REMAIN CALM

And unsuspecting Katherine had packed her bags and was ready to leave when Ava walked up to her "hey Kate!!! Wait up" She waved at her. "Uhmm what do you want"Kate said with so much sass in her voice. "I was wondering why you're so happy of recent, it's weird. I know" Ava chuckled. "I don't see how that's a problem, More so I don't see how my happiness is any of you concern" She said looking Ava up and down. "Yoo! Chill out, what was that for? I only asked a simple question, no need to start acting up" Ava was surprised to see Kate's sudden change in demeanor. She got even more confused when she was the way Kate flinched when she heard her name from down the hall.

"Kathrine McKay?" The secretary called out while walking toward them. Ava slowly backed up and watched. "You're needed in the principal's office." He said with a warm smile so she wouldn't suspect a thing, but something felt off, "I have to get home soon" She said nervously fidgeting with the zip on her back pack. "Unfortunately it can't wait, come with me" he said ushering her into the halls that led to the principal's office.

The atmosphere in the office was tense and suspense filled, everyone was on the edge of their seats and they wanted to hear what Kate had to say especially Brian, he couldn't still fathom why and how Kate did this. He knew she was cross about their brake up but he thought she was over it, and she didn't have to bring Cass into it. He felt bad, because he knew that Cass was going through this and it was all his fault, he wished he could hug her right there and then and reassure her that it was all going to be okay, but her mom was already doing that. Cassie had started to hyperventilate, if Kate could go though all this trouble just to make sure that Cass was suspended she wondered what else she could do, maybe even worse, try and get her killed. That was just paranoid Cass thinking but still she was disturbed by it but proud of her friends for helping her. She looked over at where three of them stood and gave them a soft smile, she saw compassion and genuine care in their eyes and she loved them for it.

The door swung open and broke the silence on the room. The principal sat up and cleared his throat "Uhmm... Miss Katherine, you came to me a few hours ago and claimed to have seen Miss Cassandra cheat on today's test" Kate could feel her knees get weak and she felt like she was going to faint. She didn't think it would come to this, she wasn't prepared to answer and she had now words. She felt like her brain wasn't responding to her anymore as she searched to find something to say. "Why could you do that Kate? You know I didn't cheat, why did you lie?" Cassie said standing up.

"Remain calm Miss Cassandra" The principal said while Cassie mom pulled her back down to sit down and rubbed her back in an effort to calm her nerves. She could tell that Cass was furious even from the way she was breathing. " Miss Katherine please respond to the question you were asked." This time it was the teacher that spoke, he felt terrible that he was deceived by a teenager and the fact that all this drama between the girls happened under his watch.

Kate bowed her head in shame and nodded. "Please use your words young lady" The principal thundered as his temper began to rise. "Yes sir " She shivered in fear as chills ran done her spine, she looked over at Brian and the look of utter disappointment that was clearly written on his face broke her heart even more. "The original script belonging to miss Cassandra was found in your back pack, you've got a lot of explaining to do and no more lies this time, save yourself the trouble."

Kate swallowed hard, tears had welled up in her eyes, she knew she had lost once again but the shame this time was insurmountable and it burned more, she knew there was nothing she could to so she decided to give up and just tell the truth. "I swapped the scripts after the test. I had asked for another sheet if paper and wrote the test as Cassie did. When I was done I waited till everyone Left before I told the teacher that I made a mistake, he wasn't paying attention so I swapped out the script for Cassie's original script. Then I came and told you that I had caught her cheating." She said with her head hung low.

"Here's what I found sir."The secretary who had earlier been asked to search Kate's phone to see if someone had put her up to it or if anyone was working with her. The principal took the phone from him and looked at it, then he looked back at Kate with eyes that could drill a hole in someone. He was looking at the photo Kate had taken of the questions for the test. "And when where these taken?" He asked turning the phone to Kate, whose heart shattered into a thousand pieces more. "Last night sir, after practice."

"So let me get this straight, you were the one who cheated, but you didn't stop there, you went ahead and tried to frame my daughter up for it!!! Oh you've got guts young lady" Cassie's mom said, Cassie could see her mom had started to get angry and that wasn't good. Her mom was usually very hard to calm down once she get full blown angry at something or someone, Cassie had seen that first hand when she was younger and she definitely didn't want to witness that again.

The principal cleared his throat once again "Uhm...Uhmmm, I am not going to waste further time on this matter, Katherine you are a senior here and so is Cassie, you both are fully aware of the consequences of cheating or lying and I made it clear to you earlier today, am I right?" Katherine nodded. She knew she was fucked. "You will be suspended for three weeks and when you return you will be on cafeteria duty for a week, plus you are to make a heart felt apology to Miss Cassandra right now, is that clear?"

"Yes sir, I understand"She said and turned to Cass choking back tears "I'm sorry Cass, I didn't mean to do this." Till this point Cass was too stunned to speak or even move. She just sat there lips wide open in shock and stared at Kate. She eventually snapped out of it and said"it's fine, apology accepted." She gave a fake weak smiles. Maddie was elated she was glad she was able to help and even better she was glad Cass didn't get suspended and so we're Brian and Natalia.

The principal apologized to Cassie and her mom and they left the office," I'm going to get some groceries before I head home okay baby" Cassie's mom whispered in her ear while squeezing her hands softly. "Okay Mom, I'll bike home with Nattie" She walked off to meet her friends. They had left Kate in the office with the principal, she was waiting for her parents to show up. She felt someone's arm wrap her from behind and she knew it was Brian, his warm embrace was just what she needed she turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck as she let herself go to enjoy the embrace. This the she admitted she was actually really scared.

"Ehmm" Maddie and Nattie cleared their throats but were actually trying to get Cassie's attention. They stood behind her smiling from eat to eat as she ran to meet them and have them both a big hug "thanks guys, thanks for sticking up for me, I can't believe what happened in there." "Jealousy is a bitch " Natalia blurted shaking her head. "Nahh, karma, karma is the bitch, how could she even forget to delete the evidence. That's not playing it smart at all. She set herself up to fail tbh." Maddie said laughing.

They talked for a while and they all headed home. "You are not gonna believe what just went down here ...." Ava texted her partner in the cheerleading team. She had been listening to the whole conversion that happened in the principal's office and even got some part of Kate's confession on tape. This was juicy and she just couldn't let it slide. Plus, Kate had been a bitch to almost all the girls in the cheerleading team and it started to piss them off. The principal decided to keep the matter private but she was just going to hold on to the recording as leverage, Incase Kate stepped on her toes, which she knew she would. "You bit a little more than you can chew this time Kate" she said with a sneaky grin.