Miss Mayhem (Rebel Belle #2)(39)

“And your boyfriend was trapped in the newspaper room,” Headmaster Dunn said on a sigh, and I startled.

“What?”

Reaching for a pen, Headmaster Dunn looked at me over the top of his half-moon glasses and said, “David Stark came to see me this morning, saying that you’d saved his life on Friday.”

“Oh” was all I could manage. I’d been punched and kicked and attacked with knives, but I wasn’t sure any of those things hurt as much as hearing David’s name. When I’d gotten in on Friday afternoon, I’d had my parents’ complete and total freak-out to distract me from the fact that David and I were no longer together. The school had called, of course, and told them about both the punching and the running off, so I’d had to spin a story and fast. It was the same one I’d told Headmaster Dunn during this meeting—freaked out, had a panic attack, acted in a Wildly Inappropriate and Uncharacteristic Manner—and while I was still grounded for the time being, at least they’d stopped yelling.

But later that night, lying in my bed, all I’d been able to think about was David’s face, the way his voice had cracked when he’d said, “Pres?” And then on top of that, there was the worry. Breaking up sucked no matter what. Breaking up with a person who you had a mystical and lifelong bond with? Yeah. I’d been awake most of the night wondering what this would mean for us on the Paladin/Oracle side of things. And would this have any effect on the trials? It wasn’t like I could quit being David’s Paladin, or quit going through with the Peirasmos, but at the moment, I didn’t even want to see David, much less go through more crap like what had happened Friday.

“Harper?”

I was so lost in thought that I hadn’t noticed Headmaster Dunn talking to me.

“Yes, sir?” I asked, sitting forward in my chair a little bit.

He heaved another one of those sighs, his watery green eyes flicking between me and my parents. “I could have had you arrested, you know.” He tapped the end of the pen up and down on the desk. “Charged you with assault.”

My stomach dropped, and I clenched my suddenly sweaty fingers in my lap. “Yes, sir,” I said, as meekly as I could manage.

“At the very least I could have you expelled.” The pen was tapping faster now, and next to me, I heard both of my parents suck in a breath. When I looked over at Mom, she had her legs tightly crossed, fingers linked over her knees. Like me, she was mostly in white, although her pants were houndstooth.

Headmaster Dunn sat back in his chair. “But since this was extremely uncharacteristic of you, and you were doing it in the service of helping your fellow students, I’m not going to do either of those things.”

I let out such a deep breath that I’m surprised I didn’t sag in my chair. “Ohmygoshthankyou,” I said in a rush and then stood up, reaching across the desk to shake his hand.

Headmaster Dunn flinched back, and Mom tugged at the hem of my skirt. “Sit down, sweetie.”

As I did exactly that, Headmaster Dunn added, “You’re not getting off scot-free, though, young lady. I expect you to dedicate at least a hundred service hours to the school before the end of the year.” His gaze flicked past me and toward the door; he was no doubt picturing the English hall. It was still standing, but the smoke and water damage were bad enough that classes had been moved into the cafeteria for the time being. “Lord knows we’ll have plenty for you to do,” he said on a sigh, and I stood up again, this time not reaching for him.

“Thank you,” I said again. “I promise, nothing like this will happen again, and I’m going to do a totally great job helping out.”

Headmaster Dunn gave a snort and went back to tapping his pen. “We’ll see about that.”

Once we were back in the main office, I turned to both my parents, giving them my best smile. “See? It all worked out.”

Dad shoved his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels. He had this way of looking at me where he sort of tucked his chin down and raised his eyes. He’d looked at Leigh-Anne like that, too, and it was always a sign that we were in trouble.

That was clearly still the case now, since his voice was firm when he said, “Just because you managed to avoid expulsion doesn’t mean you’re in the clear with us, young lady.”

Mom reached out, setting her hands on my shoulders. “We’re still worried, sweetheart. You have not been yourself for . . .” She looked up toward the ceiling. “Months, it seems like. And if you’re having panic attacks so severe you assault your principal—”

“It wasn’t assault,” I said quickly. “It was an instinctive reaction so that I could help people.”

Mom was still watching me, a deep crease between her brows, and I gave her my best “I’ve totally got this” smile.

I could tell she wasn’t buying it, though—that crease only got deeper—so I hurried on, adding, “So I should get to class, and I promise we can talk more about this after school. Or after I get back from the pageant sign-ups.”

Mom frowned at that. “Pageant sign-ups?” she repeated, and I nodded.

“Miss Pine Grove. Bee wanted to do it. Anyway, we can talk later, love you!” I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, did the same to my dad, and then skedaddled out of that office as quickly as I could, leaving my parents’ shocked expressions and the smell of burned coffee behind me.