I walked down the hallway with my heart still pounding in my chest.
Now that I was out of the classroom and no longer running purely on anger, the reality of what I had just done was starting to sink in.
Oh my God.
I had just told a teacher to go fuck himself.
Out loud.
In front of the whole class.
I kept walking.
Because if I stopped, I was pretty sure I would start overthinking everything.
The school secretary looked up from her desk.
She blinked.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes," I said. "I need to speak to the principal."
She looked slightly concerned.
"…About?"
"One of the teachers."
That got her attention.
Before she could say anything else, a voice came from the office doorway.
"Hello, what seems to be the issue?"
I turned.
Principal Barker stood in the doorway of her office, wearing the same neat, serious expression she always seemed to have.
She looked like someone who had already dealt with too much school nonsense for one morning and had no patience left for any more of it.
Her eyes landed on me.
She frowned slightly, signalling for me to introduce myself.
"…Student?"
"Sue Heck."
She gestured to her office.
"Right. Come in."
I followed her into the office and sat down in the chair across from her desk.
She sat down too, folding her hands neatly on top of a stack of papers.
"Well," she said. "What happened?"
For a moment, I just stared at her.
Where was I even supposed to begin?
"My maths teacher tried to expel me because he forgot I existed."
Principal Barker blinked once.
Then she leaned back slightly in her chair.
"…That is a very specific sentence, Sue."
She waited for me to explain myself.
Not rushing me.
I took a breath.
"Okay… so I walked into class," I started. "And Mr. Hubert thought I was a transfer student."
Principal Barker nodded once for me to continue.
"He asked if I was lost. Then he said no one had told him he would be getting a new student."
I crossed my arms.
"I told him I wasn't new. I told him I had been in his class for three years."
Principal Barker's eyebrows lifted slightly.
"And then?" she asked.
"He said he didn't remember me," I said flatly. "At all."
That seemed to make her pause for a second.
"So I pointed at my seat and told him to check the register list."
I let out a breath through my nose.
"He barely looked at it at first and still tried to say I wasn't in the class."
Principal Barker's expression shifted slightly.
"Then when he actually checked it, he saw my name was there."
She nodded once.
"But instead of admitting he was wrong," I continued, "he changed the argument."
That got her full attention.
"He said that even if I technically was in the class, my chair had been empty for almost two weeks, so he didn't know how many times I had actually shown up. Saying that, given the fact that no one remembered me, that 'said something' about how often I came to class."
Principal Barker's mouth tightened slightly.
"And after that?" she asked.
"He told me to go to the corridor," I said. "And he said after class he was going to personally take me to your office to request a suspension or expulsion."
That time, Principal Barker's expression actually changed.
She frowned.
Just slightly.
But enough.
"Did you skip?" she asked.
"No, I have perfect attendance. I have never missed a single day of school, even when I was sick," I said. "The only reason I took this extended leave was because I was in hospital and bedridden with a concussion after almost dying."
Now her anger was apparent.
I gave a short laugh.
"Which, by the way, he should have already known, because I personally made sure my mother emailed all of my teachers, the school secretary, and even you, the principal."
That was the moment Principal Barker stopped looking at me like a student complaining about a teacher and started looking at me like someone who might actually have a case.
"And then?" she asked again.
I looked away for a second.
Then back at her.
"Then I told him to go fuck himself. That I was coming straight here to file a complaint and someone should seriously review his credentials, or just fire him. If he was so impatient with his students and so incompetent that he could not even realise he had been teaching an equation wrong on the board, then someone like him should not be allowed anywhere near a classroom."
Silence.
Principal Barker blinked once.
Then leaned back in her chair.
"…Well," she said. "That was not the ideal de-escalation strategy, and swearing at a teacher is not only disrespectful to him but also challenges the authority of every teacher in this school."
"No," I admitted. "It was not."
She turned slightly toward her computer and began typing.
The room was quiet except for the sound of the keyboard.
A few clicks.
Then more.
Then she stopped.
Her eyes narrowed slightly at the screen.
"You were indeed hospitalised last week," she said.
"Yes."
"And your mother emailed the school."
"Yes."
"She emailed all of your teachers," Principal Barker added. "Including Mr. Hubert."
I crossed my arms.
"I know."
Another pause.
Then she clicked again.
"And your attendance record," she said, "is excellent."
She stared at the screen for a few seconds longer.
Then she slowly took off her glasses.
"Sue," she said carefully, "Mr. Hubert was personally notified of your hospitalisation two days after the accident."
"I know."
"And according to these records, he replied to the email."
For the first time since I had entered the office, Principal Barker looked genuinely angry.
"I see."
Principal Barker stared at the screen for a few moments longer.
Then she put her glasses back on.
The anger was still there.
Controlled.
But there.
"Sue."
"Yes?"
"How are you feeling?"
I blinked.
"What?"
"Your concussion."
That was not the question I had expected.
"Oh."
I shifted slightly in my chair.
"Better than last week."
"Fully recovered?"
"No."
She nodded.
"Are you still experiencing symptoms?"
"Sometimes."
"What kind of symptoms?"
"Headaches. Dizziness if I stand up too quickly. The doctors told me to avoid unnecessary stress for a while."
For a second neither of us said anything.
Then Principal Barker wrote something down.
"Did Mr. Hubert know you were returning today?"
"The email said the day my doctor cleared me to come back to school."
She made another note.
"Did any students attempt to correct him when he claimed you weren't in the class?"
I paused.
"Not really. Everyone thought I was new too."
Principal Barker looked up.
"Everyone?"
"Pretty much."
I let out a small laugh.
"A few people even offered to show me around the school."
Her expression tightened slightly.
"But?"
I shrugged.
"I'm kind of used to people not remembering who I am."
The words came out more casually than they should have.
"And I did change my look today," I added. "Let's just say it was part of my enlightenment after the near-death experience."
For a brief moment, Principal Barker looked like she wasn't sure whether I was joking.
"Did anyone speak up?" she asked.
"No."
That stung a little but I was used to it. I would actually be surprised if someone did.
Principal Barker seemed to notice.
"You understand that doesn't necessarily mean they agreed with him."
"I know."
She nodded.
"How many students were present?"
"Twenty-five. Maybe twenty-six."
Another note.
"When Mr. Hubert threatened suspension, did he do so privately or in front of the class?"
"In front of everyone."
Her pen stopped moving.
"Everyone heard it?"
"Yeah."
"And when he questioned your attendance?"
"Also in front of everyone."
The pen started moving again.
"What was the reaction from the class?"
I thought about it.
"Mostly silence."
She nodded slowly.
"Did anyone laugh?"
That question caught me off guard.
"A couple of people laughed when he thought I was a transfer student. And a few more when I started arguing with him."
"And after that?"
I thought back to the corridor.
"I heard people laughing after I left."
"At you?"
"No."
I shook my head.
"I think they were making fun of Mr. Hubert."
That made her pause.
Then she wrote something else down.
"One final question."
I waited.
"When you walked out of that classroom, were you intending to file a complaint?"
"Yes."
"Before or after the argument escalated?"
I didn't even need to think about it.
"Before."
Principal Barker studied me carefully.
"As soon as he threatened expulsion?"
"Yes."
She held my gaze for a moment.
Then nodded once.
"I see."
Principal Barker sat quietly for a moment after finishing her notes.
Then she closed the file on her computer.
"All right."
I waited.
She folded her hands together on top of her desk.
"The first thing I'm going to say, Miss Heck, is that I do not believe you're making this up."
Some of the tension immediately drained from my shoulders.
"Okay."
"That does not mean I can simply take one person's account and make a decision."
"I know."
"This is a serious accusation against a teacher."
She wasn't angry when she said it.
Just matter-of-fact.
"I'll need to speak with Mr. Hubert. I'll need to review the information we received regarding your absence, and I'll need to speak with some of the students who were present in the classroom."
I nodded.
"That's fair."
"Do you understand why?"
"Yeah."
"Tell me."
I blinked.
"Because if you just took my word for it and started firing people immediately, the school would probably get sued a lot."
Principal Barker stared at me for a moment.
"That is… one way of putting it."
"Am I wrong?"
"No."
"Then yes. I understand."
She nodded once.
"Good."
Then she leaned back slightly in her chair.
"However, if the facts are as you've described them, there will be consequences."
The certainty in her voice caught me off guard.
Not because she sounded angry.
Because she sounded absolutely sure of herself.
"You can rest assured that the matter will be taken seriously."
"Thank you."
"You don't need to thank me."
She shook her head.
"Students are entitled to be treated fairly. That's not a favour. It's my responsibility."
I looked down for a second.
"Still."
Principal Barker didn't respond.
But I thought I saw her expression soften slightly.
Then it disappeared.
"Now," she said, "there is another matter we need to discuss."
My stomach immediately dropped.
"Ah."
"Yes."
"It's the swearing thing, isn't it?"
"It is the swearing thing."
"Yeah. I kind of walked right into that one."
"You did."
I sighed.
"Okay. Go ahead."
"Miss Heck, you told a teacher to go fuck himself."
There it was.
Hearing it repeated out loud somehow sounded worse.
"Technically, yes."
"Technically?"
"Well, not technically. Literally."
Principal Barker closed her eyes for a second.
"Miss Heck."
"Sorry."
"In front of an entire classroom."
"Yes."
"Approximately twenty-five students."
"Probably twenty-six."
"That is not helping your case."
"I didn't think it would."
She sighed.
I sighed too.
It felt appropriate.
"Ordinarily," she said, "that would result in disciplinary action."
My stomach immediately twisted.
"But."
I froze.
"I am not issuing a detention, nor am I suspending you."
"Oh."
"However, I would like you to go home for the remainder of the day."
My relief lasted less than a second.
"Wait."
Principal Barker looked at me.
"What?"
"You just said I'm not being suspended."
"You aren't."
"Then why am I being sent home?"
"Miss Heck—"
"No. No, that's exactly what people say right before they suspend somebody."
"Miss Heck."
"Oh my god! My mother is going to kill me."
"She is not going to kill you."
"She absolutely is. She's going to hear the words 'school' and 'sent home' and immediately know I've been suspended. She'll think I've become like Axl."
There was a pause.
"Axl Heck?"
I nodded.
"My brother."
A look of recognition crossed Principal Barker's face.
"Ah."
That single word told me everything.
"Oh no."
"What?"
"You remember him."
"I do."
"That is not reassuring."
"He certainly made a memorable impression on both the staff and myself with how frequently he visited this office."
I buried my face in my hands.
"This is exactly what I'm talking about."
"Miss Heck."
I lowered my hands.
"Yes?"
"You are not in trouble."
"Then why am I being sent home?"
She sat forward slightly.
"Listen carefully."
I stopped talking.
Mostly because that tone usually meant I should.
"Your anger today was understandable."
I looked down.
"But regardless of why you were angry, you still swore at a teacher and publicly challenged a member of staff in front of an entire class."
I winced.
When she put it like that, it sounded considerably worse.
"The school cannot simply ignore that."
"Yeah."
"If you receive absolutely no consequence whatsoever, other students may conclude that such behaviour is acceptable."
"That's fair."
"Or they may feel they were treated unfairly if they received disciplinary action for similar behaviour and you did not."
I nodded.
"So please do not view this as a punishment."
I gave her a look.
"It feels suspiciously like a punishment."
"It is not."
"What is it, then?"
"A practical solution."
"To what?"
"To the fact that you are recovering from a concussion, you've just had a confrontation with a teacher, and you are clearly not going to be focusing on mathematics for the rest of today."
I considered that.
Unfortunately, she had a point.
"Okay."
"Additionally," she continued, "it allows everyone to think that this was a suspension so they won't repeat your actions."
"So it's basically a time-out disguised as a professional suspension."
"A very professional time-out."
"Got it."
"And this is not being recorded as formal disciplinary action. Even your absence for the remainder of the day will be marked as authorised."
"Wow."
Principal Barker almost smiled.
"Feeling better?"
"Significantly."
"Excellent."
She stood.
"The secretary will contact your mother and arrange for her to collect you."
I groaned.
That reminded me.
Mom would have to leave work early.
Her boss would probably be annoyed.
Then she'd be annoyed.
Then she'd come pick me up already annoyed.
This was not an ideal chain of events.
I hope she'll go easy on me.
Maybe she'll pity me because I still haven't completely recovered.
The Principal Baker walked around her desk.
"Now, while you're at home, I will begin speaking with the people involved."
I nodded.
"And then?"
"If everything checks out, you can expect a phone call this evening regarding the outcome of the initial investigation."
"That fast?"
"Yes."
"Wow."
"Miss Heck, a complaint of this nature is not something I'm going to leave sitting on my desk for weeks."
That was fair.
I stood up.
"So.."
"Go home, Miss Heck."
"Yes, ma'am."
I headed towards the door.
"And try not to tell anyone else to go fuck themselves."
I thought about it.
"I'll try my best."
"Try harder."
"Fair enough."
To my surprise, she actually chuckled.
Just once.
A quiet sound.
But it counted.
I blinked.
I was pretty sure Principal Barker liked me.
At least significantly more than she had liked Axl.
Which, admittedly, was a very low bar.
As I reached the door, her expression softened slightly.
"Miss Heck."
I looked back.
"Yes?"
"Take care of yourself."
I nodded.
"I will."
"And I hope you make a full recovery soon."
For a moment, I just stared at her.
Then I smiled.
"Thank you."