The Queenbee’s Downfall

3: Busted and Punishment?

Chapter 3: The Start of the Punishment

"I am very disappointed in you, Ms. Montero," he looked at me with pure disbelief.

How many times do I have to tell him that it wasn't me who started the vandalisms! Is he listening to what I said earlier? Or I have to clean his ears just so he could hear me? This old man is irritating my beautiful face!

I restrained myself from rolling my eyes at him as I avoid eye contact. I gently massaged my face using my fingers to keep my beauty from being ruined by this Principal in front of me, and from this bad boy who pays no attention to neither of us and kept tapping on his phone.

"Why should you?", I asked of what he said earlier, suppressing the sarcasm that was about to come out of my mouth.

"What do you mean, why? I just caught you spray-painting on Mr. Evans' clothes! Not just me actually, even the staffs saw you vandalizing on someone!", frustration is all over his face.

"I will not confirm nor deny of any sort regarding that matter," I lowly said.

I hiccuped when Mr. Hennigan slammed his desk and glared at me.

"I am not implying jokes with you, Ms. Montero. Be serious enough."

"And I'm not either!", I know it’s bad to shout, but I couldn’t help it. It’s not like him to accuse me of something just because of what he had seen. It’s not like him. "I had told you already, I am not the mastermind of the vandalism going on in this school. He was the one who started it, not me!", I exclaimed concurrently pointing at the shameless and naughty bad boy, looking so bored sitting down while I'm so frustrated right now standing!

He did not even offer me the chair and just straight away sat on it as soon as we entered the room. We were practically shoving each other, giving dagger glares, as we fight for the last chair. Fortunately, Mr. Hennigan stopped us when he felt that we might start a little war inside his beautiful office.

If the word “ungentleman” exists, he’d be owning it.

The Principal squeezed his temple. "I am not talking about the vandals, Caitlyn, what I am trying to point out is the fact that you sprayed paint on Mr. Evans' clothes. It is an unladylike behavior to execute coming from a role model like you."

There, I fell silent at what he said. My lips pursed as I kept my head low. By this time, I’m pretty sure the gossip about me is circulating the campus as we speak, and it may have reached the eyes and ears of Eagle Press-Con. This means any time now they’ve already published an article about the incident earlier.

I averted my eyes as Mr. Hennigan sighed deeply. "Look, your job is to catch them and not be one of them. With the act you pulled off awhile ago, I'm afraid this calls for a meeting regarding with the holder of the Valedictorian title."

It was as if my world had stopped when I heard that from him. I lost focus on what Mr. Hennigan. Though my eyes are gazing at his moving lips, still, my visions slightly became blurry by the shocking revelation.

I was breathing calmly but my heart was beating too fast. Just the mere thought of me not being able to become the Valedictorian of our batch, it felt like, heaven and Earth had let themselves fall upon me.

I won't be the first choice of becoming the Valedictorian student?

That’s not possible! I cannot lose the Valedictorian title because I will get a little chance for the position of Student Council President after I set foot in college.

If that happens, all my plans for the good and beauty of this school will be destroyed. After all, I would be continuing my college education here at LU once I graduate. This is where I’ll finish college.

The last thing that I could vaguely hear was the closing of the door before I saw the principal gesturing me to sit down. I absentmindedly obeyed.

“The Queenbee’s falling, huh?”, was the most clearer than any of Mr. Hennigan’s words in the room. And I know who mockingly said those. It’s shameless of him to not feel guilty about his insensitivity!

"As I have said earlier, I will call your Mother regarding this issue. She and I will talk," did he say anything like that? Nevermind.

I was too preoccupied with myself to hear from him after the next few seconds of that moment earlier.

"You can go home now. I already informed the guards about your early dismissal."

Like a robot, I slowly nodded before standing up, and with heavy footsteps, I walked out of his office. As soon as I was out, all that I could think of was the bad news. Others will have an opportunity to aim for the Valedictorian position?

But I have straight A's! Higher than most of our batch. They can't take that title away from me just because I have had that kind of behavior. It's not even valid!

"Cait! We heard the news," I was snapped back to reality when I heard Fawn's voice filled with worry.

I did not even notice that I was already outside the faculty building, and my best friends are pacing along with me. Talulah and Fawn had that worried expression as they stare at my still bothered face.

"What happened? Did something go wrong?", Talulah started caressing my arm like she always does whenever I'm this nervous and troubled, that it once made me think of her as a lesbian.

The very first time she did that was when I was so nervous before claiming the crown of the Queenbee in front of the whole batch, held at the gymnasium, two years ago.

"We bailed on our class right after your name circulated the whole building. Everyone's been talking about you and Heath," Fawn gently hugged me just like before, but the firmness of her voice upon mentioning Heath's name didn't go unnoticed.

This witch-of-a-best-friend must’ve been jealous because of what she heard and found out. As if I wanted to be caught with that bad boy.

Like duh!

I was about to tell them about the news Mr. Hennigan dropped on me when my eyes landed on what Talulah is holding. I immediately got myself out of the hug and grabbed the colorful newspaper from her before reading the headline.

"Caitlyn Montero; The leader of the Delinquents?!", I read out loud.

A few hours before the school dismissal, the Queen Bee was spotted spraying paint on the infamous bad boy, Heath Evans, on the poor guy's clothes.

"What poor guy? That man is to blame for everything and between us two, he received most of their pity?!"

"Keep your voice down, Cait. You don't want the Press-con to hear you, do you?", Talulah hushed me.

I did shut my mouth but the next few lines of the school news article made my blood boil.

The two were caught by our dearest principal, Mr. Hennigan, looking all smoochy and flirty while having fun vandalizing the school locker located at the 4th Year's building on the 2nd floor. They were ordered by the principal to follow them to his office and up until now, a word hadn't escaped from the two criminal lovebirds.

Students had been questioning the said rumor of what could happen to the crowd favorite, Caitlyn Montero, upon getting caught for rebellious behavior. However, the real question here is, has Caitlyn Montero been lying to her loyal subjects about being a 'good' girl? Has she been fooling the youths of being the 'perfect' role model to all of the young girls studying here in Liberty University, as to what the teachers and staff had been saying about her?

For a couple of years, the start of the Delinquents of vandalizing the school had been a question to all as to why this has to even start. They have been terrorizing our precious school into making it big trash, and the new Queenbee was the only hope for ending the chaos because of her brave stand regarding the issue. But does she stand to end the vandalism? Or She's behind it from the very beginning?

Stay tuned for this remarkable and breathtaking news.

Yours truly,

The Eagle Eye

Before I could even utter a word, my mouth was suddenly covered by the smooth hands of Fawn and whispered.

"Don't curse, not here.."

*.*.*

"That f*****g stupid Press-con! How dare they turn every word around to 360 degrees against me! They don’t even know the whole story!"

I heard Talulah sighed. "It's clear that you're mad. Your brain cannot even function properly."

I shot her a glare before sitting on my soft and bouncy single sofa beside my pink study table. The three of us went straight here to our dorm room. Specifically, I was dragged by my friends before I could worsen the situation. We're all roommates, the very reason why we became the best of friends up until now.

To cut the long story short, Fawn and Talulah had long been the best of friends before I entered the scene. The three of us were grouped by our P.E. Teacher. We easily clicked because we had the same thoughts about the ridiculous Triad Dancing Contest. Wherein, our P.E. Teacher obliged all of her students to join.

Us, three, had turned the contest upside down instead of taking it seriously. We got ourselves Detention Slip, lost the contest when it should be us practically the winners. In the end, we got bad marks. Bad news may come, we still gained friendship. A great trade of losing.

The most wonderful gift I have ever received from God.

"What happened anyway? Why are you and Heath Evans together?", Fawn's accusing voice snapped me back to reality.

I rolled my eyes at them who now arched the corners of their eyebrows while their arms are crossed, sitting oh-so-pretty on my pink, fluffy bed with that detective attitude of theirs.

"It's not what you think girls, I happen to come across with him. I was just heading to my locker when I saw him and his 'buddy' vandalizing the lockers. I was—"

"Wait, his buddy?", Fawn cut me off, looking so excited about something, or someone, while her hands are pressed together as if praying to God.

"Yeah, with his buddy. As I was saying, I would have caught him—"

"Wait, wait, does his buddy have brown curly hair?", Fawn cut me off again.

"Yes. Can you please pay attention? I am trying to explain things so that the both of you could understand better the incident."

Fawn raised both of her hands as if surrendering. "Okay, okay. Chill. I just want to know if the guy you saw was my one and only."

I frowned at her. "I thought Heath Evans is your 'one and only?"

"No," she said like it should have been obvious to us from the very start. "Heath Evans is my love but Dante Romero is my forever," she smiled sweetly as if what she had said was not an abnormal behavior a person could have.

"What?", me and Talulah asked.

I arched my eyebrow when she rolled her eyes at me. "There's a difference between loving a boy but dreaming of forever with a man. Understand?"

"No," Talulah and I simultaneously shake our heads, disagreeing.

Fawn rolled her eyes. "There's a fine line between a boy and a man, girls."

"And you think Dante is a man? Having numerous girls at the same time is what a man would do, maturely and normally?", Talulah mused.

Fawn sighed at us. "Look, Dante is just troubled and confused. He's just a teenager so don't be too harsh on him."

She hugged my pillow and pouted, letting herself be immersed in her fantasy world with whomever Dante Romero is.

I nodded. "Now I see why you always have D minus in all of our subjects."

That remark burst her beautiful bubble before glaring at me. "No, I don't!"

"Uh, yes you do. Remember the time when it was our finals in our subject, science? You were forced to go out of the classroom because you were caught cheating, do you still remember how stupidly you got caught?"

"Is it my fault that I panicked?", cheeks flushed in pink, Fawn grimaced.

"My God, Fawn, who wouldn’t panic if the exam is almost coming to a stop, yet you still don’t have an answer from number one, because you were busy ogling on your crush? Harris was beside you that time. He was the smartest in our class, you could've whispered to him to give you his answers, instead, you choose to shout at him and grab his paper," I exclaimed.

"What could I possibly do? Tell me, which girls wouldn’t be distracted by Dante Romero?—“

"Us two," I said as a matter of fact. "Almost all of our classmates weren’t pretty much distracted by that, Dante Romero of yours."

Fawn has that dismay in her look as she stares into me. “Just imagine, I am sitting next to him! And, correction, almost every woman is distracted by him except you."

"Correction," I mimicked her which made her annoyed. "They may be distracted but they are not like you who wasted time, staring at the man instead of answering the exam."

She rolled her eyes as she jokingly stated. "Why should I answer a test paper when I could just give my answer to Dante?"

I slapped my hand on my forehead, even Talulah is stunned and shaken by our very unbelievable best friend.

"This is the reason why I limit my time on fantasizing Heath Evans, I never want to end up like you," Talulah said.

Fawn glanced at her. "As if you are not a D minus holder."

"Correction, I am a B plus holder," Talulah mimicked the tone Fawn had earlier.

We both smirked as her eyes went back and forth at the two of us. If only Fawn wasn’t annoyed, we’d be laughing by now but knowing her, she’s quick-tempered. Gets easily infuriated especially if she was not the one who started the teasing and jests. It may sound abnormal but we just let everything be.

"Why? Am I the only one who’s capable of secondhand embarrassment?", she asked, annoyed.

"Yes," we both answered.

Her nostrils flared as her eyes begin to narrow. "So what if that happened to me? As if I had lots of disgrace left to show inside my body."

Talulah chuckled at our friend who was about to be furious. She adjusted herself on the headboard of my bed. "I am beginning to wonder why you seem to not remember the time we were playing football when PE is our subject. Instead of impressing Heath and Dante, you embarrassed yourself by jumping up and down proudly when the ball was passed to you. Yelling that you got the ball instead of running to the goal part of the field, then tragically ending up being crushed down by a lot of our opponents."

So we’ll continue the teasing even though Fawn’s cheeks are starting to heat up?

"You were even admitted to the Clinic at that time, leaving Heath and Dante unimpressed and disappointed," I added. "Or the time when it was our Intramurals, you joined the Liberty Troupe contest and decided to seduce the two boys by dancing sexily, but ended up looking like a retard when everyone saw how rock-of-a-body you have. With the extreme hardness of your body, you look like a stump while dancing."

It wasn’t our intention, but the waves of our laughter naturally escaped our mouths while we reminisce about that past. We weren’t able to notice Fawn’s wrinkled face.

"Or during our Homecoming part, you planned to convince Heath or Dante that you're worth dancing with. But when the boys never even paid attention to you, you started acting like a fool chasing after them all over the place. You even ended up getting half-naked because a girl accidentally gripped your tube dress. Fortunately, you did not wear that silicone bra of yours," my laughter loudened as Talulah’s died down.

"I will never forget that, oh my God!"

"Or when the time I never knew that Caitlyn Montero is now a Queenbee, ruling the campus like a boss and she didn't even consider telling me," a familiar voice interrupted our gleeful moments.

I was stunned for a moment but immediately turned to the person who’s standing in the doorway.

"Mom!"

"You look so worried Cait, care to tell me why?", the firmness of her voice is enough to tell me that she’s pretty much not liking something.

"H-hi, Tita Clarice," the girls stammered, probably intimidated by Mom.

Even me.

If there is an unspeakable agreement between the three of us, that is the constant fear we have and unable to have the courage to stand up at my Mom when she is this menacing. And looked angry.

She glanced at Talulah and Fawn as her lips curved in a frugal smile. "Hi girls, do you mind if I talk to my daughter alone?"

They silently went outside, but Fawn sticking her tongue out at me did not escape my sight before she wickedly plastered a grin on her face. I suppressed myself from rolling my eyes at her. I’m in a tight spot, I might add fuel to Mommy’s irritation.

"What is this Mr. Hennigan was telling me? That he caught you, spraying paint to that poor boy’s body? Care to explain, my Queen?", the last word was full of mockery.

Mommy’s sharp eyes made me swallow hard. "I-It's not like that Mom... I was in shock."

"You? Shocked on what?", her eyebrow rose, probing me to continue.

My eyebrows met in a firm line as I remembered what that bad boy had done to my beautiful face. "He trashed my locker, Mommy! He ruined the lockers, and not only that because my reputation was also affected!"

I had my mouth closed when Mommy’s trembling finger pointed at me. "Don't give me that tone, young lady, if not from what happened today I wouldn’t have known that my spoiled little brat is reigning the school Roger and I graduated at... did you not even consider the consequences of your actions? Aren’t you afraid of what they might say about me and your Father? To you?"

I avoided eye contact. Frowning, I thought to myself. Should I care about that now?

I heard my mom sighed deeply.

"Pack your things, we're going home."

That’s when I looked at her. When our gazes locked, even without asking her, why, her cold eyes and pursed lips were already the answer. I am going home. To our house. And without Mr. Hennigan’s word, I won't be coming back to this dorm until he said so.

I'll be staying at our house for the time being, and this kind of punishment is only given to students who have committed a serious violation of the school rules.

“But I didn't do anything wrong!”

I wanted to shout that on my Mother's face, but I know better. Screaming won't help me get everything back. Screaming at her would only make it difficult for me to defend myself against that stupid Press-con!

Because no matter how loud I could get and create nonstop complaints in front of Mommy, it would not help me to forget and lose the memory of all the unfortunate incidents that happened earlier.

My life being a Queen would be slowly, but surely, fade. Sharpay would take it back from me, even the Valedictorian title.

If there is anything we are vying for, besides my throne that I fairly snatched from her 2 years ago, that is the Valedictorian title. Because, metaphorically speaking, this is the only bullet left she got just to gun me victoriously.

But I would never let that happen. I will never give up on it. Over my sexy, gorgeous body.

*.*.*

I quietly parked my car inside our garage, next to Mom's, before hurrying up to my room. I’ll unpack and fix my things later, I can do that after I get some rest from everything that's happened.

I immediately fell asleep the moment I laid down on the bed. It was a dreamless, yet peaceful, sleep. I was awakened by a soft hand gently caressing my head.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you up?", Mommy asked, softly.

I slowly got up before turning around to face her. "Yeah. What time is it?", I asked grumpily.

"It's already 8 in the evening, we should eat dinner."

I nodded sparingly. "I'll just fix myself," I gave her a timid smile before heading towards my bathroom.

"Okay, I'll wait for you,” her exact words as the door closed on her.

I took a quick shower. I could see in Mommy’s eyes before the bathroom door finally closed that she was hurt by my attitude. Could she blame me? How can't I behave like that? She didn’t even talk to me properly or asked justly. Who cannot be irritated by such an attitude?

One more thing, weren’t we always like this? She never asked me nicely about things that I had never even committed intentionally. Well, what I did to Heath a few hours ago was slightly intentional but then that's different. I mean, is it my fault that I couldn’t control my anger?

Yup.

I mentally groaned. Maybe I should’ve controlled myself because if I did, then my reputation wouldn’t be as chaotic as it was.

After cleansing my body, I immediately put on my favorite PJs without combing my hair. I don’t have any plans to leave the house so I should just let my hair like this, messy but still suits my image. Sexily messy. Besides, I am too lazy to move.

I caught Mommy in the kitchen smiling while texting on her phone. If I hadn’t cleared my throat, she definitely wouldn’t notice me.

"Who are you texting?", I gave a scrutinizing look.

Even though both of us could be finicky with each other, I am still concerned about the people she’s involved with. It is difficult to let alone and tolerate single parents who talk to various strangers just so they could find their match, they could put themselves in grave danger.

"No one." She then smiled at me before gesturing me to sit down.

I decided to not ask any more questions because I was extremely starving. I had forgotten the fact that I did not eat lunch and got any snacks. I mentally grimaced. My daily food cycle is ruined. I sat down and spooned a lot of rice and dish.

I think this delicious ham and a juicy hotdog is going to ruin my healthy diet.

I had gulped down almost half of my plate’s food when Mommy decided to clear her throat and speak.

"Why did you not tell me that you’re the Queenbee of Liberty University? If Mr. Hennigan hadn’t texted me about what happened a few hours ago, I might’ve been forever clueless about your status in school. Even my co-workers knew that you're the Queen, I looked like an ignorant Mother in her daughter’s life,” she forced a laugh.

I wiped off the stain on my mouth using a table napkin. "2 years ago, I came home wearing that golden crown. I had shown it to you, remember? Or you weren't paying much attention to me that time.."

"What crown?", she frowned.

"The one provided by the school. You're an Alma Mater of Liberty University, don't tell me you don’t know about the Liberty Coronation Day?"

I was sipping on my glass filled with apple juice when Mommy closed her mouth. I had finished mine and, yet, hers remained untouched. She must’ve been watching me as I eat my dish.

"The school had never such a thing... since when did that even occurred?"

I restrained myself from rolling my eyes at her. I forced a smile so it doesn't show how annoyed I am right now. I blinked three times in confusion. I do not even know why I am irritated.

"I'll answer your question right after you finish your food.”

I did not wait for Mom to speak and went straight to the living room to watch TV. I picked up the remote before slumping down on the couch and turned on the television. Eagle TV was the first thing that appeared in my sight. The anger I felt before I left the school is being awakened again by this stupid Press-con.

How could I ever forget that that School Newspaper s***h broadcasting club, also has its channel?

I felt my phone vibrated. I fished it out from my pocket and answered the call.

"Are you watching the news?", I heard Talulah's voice.

"My eyes are sharply watching it, dear. Just let them push me a little more, and I am this close to destroying the school,” I said as I use my thumb and pinkie finger as an example.

Talulah giggled at the ridiculous statement. "You have money?"

"Watch me. Wait until I save up some money, I can guarantee that Liberty University disappears from the list of Most Prestigious Schools in the Philippines."

"Then I’ll push you myself." She said laughing. "Gotta go. I have to do my homework."

"While watching this stupid news?"

"Yeah. The rumors they're trying to spread about you are pretty much hilarious... and also entertaining." The last thing I heard is her giggling before the call ended.

I rolled my eyes heavenwards. Instead of being concerned about how I feel, she chose to enjoy watching right now while I am being destroyed by that stupid broadcasting club? So much for being my best friend.

"What the hell is this?", she said while looking at the TV.

I paid attention to the news once again before speaking. "Language, Mom."

"Don't lecture me, I'm your Mother."

"Is it wrong now to correct parental mistakes?", I rolled my eyes.

The cushion sank next to me as she sat down. At the corner of my eye, Mother turned to face me, sighing.

"Look, I'm sorry about what I said at school. Maybe I was just too tired so I burst everything out upon you, and I shouldn’t have done that—"

"A good thing you know."

"I should’ve not let fatigue prevail—"

"Tell me about it."

"That's it. You're grounded for the rest of your life!" She said, her tone is filled with annoyance.

"I've been grounded since birth."

"Caitlyn!"

I mentally rolled my eyes. Can’t let her catch me being rude to her. "Can't you just go straight to the point?"

Mommy sighed, probably realizing that I have a point. "The principal gave me this slip.”

I took the two pieces of yellow papers from her hands and scanned them.

"House Arrest?", I read the title that seems to be a contract. "What is this bullshit?"

"Language," Mommy snatched the paper from me. "And here I thought you know all of the rules of the school. Your Principal was the one who told me that, you memorized every word written on the Rulebook."

"You mean, Handbook. And of course, I've memorized them. That is why I am asking what this is for because I have not read this kind of rule."

A flick on a finger and Mommy seemed to remember something.

"Right. Mr. Hennigan told me that this is a secret rule of the school—"

"A secret? But why?"

A smile crept on Mommy's face.

"Oh... it's a kind of punishment that prevents students from always committing crimes since it would mean that you'd be staying inside your house for three days a week."

I straightened up.

"What? I'll be staying home?! Mom, I can't!”, I grimaced at the thought of my reputation coming to an end. “And why are you so happy about that secret rule?"

She sighed dreamily as if some beautiful memory flashed in her mind.

"Because of the good ol' days. Reminiscing of the past," I cringed when she giggled like a thirteen-year-old girl.

Why is she being creepy? I lightly shook her body. "Snap out of it, Mom! Explain things to me, everything that you and Mr. Hennigan talked about."

"Alright, alright. Don’t rush me, okay? My body is sore all over. From sitting in the office, day and night. And then you’re heartlessly shaking me?", she gently removed my hands that were holding both of her arms.

Here we go again with her drama.

"You’ve only sat for like, more so 8 hours, and your body’s aching?", I said, frowning, as I stare into her eyes.

Mommy scoffed, just like what I always do, before rolling her eyes. "The elevator of the building malfunction, so we used the fire exit instead."

"And what’s the connection of, you, sitting down all day the reason why your body’s sore?"

My eyebrows rose when Mommy rolled her eyes at me. And who’s 17 years old again, me or her?

"All I’m saying is, that’s how it would feel just sitting in front of your computer all night long."

Stunned, and as well as frustrated, how far-fetched my Mother could be, I slapped my forehead. I can slowly feel the throbbing of my head whilst having a difficult time understanding her.

"Mom, your butt will endure all the soreness in you, not your whole body part."

"It’s just the same,” then again, she rolled her eyes at me.

I closed my eyes tightly. Though I slept for a few hours, I am beginning to feel drained. The exhaustion she’s giving me is impeccable. My God! My beautiful face would be suffering from wrinkles again, because of Mom! Or worse, I will look old!

Sighing as I calm myself, and brush off the annoyance that’s starting to build up. I spoke. "Alright, I won't argue with you anymore. Just tell me about this whole 'House Arrest' thing."

Excitement filled Mommy’s face, telling me that this could be a long night. Longer than how I watch Netflix until 9 pm.

"All right!"

And the worst part of my life destroyed my reputation.