I was lost in my childhood memories, with my eyes closed, when I heard the door bang. I quickly opened my eyes and straightened myself.

"Come with me, Mandy," said Miss David sharply.

"It's Mary," I corrected.

"Whatever," she snapped back.

I shrugged my shoulders and followed her to the principal's office.

"Keep standing outside till I call you in," she ordered.

She walked into the office as if she owned the place.

As soon as the door closed, I glanced up and down the corridor, leaned against the door and pressed my ear to the keyhole.

"What brings you to my office today?" asked the principal politely.

My school principal Mr. Collins, is always polite. He is the one of the softest men I know. Actually, he is the only soft man I know, besides my father of course. I think my father was soft. I don't know for sure. And uncle.

"I wanted to talk to you about Mandy," said Miss David.

"Mandy, who's Mandy?" Mr. Collins asked in a surprised voice.

"In my class," said Miss David impatiently.

"Do you mean Mary?" he asked.

"Yes, Mary. I am very worried about her. She comes late to the classroom and sometimes she just doesn't bother to come. She doesn't concentrate on her lectures and cheats during tests. She also never completes her homework on time," said Miss David in fake sorrow, as if worried about me.

"Oh I see! We should certainly do something about it," said Mr. Collins, sounding genuinely worried.

What a liar Miss David is. I never ever skip school. Why would I skip school? I like to spend any second I can spare outside my house. And I always complete my homework on time. The only truth she spoke was that I don't concentrate on the lectures because it looked like it. Even though I was listening to her. And I have enough troubles to think about without worrying about the lectures too.

I was fuming inwardly at her lies that I didn't hear her get up from the chair or walk towards the door. She pulled open the door and I stumbled inside. I steadied myself and twisted my fingers trying to control my emotions. My face was red with embarrassment.

"See," said Miss David, pointing at me. "She even eavesdrop."

"I ...," I tried to say something.

"Tut, tut, tut. I don't know what the world is coming to, now a days," said Miss David, moving her head from side to side in expression of fake sorrow.

"Please, Miss David. Can you give us a little privacy?" Mr. Collins asked her to get out, politely. He should have said get lost.

I looked at Mr. Collins.

"Sit down," he said softly.

I obeyed.

"Mary ...," he began.

"Miss David is a liar. I never skip school. I complete my homework on time. You can also check the attendance register and my notebooks. I don't even eavesdrop, but today I knew that Miss David would lie to you about me and so I decided to hear what she had to say. She hates me because Hilda hates me and she sucks up to Hilda because Hilda is rich," I said in a rush.

"Last but not least, Miss David is such a fraud." I flung open the door and in flew Miss. David. She fell onto the carpeted floor of the office.

"Oh, I see!" said Mr. Collins.

She stood up and opened her mouth to say something but a stern look on Mr. Collins' face made her shut up.

"See, she's no better. Hypocrisy, I call it. Hypocrisy it is," I had much more to say but Mr. Collins gestured me to stop.

Maybe I had outspoken but I am a straightforward girl. A characteristic inherited from my father. I figured that out because my aunt reminded me regularly that my father was a horrible bigmouth (isn't her monologue suggesting that she is the biggest bigmouth herself).

"You may leave," said Mr. Collins, "and this time I trust you to allow us some privacy."

"Yes, sir. Absolutely, sir," I stammered with glee.

I sprinted out of the office, in the seventh heaven of delight.

"Woohooo!" I heard myself yell with happiness.

I ran towards my classroom, brimming with happiness. Miss David was in big trouble.

Did I mention I was very happy because Miss David was in trouble?

As soon as I entered the classroom, Hilda asked, "what punishment did my slave get?"

"None," I answered. Angry at the word slave.

"That's impossible. Don't lie to your master," she said.

"I am not lying, and you are not my master," I answered angrily.

"We'll see that tomorrow," she said.

~~~

The next day, throughout the lectures I kept thinking of a way to escape Hilda. She was still under the impression that I was going to fulfill my promise. And I really didn't want to argue endlessly with her.

The only solution that came into my mind was that I should murder her. Murdering Hilda would be the perfect way to get rid of her, and clear all my sins at the same time. Everyone would be happy at her death.

As soon as the bell rang for recess, I forgot all the ways I had thought of, to murder Hilda. Instead, I broke into a run. I decided to take refuge in the ladies room.

Suddenly, someone grabbed me from behind. I turned around and saw Lisa's hideously excited face.

"Where do you think you are going?" she asked, smirking.

"I want to go to the ladies room," I protested meekly.

"Without seeking your master's permission, I don't think so," she said evilly.

She dragged me to the cafeteria. I saw Hilda sitting in her usual place at the popular table.

"Hey everyone, meet my new slave," she said loud enough for her table to hear. She liked to arise the curiosity of the others.

"I think you must be mistaken. Who said that you can call me your slave?" I asked.

"Don't you remember our deal?" she asked.

"What deal?" I tried to sound surprised.

"I will show your photo to everyone," she threatened.

"You gave it back to me. Don't you remember?" I asked.

"Haven't you ever heard of cell phones taking pictures, Mangy," asked Harvey, a.k.a my arch enemy. No wonder he was Hilda's friend.

The whole table burst into guffaws of laughter at the lame 'Mangy' joke.

By that time everyone was staring at me and I at my shoes. I was sure that everyone was thinking that I was being insulted by Hilda. Why else would she summon me to her table?

"Bow to me," she commanded like an evil king.

"I will never bow to you," I said trying to sound brave.

"Bow to me, now!" she ordered again.

"Make me!" I continued acting like a play hero.

Suddenly, Lisa and Harvey grabbed my arms and tried to make me bow.

"Hey! Let go of me," I shouted.

I managed to push off Lisa, but Harvey suddenly let go of my arm and grabbed my ponytail and tugged it. I couldn't make him let go of my hair by pulling his hands, it would hurt. So, I scratched his hands with all my might. He let go of my hair and squealed like a girl.

I turned around and ran towards the door. I heard Harvey saying something behind me and quickened my pace. I stumbled over a chair and fell face first to the floor. I got up and made for the door once again.

As soon as the cafeteria door closed behind me, the whole school burst into roars of laughter. I heard the echo of laughter following me down the corridor.

I was dying of humiliation. I ran towards the ladies room. I turned a corner and skidded to a halt in front of Mr. Collins.

My day just got a lot better! Mwahahaha.

Author's note :

Picture of Hilda attached.

So, what do you think of this chapter? Keep me enthusiastic with your comments and votes so that I can believe that this novel is worth finishing.

I am very very very sorry for the late update. I would have updated on 31st of January but the written content (4 whole chapters, *sniffs*) got deleted somehow. I had no other hard or soft copy so I had to rewrite it.

I personally think that the previous version was better because it was genuine.

Thanks for reading, voting and commenting.

See ya all soon.

(I hope)