"Come in," Ms Veronica Campbell, Principal of Casey Jones High, looked up from her paperwork and waited for the door to open.
Her PA appeared, "Peri Price and her Mom are here."
Strictly speaking they were late, which Veronica felt was typical of the entitlement of the older Price; she hadn't changed since they had been teenagers at this very school -- still thinking the world ran around her, her daughter was the same, even facing expulsion they hadn't the wit or grace to turn up on time. Not that it mattered, Veronica had no intention of seeing them at the allotted time either. She glanced at the clock and then back to her PA, "Tell them I need to finish something urgently, they can wait in reception."
"Of course Ms Campbell."
The PA made to close the door, but Veronica stopped her, "Has everyone left?"
"Yes, Mr Robson has checked all the classrooms and made sure they're locked and Mrs Watson came in to tell me she's locked the library and computer labs for the night," the PA responded.
Veronica smiled, "There's no need for you to stay, I may be a while. I can show Mrs Price in on my own."
"Thank you," the PA smiled at her in gratitude as she retreated and closed the door. She thought that the Principal's questions were about checking the school was secure and her letting her go early was about being a good manager. Both of those were reasons, but they weren't the main ones why the Principal wanted her PA gone and the prices on their own. Veronica smiled to herself and returned to the keyboard in front of her, the report she was writing for the board wasn't urgent - it wasn't due for another couple of weeks and she wasn't a slow typer, but she was quite happy to let the teen cheerleader and her bitch Mom stew a bit; even if their being late had caused no harm it was still an irritation and so she left them for a bit longer than she had originally planned before saving the document.
Standing she walked over to the full length mirror in the corner of her large office and smoothed down her suit. As she did so she checked her reflection, her ebony skin was flawless and smooth and her hair lustrous and dark, it was hard to believe she would be fifty later this year, time had been good to her, though she also made sure she ate well, exercised often and got plenty of sleep -- and fucked lots of lesbian teens for exercise. She took out a tube of gloss and put just a hint more on her lips, it wasn't a completion with Cherry Price; it never could be, at school Cherry had been a cheerleader and the sluttiest girl in senior year, who if she even noticed studious bookworms like Veronica, it was only to tease them for their glasses and braces. But the braces had corrected her teeth and her she hadn't needed glasses since she'd had laser eye surgery over twenty five years before. She was a vastly successful Principal, well paid and respected, a member of the local country club and vice-captain of the women's golf team -- Cherry was a divorcee with an eighteen year-old daughter on the edge of being kicked out. There was no competition any more, even if Cherry didn't know it.
She opened the door and walked out into the reception. Cherry was sitting next to her daughter and it was easy to see the relationship, not just because both were slender petite blondes, though Cherry had a few more wrinkles than her daughter and her make-up was a trifle more thickly applied, but both were wearing short skirts and tight tops which exposed their stomachs (with near matching belly-button rings) and were playing with their phones with the same bored and irritated expression.
"Mrs Price," Veronica said, "Come in, you too Peri."
"Oh Veronica, its lovely to see you again," Cherry stood up, flaunting her body, though it was nowhere as flat and firm as her daughter's, or Veronica's for that matter, "Did you know Peri, me and your Principal were great friends at school?"
Veronica neither corrected the grammar nor challenged the other woman's recollections, though they weren't memories of their times together. Instead she led them into her office without a word, closed the door and moved behind her desk. She put her fingers together and posed in her best stern teacher's posture. "You know why you're here?"
"A small amount of pot in Peri's locker," smiled Cherry. If Veronica hadn't known her she'd have thought in charming, but it was the same smile Cherry had been using since she was fourteen to get her way and it meant nothing. She kept the smile up as she continued, "It wasn't even hers and it wasn't a large amount, hardly anything at all, and we all did it when we were at school, I can remember the parties."
"I didn't. I went to different parties," Veronica replied, though in truth she hadn't been to many parties since they stopped doing pass the parcel and musical chair until she'd gone to college and discovered herself. "However the amount is immaterial, as is the previous owner. We have a zero tolerance policy for drugs of any sort in Casey Jones."
"But it..." Cherry started again, though her smile looked a little strained as if she was suddenly realising that when you hit fifty charm is no longer enough.
"Zero tolerance," Veronica cut her off. She paused for a second to show she was in control of the conversation, "I expelled James Parker, a month ago, after he was found with drugs in his bag and he was a straight A-Student, Tansy Weisel before that and she was our best swimmer, some thought she was good enough for the nationals. The rules are clear and for everybody, get caught with drugs you're out."
Cherry blanched as the full impact of what was being said hit home and even Peri looked a little worried, as she realised her life of ruling the roost amongst her fellow seniors with parties, some pot smoking and very little actual school work was going to be coming to end sooner than she planned -- and before she'd had the chance to show everyone how hot she was in a prom dress as well. Veronica smiled inwardly as she looked at the teen, imagining her horror and thinking it some revenge for all the nerds and geeks and weirdoes the cheerleader had slighted, bullied and snubbed on her way to the top.
"But if she's expelled where can she go?" Cherry asked, her smile now gone and only fear on her face, like Veronica she knew that post-High School was tough on teens with no leaving certificate and few smarts, at least if they didn't want to go into porn and/or stripping.
"There are some good private schools around they'll take her, if you can afford them," Veronica knew that the other woman couldn't, she'd got the house in the divorce but little else and her ex-husband already had a new set of children and wouldn't be keen to suddenly have to pay the fees of his eldest daughter on top of that. The Principal paused to check the reaction of Cherry, waiting until the small shake of the head until she drove in the knife, "Alternatively we can arrange her transfer to William McDougal High." It was named after a mid-ranking and only moderately successful general who'd been born in the town, it was also the school which covered the down-town ghettos and slums, and its educational record wasn't even high for its intake. Its drug policy was a lot less zero tolerance than Casey Jones's as was its tolerance for gangs, teenage pregnancy, knife crime and bullying of blonde cheerleaders. Veronica paused waiting a few seconds for the sharp intake of breath and almost glowed with satisfaction when it came.
"Surely there's something we can do, something to change your mind," the eighteen year-old pleaded, looking across at her daughter and snapping "Peri, sit up straight."
The teen did as her Mom said, surprisingly quickly, though it confirmed Veronica's view that the teen was basically a clone of her Mom who aped her in all things.
"Like what?" Veronica asked. There was the obvious, but she wondered how long it would take Cherry to go there, not long she expected.
The other woman paused for a moment, "What about she goes on a drug awareness course? Find out about all the dangers."
