CHAPTER 11

Two weeks pass by smoothly without much happening. Dani is in Algebra class with Emma, Amelia, and James.

The teacher, Mr. Gainer, was explaining different methods to use when it comes to finding the slope of an equation.

He was explaining this in a slow, monotone voice which led half the class to sleep.

Emma and Amelia had their heads down, taking a nap. James was on his phone while Dani was trying to pay attention to the lesson.

She was resting her head on her hand while leaning on the desk.

Though she tried to concentrate on the projector screen, her eyes would divert to the wall clock in front of her, watching how the second's hand would move slowly around the clock.

In all honesty, it was painful to watch how slow the time was passing by.

I swear I'm gonna throw that clock out the window before I go insane, she thought to herself.

The girl wasn't much of a fan when it came to math. She understood the majority of methods and math concepts but that doesn't mean it was fun, though Spencer would disagree.

He solves equations while having fun like if it was some sort of video game, something Daniela envied.

She just didn't understand why she needed to learn so many equations.

It wasn't like she was going to need to know the Pythagorean theorem to pay her bills or something, so what was the point?

She just wanted to pass but that seems easier said than done.

"Are you paying attention to the lesson, Dan?" James asked while taping her shoulder.

"I'm trying to," Dani replied, sitting up on her chair.

"But half of the stuff that the teacher says doesn't stick to my brain. At this rate, I'm gonna give up and take my L in this class."

James chuckles. "At least you get half. I have retained zero information about this," he says while pointing at his worksheet.

"And the girls most definitely are on the same page as me," he said as he moved his head towards the two sleeping students.

Both girls were out like a light and Dani admired the way they got comfortable by using their sweaters as pillows.

Sleeping was a relatively normal thing in this class and Dani knew that. This is why she takes an energy drink when she goes to this class.

Something that Emily might or might not know.

The teacher finishes explaining and assigns them to work. He walks around checking if the students are on task.

He is near Dani and her table so Dani shoves Emma and Amelia, waking them up.

"What happened," Emma said, rubbing her eyes. She looked tired and her eyes were slightly red.

"Teacher is coming," Dani replied. Mr. Gainer arrives at their desk looking at their work.

"How come you haven't started Ms. Amelia?" he asked, noticing that her worksheet was empty.

"I uh... Don't have a pencil," she replied quickly, with her cheeks flushing red in embarrassment. She looks at Dani with a smile. "Do you have a pencil I can borrow, Dani?"

"Why yes I do," Dani replied with a smug. She opens her folder and takes out a mechanical pencil, handing it to her.

"I hope you all finish your work before the end of class," said the teacher. "You guys have 5 minutes before we leave."

"On it, sir," Emma said, still half asleep. Once the teacher left the group looked at each other quietly. After three seconds of silence, they broke out laughing.

"Bruh, Amy. You should have seen your face. It turned bright red like a tomato," James said, chuckling as he leaned towards the girl. She just shoves him while laughing.

"Seriously, Amy? You, the rich girl who lives in a gated community and a private chauffeur, has no pencil with you? That's the best excuse you had?" Daniela said as she opened her journal.

"Listen, I was caught off guard and I had to think of something," Amelia defended herself. "Plus, at least I had an excuse. Look at Emma, she is still sleepy. If he would have asked her, she would have probably put her head back down," she said.

"Sleep is more important than whatever the hell we are supposed to be doing," Emma scoffed while stretching her arms.

"Emma. You look so stoned right now it's hilarious," Dani commented, noticing how red her eyes were from sleeping.

"You say that from personal experience?" Emma asked.

"What can I say. Grass has its perks."

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The four friends do their work and finish roughly a minute before the bell rang. The teacher was at the entrance collecting students' work as they left. Dani and her friends hand over their work and leave the class, heading towards the cafeteria.

They walk through the hallway, passing through classrooms and lockers. The hallway was in full transition mode, with students flooding the hallways.

"I'm glad class ended," Amelia said as the group of friends was heading down the hall. "I am starving."

"Me too. Sleeping can make a person very hungry," Emma added.

They are walking in the middle of the hallway when out of nowhere someone throws a water bottle at the group of friends, hitting Amelia on her shoulder. They turn around and see Amanda and Max laughing.

"What's the big idea?" Asked Amelia while rubbing her shoulder. "Why the hell did you do that?"

"I don't know what you are talking about," replied Amanda, giving her a fake, clueless face.

"You know exactly what you did," said James, arms crossed across his chest.

"Don't talk to my girl like that," Max told him, stepping forward.

"You can't tell me what to do," James said in a slightly higher volume. "You don't scare me for crap. You don't have your monkeys here with you to defend you." Both boys were looking eye to eye, staring at each other while slowly stepping closer.

James was taller and looked stronger. After all, he was on the defensive line in the football team. Max wasn't left behind. He also had a muscular figure. He didn't look intimidated at all by the football player.

Dani rolls her eyes, annoyed. "C'mon guys let's go. They aren't worth our time."

She was honestly tired from being stuck in math class. The last thing she needed was a group of idiots ruining her break. The three friends look at her and nod in agreement. They turn around in direction to the cafeteria when Amanda says something to them.

"Dani, Dani. Always running away from your problems. Is that why your brother died?" Amanda asks as she leans against the lockers.

She had searched up Daniela days after the party incident in hopes of finding some dirt against Daniela after she had humiliated her in front of everyone. No one has dared challenged her the way the Latina has and she wasn't going to let that incident slide. She came across a news article written years back about the death of her brother.

That was exactly what she needed.

Dani pauses, surprised about what Amanda just said. Only the ones closest to her knew about her brother so it shocked her that Amanda knew. She bit her lip and turned around.

"What the hell did you just say?"

"The day your brother Lucas died. You probably ran away instead of helping," Amanda said, staring at Dani. She knew she would get a reaction from her if she said this.

Dani frowns and walks closer to Amanda. "You keep his name out of your filthy mouth," she stated, biting her words. Emma walks towards Dani and places her hand on Dani's shoulder.

"Dan, let's just go. All she wants is trouble," Emma said, hoping her words would calm Dani.

"How does it feel being the reason why your brother is dead?" Amanda said, walking closer to Dani.

"If you don't shut the fuck up, I will make you," Dani said in an intimidating growl. A tone that made all her friends step back. They never saw this side of Dani. She was always so laid back and friendly, seeing her like this was like seeing another person.

They definitely were not used to seeing her so angry but in her defense, who wouldn't with what Amanda is saying?

"I mean, let's all be honest here," Amanda said. She suddenly pushes Daniela against the lockers, making her back hit against the metal surface. "He probably deserved it." She said with a smirk.

Those final words were Dani's last straw. Amanda wanted a reaction from her and she sure as hell was going to receive one. Daniela dropped her folder and looked straight at Amanda. She clenched her jaw and threw a punch at Amanda's face, which made her stumble back.

Out of no where, another girl came out from behind the lockers and swung a punch, aiming at Dani's lower lip. Dani steps back and looks at the girl, recognizing her as one of Amanda's minions. The girl takes another swing but Dani dodges it, pushing the girl back causing her to stumble.

Amanda kicks away Dani's folder and lunges at Dani. She manages to scratch Dani's face, but Dani throws a punch right at her stomach, causing Amanda to fall.

When this commotion was happening, Max took out a small bag the size of his palm and slid it inside Dani's folder, which was on the floor.

James steps in and grabs a hold of Dani, stopping her. Max goes next to Amanda who was on the floor. A group of students gathered around the commotion, recording everything that was happening. They hear security running in the hallway, yelling at them to stop.

"You piece of shit! You punched my fucking stomach!" Amanda yelled while holding her abdomen.

"You're lucky that I didn't get enough force, perra!"Dani yelled back as she was still being held by James. Security arrives and quickly takes all three girls to the office.

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After a long and exhausting day filling out paperwork Emily was in the lounge, eating lunch with Penelope and JJ. Emily still had to catch up on the enormous pile of files that she had in her office, compliments of those mandatory six weeks of leave they had after the whole Mr. Scratch incident.

Though it's been over a month that the team came back to work, Emily is still playing catch-up in her work. She was more than glad to hear that the ladies were taking a break to eat.

They all agreed on ordering Italian so they were all enjoying their lunch. They were in the middle of a conversation when Emily's phone rang. She stood up and answered the phone thinking it was about a new case.

"This is Unit Chief Prentiss speaking," she answered.

"Hello, Agent Prentiss. I am Principal Farmer from Daniela's school," said the man from the other side of the phone.

"Principal Farmer? Is everything okay?" asks the brunette in a worried tone. She wonders why the principal of Dani's school is calling her.

"Agent Prentiss, I have to inform you that Daniela was involved in a fight that took place today. She won't be released until you pick her up."

"What?" Emily said, shocked by what she was just informed. She couldn't believe what she was told.

Dani was not the type of person involved in violent incidents in school. It had to be some sort of misunderstanding. Penelope and JJ look up and wonder what was going on in the phone conversation.

"Yes, Agent Prentiss. Daniela is here with me in the office," answered the principal.

Emily lets out a frustrated sigh. She was tired from all the paperwork and now she had to deal with this. "I will be there in ten minutes," she said.

"Very well. See you then," said the principal. Emily hung up her phone and turned around, shaking her head. She sees that Penelope and JJ are both looking at her, curious about what happened.

"What was the call about?" asked JJ.

"It was from Dani's school," the agent pauses and takes a breath. "She got into a fight."

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Dani is sitting on a chair in the Principal's Farmer's office. She is sitting down, looking on the floor. Her face was stinging with the scratch that Amanda gave her.

That bitch got me good, the teenager thought to herself. She had to go to the nurse's office to get her lip checked. It wasn't much damage and just got a bandaid for it. It was nothing compared to what Amanda received anyways.

Daniela was the last student remaining from the fight still in the office. Amanda and the other girl were in the nurse's office after giving their statement of what happened. She wasn't sure what they could have told the principal but she was sure they didn't tell him the truth.

It was two against one. All odds are against her.

She continued waiting inside the office while the principal was busy typing on his computer. The office was spacious, with two large bookshelves on opposite sides of the wall and the principal's desk in between them.

Around the office were plaques from the school, sports championships, educational awards, and other rewards. There were various pictures from the school that Daniela hasn't seen before. Graduating classes from prior years and major school events. It was probably one of the biggest principal's offices she has seen.

The teenager has been in many other principals' offices for various reasons. She would get into fights with other kids, mostly provoked or she would get in for troubling behavior.

The fighting ones were almost always in middle school. It didn't matter who it was, a boy or girl, younger or older, she never backed down. At that point, security knew each time they heard that Dani was involved in a fight they would have to take the nurse with them.

Of course, not for her but for the other person who was dumb enough to mess with her.

Now she had to wait until Emily arrives. Emily? Fuck, the girl thought to herself. She had forgotten that she had to face the woman about what happened.

She could only imagine how angry that woman would be but in all honesty, it didn't matter much to the teen at the moment. She was both angry and tired to be discussing things with her right now.

All she wanted to do was to go home or to finish what she had started with Amanda. There was absolutely no way she was going to let her free so easily about what she said about her brother. She refused to let the girl have the higher ground.

Dani hears a knock on the door which interrupts her thoughts. The principal tells the person to come inside and the doorknob turns, opening the door.

The girl turns around and sees Emily at the entrance having a worried look. Emily meets Dani's gaze and changes her expression from worry into a frown. Of course, the woman was worried that the girl got hurt. Her mind was rushing with many possibilities of what her state would be after the fight. She sees that Dani is fine, for the most part. She does see that there is a red scratch on the side of the girl's face along with a bandaid on her lip, but other than that she was fine.

Now she wants to know what happened.

She gives Dani an angry look, a look that the teen was not used to. A look that made Daniela feel nervous which was rarely the case. The girl turns around away from the woman. Damn, this is harder than I thought, she told herself.

It was something about Emily's stare that made her feel uneasy. it was almost as she was saying, 'you are in big trouble, seƱorita'. She knew that she was but she couldn't help to feel angry about the whole thing.

Emily walks into the room and takes a seat next to Dani. They both are sitting across from the Principal who took out a file from his desk. Daniela can feel Emily staring at her so she focuses her gaze on the floor. She felt like if she looked up at her she would see something she wouldn't like.

"Agent Prentiss, as you know already the reason we are all here today is that Daniela was involved in a violent altercation with two other students," said Principal Farmer, starting the conversation.

Emily nods and looks at Dani, who has her head down. "So, what happened?" questioned the agent. She really did want to know why the girl was fighting. Especially if it was still the first month of school.

"A fight or a violent altercation. Whichever definition you prefer," Dani mumbled, looking at the floor. She still felt the agent staring at her but she refused to look up to her.

Emily frowns at the teen's response. "So you just decided to get in a fight or something?" she asked, annoyed at the teen's dull answer.

Dani doesn't respond. She just lets out a frustrated sigh and crosses her arms across her chest.

Emily was not used to receiving this attitude from Dani. For the majority of the time, Dani would be kind and respectful.

Yes, from time to time they would get into small arguments but for the most part, the teen would be respectful. Emily knew that something else was going on that the girl wouldn't let out.

The principal clears his throat and begins to speak. "I've spoken to the other two students involved in this incident. They said the reason this happened is that one of them discovered that Daniela had possession of drugs."

Dani lets out a dry chuckle and shakes her head. She couldn't believe the story those two made up but it makes sense now. They set her up and she fell right into their trap. She was only going to go downhill from this.

Emily looks at the principal with a frown of confusion. What did he mean because of drugs? Is that why Daniela was so quiet?

As if he could read Emily's mind, the principal takes out something from inside his desk and places it in front of Emily and Dani. It was a small bag with white pill capsules.

"This was found inside Daniela's folder," stated the principal. "Do you know what this is?" He asked, looking at Dani.

Dani looks up at the bag. She quickly analyzes it and recognizes what was inside. "I'm almost certain it's Molly."

"So it's yours?" The principal asked with a brow raised.

"Just because I know what it is, does not mean it's mine," she said while leaning against her chair.

"Agent Prentiss. As you might know, Dani has a rather long history with violence and illicit drugs," he says while taking out the file folder. He opens the folder and begins to read a list he had.

"five counts of physical assault and two counts of illegal possession of marijuana. Due to her history in previous schools she attended and her actions that landed a student at the nurse's office today, I have decided to suspend Dani for a week."

"You made a student land in the nurse, Daniela?" Emily said in a shocked manner while looking at the teen.

Dani quickly glances at Emily and looks back at the floor.

"I didn't try. If I actually wanted to hurt her she would have ended up way worse," she mumbled.

Emily shakes her head in disbelief. She hardly recognized who the teen was at the moment. She looks at the principal and nods.

"I understand. I apologize for the inconvenience."

"Anything else you want to say before you leave Ms. Hernandez?" asked the principal.

"No. All the cards play against me so there is no point," she said. She stood up from her chair and headed towards the door, walking out with Emily right behind her.

They walk outside where Emily parked in the front. Emily unlocks the car and they both get inside. No one made a sound for the whole ride back.

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After what felt like forever inside the car filled with tension, they finally arrive at the apartment. Emily unlocks the door and they enter. Daniela takes off her shoes and heads out towards her room but is stopped when Emily places her hand on Dani's shoulder, having a firm grip on her.

"Daniela Sofia Hernandez," she said. "You know very well you can't walk away from me before explaining to me what happened," she said in a firm tone.

She wasn't just going to let the girl walk away without an explanation. And boy does she have a lot of explaining to do.

Dani turns around and rolls her eyes. She was not in the mood to talk with Emily right now.

"What exactly do you want to know, agent?" She asked in an annoyed tone.

"Why did you get in a fight?" asked the woman, looking at Dani with a frown.

"Because she was talking crap," replied the teen. "And I don't know where the hell the other girl came from. She was dumb enough to get in and mess with me."

"So you just beat someone up because they were talking bad about you?" asked the brunette with a confused look. "That's it?"

"Yep. That's the reason. Can I go now?" the girl replied, clearly done with the situation.

"We are not done, Daniela," Emily said sternly. "What about the drugs? Where did you get them from?"

If she wasn't going to get an answer about the fight, she at least wanted to know where the pills came from. She wanted to know how and why the teenager had those things in her folder. Though she was angry about it, Emily was mostly worried about why Dani had those things.

Dani lets out a sarcastic laugh. "Wait, you actually think those pills are mine?" she asked.

She thought Emily would know her well enough to believe that she would never have those things.

"They were in your folder, Daniela," Emily said, pointing at her "And you knew exactly what those pills were."

"What else do you expect when I have been living my whole life in a crack house!" Dani exclaimed. "In case you forgot, I've grown up around synthetic drugs, Emily. I know what they look like!"

"No, I haven't forgotten," Emily said. "That is one of the reasons why I took you in. So you wouldn't live that life anymore."

"Then why the hell are you questioning me?" Dani asked, looking at Emily.

Tension grew on both sides. A mixture of feelings between anger and upset were both present in both ladies.

"Because those things were in your folder!" Emily exclaims.

"I thought after everything you have been through you would want to prove yourself better. Instead, you choose to go on a path that will wind you up to become an addict like your mother? Did you not see how that ended for her?" Emily said, sounding rather upset.

She looks at Dani, hurt written on the girl's face. Emily said those words without thinking. She instantly regretted what she told the teen, knowing those words carry a heavy toll on her.

"Dani, I... I didn't mean to say that," Emily said, walking up closer to Dani. She tries to grab Dani's hand but Dani instantly flinches and backs away.

"No, you are right," Dani said, giving Emily a cold look. She couldn't believe what came out of Emily's mouth.

"I saw my mom suffer for years because of those things. I saw all the terrible shit those things did to her until she died and I didn't learn anything at all," Dani pauses, feeling a lump in her throat.

She felt like her chest was on fire but refused to shed a tear. "Because seeing her lying still on the ground with a needle in hand didn't affect me at all."

"Dani, I didn't mean it like-"

"But you sure as hell said it," Dani said, cutting Emily off.

"You know agent, for a person who studies the behavior of people, you didn't do a good job with me," She turns around and goes straight to her room, slamming the door shut. Emily was left behind, hurt and confused.