Monday
Aislen waited outside the headmaster’s office in the chairs deliberately positioned so that their occupiers were subject to the curiosity of passing students. A gauntlet of shame, moving up the queue gradually towards the office door as the principal addressed the misdemeanors of those higher ranked.
Except that she was the only occupant of the chairs, and the halls were empty but for the few stray students who had lingered behind due to after school commitments, or detentions.
Inside the office, her parents’ voices could be heard in rising and falling tones that were rendered meaningless by the wall and glass of the door. The glass warped their silhouettes as her mother rose to her feet, angry.
The voices within the office stilled and, a moment later, the door opened. The pr
