From the Author: This part contains strong violence. If this triggers you then please dont read on. Thank you for reading this and please feel free to leave a comment.
From the Editor: There are some misspelt words left in this chapter, but those are intentional, as they are trying to show that the person speaks with a lisp, causing their words to be mispronounced. I have taken the liberty of providing what was said in parenthesis.
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Jacob squirmed a little in the leather armchair inside the principal's office. In a seat next to him sat a tearful Miss Abbeyforth and standing over to one side was Miss Morgan. It had been barely an hour since he woke up from his spell induced nap and he felt like his head was full of cotton wool. His cheek also burned from Stephany's slap and he knew it was causing a reddening hand mark on his left cheek. Jacob looked over beside him to Miss Abbeyforth who had her collar down revealing a vivid bruise on her neck. If Jacob didn't know better he could swear that Miss Abbeyforth was genuinely crying. He felt an intrusion into his mind and a calm voice whispered. "Eyes forward Jacob." and he obeyed. Miss Morgan had already proved her skill today, forestalling the wild magic he had almost let free through hubris and he did not want to anger the witch. He looked forward and took in the room.
The floor was thickly carpeted in dark red leading to dark oak paneling on the lower sections of the wall. Above that was a mahogany coloured wallpaper. Here and there high bookcases of dark wood were filled with books on all topics and some small nick nacks. The chairs he was sitting in were high sided black leather that hugged his body tightly. Before him was a massive heavy dark wood desk where a small laptop lay open to the side and behind that was a large window looking out at the school grounds.
Before the window stood "the walrus". Principal Adam Matthews had been teaching kids since the 60s and had worked hard to achieve his position today. He was a smaller, slightly overweight man with piercing grey eyes and wispy grey hair he obsessively combed over the bald patch on top of his head. What earned him his name was the thick walrus-like mustache on his face and his dress sense. The man today was dressed in a brown tweed suit with brown tie and white shirt. His hands were held behind his back as he bounced lightly on the balls of his feet looking out over the school.
"Tell me everything again starting from the top." said the old man, his voice cracking with age and a soul weariness that no amount of sleep could fix. He turned around and took a seat in his own leather chair resting his elbows on the armrests and steepling his fingers in front of his face as he regarded the 3 before him.
"Well." began Jacob. "Last thursday during school hours I began to feel unwell during P.E and Mr Walsh let me go get changed early to see the nurse. On the way I went to splash water on my face and well" Jacob paused and blushed. "The next thing I remember was waking up in the back of an ambulance sir. Apparently, I had a minor chest infection but with my exertions with P.E and the chill of the water, it made me faint."
"Ahh so you were the reason the ambulance was called to the school on thursday." The old teacher nodded and waved for Jacob to carry on.
"With permission from my mother, I took Friday off and spent it recovering from the illness. I wanted to return to school today however , so I wouldn't fall behind in my studies. My mom agreed but gave me a note asking for me to be excused from P.E for this week." With those words Jacob reached inside his pocket and placed the remains of the note on the desk.
Mr Matthews looked over the 4 pieces of paper and placed them together and read what was on the note before asking, "Who ripped it up?"
"Miss Angle sir," replied Jacob. "Before class, I went to give it to Mr Walsh but Miss Angle was there instead. I asked where Mr Walsh was and she told me he wasn't in and that she will be taking our class instead. When I handed her the note, she read it then told me I was foolish to hand her a fake and tore it up."
Before Jacob could continue Mr Matthews snorted. The others looked at him and he began to explain. "I have been principal of this school for over 10 years but before that, I was in charge of teaching English. But even a novice teacher should be able to tell that this writing is from an older woman." holding up the remains of the note he showed the two teachers. "Look at the writing slope, not to mention the word choice and how the handwriting flows into one another. Plus a man would never put the word "please" on a note."
"I believe anyone else would call that sexist Adam." said Miss Morgan before giving him a wide smile "but I happen to completely agree."
Mr Matthews smiled back at the substitute teacher. When she had called on Saturday informing him of her mother's fall and hospitalisation, he had felt sorry. Then when she had asked to cover for her mother as she was also a teacher and was moving into her mother's house to help her manage things he immediately jumped on it. It almost felt too good to be true but she seemed calm, decisive but approachable at the same time.
"Carry on Mr Malcome."
"I was forced to do P.E in my uniform since I had no P.E kit with me," said Jacob. "I admit sir. I was angry, but my mother always told me to never let anger fester but to channel it towards your goals. So I did. While most of the girls in my class watched, I ran as hard as I could and was able to keep pace with Rebecca from my class."
"Who?" asked Mr Matthews.
"Rebecca Summers," said Miss Morgan. "She was the one who told me what happened during the P.E class."
"Please let the young man answer Fay." said the Principal, giving her a glance of disapproval.
"Rebecca is one of the best runners in school and had Olympic scouts watching her," said Jacob. "I was amazed I was able to keep up with her today. But she always runs with the boys instead of taking the free study period."
"Wait. What do you mean by that, Jacob?"
"Whenever Miss Angle takes the boy's class, the girls are allowed to sit on the bleachers and watch us run laps around the football field. Most girls use it to study or chat with friends, but Rebecca always runs with us, sir."
Mr Matthews' skin that was visible on his face began to change from pale pink to a rose red and his breathing got heavier. No one spoke for a moment until Mr Matthews said "carry on."
"After Miss Angle blew the whistle for the end of class, Rebecca came up to me to thank me for running with her. Then Miss Angle came up and accused me of slowing Rebecca down. Rebecca stood up for me even when Miss Angle threatened her with getting the Olympic scouts sent away. Then when Rebecca walked away she told me to go see her after class."
By this point Mr Matthews was looking like a barely constrained dog, waiting for the order to attack. Jacob would have found it funny if it wasn't also completely terrifying.
"After I got changed, I headed to the P.E classroom where Miss Angle handed me a sheaf of papers and a pen. She then demanded I write an apology for several things I hadn't done. Like trying to pass off a forgery, disrupting her class and blackmailing Rebecca. When I refused she then drove her fingers just under my ribcage to wind me then dragged me to a chair, telling me I would not be leaving this room until I did as she asked."
Jacob sat silent now and after a moment the Principal looked to the other two in the room. "What happened next?"
"Mr Malcome was meant to be in my classroom by this point," said Miss Morgan. "After 15 minutes, I saw the empty chair and asked the class who belonged to it. It was Miss Summers who told me Mr Malcome should be there but Miss Angle had kept him behind. I could tell she wanted to tell me more, so I asked her to speak to me in private out in the corridor. Once out in the corridor, she told me how Miss Angle had forced him to run in his uniform and how she had threatened Miss Summers' Olympic chances. She also told me that she was worried about what Miss Angle would do to Jacob after she had heard rumours about Miss Angle's cruelty towards males. It was then Miss Abbeyforth came along and asked me what was wrong. I informed her about Mr Malcolm's absence and asked her to check the P.E department then returned to my class."
Mr Matthews nodded sagely as his face began to lose the redness and became its normal pinkish hew, turning to look at Miss Abbeyforth, who began her side of the events with a shaky voice.
"When I reached the P.E Department, I saw Louisa with a textbook, standing over Mr Malcome who looked terrified. When Louisa tried to tell me all the things she accused Mr Malcome of, I cut her off and asked her to speak outside. We ended up in her office where she...she grabbed me by the throat and told me to...to agree with her or she would physically assault me." At this, fresh tears began to fall from her eyes, and Miss Morgan walked over to comfort her. Mr Matthews looked extremely uncomfortable and that redness was beginning to return to his face.
It took a moment for Abigail to pull herself back together enough for her to continue. "I am afraid to say I allowed fear to get to me, sir. I obeyed her and told Mr Malcome he was likely going to be expelled for his actions. To this, he stood up and asked Louisa what she had done to me. I cowered behind him as he stood between me and Louisa. She tried to talk her way free with threats and promises of violence. Then she slapped Mr Malcome."
Miss Morgan then spoke. "I had left my classroom by this point under the watch of Mr Appleby who had been passing by my room and had just entered the room when that occurred, Adam. I then moved to confront Miss Angle and detain her, but she wriggled out of my grasp and ran. I followed her but she ran out the gate so I let her go."
"Damn good thing too," spoke Mr Matthews. He was quiet for a moment before he stood up and moved to the window. "Never." he began quietly. "Never in all my days had I ever heard of, never mind witnessed, something this barbaric." He turned to his desk and pushed a small button. Soon, the school secretary joined the people in the room. "Send the students home right now, and tomorrow we will hold an assembly. As soon as the kids are out, we're holding a staff meeting. Everyone must be there," he told the young woman as she was hastily writing the instructions down. "Also, inform school security that Miss Angle is to be arrested if found." He then turned to Jacob. "I am sorry this happened to you, and I promise you, it will never happen again."
"Thank you, Mr Matthews. Can I go now as I would like to catch my girlfriend before she leaves?" Jacob asked, to which Mr Matthews had to smile.
"The man gets assaulted, bullied and abused by a teacher, and his first thoughts are about his girlfriend." He thought to himself, "ahh to be young again." He nodded and replied out loud. "Yes, Mr Malcome. We will see you tomorrow."
All three waited till Jacob had shut the door behind him before Mr Matthews continued. "This could ruin the school. Abigail, will you be ok?"
"No sir. And to be honest I should head home. My niece is coming to stay with me since she and her mother had a huge argument. The fact that she has been homeschooled makes me worried about her current level of schooling since her mother was rather forceful with her physical education rather than giving an all-around curriculum. I might see her being enrolled in the school, if you do not mind, Adam."
"Yes, that is fine Abigail," said Adam softly. "You go and make sure she is ready for tomorrow and we will get her tested when she arrives."
Abigail rose and thanked the headmaster before leaving him and Fay alone. "And then there was one," smiled Fay, taking a seat and crossing her long shapely legs.
