The three of us sat in Principal Howard's office – my father, my mother and me, and I can boldly say I have never seen the man look more uncomfortable. That was the effect my parent's usually had on people with their tall frames and condescending looks. I almost felt bad for him, but decided he deserved it. This was his idea after all.
After my father found me in the pool, I had reluctantly put my uniform on and followed him back to the principal's office. Apparently, when they didn't find me in the classroom, my father had insisted on coming to get me himself. His cold gaze followed my every movement until I was done and ready to go with him to meet Principal Howard and my mother.
It's a large school, with the offices and sports complexes existing in opposite directions, so the walk with my father was long and very, very quiet. The silence then was heavy, quite like the one we were currently experiencing with Principal Howard.
Never one to speak first, my father waited for him to speak and explain the situation. Principal Howard seemed to be struggling to find the right words to begin which wasn't good news for me.
"I think we should start with this." He said, picking up my report sheet and extending it to my father who took it with a frown on his handsome face. His eyes scanned the paper that spelled out my doom while mine remained focused on the tiles.
And they were such lovely tiles too. He passed the report sheet to my mother and my eyes were still on the floor. Interesting how I had been in this place more times than I could count but had never paid attention to the floor. Now, I could study it forever.
"Laura," my father said gruffly and I was forced to raise my head. "What is this?" he nodded towards the paper. Once again, my throat ran dry and words refused to form in my head let alone come out of my mouth.
"I thought you told us you were doing well in school? Much better than the last two. That's what you told us, Laura!" My mother gasped, clutching her 24karat necklace like I had shot her in the chest. My father's gaze flickered to her then back to me.
"Now you've upset you're mother."
Principal Howard cleared his throat to get their attention. "I'm afraid there's more."
To my horror, he began to recount the tales of all my adventures. Some of them I wasn't even aware that he knew of, like the time I got some of my friends to order 1000 bottles of bleach to the Janitor, Old Man Murphy, because he yelled at me for getting stains on his precious walls. "Do you think I've got bleach to waste?!" He had yelled while feverishly scrubbing the ketchup smear from my burger.
It had been an honest mistake. The burger was in my hand when someone nudged me from behind and since I was closest to the wall, it had inevitably had some of my snack. Anyways, I don't like being yelled at, and after that incident, I made sure he did have enough bleach to waste. Granted, I wasn't supposed to be eating anything in the halls, but it was recess and who was going to stop me? If you think about it properly, I actually helped Old Man Murphy.
It was a good prank and I almost smiled remembering it, but one look at my father's face and growing temper made the humour disappear completely.
Once he was done ratting me out, Principal Murphy sat quietly, but I could tell he was holding back on something. What more could he possibly have to say? The wheels in my mind turned furiously as I tried to think of what other piece of information he could be holding back. His hands rested on the table and I could see him twiddling his thumbs like he was nervous.
Could he be thinking of telling them about that?! Oh God, no.
"O-one more thing," He said at last.
Please, God, don't let him do this to me.
"There was an … unusual incident a while ago," My father's head jerked up at that moment and even my mother shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "We weren't sure if we should bring it up because no one really understood what happened, but your daughter was the only one present, so we believed she was somehow connected.
A muscle clenched in my father's jaw. "Go on." Principal Howard stood instead, walking around the desk to a large cabinet close-by. He flipped through some files till he found the one he was looking for, then he walked back to the desk and sat down heavily.
I tried to get him to look at me and see the silent pleas in my eyes, but either he didn't notice or he was very intentional about ignoring me.
I believe it must be the latter.
"There's a boy, Thomas Miller in 11th grade. He complained of persistent hallucinations last month."
My father frowned. "What's that got to do with my daughter?" It was a question asked simply for the sake of asking. I knew that he knew exactly how it related to me, his 17 year old daughter. After all, it wasn't the first time this was happening. It's the main reason I was kicked out of my other two schools.
"Well, he had never experienced anything of the sort before then," He paused, turning at last to look pointedly at me. "And he was alone with Laura."
I bristled at the indirect accusation. Principal Howard slid the file he had retrieved towards my father. "This is the written statement of what happened that day according to Thomas."
He waited patiently for my father to finish reading. "We think Laura might have somehow hypnotized him, though she herself claims to not remember anything." He goes ahead to narrate what happened as he had heard it from a frightened Thomas after he had calmed down.
We were both in the natatorium – the pool. I was sitting on the edge of the pool with my feet dangling in the water. Thomas had just finished a set and had gone into the locker room to change. He was probably the second person as interested in swimming as I am. We competed together and I knew him quite well and we were usually the last two to leave.
The problem was, that day while he was changing in the locker room, I had assumed he had already left and that I had the whole place to myself.
That was when I started to sing.
It wasn't an unusual song, but there's something about my voice that haunts people – if 'haunting' is even the right word to use.
After the first incident at my first high school, my parents warned me to never sing in public again. I thought it was an unusual instruction and they never gave me a solid reason, so I didn't obey it even when I was in my second school. Maybe the first child simply had a mental issue and I just triggered it. That was how I convinced myself that it was fine.
But when the same thing happened again, I knew I should have listened to my parents. It wasn't a coincidence that people only began hallucinating when I started singing.
They were furious.
I should have listened to them.
Why did I always have to do what I wanted?
Was I trying to create a scandal to terminate their careers?
They said a lot of things to me that day, most of which hurt me still. So when I finally came to Portsbridge high school, I made an effort to avoid any bands or singing groups. It didn't matter that I loved to sing almost as much as I loved to swim, I knew I would never be free to sing as I wanted.
But in my frustration at being caged, I let myself slip. Poor Thomas came out at the worst moment, captivated by my voice. It wasn't long before he started screaming and clawing at his hair like he was trying to get rid of demons only he could see.
I stopped singing immediately, scared to death of what would happen next. When the coach and two security guards came bursting through the doors asking what was happening, I pretended to have sudden amnesia.
Thomas was still screaming and punching the air for the next three or so hours. It was a peculiar thing and I knew my story wasn't adding up to them but I stuck to it like chewing gum sticks to the bottom of classroom tables.
He was taken to a mental asylum for those few hours, but was released after they were sure he was fine. His parents were politicians - wealthy as well, and unlike regular families, they were more concerned about their reputation than their son's health. They kept the whole matter hush-hush and didn't let a word of it reach the press. Two politicians who had a son with lunatic tendencies? It was bad for business, but that was the only conclusion they could some to.
It was my one saving grace.
I never saw Thomas in the natatorium again.
My father adjusted himself on the chair, leaning forward to whisper to Principal Howard. "You see, Howard. Can I call you Howard?" he didn't wait for any answer.
"Laura is a…" He paused to find the right words and I groaned on the inside. Just kill me now. I knew this routine. It meant that I would be saying goodbye to the good people of Portsbridge High School soon.
"…special child." He finished.
Principal Howard looked from my father's face to mine, utterly confused. "I see." No, he did in fact not see.
My father nodded thoughtfully. "We would appreciate if you kept this under wraps, for Laura's sake."
Principal Howard sat silently, contemplating. "In that case, I'm afraid Laura can no longer continue with us."
There it is. The phrase I had already grown tired of hearing.
My father nodded again before standing up. Beside him, my mother stood as well, lifting herself ever so gracefully.
"Thank you for your understanding." My father said, giving the principal a firm handshake and marching out the door without another word. My mother gave the principal an elegant curtsy before following her husband.
I took one last look at Principal Howard, the man who had been the most patient with me despite my shortcomings and baseless rebellion. He smiled sadly and the single action caused my throat to tighten.
I didn't want his pity. Most of all, I didn't want him to see the tears threatening to escape. So I turned my head away sharply, gathered my things and exited his lavish office without saying goodbye.
I had long since grown tired of saying goodbye.