Needle in a Haystack

Big Changes

Principal Skinner was waiting in the hall for Emily to come out of Mr Drake's classroom. Her heart sank when he cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Miss Pickerling, my office please."

He might have been polite in words, but his tone was anything but nice. Emily began to wonder if she would ever make it to her second period class this year as she trailed behind him. The hallway got quiet and eyes followed her. Then the whispers started.

"I heard she had to go to the hospital."

"I heard she had to have surgery."

"Maybe it's the excuse poor Nicole needed to get that nose job she's been wanting." That was her best friend Brittany.

The whispers went on and on, like running a gauntlet of gossip. Embers wolf ears could make out every word, and she wined plaintively in Emily's head.

What felt like hours later, they walked into the reception area. The door closed with finality, but at least the whispers were shut out. Principal Skinner led the way to now empty his office and sat down behind his desk. Emily set her backpack down next to her chair and sat down facing the desk. He steepled his fingers the way that Mr Drake had done the previous day and looked down his nose at her.

"Your mother," he began, "is an interesting woman. She has convinced me that this incident will not be a recurring one, and that there were," he paused for a moment, considering his words, "extenuating circumstances. I have decided that you should, however, attend night school from now on. Less chance of you getting into trouble."

Emily dropped her head to look contrite and hide her smile. She was thrilled that she could get away from Derek's sudden aggressive interest. Then her heart sank. She would be leaving Amy behind. Her best friend would understand why they switched her to night classes. All the 'bad kids' had to attend night school, and after the public display yesterday it would only make sense if she wasn't out rite expelled. She would have to find time to talk to her. Her mother, Anna, hadn't yet met Amy. Maybe it was about time they did.

"Are you even listening to me!" Principal Skinner shouted, slapping his palms on his desk calendar. Emily had gotten lost in plans and forgot to pay attention to her surroundings.

'He thinks you need to apologize to Nicole,' Ember supplied.

'What would I do without you?'

'Probably die.'

"I don't think she'll want to see me if she really believes I attacked her," Emily said, meeting Principal Skinner's gaze.

He hesitated a moment, trying to decide if she was being flippant. Then, "That's a fantastic idea, Miss Pickerling. I think a formal, written apology would be even better."

One of her eyelids twitched, and she dropped her head into her hands. A formal letter on top of her already behind classwork was going to be brutal.

"Yes sir," she mumbled through her fingers.

"Good. Now, you can attend classes for today so that you can get the work you missed, and you'll start night classes tomorrow night. Unless you would like to head home and start tonight."

Her head snapped up.

"What do you mean, head home?"

"Well, you are eighteen as of yesterday, as your mother pointed out this morning." He paled a little at the memory of Anna.

"So I can sign myself out now?" Emily asked, every muscle in her body wound tight.

"Yes, that is the gist of it."

'Should I ask if I can stay for one class so I can say goodbye to my friends?' she asked Ember. Honestly, she couldn't imagine how mundanes got by without an animal counterpart.

'Ask instead if you can change your mind. That way we can know if he would be OK with us staying for part of the day, but it looks like we're undecided,' Ember suggested.

"We can't give you any bus fair to get home," Principal Skinner interrupted, misunderstanding her concern while simultaneously raising a whole new one.

She was broke. Her mom was broke. She had no way to get bus fair. It was easily over 110 degrees outside. She calculated the distance from the school to the apartment, trying to think if she could handle it.

"We cannot let you sign yourself out, unless you have transport. The heat could injure or kill you," he explained further, and Emily's hopes of starting night school tonight vanished.

"I'm going to have to stay for the day then," she grumbled, standing and retrieving her bag.

When she came out of Principal Skinner's office, the first thing she noticed, or rather Ember noticed, was a delicious smell. Something sweet and spicy, like those Mexican candies. The second thing they noticed was that there was a very tall, well-muscled, fair-haired teenage boy standing at the reception desk accepting a class schedule from Betty. He started to turn towards her and her heart stuttered and slammed into overdrive. His face was chiseled perfection, with a strong jawline that ended in a very lightly cleft chin. His sandy blonde hair hung down his forehead just above his bright green eyes that got brighter towards the middle until there was a ring of yellow around each pupil. They captivated her completely.

Principal Skinner patted her shoulder, making her jump, and had the nerve to laugh about it. "You two will have plenty of time to get to know one another," he said, for once reading the situation correctly. A slow smile crept across the boy's face. Emily tried to think of something, anything to say. He nodded at the principal and walked out without a word. She might have squeaked in protest before realizing she was still standing in the middle of the school office reception area, and hurried off to class.

The rest of the day was awful with one shining exception. She and Amy shared every class, but even that was tainted by her impending switch to night school. Amy nearly cried at the invitation for a sleep-over and promised she would see her this weekend. She also promised to keep an ear on the rumor mill and let Emily know when Nicole came back to school. During lunch, Derek must have heard that she was being switched to nights, because he made his displeasure known by dumping her lunch tray.

"Real original," Amy shouted at his back as he walked away. "Oh, wait! You did that this morning too."

Emily put her hand over Amy's to settle her. "It's okay," she said, "With everything going on I couldn't eat anyway."

"YEAH YOU SHOULDN'T," Derek shouted at her from halfway across the lunchroom.

Everyone stopped and stared, then erupted in laughter until well after he left the room. Amy was wiping tears out of her eyes, but Emily didn't laugh. She saw how angry Derek got before he walked out.

'He has plans for us,' Ember warned criptically.