"Oh, Darcy, thanks," I say, trying to hold back my smile.
He nods and walks away. Not even smiling. Not even looking me in the eyes.
I watch his sour figure saunter away. I can't help but giving him a once over. He's so tall, broad, handsome.
A tall, broad and handsome boy who just passed me my clipboard without acknowledging my existence. Like I was a stranger on the street.
What is wrong with me? I need to stop thinking about Darcy. He's clearly a jerk that can't make up his mind. Why am I wasting my time on him? We had one semi-nice conversation and I'm holding out hope for him? That one time was probably a fluke.
I eventually regain myself enough to keep walking the roll to Gladys. "What's going on?" I ask her.
"Fire in the abandoned wing," she says, quietly to me.
"What caused a fire there?' I say, confused since no classes are held there. Hence the term 'abandoned'.
"Not sure, sweat pea."
Not long after that the fire department finally makes it here. The rest of the day we are excused from classes and sent to our dorms.
Best day of the year so far.
.
.
.
The next day, I'm sitting in art class working on my assignment. I'm halfway through detailing the wings. When I hold up the drawing at arms length, it looks so realistic. No, maybe it's slightly off. The shading isn't perfect.
I bend over the desk and continue fixing my mistakes. Completely interrupting my train of focus, I hear a nasally voice over the speaker. "Jade Fernwood to Ms Svetkov's office. Jane Fernwood, to Ms Svetkov's office."
The class collectively 'oohs' and 'ahs'.
"Good luck," a girl sitting in front of me says.
I grip my books hard and walk across the school to Ms Svetkov's office. It's never a good sign if Ms Svetkov asks to see you. She only handles discipline.
She's pretty easy to evade when it comes to curfew. Everyone breaks curfew, so there's no satisfaction for her to catch someone. But when students really stuff up, she's ready to pounce like some starving lion.
So... what exactly did I do? Other than selling fake ID's – which she'd never catch because no one's gonna snitch.
I knock on her office door. It opens... slowly. I sit across from her on a broad leather chair. Her black rigid hair is in a tight bun. Similar to how Gladys does her hair, but Gladys doesn't seem stiff in any other sense. Ms Svetkov reminds me of Moaning Myrtle, come to think of it – no, of the house mother from Wild Child. Even her voice is high pitched and snotty.
"Before I begin, is there anything you would like to tell me?" she says, crossing her arms over her chest.
I shrug, not sure what to say.
"I am under the assumption that you have been taking illegal substances on school property."
I physically feel my eyeballs protrude from my skull. "I'm sorry, what did... what?"
"Have you been taking drugs on school grounds?"
"I've never once touched drugs in my life," I snap.
"Some students suggested that the fire may have been caused by some drug use gone wrong."
Alyssa. Of course.
The door swings open and Glayds appears, shining like my white knight. She looks so angry, her dark brown skin is flushed with red.
"Ms Svetkov," she says, "has something happened that I am unaware of?"
Ms Svetkov retreats, but only slightly. She puts back on her fierce expression when she says, "I'm just discussing with Jade the allegations of drug use on her behalf."
"This is outrageous," Glayds says, pouncing forward, placing her hands flat on Svetkov's desk. "Is this because of Tim?"
"This has nothing to do with Mr Martinez, I assure you."
"Well, I struggle to see where else there could be any base for these accusations."
"Very well then." Ms Svetkov says, leaning back into her chair. "I'll let Jade off the hook this time. But when the evidence is presented, I will have no choice but to discipline her."
"And I will be right beside you, if such evidence were to ever exist. But in this situation, I can comfortably confirm that Jade is at no such disposition."
My heart swells with something. I've never seen Gladys so animated before. Especially not for me. Why does she care? Is she prideful? Embarrassed that a child she is responsible for has a bad reputation? Or is she ashamed? Especially since her other foster child died of a drug overdose? Or is she just defending me because... she cares?
Gladys grabs my arm tightly and walks me out of that office without turning back. "Don't you ever go into that office without me again young lady, understood?"
I nod my head.
"Good."