Novella #1, Chapter 6: Consequences

Since the last encounter before the last day of school, Hannah and Emily have only been drifting further away from each other. But before the last bell rang and all the students hurriedly exited the school feeling relieved, the two girls got into a physical fight. It all started when Emily intentionally shoved Hannah and tried to be cute about it afterwards, sarcastically apologizing to her for doing such a thing and then pushing her back to the ground. This made Hannah quite irritated, so she started tugging at Emily's hair and ripped the necklace she was wearing off her neck. In that moment Emily decided to go into Hannah's backpack, took her eyeliner, and wrote on the wall in big letters HANNAH IS A LOSER. She then proceeded to break the pencil in half. Hannah then decided that enough was enough and slapped Emily in the face. Emily did the same thing back and pretty soon they were tugging and pulling at each other's limbs and hair. This drew in a crowd of people and they were taking photos of the fight to post onto Twitter. The physical pain of this fight continued on for ten minutes, but it was then broken up by none other than the principal himself since not a single teacher was in sight. 

Emily is now sitting in the principal's office hearing the man talk about her behavior and how it was out of line of her to go to such extremes. She was barely listening and could only focus on her own frustrations. "Miss Leighton, are you listening?" Mr. Brown asked, noticing that Emily was zoning out on him. "I need you to tell me yes or no on your parents signing this suspension form." She hesitated, but then responded, "Yes." 

"Good. I'll contact them right now and fill them in on the incident." Mr. Brown was very direct in his tone and didn't waste time with this meeting. Most likely he had other things to worry about and this fight came at the worst time possible with it being the last day of the semester. 

Meanwhile, Hannah was sitting in the counseling office with her grandmother. The two of them got into a little spat as to why Gran should go in with her, but the decision was final and Gran wasn't going to change her mind. This fight that the two girls got into had her terribly worried and feared that this would add onto Hannah's depression and anxiety. So while Gran and the counselor talked about what would happen after the break, Hannah was left in her own thoughts, wondering why she had to put up with this. It's not her fault that her once best friend is now deciding to be cruel to her. If Emily had a problem with the way things were going, why wouldn't she just talk? Then again, Hannah herself hasn't allowed any explanations herself, so she kind of understood where she was coming from. Assaulting her was so not like Emily, though. Did something happen between her and David at home? She knew that her parents were barely around, but Christmas break is just starting. Surely they would take some time off to be here now. Hannah's thoughts were interrupted when Gran stood up from her chair and shook the counselor's hand. She shook the woman's hand as well, and then they made their way towards the car and went home without saying a word to each other.

Back in the principal's office, there was a lingering sense of nervousness and anxiety in the air. Emily was very quiet, and Mr. Brown was pacing back and forth with the phone in his hand, talking to Emily's dad since her mom was out of reach. Ten minutes later after hanging up, he said, "So your dad said that he'll get here as soon as he can. Until then, I will give you fifteen minutes to use the restroom and get a snack. We're going to be in here a while. I'll leave the door open." Emily nodded and headed towards to the water fountain that was only a few feet away from the main office. At this point she was feeling tired and was anxious to get home. She thought about her brother and wondered what he was up to, so she took her phone out of her bag and texted him: "Hey, David. I'm still inside the school. Dad's on his way and we may be here later than I thought. I hope you're doing ok. I'll ttyl8r tonight." 

He responded immediately: "Tell dad hi for me when he gets there. I hope everything's going okay with you. I saw that fight you got into w/ Hannah on Twitter. I really hate how this is all turning out, but I hope it'll pass over soon. Ttyl8r."

Emily sighed and made her way back into Mr. Brown's office. She was so over all of this. She was about to turn back around and head towards the restroom, but she could hear her dad's voice from inside the office. He sounded tired and impatient. 

"I don't know why Emily acted out like this, but if suspending her will teach her some kind of lesson here, then so be it," Mr. Leighton said. "Where do I sign?"

Is he serious? Emily thought to herself. The one time he decides to show up and he's not even going to consider the real reason why I'm in this mess. Talk about childhood neglect...

She was standing right outside of the office just listening in on the conversation her dad and the principal were having. Once she made herself visible in the doorway, her dad automatically stood up and came to where his daughter was standing.

"Hi Emily," he said in his husky voice. There was no sincere tone in his voice when he made his greeting, and this made Emily feel two feet smaller. "Hi dad," she said sheepishly.

"Would you like to join us inside? You might be more comfortable sitting down." He was trying to be polite, so with no argument Emily just walked in without saying a word.

Mr. Leighton was very cordial with Mr. Brown when they parted ways. Emily was still as silent as a mouse and she stayed that way the entire ride home. 

"So what caused this fight anyways?" her dad said, suddenly feeling out of the loop. "Is this over some boy, or was this all just gradually built up and you couldn't keep it in any longer?"
Emily didn't respond right away, but eventually she spoke up. "The second one is more likely," she said.

Her dad mumbled a "mm-hmm" in response and didn't say anything else. So while he may not be the best at carrying an interest for his kids, his work ethic is remarkable as mentioned publicly by several of his clients. He rarely takes a day off unless he's extremely ill, and he would never be caught seen in jeans and a t-shirt. Since his marketing business has taken off as of last year, he has spent countless days making sure that no one has slipped up or or would make the business look bad. 

When they finally reached their home, Emily was quick to get out of the car and straight into bed. She was tired and not willing to tell anybody about the troubles she's had with Hannah, but she knew that David would be concerned and want to know. I guess I'll just tell him in the morning. He's probably asleep now anyways, she thought to herself.

Back in Hannah's house, Gran has been talking her ear off during dinner, asking why this fight even happened and if Emily is going to be suspended or expelled. 

"How am I supposed to know?" she said in an impatient tone. "It's because of this stupid fight that I had to stay inside the school until nearly six o'clock! And don't ask me again why it happened, because I'm not telling you." Hannah rolled her eyes, which only made Gran press harder.

"I have a right to know, honey," she said in a weary voice. "I have done all I can to make sure you're happy and healthy. Those pills I prescribed for you last month have sat there untouched. If you insist on not taking them now, then you might as well say goodbye to Gavin." This made Hannah lose her temper, but instead of talking back, she just ran up to her room and slammed the door shut. A lot of thoughts were racing through her head and she just felt helpless. Gran had taken away her phone and said that she would keep it until the end of the holiday break, so not having contact with her boyfriend was driving her mad. What did I do to deserve this?, she thought to herself. Emily is the one who started that stupid fight in the first place! God, she's so damn selfish! Hannah's anger soon lead to depression, so she started to cry and shake uncontrollably. 

It was going on one o'clock in the morning when Hannah's mind went numb and her depression started sinking in. She could feel her energy depleting and tried to fight back the tiredness in her eyes. She then started feeling anxious and her stomach was cramping up. Normally she would head straight into the restroom, but she instead went to her desk and decided to write a letter. After sitting there for ten straight minutes and thinking about what to say, she finally got up to get some water and use the restroom. When she came back, she finally thought of something:

Hi Emily. 

I don't know how to start this, but I'm tired of fighting... I'm just so done with all the shit that we've done to each other. We have been best friends since the start of middle school. I didn't want things to end up this bad, and perhaps you feel the same way... I don't know. Can we just put all of this behind us and start fresh? You know, forgive and forget? I'm sorry for not being as open as I have been, and to be honest, I wouldn't blame you if you do hate me. I guess I just want to say I'm sorry... For everything. I can still remember when you told me that I was like a sister to you, and the minute you told me that 2 years ago, I was stunned to silence because no one has ever said that to me. It's amazing how I can remember something that sweet when I usually only remember the bad things in my life. You have impacted my life in ways I can't describe. That sleepover is something I could never forget no matter how hard I try. I miss you. Please write me back, because I have no other way of communicating at the moment. 

-Hannah