2:29 AM

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"So, let me get this straight: You, Colton, accidentally tripped and ripped Andy's shirt. And then you, Andy, shoved him and he fell into the table. And all of this lead to you guys rolling off the table, onto the ground and then rolling around some more?" Principal Anderson asks.

"You forgot the part about how he groped me," I say. I cross my arms over my chest. There's not much or anything I can do for my shirt. "I don't feel safe." Colton smirks, knowing that I'm playing around.

"Right," she says.

"And she punched me," Colton says. He points to the bruises forming on his cheek.

"You deserved that! You ripped my shirt, you asshole!" I say.

"Enough," Principal Anderson says. "Look, I can kind of understand what happened. But the two you did get into a pretty big fight."

"Please don't put this on my record! I got accepted into Harvard for Pre-med. I've never been to your office before for anything bad!" I say. Colton looks at me.

"You got into Harvard?" he asks.

"Yeah, and Stanford," I say. Principal Anderson nods. I like her, I think she's friends with Auntie. She's definitely around the same age.

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do. Since it's almost time to go on a Friday and I don't feel like staying after school to do all of the paperwork, you guys have detention today and then on Monday through Thursday," she says. "Or you can stay here today until eight thirty, cleaning."

"I'll stay and clean," I say.

"Me too," Colton says. I shoot him a look.

"Thanks for not putting this on my record," I say.

"No problem. You're a good kid, and I like your aunt," she says grinning. I smile. I look at my watch. It's 2:19. We have about ten minutes before school ends. I frown and look at my shirt. Colton looks at my chest.

"Is there anything you can do to fix my shirt?" I ask Principal Anderson. She digs in her desk and hands me a couple of safety pins. I put the first one in. The rip starts at the top of my cleavage and ends two inches above my belly button.

"Here, let me help you," Colton says. I swat his hand away. I use the safety pins mainly to hold together the fabric under my boobs. As long as a decent amount of my bra isn't showing, I'm good.

"Well, once the bell rings, go down to the basement. Go into the supply room. There should be a teacher and maybe a student or two," Principal Anderson tells us. I nod and grab my backpack. She packs up her briefcase. "You guys have any plans for the weekend?" she asks.

I think about it. "Yeah. It's my dad's birthday," I say

"Not really anything. What about you?" Colton asks.

"I'm not doing much," she says. She grabs her car keys and her briefcase. I grab my backpack and Colton grabs his. We both got the feeling from Mr. Burton that we weren't coming back. The bell rings and she ushers us out of her office. She locks the door. "I'll see you kids on Monday."

She walks away. I start heading towards the basement. Colton follows me. "You're such a dick," I tell him.

"I'm sorry that I ripped your shirt," he says. I roll my eyes as we walk down the steps. "It's your dad's birthday, right? How old he turning?"

"Don't try to change the sub-oh shit!" I yell.

"What?" Colton asks.

"It's my dad's birthday tomorrow. I kind of forgot. Oh, fuck," I say. "I didn't make any plans."