Needle in a Haystack

Trouble

Emily sat in the principal's office with her overstuffed backpack between her feet sipping on water from her bottle trying to calm her nerves. Mr. Drake had deposited her in the seating area before marching into principal Skinner's office and slamming the door. Every so often Emily could hear murmurs coming from the room, but even with Ember's help she couldn't make out the words. So she sat.

after at least half an hour, the Bell had rung twice, Mr Drake came out of principal Skinner's office and stopped in front of Emily.

"Did you do this?" he asked so quietly she has to strain to hear him. She shook her head once, but made no reply. that seemed to satisfy Mr Drake as he turned on his heel and walked away. a moment later principal Skinner called her name.

Principal Skinner was a balding pudgy sweaty nervous little man with beady eyes and a heavy brow ridge. Ember speculated that if he had been a shifter he might have been a rat. Emily had to chew on her cheek to keep from smiling.

As she sat down in his office she could not contain her nervous energy and her knee continued to bounce despite her best efforts. when principal Skinner settled himself behind his desk and steepled his fingers in a very serious authoritative pose it only came across as posing. She could see the sweat drip down the side of his face. It seemed like he was more nervous than she was.

"Well Emily," he plucked a tissue from a box on his desk, "Do you have anything to say for yourself?" and started mopping at his brow.

"I don't know what is going on. I did go to the bathroom right before class. Nicole was in the bathroom. But she was fine when I left! She was putting on lip gloss in the mirror at the far end."

Emily sat for a moment gripping her hands in her lap and bouncing her knee. She took a beth to speak again, but Ember cut her off.

'Don't over explain!,' she urged. 'It will look like you have something to hide.'

'I always have something to hide,' Emily thought back pointedly, staring at her hands.

'Something bad,' Ember clarified, annoyed.

"It's going to be alright," principal Skinner said soothingly. He seemed to be under the impression that she was about to cry. "All we have to do is pull up the hallway security camera footage and we can clear this whole thing up."

Two hours later Emily said in the seating area of the office taking up three chairs and a small table trying to work on the classes that she was currently missing. Mr Solomon Drake walked in and sat down next to her without preamble.

"What happened?" he asked quietly.

"Nothing," Emily said flatly, not looking up from her classwork. Drake plucked the pencil out of her hand, and she sat back with an exasperated sigh.

"May I please have that back?"

"As soon as you tell me what's going on here."

"I wish I knew."

Drake scrutinized her only the way a dragon shifter could, and by the time he blinked her nerves were frayed.

"I didn't even know she was in the bathroom until after I had splashed water in my face. She said something rude so I left. She was applying some lip gloss in the mirror at the far end of the bathroom when I left." Emily couldn't have stopped herself from speaking if she had wanted to, but it felt good to spill. "I'm not stupid. I wouldn't throw away my whole future for something as silly as a hurled insult, and it wasn't even that good." She could feel herself start to ramble, but mercifully Mr Drake handed her back her pencil.

"I believe you. But here's the problem, no one else was in that bathroom until she was reported as being assaulted."

"If we had attacked her, she wouldn't just have a bruise on her face," Ember growled quietly at Mr Drake. He checked to make sure no one noticed Emily's change in demeanor, and leaned in.

"Unless you were trying to make it look mundane."

Amber sniffed once before retreating and Emily looked embarrassed and slightly confused.

"I thought you said you believed me," Emily asked quietly.

"I do but there is going to be an inquiry and we have to be ready for any questions."

Emily's blood ran cold at the mention of an inquiry. In mundane terms it was a trial. Being a rogue meant that she would have to represent herself instead of having someone from the pack help her. If she was found guilty of a provoked attack on a mundane it meant imprisonment and behavioral reprogramming. An unprovoked attackment death.

"Never mind about the counsel. Right now I'm trying to keep you from getting expelled over some lying brat."

Emily accidentally locked eyes with Mr Drake and the room began to dissolve. she was falling but she was no more Amber was no more. she was falling through a soul fathoms deep witnessing a life centuries long. and then she was back sitting in an uncomfortable chair in the principles waiting area. Mr Drake was grinding his teeth, pretending to look over her notes about Alexander the Great.

"Never lock eyes with a dragon," he growled, so low that the mundane receptionist was looking out the window for thunderclouds and frowned when the day was sunny.

Emily began shivering uncontrollably and Ember wined plaintively.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Since you missed lunch," he said, his regular voice almost sing-song compared to the rumble of his warning. He pulled two frozen peanut butter and jellies, an apple and a bag of carrots out of his jacket pockets. When Emily just sat staring at it, he framed it with his hands the way Amy had done to her birthday present. Emily's chin quivered and she gave one great big sniff, but her voice came out steady.

"Thank you Mr Drake."

"Your a good kid. I'm gonna get to the bottom of this. Try not to worry to much."