Seven
1705 Words
The next day, the team attended school like any other day of the week. Getting through the first half of the day felt like walking through a sea of commentary and rumours about the raid the night before. It was hilarious how easily the tides could turn from everyone worshipping Craig to treating him like a pariah after word of his arrest and the reasons wafted through the populace like a bad smell.
Of course, because he was a minor, the police couldn’t hold him. However, he was suspended by the school pending an investigation into the reported behaviour, and sent home for an undisclosed amount of time.
After separating for their after-lunch classes, Kennedy and Markus made their way to History. Flipping the paper over as the teacher handed back their recent tests, she let out a hiss when she spotted the red ink circling the mark he'd given her. A note next to it said: “See me after class to discuss your grade”. The thought alone was making her stomach churn, but her mind was already formulating a plan of action. Trying desperately to keep her temper on lock-down, she started fantasizing over all the ways she could make him suffer.
Then, she felt the familiar jab of Markus's finger against her spine. “What?”
“What’s got you going tense? You’re all coiled up like a snake,” he said quietly. “Breathe, Red. It’s going to be okay.”
"Hell the f**k no, it’s not. He gave me a sixty-eight, Markie. This is un-f*****g-believable," she snarled.
Markus cursed quietly under his breath. He knew what was coming, and he didn’t really blame the girl sitting in front of him in the slightest. While he hated her originally, she’d grown on him with her tomboyish ways. "You've never gotten anything less than an eighty in any subject since I've known you. Scheisse, girl, you read history books for fun, so how the hell can you fall that far?"
"I know how," she muttered, her eyes narrowing. "And I’m going to prove it. Watch this, Mark."
The teen shook his head, grey eyes wide as he understood that the man had pushed the team psycho past her point of return. "Don't do anything that'll get you into trouble."
"Trust me," she replied.
Again, he shook his head. Knowing Kennedy the way he did, there was no mistaking where this day was headed. "Funny, because bad things have a tendency to happen when you say s**t like that."
"Just set your phone to video record, and don't say anything that will have you indicted for my actions," Kennedy whispered. Rising from her desk, she walked up to the teacher's chair and stood straight.
Markus took a deep breath before slipping his phone out of his pocket and turning on the video recorder. This was going to go one of three ways for her to ask him to obtain proof. Either she was going to lose her s**t, the teacher was, or they would both snap. The first option would definitely have the school calling home to report that Kennedy couldn't follow the rules. Declan and the others knew Kennedy had a short fuse, and the best way to light it would be to force her hand in any situation.
Markus watched as one of his childhood friends calmly took the last few steps up to the teacher's desk and slapped her test down in front of him. The man looked up, the gleam in his eyes was unmistakably predatory. "Ms. Rubin, your attitude just earned you detention."
Markus felt his blood run cold. The man had a death wish if he wanted to be in a class alone with Kennedy. As small and short as she was, he knew that she would not have a problem putting the middle-aged teacher into the ICU. He glanced at the device hidden discreetly under his book, making sure it continued to record the conversation.
"Mr. Wolf, there’s an issue. I'm not happy with the grade I received," Kennedy replied. Her hip jutted out slightly with the way she saucily stood with her slender arms crossed. "I know for a fact some of my answers were changed, so I demand a retake. I also want a different teacher to correct it because my trust in you is where your career will end up shortly – six feet under.”
"Ms. Rubin, are you accusing me of intentionally changing your answers? You could have done that yourself just now for all I know," Mr. Wolfe said as he leaned back in his chair. "Come now, a sixty-eight isn't that bad, sweetheart. It just means you need to start staying behind for extra help."
Paling, Markus watched as Kennedy stood a little straighter.
"Sir, I advise you to keep those comments to yourself," she answered back.
The venom in her voice made it clear that she was past being reasonable. She was POBAR, and he found it amusing. Knowing that she wasn't done, Markus kept the phone recording.
"I'm not your doll, or sweetheart, or any other name you might have dancing around in that pathetic, good-for-nothing brain of yours. Keep up the pervertedness, and I will put you in an early grave. Got me, Mr. Wolfe?"
By now, the entire class was watching the interaction. Markus noticed it when several girls shifted their weight uneasily, and it made him wonder how many others the man had taunted in the same way.
The difference?
Kennedy wasn't going to take anyone's bullshit in any way.
Mr. Wolfe smirked seductively, "Ms. Rubin, I'm going to need to see you after class and after school for detention. Cussing is against school rules, as is threatening a teacher."
"Then send my ass to the office," she challenged. "My brother-in-law is a few doors down. Would you like me to go get him so that he can recite the District's rule book? He's read it cover to cover. I'm pretty sure flirting with students is against moral, social, and judicial rules."
There was a collective gasp of shock from the entire class as Kennedy flipped her long red hair over her shoulder. Markus had to hold back his laughter as he continued to watch while more students pulled out their phones, too.
Red-faced, Mr. Wolfe stood up from his seat. At six-one, he easily towered over the tiny girl in front of him. "You're brother-in-law is nothing compared to me. I have seniority here at this school, and he's nothing but an upstart from a cozy little prep school. I'm in charge here, so go back to your seat like a good little girl, and stop running your mouth."
The suggestive crack of her knuckles had the class watching the exchange more intently.
Kennedy shrieked angrily, her cool was lost completely. "I'm sick and tired of your stupid, entitled ways and thinking that young girls are supposed to dress and act a certain way to get a man. What if we don't want one, huh? What then? Are you going to start telling us to lay down and take it because it's the only way we'll get laid? Are you out of your mind, or too simple to understand that what you're doing is wrong?"
"Ms. Rubin, remove yourself from my class and go to the office," Mr. Wolfe snapped.
Markus watched as Kennedy clenched and released her fist a few times. He knew that she was itching to haul off and hit the man in front of her. Just when he believed that she was going to walk away, she twisted, hitting the man square in the jaw.
"Now I'll go to the damn office," she snarled. "And while I'm there, I'm putting you on the chopping block, so you might want to clear out your desk."
Striding back to her desk, she grabbed her books and slipped Markus's phone into her pocket. He grinned at her knowingly. "So, I'll see you school, right?"
"Probably not," she muttered, handing him her phone to use instead. “I’m likely going to be grounded until doomsday, but what the heck. If I take down a dummy in the process, then I’ve made the school a safer place for all.”
Markus ran a hand through his blond-frosted black hair, "It's going to be interesting to hear you talk your way out of this one."
"I won't have to," she said smugly. Then, loud enough for the entire room to hear, she stated, "I have all the proof I need on my phone. A man like that doesn't deserve to teach."
Mr. Wolfe struggled to his feet, blood oozing from the side of his mouth where Kennedy had landed a solid hit. "Hand it over this instant!"
"Hell to the no," Kennedy laughed. "You just kicked me out of class, so I'm going to take my stuff to the office. Then I'm going to show the Principal what you've been up to for God knows how long."
Growling, the teacher lunged for the phone in the girl’s pocket, “I said hand it over.”
"Yeah, no," Kennedy told the man as she walked past him. "I don't have to listen to you anymore. I've heard enough of you telling me I should dress less conservatively to get a boyfriend. I've had enough of the commentary about my figure, and I've sure as hell had enough of you calling me out in front of the class when I know for a fact, that I can do college-level work and still pull a passing grade out of my ass."
Somehow managing to make it to the intercom, the teacher contacted the office. “Ms. Grande, I have a student causing a ruckus in my class. Her name is Kennedy Rubin.”
“A ruckus, Mr. Wolfe?” The secretary asked in a concerned voice.
“She’s being very violent, and I’m going to have to go to the hospital to have my injuries looked at,” he bemoaned.
The woman on the other side of the intercom gasped, “I’ll notify Mrs. Greene that Ms. Rubin will be joining us in the office.”
- Writer
