Samantha, a Young Adult fanfic

The Principal's Office

I looked around me, feeling bored. I knew the office inside out already. The only difference was that this time, Mrs Lim had a new picture standing on her desk. I gingerly felt my black eye, but felt a rush of pride as I glanced at the guy next to me. Sure I had a black eye, yes I was bruised, but the boy on my right was by far the worse off of us two. I surveyed my handiwork from the corner of my good eye. Oh yes. He definitely looked worse. There was a bruise on his cheekbone, his left eye was swollen and half closed, and the green cloth of his pants was imprinted with well-placed, muddy footprints, and he was busily trying to stem the blood flowing from a split lip.

I congratulated myself silently. He was a year older, a head taller (come to think of it, almost everyone was a head taller than I) , and I still managed to beat him up real good. He scrambled to his feet as the door behind us slammed shut and our very annoyed principal swept into the room. I got up a bit more casually.

Mrs Lim studied the two of us from behind her wire-rimmed spectacles, looking more like an owl than ever. “What’s the reason this time, Samantha?” she asked tiredly.

The boy cut in before I could open my mouth. “I can explain, Mrs Lim! I was talking to her when she suddenly got angry and attacked me fir-“

Mrs Lim stopped him mid-sentence. “ You are not Samantha-up until now I had assumed that your name was…”- she checked a note that she held in her hand-“ Weiliang. And stop smiling, Samantha. This is not a laughing matter.”

I hadn’t realized that I had been looking cynically amused. I wiped off the reckless grin and tried to look pensive and solemn. Mrs Lim wrinkled her nose. “That isn’t much better. Just tell me why you ended up fighting again after I specifically told you not to. You should feel ashamed that this is the tenth time you’re in here for fighting!”

“Actually, the eleventh, if you want to count this time.” I corrected her.

“SAMANTHA!” Mrs Lim shouted. “Don’t you be pert to me!”

I lowered my eyes and apologized. No matter how many times she scolded and yelled at me, I knew she still cared. I couldn’t say that much about that-that person back at home that I had to call a father. “Well, he is telling half the truth. He informed me that my mother was a whore and that one of my friends was gonna be just like her.” I said bluntly.

Weiliang winced.

Mrs Lim scowled. “Ever read Romeo and Juliet, Samantha?” she asked drily. “No? ‘Three, or in your case, eleven, civil brawls, bred of an airy word, by thee, Old Capulet, and Montague, have thrice disturbed the quiet of our streets.’ You, Samantha, and whoever you have been fighting with, have disturbed the peace in our school. One more time, and I will carry out my threat and expel you. I have no other choice. Understand?”

I bit my lip. I couldn’t afford to get expelled. I was only 14, too young to work. I would have to stay at home-or, more likely-help out at my mother’s food stall full time. I would have to actually see my father and talk to him if we happened to be in the same room. Mrs Lim was, in the meantime, meting out my punishment. “A month’s detention spent helping the school nurse out. Since you’ve spent so much quality time there getting your injuries treated, the two of you should be familiar with one another”. She finished. “Out. I hope this is the last time you’re in my office for this sort of thing, Samantha. You’re a bright girl-try and act like one.” She turned back to Weiliang and I knew I was dismissed. I turned on my heel and left, letting the door close loudly. The administrative workers in the office glanced up at the noise and at me, shuddered, and turned back to work, carefully ignoring my existence. I represented their greatest nightmare-the problem kid who brought other peoples’ parents down to the school demanding to see the principal just when Mrs Lim was away. I shrugged off the hostility and strode out of the cold room, into the warm sunlight.

Everybody looked up as I entered the classroom of 2A1. Then as soon as they saw it was me, half the class went back to their work disinterestedly whilst the other half rolled their eyes with ‘her AGAIN’ at the tips of their tongues.

I sat at my desk-as a testimonial of how cruel teachers could get, my form teacher had dumped me in the middle of the boy’s territory, as it was called. There were only five girls sitting in this half of the classroom, and the rest of them were all sitting together in a clump. They hadn’t thought to include me in their circle. Thankfully I wasn’t on bad terms with the boys, and they treated me with some sort of grudging respect. I glanced at my seatmate, 'farts-a-lot' Yen Yifang, and shuddered, hoping that there would be no farting-to-impress today. Lynne Li, my best friend, who was sitting across from me, slid a stapler onto my desk. I knew Yifang wasn't looking-he was doodling on his notebook. Typically. So I disassembled the stapler-sure enough, in the bullet cartridge, there was a tiny piece of folded paper.

"How was it?"

"One more time and I'll be expelled."

I returned the stapler to Lynne and watched her read the note and purse her lips. She passed the note along to Alex Goh and Whitney Liew, my other best friends. Alex gave me a worried glance.

Instead of meeting her eyes, I stared at Lynne. She was easily the most beautiful in the level. Her looks weren't as showy as Zinny Kang's, but there was a certain aura about her. She had shoulder-length gleaming hair that was so black, it had a bluish tinge to it. Her skin was porcelain, and she looked like a doll. A delicate china doll. Too perfect to be real. She was the friend that Weiliang had insulted.

He had insulted my mother as well. That could not go unpunished. She had practically raised me herself, while my drunken fool of a father shuttled back and forth between the gambling dens and the detention centre. Sometimes he returned home to beat my mother up before I stepped in with a broom.

After I'd locked him out I'm tend to my Ma while she cried.

"Samantha!" Madam Fatimah rapped on my desk calling me to the present. I winced. That was LOUD. "You've already missed a quarter of the lesson, and I'm not going to have you miss the rest whilst you dream!"

I stared at her bleakly. "Dreaming implies that I'm having fun."

Madam Fatimah pretended not to hear me and trundled off to the other side of the class. "We're doing a debate, Lindsay. Look ALIVE." She reprimanded another girl-hm. The one that got straight A1s without any effort. She didn't have to look alive.

Lynne, Alex and Whitney were looking at me oddly. Oh dear. This couldn't be good.

"You canNOT keep this up." Alex paced in front of me. She was a prefect, and (unfortunately for me) took her job quite seriously.

Lynne sat down next to me. "We are going to find an outlet for all this energy." she said in her most mature-to-the-point-adult voice. I rolled my eyes, but Whitney took my shoulder.

"We mean it, Sam. We aren't going to sit by and watch you ruin your life."

"That's a bit melodramatic." I snapped.

Lynne's eyes suddenly lit up. "Come to my house tomorrow, for a sleepover. Arrive at three. I want to show you something."