The Odd Couple

[MurderWeasel]

It'd been worth a try, but what could you expect when you were counting on the dense? Mina kept a straight face, took a look at the nurse and couldn't tell if he'd noticed or not, checked Charlie and Mr. Phillips but they were to an extent engrossed in their own consultation. So this was another consequence at least delayed for the moment, maybe even averted if Mina's unwitting accomplice far exceeded expectations and failed to make another mistake of the sort that had just set Mina's teeth grinding.

"You're welcome," she muttered to Bridie, thinking maybe if nobody told the girl what was going on this might lead to opportunities later, opportunities to teach her that sometimes when someone told you something was secret you should just shut your stupid fucking mouth. Then Mina kept walking like nothing had happened and caught the conference and was brought up short again by what was going on.

Charlie was taking the blame.

That was right and proper because it actually was her fault; Mina hadn't been doing anything to merit the initial chewing-out the girl had delivered, and while she'd certainly escalated in her response, so had Charlie. They'd both cranked things up at every turn, but Charlie had lashed out first and last and while she wasn't exactly owning up to the former she was accepting responsibility in a way that was sure to catch her trouble.

Perhaps that was the strategy. Mina had found success from time to time with something much the same; authority liked it when you didn't jerk it around and just copped to what everyone already knew you were guilty of. It could lead to a reduced sentence, so long as you cried a few crocodile tears and made like you were going to change. Nobody liked giving the same old lectures, so if you said it yourself and spared them the hassle sometimes that did the trick.

In this case, however, Mr. Phillips had clearly been building up Charlie's excuse for her, pushing the insult angle and avoiding laying any blame at Charlie's feet. While he was obviously disappointed in the girl, it seemed he'd still been willing to cover for her, and Charlie had turned down that assistance.

Mina for a moment contemplated what to say. The punishment Charlie ate for this was likely to be smaller than what Mina would suffer in terms of actual scope, yet it was also likely to sting more and mean more to someone with an unblemished record than to someone with a rap sheet like Mina had. Charlie was, for whatever reason, sparing Mina some of the blame, and in so doing was handing some of the power in this situation to Mina. Mina could, if she wanted, just let things be what they were, not look a gift horse in the mouth. She could let Charlie lie in the bed she'd made, because after all the girl had chosen her fate. Was it fair? Probably not, Mina thought, but a lot of things weren't fair. Charlie certainly wasn't always fair. And Mina didn't like Charlie. That was something to remember. The current bond they had, the fate they shared, stemmed from that dislike. By doing nothing, Mina could get one over on this girl, stick one to her and the system at once, maybe show her that the way things were wasn't the way things should be. And yet...

Mina opened her mouth. Then she closed it again without a sound.

[Namira]

Mossberg blurted out quite loudly about a secret and liking green, something which was enough of a non-sequitur to interrupt the dressing down whilst Charlie and Mr Phillips both looked over to try and piece it together.

Charlie caught a glimpse of something in Mossberg's hand, something which looked very, suspiciously similar to what she'd previously panicked may have been a knife.

Mr Phillips gave Mashall another look as she approached, then they returned to the—did it count as a conversation? Confession.

Charlie laced both hands together and held them in front of her.

"This will need to go to the Principal and your parents, Cade."

That was what she'd expected and dreaded. Higher authority and her parents. In her final year at school. Right as she was set to be sending applications for academy.

Charlie felt sick, but what was she going to do? Lie and claim that it was all Mashall? Even if there hadn't been the damning evidence of the blood on Mashall's face, Charlie wasn't willing to pretend somehow that she hadn't made a mistake. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

"I... I understand, sir."

Mr Phillips nodded. "Go get cleaned up and then report to the Principal."

That was it then, dismissed for a stay of execution.

"Yes, sir."

Without looking at Mr Phillips, Mossberg, or even Mashall, Charlie left the room.

[Cicadan]

The conversation ended on that note, with some sort of curt politeness. Catch up with Mina later? Bridie stared into the space Mina had evacuated, still smiling for a long second, then she tucked the two markers firmly into the depths of her fist. She already had a green, she was sure, but probably not this particular brand. She contemplated a place for her newfound gifts. Maybe she could put them at home or in her backpack or somewhere else. A pencil pouch, but she had three so she'd have to narrow it down. The others were still chatting, quiet, somehow intense. Bridie envisioned her pencil pouches: one a glittery purple thing, one a cozy little plain-stated brown burlap, the third a glossy black and white with little raven patterns.

She turned to pay attention to the other conversation, slowly changing gears. Following Mina, who was standing to one side of Mr. Phillips staring Charlie down. Mr. Phillips mentioned something about Mr. Principal-... what was his name again?-... then Bridie caught something about reporting to Mr. Principal. Bridie then realized, hm, that wasn't a good thing, was it? Charlie exited as quickly as she'd entered. Bridie glanced a second too late to see the door dourly creak shut, oh no, she hadn't even had a chance to wave goodbye!

'Report to the Principal'... Bridie opened her mouth just before her train of thought could land in station:

"Mr. Phillips, sir-?"

"Not now, Mossberg." Bridie's smile became stale, lagging half a second behind the rest of her thoughts. So... Charlie was in trouble? If the Principal was involved, it could've been. If it was an award or trophy for being a good student there would be more polite clapping and cheering involved, right? That made sense.  So it really was trouble, then... Huh. Bridie didn't feel so good about that, if that was the case. If Charlie was going to get in trouble, then that maybe meant she'd made a mistake, which was probably fine, but Bridie wasn't exactly used to the idea and normally Charlie was the admiration-worthy...

"Don't you have a class now? Bridie?" Weird, normally Mr. Phillips didn't use first names.

Bridie suddenly curtly nodded, temporarily not sure why she was still sitting there.

"Of course sir." Bridie expertly tossed herself off her chair and smiled at Mina as she exited. "See you later, Mina!"

[MurderWeasel]

Mina gave a little wave to Bridie not because she meant anything friendly but because she didn't want to cause any further opportunity for disruption. As it was, Mr. Phillips had just ordered evidence of some of Mina's wrongdoing out the door, so she'd just let that be as it was and move on. She was regretting marking Charlie's face just a little now that she'd surreptitiously dumped the rest of her contraband, and probably she'd still catch the blame for all she'd done with those pens, but it would take longer and she had her excuses—"I just found it in the hall, sir, I swear."—and in any event it would be later, later, always just a little bit later.

What was now was Mr. Phillips, and the consequences for the fight, and of course there still were consequences, if fairly minor ones, from him and an assistant principal and her aunt and uncle. She got chewed out. She got detention. She was told that there might be other punishments, that she had to stop being involved in these situations, that it was wrong of her to provoke those on the straight and narrow. She was threatened and begged and guilted and it blurred together into the same meaningless prattle she'd heard so many times.

They thought she didn't know the truth about her actions, or they were forced to or chose to pretend as much, and Mina pretended with them and everyone was probably tired of that by now, but at least it all slid by soon enough and soon enough she was free again.

((Mina Mashall continued in La Reina Se Queda Reina))