Fool Me Once by Abigail Livinghouse (book recommendations for teens TXT) 📕

I had had in a while besides Luca. I could leave, not have to explain anything and be home free. But that was the easy way out, and I wasn’t exactly known for taking the easy way. I shook my head again.

 

“No, I’m staying.” I said firmly, even though it might be the worst decision I ever make in my existence. Ah well, live and learn right?

You Think My Life Is Charmed? Ha, Think Again

Luca was disappointed, but he told me what to do about the kids and that he’ll be around later on if I need him. I nodded.

 

“Okay, it was good seeing you kid.” I said, smiling coyly at him. Luca grinned in return.

 

“You too, baby girl. By the way, I love the hair.” He said, gesturing to my blue and blonde locks.

 

I smiled brighter, twirling a strand in my fingers. “Thanks. I like it too.” I said.

 

Luca came over and gently wrapped his arms around my bare shoulders, pulling me close.

 

“You know I love you.” He murmured in my ear, giving me a light squeeze. I sighed and squeezed him back.

 

“Even if I’m such a fuck up?” I asked teasingly.

 

Luca pulled back, his smile soft. “Even though you’re a fuck up.”

 

We both laughed, and with a light peck on my forehead, Luca stepped back, and disappeared like a fine mist. Now you see it, now you don’t.

 

I sighed again, turning back to the mess I had made. I wished Luca could’ve stayed with me, but that’s not how our kind is. We don’t travel in packs or pairs like you might expect, we move on our own. Yeah it’s lonely, but I had never really wished to be by anyone’s side unless I was with Luca. Translation: I never worried about anyone else in order to relieve myself of any unnecessary baggage.

 

But now, I had Lizzie who I wanted to be safe and in the dark (which wasn’t exactly working out very well since she sorta already had an idea of what I could be), and I also had Bitchy McBitcherson to deal with. Oh, how I loved high school drama. It got better every year.

 

Since I’ve been in high school numerous times, this was like a rerun of a really old show I had watched for the first time decades ago. But the drama always changed, which while I did not enjoy getting in the middle of it, it was pretty interesting entertainment when you had nothing else to do.

 

Well anyway, back to the current situation. All I had to do was snap my fingers, and they’d be okay and all moving again. I eyed Emily, stock-still in her state of anger. Ah, it would be totally hilarious to just leave her the way she was. But no, that would leave unanswered questions that would be given to me to decipher, which I really didn’t want to do so, nah, maybe I’ll immobilize her next time and keep her that way. But for now, I raised my hand in the air, my fingers poised. Here goes nothing.  

Really? You're Serious?

Okay, so things worked out fine, from you know my perspective. But from a normal person’s point of view, things probably hadn’t gone very well, considering once everyone was mobile again, Lizzie and I got our asses sent to the principal’s office. No, I’m not kidding, Mrs. Wishek started screaming her head off as soon as she could speak again.

 

Well, that was the bad news. The good news is that Emily got sent to her mommy’s office too. Now, we were sitting in a square room with one medium sized window looking out to the parking lot, a pleasant view for interrogation I might add.

 

We were in front of a desk with a computer and a few little knick knacks, along with some picture frames that held photos of the Wishek family. The chairs we were in were straight backed, not very comfortable, with Lizzie on my left and Emily on my right.

 

Emily’s face was bright red, and she was gripping the seat with her nails digging into the fabric. There goes her manicure. Emily was so angry, all she needed was smoke coming out of her ears and she’d be good to go. It was hard to look at her face without laughing, trust me I was having trouble.

 

Lizzie was less animated. She had a nail file out and was busy fixing her black painted nails, looking uninterested even though she had been ready to rip Emily’s head off earlier.

 

Me, I was sitting slouched back and playing with my thumbs, not really paying attention to what was going on around me. I cast a look at the girls around me, then focused my gaze straight ahead. The way we were lined up reminded me of prisoners waiting for the warden.

 

Oh look, right on cue Mrs. Wishek burst through the door and slammed it forcefully behind her, causing the frame to rattle. She came around her desk and stood with her palms on the wooden top, glaring at all three of us. None of us flinched under her gaze. In fact, Lizzie was still filing her nails. God, she made me laugh.

 

Smiling, I returned Mrs. Wishek’s glare with a wave. “Hey, what’s up Mrs. W?” I asked cheerily. 

 

I could see a muscle in her jaw clench in frustration, which only made me smile bigger. She didn’t answer me though. We were all quiet for a while, until Emily apparently couldn’t take it anymore. She leaned forward in her seat, her hands still clutching the felt on her chair.

 

“This is ridiculous. I’ve done nothing wrong to deserve this. I’m missing my classes and I’m probably going to get a detention from Mr. Starkly if I don’t get back there soon.” She complained, but we all knew it was bullshit.

 

Emily hated school just as much as the next person, and Mr. Starkly was a young new teacher who rarely gave out any kind of punishments. So when Mrs. Wishek’s eyes narrowed at her daughter, not even Emily herself seemed surprised.

 

“You should be more worried about getting a detention staying put where you are, Emily. And I heard your use of language against Ms. Greene and Ms. Tanner. You are just as deserving of punishment as they are.” She said sternly, folding her hands on her desk and eyeing us all seriously.

 

Emily rolled her eyes and crossed her arms while Lizzie dropped her nail file on her lap, scowling at Mrs. Wishek. I wasn’t as interested. Actually, I was busy watching two kids exchange unmentionables in the parking lot through the only window in the office. Ironic how they were doing it right outside the principal’s window isn’t it? But Mrs. Wishek was oblivious, too busy scolding us.

 

“You all should have known better than to act out on school grounds the way you did.” She said sternly. My brow crinkled at her statement.

 

“So you want us to act out in a different way?” I asked in a polite tone.

 

Yeah I know, I’m a smartass, deal with it. However Mrs. Wishek completely ignored my question, instead, she asked one of her own.

 

“And you Ms. Greene, what part do you play in all of this?” She asked.

 

She had only heard about half of the argument, when I basically stood on the sidelines while Lizzie and Emily argued. The last thing I made sure they all remembered was me holding Lizzie back until Mrs. Wishek came over and broke us all up. Lizzie suddenly spoke up in my defense.

 

“She was calling Alex a whore and a slut.” Lizzie said, pointing at a very straight faced Emily. Mrs. Wishek’s gaze shifted to her daughter, who sniffed and folded her arms across her chest.

 

“I don’t recall saying anything that wasn’t the truth.” She said, her nose pointed high in the air.

 

“Are you kidding me?” Lizzie said in a very high pitched voice that she only used when she was really mad. “Emily was calling Alex a bitch and a whore and a slut and she was saying the same to me!” Lizzie burst out, jumping up from her chair with her finger still shoved in Emily’s face, who sneered up at her.

 

“I was just stating the facts. At least I’m not some emo ho who’s been used more times than Google.” She said snidely.

 

Mrs. Wishek’s eyes narrowed even further in anger and she rose quickly from her desk.

 

“Enough.” She said, her tone sharp and cold enough to make both girls be quiet. I sighed, standing up as well.

 

“This is stupid. We didn’t do anything.” I said, gesturing from me to Lizzie. “She came up to us and starting bitching for no reason. Why should we get in trouble when it wasn’t our fault?” I asked, completely serious.

 

Emily shot up out of her chair, glaring at Lizzie and I. “I just went over there to tell them that they were violating the dress code! I was doing nothing but being an exemplary student!” She shouted.

 

Mrs. Wishek interrupted all of us, speaking through tight lips. “Alright, that is enough. I will not tolerate this type of language in my office. Now, I am not going to punish one or two of you. All of you were involved in this, so it is only fair that all of you are to be punished.” Mrs. Wishek said.

 

Before any of us could offer any kind of rebuttal, she began speaking again. “Seven days suspension for each of you, and when you return, in school suspension will do you all some good.” She finished, with an air of finality to it.

 

“Are you kidding me?! I have cheerleading and field hockey! I can’t miss practice! Mom you know we have two games coming up!” Emily shrieked like a whiny child.

 

I almost laughed, and I could see Lizzie was stifling laughter as well. Despite her daughter’s outburst, Mrs. Wishek shook her head.

 

“Well, that’s just too bad. You should have thought about that before you decided to pick a fight. Now, all of you move into the main office where Mrs. Shultz will write up your slips.” And with that, we were ushered out of the room and into the office, waiting to get our papers that dubbed our suspension final.

 

I sighed in defeat as I rested on one of the waiting chairs, about three away from Lizzie since we were all ordered to be separated as to avoid any other possible conflicts.

 

I wouldn’t be able to get the slip signed of course, my parents died in 1924 when I was fourteen, which