Exaltation (Insight #11)(10)
Raven couldn’t recall a single time her father had came to the school when they were reprimanded. Usually Miss Emery handled everything that had to do with this side of the girls’ life. Scratch that, he had come before…to write a check for the fire and flood.
Thinking of the punishment her and the girls received for the infractions still gave Raven chills. They had to spend their summer bar backing at one her father’s establishments. Brutal work that left your entire body aching.
It was Friday, Jamison was surely at work, and Emery had a ten AM class she taught at the university, which could only mean that Miss Thelma Ray was behind that door.
Yep, the thought of that sent a quake right down Raven’s spine. She knew they would be in more trouble for skipping lunch than they would be for burning down anything.
Thelma Ray made the girls’ lunches every night—she would see this as a sign of disrespect and surely a lecture on how hungry the world was would follow. Raven started to pull a defense together because she could hear the speech already. More than likely could recite it, word for word. “Running off with no concern for how the people who were ‘pose to be watching over them felt. Respect, child. You gots to have that, you of all people.”
“I wanted to skate so bad tonight,” Raven nearly groaned. Knowing that idea was a pipe dream if their fears were proven true. Miss Thelma Ray would be furious at them for ‘acting out.’
“We’re not grounded yet,” River said as she pulled at the one blonde streak in her hair. “Grounded or not, we have to color before we go out tonight.”
Two schools ago a girl that wanted to ‘save’ Raven had all but sent a lynch mob after her, saying she was born of evil. Apparently, the girl had the idea that Raven and her father were some kind of devil worshippers.
Ash did a little digging and found out the girl’s mother had a thing for Jamison and assumed because he wasn’t interested in her that he must be ‘some kind of evil.’ The girl was beyond cruel to Raven—she told Raven ‘let me take you down to the river that way you can grow up one day.’ Then taunted on that Raven must still be in diapers for the BellaRose bloodline didn’t age.
That was the first time the girls really noticed that parental figures, such as Jamison and Emery, hadn’t changed that much as they grew up.
“Good genes,” is what Thelma had told her when Raven cried on her shoulder.
The girls were new at the school, too, so when the gossip made its way around the kids would say it’s the dark haired one—with the blonde streak above her right ear. The night the rumors flew around the school, Ash and River both dyed their hair the exact same as Raven’s. They were both dark blonde so they had to keep up with the color.
Raven told them to stop when they made it to a new school but by then they had grown used to the image. At a distance, the girls looked like triplets. They didn’t have three wardrobes between them—they had one massive one that was mostly black. They weren’t Goth or anything; vibrant colors were just too loud for them, made them stand out in the sea of kids. They liked to go their own way, to be able to disappear when they wanted. Which was often.
“You have to work tonight, skating is a part of it,” Ash said, displaying the constant logical reason she was known for.
Raven was sure they had a chance of spinning that idea. They all did in fact work at the skate center. Then again, it’s not like any one of their guardians couldn’t call their boss and tell him they were unable to show for work tonight. They’d done it before.
Raven loved skating, or rather dancing on skates. She had been going to the rink since she was ten. Working there with the twins, along with her best friend and dance partner, Soren, was heaven to her.
The secretary’s phone buzzed. She picked it up and listened before shooing the girls to go in the office. None of them wanted to open that door.
“Go on now,” she said with another impatient wave of her hand.
River reached behind her and pulled Raven to lead them. “You’re the sweet one,” she whispered harshly when Raven glared.
Raven held her breath then opened the door. Principal LaDay was there along with Miss Emery. Inward sigh.
They were sitting at the conference table on the left side of his office. A massive amount of papers were before them. Miss Emery looked defeated and confused.
The girls sat opposite her, Raven in the middle, one solid unit.
“Girls, do you have any idea why you’ve been called here?” Mr. LaDay asked.
Both Ash and River elbowed Raven, telling her to speak. “No sir, we don’t. We haven’t meant to cause any trouble.” She almost added that they only skipped to put gas in the car so they wouldn’t be pushed for time after school, but she figured it was best not to confess any sins just yet.
“One of your teachers brought something to my attention. Of course, I insisted we investigated this before I called your parents.”
The girls were known for giving the same expression at the same time, and right then they did just that. Each one of them furrowed their brow and slightly tilted their head to the side before adjusting the way they were sitting.
Emery let her gaze move across them nice and slow. Her girls, the family she always wanted was right before her. She always knew one day it would become even harder to rein them in, and that day seemed to be bearing down on Emery.