"Spill it Peck" Dov demanded as he dropped his lunch tray on the table with a thud. The force causing a spoonful of soup to cascade over the brim of the bowl and splash across his tray.
"Looks like you already got that covered Dov" Gail noted as she greedily shoved a handful of cheese puffs into her mouth.
"Hilarious Gail" Dov replied sarcastically. Before Gail could respond Chloe reached over and quickly wiped away the spill with a napkin, beaming at Dov and kissing his cheek in greeting. Dov smiled back and leaned in to kiss Chloe on the mouth.
"Hey!" Gail spat as she threw a cheese puff at them. "Can't you see there are children here?" Gail questioned as she motioned to Chris sitting next to her. Without letting Chris speak she pointed at the two of them and narrowed her eyes. "No one should be subjected to the trauma of watching you two sad creatures kiss".
"It's nice to see you're time in the Principal's Office hasn't changed you're bubbly personality" Dov teased. He leaned in once more and kissed Chloe, making sure to linger longer than necessary just to irritate Gail more.
"I think I am going to be sick" Gail commented as she turned her gaze away in disgust. The rest of the table just watched in amusement, but remained quietly eating their lunch.
"So Gail, how much trouble did you get in?" Dov asked once he pulled back from Chloe. "I heard Principal Barber came in to your English class this morning and dragged you down to his office. We all thought you got expelled. Barber never does that unless he expels kids".
"Everyone thought that huh?" Gail wondered aloud as she glared at the rest of the table, her eyes lingering on Traci a moment longer than the rest of them. She had to admit she had been quite terrified that was going to be her fate when Principal Barber made her sit down next to a furious Holly.
"Oh Gail come on, we care about you. We wanted to make sure you were okay" Chris explained.
"I have cleaning duties until summer starts and I have to pay for Holly to get her hair fixed" Gail answered briefly, ignoring Chris' comment.
"That's it? That isn't bad at all" Dov replied. Gail shrugged noncommittally. She agreed; her punishment could have been a lot worse. She had definitely gotten off easy.
"I'm actually a bit disappointed. I thought her hair would look a lot more pink. You can't really tell unless you're under the right lighting" Chloe added.
"Do you want some help with the cleaning?" Chris asked way too eagerly. Gail rolled her eyes. She had made out with Chris one time three years ago, and ever since then he had been following her around like a love sick puppy. Even after she had clarified to him dozens of times that she was not interested. He still never lost hope and always tried to appease Gail. She almost felt bad for him, he clearly needed to find a girlfriend or get laid.
"I'm fine Chris. I can handle it myself" Gail answered. "No thanks to Traci over there" she shot at her friend across the table.
"Oh don't hand me that Gail. You did it to yourself. If you wouldn't have dyed Holly's hair in the first place you wouldn't have even gotten in trouble to begin with".
"No, if you wouldn't have opened your big, fat, traitorous mouth I wouldn't have gotten in trouble. Holly would have never gone to Barber if you wouldn't have suggested it".
Traci scoffed. "Maybe Holly finally had had enough of your crap Gail. Pick on someone else for once".
Gail stood up and slammed her hands onto the table; her eyes narrowing into slits and her jaw tightening in anger. Traci's eyes widened in shock and the rest of the table fell eerily silent. A million insults rested on the tip of Gail's tongue, designed for the sole purpose of hurting her so-called friend.
Gail wasn't mad because of Traci's words. That wasn't the case at all. In fact, Gail internally agreed with Traci. She should pick on someone else. The only reason Gail had never stopped her pranking was because Holly never stood up for herself. She never went to the administration to complain. For all Gail knew, Holly was one of those masochists who enjoyed being pranked. No one else at the boarding school would have tolerated Gail pranking them once, let alone for years. But, after listening to Holly's tirade in Principal Barber's office for over an hour, she had a newfound respect for Holly for finally sticking up for herself after all this time; even though she would never admit it. From now on, Gail was going to leave Holly alone. She would find someone else to direct her pranks towards.
The real issue for Gail was Traci's obvious betrayal of their friendship. She had gone behind Gail's back and readily turned her in without batting an eye. Gail had a hard time trusting people; but she had always trusted Traci. Gail's most important moral was loyalty, ingrained in her since before she could talk by her parents. She regarded loyalty as a strong fabric of any friendship. Traci's nonchalant dismissal of this unsaid loyalty between them hurt Gail. It hurt her even more that Traci was still misconstruing the reason behind her anger; especially since Traci was the one who understood her the most out of all of their friends. Before Gail could utter the multitude of insults at the tip of her tongue an older man's voice calling her name caught her attention. She spun around to see Mr. Shaw standing a few feet away.
"Come with me Peck" he motioned. Gail hesitated as she eyed him. While Oliver Shaw was her favorite teacher, he was also the school's unofficial 'grief' counselor. If something bad would happen to a student's family, or any other precarious incident, he was the one who would always break it to that student. A tight knot began to form in the pit of Gail's stomach as she watched his unreadable expression. A sense of utter foreboding coursed through Gail's body as she felt the air leave her lungs. Had something happened to her brother? Or parents? Was she about to find out that one of them had been killed on duty? Gail was frozen in place; the air around her thick with tension and fear.
Oliver must have sensed Gail's sudden shift in mood because his face instantly softened. "You're family is fine Gail. No one is hurt".
Gail breathed a sigh of relief, the sudden veil of fear quickly thrown away and replaced with her stoic expression. She took several steps towards Oliver as the man turned around.
"You're mother is here though and insisted she had to speak with you immediately" he added as he led Gail briskly out of the cafeteria. Gail's heartbeat pounded in her chest. She had a dreaded feeling that someone in the Peck family was about to get seriously hurt, and that someone was her.