"Ah, Raymond. There you are." Principle Gwynn said, in a frantic manr. "I have you assigned to work with Marcy. I have to go take care of a situation outside, forward all my calls."

"Yes ma'am." Claire replies, holding the glass door open for Principle Gwynn to exit. She looked for Mrs. Marcy who was pacing the room of student records. Claire was so thankful to have been assigned as her assistant. Mrs. Marcy was like a second mother to her. She cared about every student, but for some reason, she really took with Claire. In fact, Mrs. Marcy was the only person she communicated with over the summer, since she knew about her sister Mia's situation. Claire sat her books down behind the office desk, pulling up a stool to study her physics syllabus a bit more.

Mrs. Marcy walked right past Claire, too distracted by the student record she was holding.

"Mrs. Marcy." Claire said, startling the lady.

"OH! My dear I didn't even notice you, im so sorry. How has your first day back been?" Marcy asked, clearing off her desk.

"Its been good." Claire lied. Mrs. Marcy, being the wonderful lady that she is, stopped what she was doing and gave Claire a raised eyebrow, lowering her purple glasses to her nose.

"Okay, okay. You got me." Claire laughs, "it's been a struggle."

"Come here," Marcy gestures to her desk. "You could use a distraction with first day back to school drama." Claire jumps from her stool, eager to learn more information that technically students shouldn't know. The file in front of her of a student, Barrett James, was filled with different pink slips, transcripts, and even course forgiveness for repeating certain grades.

"Why don't I recognize who this is?" Claire asked.

"Well, you can see here that he was once a residence of Brook Hills. And was a student here with us until his second time as a sophomore, then he just left. We didn't have much information on where he went and why." She says, thumbing through the file. "And now, he has decided to finish out his senior year.. here"

"Why? Why come back now?"

"That my dear, is what I am wondering too."

The glass door to the office opened, and Mrs. Marcy quickly closes the file, as Claire moves away from her desk. She would never want Marcy to get in trouble for showing a file to another student. The vice principle Mr. Sellers walks in, holding the same blond stranger by the arm, ushering him to sit in the chair. The boy looks unfazed by his current situation, kicking his backpack under the wooden side table, causing the lamp to wobble. Claire walks back to her student desk, not hiding the fact she is staring at the tattoos scribbled down his arm to his knuckles. The fact he so openly displays his skin art is a valiation of dress code. He continues to stare at the ground, not noticing Claire as she takes her seat so close to him. He smelled of cologne and smoke, an unnerving, yet, attracting scent.

"Mr. James. This isn't exactly the way I would want to welcome you back to Brook Hills." Principle Gwynn says, when she enters the office, standing in front of him.

"My apologies, Principle Gwynn. But it is nice to see you again." His charming voice replied.

"A weeks suspention is not how to finish off your senior year, Barrett. What did you think would happen for starting a fight?" She asked him, as she prepared his pink slip.

"If I said I didn't start the fight, would you believe me?" he gave her a smile, showing off a slight dimple on his right cheek. Principle Gwynn seemed less amused by his question, and handed the slip to Mrs. Marcy to validate, before returning to her office.

"Yeah, didn't think so." He murmured to himself. His entire demeanor seemed to change once no one in authority was watching him. He relaxed back into the chair letting his head fall into his hands with a sigh. Claire knew he didn't start that fight, yet, he didn't put up a plea for his case. He accepted his consequence, and allowed the principles to think whatever story they had been told.  Before Claire could walk away, she found herself speaking to the newly returned student.

"I believe you." She says to him. When Barrett turns to face her his look of defeat vanished, and he laughs.

"Do you even know who I am?" he asked her.

"No, I don't."

"Then why would you believe me?" Claire was too timid to admit to him that she had watched the whole fight unfold. Besides, she would have to explain why she was on the east side of the building.

"I don't think someone would randomly just beat people up on the first day of school," she decides to say instead of the truth.

"Maybe its what I do." He quickly responds.

"Or maybe its what you think you do." She says even quicker. The two hold each other's stare before Barrett breaks the silence. "Who are you?" a smile pulls at his mouth. But, before she can respond, Principle Gwynn calls Claire into her office to run an errand. 

When Claire returns to the office, Barrett emerges from Principle Gwynn's office, and stops just shy of reaching her. "See you in a week, Claire." He says, waving his slip before leaving through the glass door.

"Raymond."

"Yes, Principle Gwynn?"

"Mr. James isn't someone you would want to be associated with."

"Oh, I'm not. He was just making an exit is all."

"You have much more important things to focus on than entangling with the wrong crowd." She claimed. Claire offered her a nod. But who was she to determine who Claire could speak too? After all, Principle Gwynn was the one with the wrong impression. If fact, Claire felt the need to prove her wrong.

"Uh, Principle Gwynn, he didn't start the fight. I actually watched the whole thing happen. If you'll allow, I'd like to explain." Principle Gwynn gestured for Claire to sit in the chair, and she began the story about cutting through the east door, seeing the bullying crowd, and how Barrett, in fact, stood up for the band boy.

The last bell of the day had rung, but before heading to the locker room, Claire had one more stop to make. She approached the room at the end of the hall, used for detention. She had only been in the room once, and felt claustrophobic with the gray walls and no windows. She had been a freshman when Kanon planted a kiss on her, landing them both in detention for the day. She had been so mad at him for blemishing her record, thus causing their first break up over the course of three years.

The door clanked as she knocked. "Yes?" Coach Jordan answered the door.

"I have a new slip for a Barrett James." He raised his head from the desk at the mention of his name. Coach Jordan stepped aside, letting Claire walk inside.

Claire laid the pink slip on Barrett's desk, stating that he only had to do two days of detention instead of suspension.

"And how'd you manage this, doll face?" he asked, reading the slip.

"I told you I believed you. I knew what had happened. And I didn't think it was fair for everyone else to decide how they felt about you just based on a label." She flashed him a smile before walking to the door.

"Raymond, you realize you are now late for workouts, just to drop off a pink slip?" Coach Jordan says, grabbing his gym bag from the floor.

"Yes, Coach. But someone needed to let him know he could return to school tomorrow." She glances at Barrett, who now wears a full smile on his face.

Any comments and/or critiques are welcomed as it will help me in the editing process.