Filed to story: Once Upon a One Night Mistake Book PDF Free by Simone Shirazi
“I wish you’d never been? conceived .”
“I wish you would just drop dead.”
“I wish I could ki-“
“Enough!” a voice bellowed, causing Sebastian to glance up in time to see Headmaster Hawthorne shuffle into the office where he and Stick Girl had just been bickering.
It had been years since Sebastian had been in the headmaster’s office. It wasn’t that he stayed out of trouble, but nothing he’d done was bad enough to warrant the attention of teachers. However, now that he was sitting there next to Stick Girl in her indecently short skirt, it was looking as if this was going to become a common destination for him.
“Something told me you two would end up in here today,” Hawthorne continued, “but I didn’t expect you this early. It’s not even nine o’clock!”
“It’s his fault,” Stick Girl grumbled, sliding Sebastian a dark glare.
He was in absolutely no mood to put up with it. “Fuck off.”
“Mr. Phillips!”
Sebastian mumbled an insincere apology to the headmaster and slinked lower in his seat.
“This is an absolute disgrace,” Hawthorne huffed, moving to his large leather chair and taking a seat. “Never in my thirty-eight years of teaching have I seen a pair of students behave like this.” His gaze went to Stick Girl. “Miss Avilla, you’re lucky we accepted you back into this school after being expelled. Your parents assured us you had changed, but it seems like you’re exactly the same!”
Sebastian smirked, taking pleasure in her scolding. However, Hawthorne noticed and turned his angry gaze in Sebastian’s direction.
“And you, Mr. Phillips, are no better! In the past I’ve turned a blind eye to your behavior due to your family’s support of the school, but I can no longer do so. Your treatment of other students is appalling to say the very least, especially Miss Avilla! I’m not sure what your problem is with each other, but this? must come to an end.”
Taliana rolled her eyes and fixed the headmaster with a frank look. “This will never end, Headmaster Hawthorne. We just don’t get along.”
The man lifted a bushy eyebrow. “And why is that?”
Sebastian watched as she shrugged, unable to come up with an answer. Hawthorne then looked to him for some sort of response, but he raised and lowered his shoulders as well. At least they could agree on something.
Hawthorne blew out an exasperated breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Wonderful,” he mumbled, leaning back in his chair. “Well, since you two can’t seem to give me an answer, I’ll allow you to think about it. How does a day of in-school suspension sound?”
The two groaned, both objecting to the torture.
“But, Headmaster-” Sebastian tried to protest.
“Make that two days.”
“Oh, come on!” Taliana exclaimed.
“Three days with both of you in the same room, and five days of after-school detention next week.”
Stick Girl opened her mouth to protest, but the headmaster cut her off. “Another word and I’ll tack on a ten-page essay about the consequences of violence. Don’t tempt me.”
That was enough to get her to shut her mouth.
“Good.” He rose from his chair and opened the door for them, a signal that this torturous meeting was over. “Report to room 132 after homeroom tomorrow. With the exception of lunch, you are not to leave the room. Am I understood?”
Together he and Stick Girl mumbled, “Yes, Headmaster.”
Hawthorne motioned toward the door. “I’ll contact your parents and inform them of your punishment. Now, go back to class. I don’t want to see either of you in here again.”
As much as Sebastian wanted the same, he had a nagging feeling this was just going to be the first in a long series of incidents. And he couldn’t wait to find out how it would all end.
11
Panic Room
In-school suspension could be easily compared to serving a prison sentence. Both required you to sit in a small room for the majority of the day, took away most of your legal rights, and even gave you a cellmate to bide your time with.
Unfortunately, for Taliana, her cellmate was Sebastian Phillips.
“Dad, don’t make me go,” Taliana pleaded, fixing him with the most pitiful stare she could muster. “Please don’t make me go.”
Though he had two other teenage daughters who could simply bat their eyelashes and get out of almost anything, Taliana’s father didn’t look like he was going to give in to this, no matter how much she begged.
“You do the crime, you do the time,” he replied, shooting her an unsympathetic look. “If you and that Phillips boy hadn’t gone after each other like that, maybe you wouldn’t be sitting in ISS for the day.”
“It was inevitable,” Taliana sighed, nervously toying with the diamond ring that never left her finger nowadays. “I can’t stand him, Dad.”
“I can’t stand a lot of people, kiddo. Doesn’t mean I’d try to tackle any of them.”
“I didn’t try to tackle him,” she huffed. “I was just trying to get a point across.”
He snorted humorlessly. “You’re hilarious.” He grabbed her bag from the backseat of the car and shoved it into her arms. “Now get going.”
Groaning, Taliana pushed open the car door and stepped onto the sidewalk. “Don’t be surprised if you have to pick me up from the police station,” she called through the open window as she shut the door.
He shook his head, putting the car in gear. “Have a good day, Taliana. And please, try not to get in any more trouble.”
“Not making any promises on that one. Bye, Dad.”
He pulled away from the curb a moment later, leaving her standing in front of the school with the other kids who had yet to pass through the gates of hell. She felt a few sets of eyes on her, but luckily the stares weren’t as bad as they had been yesterday. If anything, she’d expected them to be a thousand times worse now that her rivalry with Sebastian was back full force.
Taliana scanned the crowd for familiar faces but found none. The twins had left the house earlier, meaning they were probably somewhere inside already, and it had been a couple days since Taliana had last seen Jude. She probably would have run into him yesterday had she not left as soon as the headmaster dismissed her.