I should know if I want to wake up but if I had to be honest, I just couldn't care less if I slept forever. I just can't bring myself to care about anything anymore, I can't bother myself to think about what I want to do. Do I want to do this or that? I don't know, and I don't frankly care."
Valerie's voice lowered considerably. She's silent and Star assumed that the other girl is doing something to keep her mind busy. Both girls do nothing to break the silence connecting them, giving Star time to think.
"Hey Star?" Valerie's voice crackled through the phone. "You still there?"
The other teen scrambled to her phone and hurriedly pressed the unmute button her phone, "Yea! I'm always here silly!" Star confirmed with a small smile.
She laughs, but it's not the laughter that Star has grown accustomed to. It's empty, unnerving the blonde yet she doesn't comment.
"Can you do something for me?"
"Anything."
"Can you make sure I don't do anything...you know, drastic? Permanent. Forever, that type of thing?"
"There's no need to ask, I would have done it anyway." Star replied honestly,
"...Thanks." Val said slowly, her voice cracking. "It rea-just, thank you."
"No need to thank me. So how about you and I walk to school today?"
"That sounds nice."
Principal Ishiyama's heels clicked in the hallways as she walked Chrona down to their first class of the day, Chrona trailing behind her awkwardly. She had explained to the child that she had placed them in Honors classes temporarily until they were able to be properly tested and placed in a class more appropriate for them. Chrona nodded quietly, shuffling around the bookbag the principal brought them, still adjusting the straps on their shoulders.
The two slow to a stop in front of a classroom door. Ishiyama looks back at Chrona, a gentle smile flashing pearly white teeth.
"Are you ready?" she asked, her hand resting on the door knob.
Chrona looked up at the principal, nodded their head with a nervous smile. "I think so."
Everything that Principal Ishiyama has said about having the documentation required to be admitted into public school is very accurate. I couldn't find any information about what would happen if a student was admittedwithout any documentation. But that's what's fiction for right?
Also, I highly support parental!Ishiyama.
In addition, I find it interesting that as much as the Phandom loves Valerie Gray and everything about her, I haven't really seen anything that dealt with her having depression resulting from what she went through in the show. Of course, I've seen things about Danny having depression but practically nothing with Val having it herself.
Anyways, I'll see you next chapter. Thanks for reading.