Early the following dawn, Blue was seen in her well-ironed school uniform walking down the corridor amidst the throng of students who were staring at her. She kept wondering why they kept looking at her. Haven't they seen someone who walked with clutches before? She walked towards the principal's office where she had been called to. She flipped a strand of hair with a hand and sighed as she knocked on the principal's office.
She heard the voice, "Come in."
"You'd asked to see me, Mrs McCrane?" Blue pushed the door open as she struggled to walk in.
"Blue Nane?" The woman behind the mahogany desk called in surprise, "Do sit."
Blue took the swivel chair before her and sat before Mrs McCrane.
Blue noticed how Mrs McCrane's pale cream suit looked rather too big on her. Wasn't that some oversized suit she was wearing? Her full hair cascaded down her shoulders, she had taken another style, and she changed her hairstyle every week.....
"I received some disturbing reports which I find horrifying to the ears. It pertains to Tessy Blaire."
"Oh," Blue's brows twitched. Unfortunately for her, she didn't feel the need to report what had transpired to her last night.
"What happened to your legs?" Mrs McCrane asked as she looked down at Blue's leg.
"Em...I .....,"
"Before that, what I got to hear about what Tessy did to Jasmine was devastating which I must say deserves some punishment," Mrs McCrane interrupted her.
Blue kept her peace, strangled by her deafening silence.
"But what you did do to Tessy?" Mrs McCrane exclaimed.
Blue's eyes bulged. "What did I do to Tessy? What did I do to Tessy exactly?" Blue tried to stand but fell back on her chair. She had certainly forgotten how battered one of her feet was.
"You called in some thugs to beat up Tessy Blaire to a pulp, including three of her friends!" Mrs McCrane added, pushing back her eyeglasses to sit well on the bridge of her nose.
"I would never do such a thing!" Blue cried out at such an accusation. "Look at me, how would I be one to call thugs?"
Mrs McCrane sighed and leaned forward on her elbows. "I had requested to see your mother. I had placed a call to her this morning. I'd hoped she would be in school with you."
"Mrs McCrane, you know me too well that I would never be able to do such a thing. Tessy was the one who sent in those thugs to attack me last night...," Blue was almost out of breath, trying to explain.
"Yes, I know you too well, Blue Nane," Mrs McCrane admitted. "Your basketball coach called in this morning to affirm my fears. Tessy Blaire and her friends are in the hospital receiving treatments at the moment. I'd requested an audience with your mother or I fear you might be expelled." Mrs McCrane's eyes rather remained calm.
Blue gasped, going nuts when she heard that. Wasn't this too much of an injustice done to her? Why would anyone believe Tessy Blaire's words over hers? Everyone knew how terrible Tessy was, everyone knew that!
Of course! Mrs McCrane was Tessy Blaire's maternal aunt, which explained it. That only explained the unruly injustice.
"Are you a principal, Mrs McCrane? Why are you doing this when you should be investigating this matter thoroughly?" Blue grimaced.
Mrs McCrane chuckled at that after blanking out for a while.
"How can I, Mrs McCrane, send in thugs on Tessy Blaire? yet... I'm in clutches?" Blue laughed jokily at the croaked sound of her voice.
"Everybody knows that Tessy is a well-known troublemaker in Olive Junior High." Blue successfully managed to jump out of her seat using her clutches, leaping on one foot.
"I will call in your mother, again." Mrs McCrane only said.
Blue thought her voice must have sounded gibberish to Mrs McCrane's ears because she wasn't even listening to her!
Blue bit her lower lip in fury. "What for? She is probably busy at work. She wouldn't come." Blue told her.
"That only shows how concerned your mother can be sometimes about your schooling,"
Blue scoffed at that, "You know that is not fair. I never attacked anyone last night. They attacked me instead. Why do you think I'm like this?" Blue asked her.
Blue stopped to think. Should she tell them about the boy who had transformed into that...thing?
"Someone else attacked them. He....changed....transformed into some animal..like, yes! A wolf! and he attacked them as well as me," Blue explained.
Mrs McCrane stopped to look at her, "A wolf?" She was puzzled, "Can you hear yourself?"
"Yes, a wolf! You need to believe me, why would I lie to you?" One of Blue's hands splayed on her desk.
Mrs McCrane stared down at Blue's hand and then at Blue's hardened face. One of her brows rose suspiciously. She pressed the buttons of her telephone.
"Mr. Manoj, please be in my office." She called on her secretary.
Seconds later, a sturdy man of an athletic build opened the door and walked into the office. One would think he was Mrs McCrane's bodyguard. But he was ugly with a thin, long scar cutting through his mouth.
"Blue Nane, follow Mr Manoj to receive the letter of expulsion. While I try to quench the rising fire of the Blaire family," Mrs McCrane said.
"What?" Blue stood speechless for a while. She couldn't believe her ears. She believed that she must have been made a scapegoat for Jasmine's accident. But it shouldn't be this way, certainly not this way.
"Mrs McCrane, you need to think about this, please. Don't rush judgment too soon. This is not the way to go about this," Blue said to her, trying to get closer to her.
But Mrs McCrane wasn't even listening to her. She was on another call to the Blaire's family. Blue glanced around as if someone would pop into the room to rescue her from whatever was happening to her. Without another thought to mind, she started for the door without bothering to follow Mr Manoj who had already stepped out of Mrs McCrane's office.
*********
Blue arrived home and met her mother who was already bickered by Blue's presence. Her mother had rushed home to change on the insistence of Mrs McCrane's call who wanted to see her. Her mother, Joana worked as a nurse in the local district hospital. Joana hadn't seemed pleased when Blue had stepped into the house.
"Mother, I thought you were supposed to be at work," Blue limped in on one foot.
Her mother looked down at her in utter shock, "And you? Aren't you supposed to be in school as well? and what happened to your leg?"
Blue knew that she had no explanation to give. Her mother mostly worked night shifts. So, she hadn't been home the night before. She looked up at her mother, unable to utter a word. Last night, she didn't even know how she had arrived home. She had soaked up her sprained affected leg in some warm water and had applied some balm on the affected left leg. While pressing the supposed foot, she had gagged herself trying her best not to disturb her neighbours. The excruciating pain betrayed her though. After some horrible hours with her poor foot, she wrapped it up with a clean bandage from the first aid.
Her mum had a keen interest in having a first aid box in case of any calamity. That was her mum, she would tell Blue that it was for the greater good. Then, she took the clutches from the store room used by her father a long time ago.
"It's just a bruise, Mum," Blue lied.
"Don't you dare lie to my face. I received a call from your principal and another from your class teacher. I had to take an excuse from work and rush home to change into some clean clothes. I had an instinct that you would be home. What is this I'm hearing?"
Blue didn't like the sad, pathetic look that was plastered on her mother's face. She had no choice but to give the full details of what had transpired the day before.
"And you couldn't even place a call to me?" Joana was certainly angry, "Look at your leg, let me see it," She pulled her daughter close.
"Mum, it's nothing serious," Blue shrank back from her mother's hands.
Her mother fixed her a demeaning stare.
"Mum, you know that I don't like to be a bother. You were at work... probably in the middle of attending to a distraught patient," Blue demonstrated.
"You have been bullied for far too long and I can't believe that I'm just hearing this from you for the very first time. The things you say and that of your principal don't tally at all," Joana was bemused.
She had a striking resemblance to Blue, although she had a mole on the bridge of her nose.
"That's because you have been lied to, mother. Please, believe me, I'm telling the truth," Blue grabbed her mother's hands.
"We are returning to your school together." She said and grabbed her daughter's hand.
"No way, mother!" Blue wailed wide-eyed, pulling her mother back to her.
"Mrs McCrane will listen to me while I'm there," Joana explained.
"Not when I have been expelled!" Blue bursted.
Her mother turned to look at her in surprise, she shook her head vehemently, disbelieving what she had just heard, "Expelled! On what grounds? That's ridiculous," Joana exclaimed in disbelief.
"We will go see your principal at once." She certainly wouldn't take any nonsense for such.