Chapter 4: The Principal Issue

It was too soon to be back at school. The way everyone stared at me I might as well have had a sign stapled to my forehead: 'Hey look at me, my brother just committed suicide.'

I scurried along to my locker, feeling Asher's presence in everything, even the floor.

I followed my best friend, Chrissie Swenlow, to her locker. She moved with an elegance that could only be achieved by someone who had done ballet for half her life. I waited for her to pile all her books into a bag that vaguely resembled a suitcase. It might have been one for all I knew.

I had known Chrissie since I was five, but I didn't know her in the way I should. She rarely shared the little things with me, it was always the life changing events that she shared. Our conversations consisted strictly of boys. Conversations in which she provided all the information, and all I had to do was give her a reassuring nod when she looked like she needed one.

"Hey, ladies." Asher crouched down next to Chrissie. His dark hair fell over his forehead and into his eyes. The top lockers were reserved for the juniors and seniors, so the sophomores were forced to bruise their knees on paved floors.

Chrissie blushed at Asher's close proximity and flipped her long frizzy hair. I swear only the girls in movies did that. She angled her skinny, dancer's body toward him. I rolled my eyes. I had already given up explaining to Chrissie that Asher had a girlfriend. Kind of unfair he could date, but I couldn't. There was only a three-year age gap between us.

"Hi," I greeted him. "What's on the agenda today, Robin Hood?" I teased.

Chrissie gave me a blank expression.

"Saving children from Principal Hugh," he replied, laughing and making Chrissie swoon even more.

Was this like saving the worms from the bird? I was afraid to ask. Surely Asher wouldn't go to such extremes.

"Calm down, Mads." Asher noticed my bewildered expression.

"What are you going to do?" I asked, after taking a huge gulp of air.

Asher winked at me. "You'll see."

At recess, half the school was gathered around the section of lockers close to Chrissie.

Asher had only done a crude painting of Principal Hugh on the pavement, by the lockers. Of course he hadn't been caught, and nobody would suspect him because he wasn't the kind of person people would expect to be a rebel. Chrissie and I were the only ones who knew it was him. People had talked about the caricature of Hugh for days, if not months. The big nose and small eyes were hard to ignore. There had always been a rumour that Principal Hugh could sniff out truancy like a hound, but he was so blind that even his glasses did him no good. So, he couldn't really see who was bunking. This was the reason that no one was ever given detention for bunking. I was one of the few people who didn't take advantage of his poor eye-sight. In actual fact I felt sorry for him. People were constantly making fun of him by walking into walls in imitation of what was rumoured to be something that students saw happen very often. I had never seen him walk into walls.

The day after Principal Hugh was publicly humiliated, he committed suicide. He hanged himself. I highly doubted that he had killed himself because some senior had played a prank on him; there must have been some other reason. To this day Sunset High was still monarch free.

My thought bubble was popped by a familiar pair of blue eyes.

"Caspian," I greeted him, before continuing on my way to Algebra. My heart fluttered unexpectedly. I shook that feeling away. If my brother hadn't liked him. I didn't like him either.

"Can I walk you to class?" He ran to catch up to me. His gold hair had a sexy wind-blown look, and his eyes surveyed me from under his long eyelashes. Why was it always the boys who got the long lashes?

"No, thanks," I politely replied. I made the extra effort to smile his way, even though I was dying to look the other way and pretend like his presence had no effect on my heart rate.

The sound of his footsteps continued to follow me.

He pulled up next to me again. "I'm so sorry about your brother."

I just nodded my head, not trusting my voice; a voice which I had noticed got higher when Asher was mentioned.

Caspian pulled me into a one-arm awkward hug. I was momentarily distracted by the feel of his warm skin, until I saw the bee tattoo on his neck. I remembered exactly what it meant: the bee was the symbol of the Stingers.

Please don't forget to vote and comment.