II.III - The Heroic Trio's Separation

3

"Cruse it all to hell", Ashely mumbled out loud.

She was the last one to make her way off the bus. Ashley had no interest in speaking to Hattie or the ponytailed girl, yet the person she did want to talk to, Arthur, was practically dragged away from her. Then, if that wasn't enough, the snob-looking guy seemed to force Arthur to the back of the school.

She tried calling out to him, yet she knew all too well his condition would act up here and now.

But she wanted to try regardless.

'Then why won't you do the same for Tracey?'

...

Realising her attempts were in vain, Ashley decided to run after him. 'I'm sure if I do that, a teacher or administrator or someone will stop me, and I'll be able to bring them over. That way, anything that could happen would be stopped because of an adult's presence, whether or not they support it.'

All she had to do was execute the plan.

But the world has its own plan to execute first.

"Hey you! Uh, red hair girl! I need to tell you something first!"

Ashley regretted turning around because she knew that person's voice belonged to Mitch.

Mitch was...an unimaginable anomaly in the school to Ashley. He felt so different from everyone else that he became a school symbol. For every peculiar, unwelcome feat, Mitch alone cheered and embraced it with open arms.

For example, Tracey's ambition.

Whenever Tracey would go off on his speeches of justice, Mitch was the only other one that supported him fully. It was only apparent as to why after yesterday's events.

Ashley would hear small comments from him asking for more security or being a stricter school to completely eliminate any nefarious activities. However, the staff ignored him while the principal entertained his silly ideas. But after these recent incidents, the staff and principal might take him seriously from now on.

Hence, for Ashley to take on Tracey, she would see Mitch much more and possibly have to fool him during her upcoming plans. Yet she would see him more often regardless of her mission if his ideas were being taken seriously currently.

"Did you catch any of that?"

Mitch's question broke her train of thought. 'Oh, he's still here.'

Ashely attempted her best apologetic look. "Sorry, I was thinking about all the added security. Could you repeat what you said for me, sir?"

The added 'sir' softened Mitch's expression. "Ah, I understand. So much is changing in a short amount of time. 'Tis normal for you to be lost in the clouds. Anyway, I was saying that the principal asked me to escort you to his office. He wants to have a word with you."

"A word with me?" Ashley was slightly confused but not shocked.

"Not sure why myself, but an order is an order. Oh, make sure to go through the checks, Miss...." he trailed off as he did not know the student's name.

"Ashley Nelson, sir. But I didn't bring anything with me." Ashely uttered.

"Miss Nelson, you still have to go through them." The man said sternly.

Ashley couldn't quite understand why when the security was suited for those who bought objects along, but she was in no mood to fight against authority. "Alright then, sir."

The checks were manageable. Simply bag checks and cheap metal detectors were being used. Students who came looked either annoyed or indifferent to the ordeal. Ashely was in the latter since she knew she didn't bring anything dangerous to school.

After her checks wrapped up, Mitch was waiting at the entrance for Ashely.

Ashley walked through the door to see the school still looked relatively normal. 'You would think after this town-changing incident, they would change up the school. I'm still shocked they didn't give a day off either.'

The principal's office was very close to the entrance. Almost hidden away like a secret room because that only became true once they made their way to the administrator's side of the school. Ashely had never been inside that part of the school; She was only close enough to know where the door to this mysterious place was.

A tiny bit of her was anticipating it with a child's curiosity, but going through that door, it was the same as anywhere else in the school.

Ashley was very disappointed.

"Not what you expected?" Mitch grinned gently.

"No, I didn't expected anything." She lied very clearly.

The security guard chuckled. "Get used to this feeling Miss Nelson. Multiply that by a million and that's the adult world in a nutshell."

"Mhm," She vocalised.

"Y'know, when I was a kid, I thought the adult world was so amazing and cool," Mitch started to rumble off as he always did, "That everyone matured into well-behaved citizens that led the world to better places. Oh, how wrong I was."

Ashely's disinterest formed into a seed of curiosity. "Would you care to elaborate on that?

His eyes flickered in glee that someone showed interest in his ideas. "Your elders are menat to create rules to stop the younger generation from committing the same mistakes they did. When the founding fathers created the constitution of this nation, they didn't care about the people of that age, but how those rules and laws would affect their children. It's the same throughout all of history. But nowadays, adults are forfeiting that mindset in favour of making up 'suggestions,' so they can benefit from them. That only screws up the next adults in line to inherit it, just like this hallway as a small example. They could have made it a lot nicer for us, but they don't care about us. They just wanted to please themselves, and not bother with the work that it would take to decorate this place. Then the students of today that may take the current adults' place will continue that same process. It's why I'm glad Michael and Tracey caused all that ruckus. My co-workers may start seeing the bigger picture finally."

Ashley remained silent, taking in the off-handed monologue Michael presented. She disagreed with it as she believed using pure logic, laws and rules benefits everyone based on how they are written. Age has nothing to do with the issue Mitch laid out, but she kept all that to herself.

Now wasn't the time to go into a debate.

"Sorry about my rumbles Miss. Prolly shouldn't be telling all this to a kid."

"No, no," Ashley responded swiftly, "It was fascinating to hear from you, sir."

"Why thank you, Miss Nelson. You're a sweet kid. Maybe you can listen to me again?" Mitch suggested, visibly hoping for her to allow him another time.

"I'll think about it." She didn't want to create a friendship with him, but this small connection she formed may assist her in the future.

"Here we are though. Shame, isn't it? Either way, have a good day Miss Nelson." He waved off, walking back out the doorway they entered from.

Feeling like she should say something of note, she robotically spoke, "You too."

But he had already left.

'Figures.'

Ashely stared at the door in front of her.

A large, white door almost begged her to open it. The door knock looked strangely gold instead of the usually painted copper types that were the norm on every school door.

She took one small breath outward.

She took that breath for no real, meaningful reason, but her gut told her it was the correct action.

There could be no more stalling.

With that in mind, she finally opened the door.

These were the first words that appeared in her head upon entering, "For a principal's office, this is way too decorative."

The principal, DeMarcus Prebensen, chuckled amusingly, "Yes, well, I often hear that from my co-workers."

The office was filled to the brim with objects and trinkets. Both the right and left sides were covered in many books, large, old, and dusty, with a coffee table placed right next to the right side. All over the walls were not diplomas but pictures of students and staff members. Each one was signed by that person, almost causing it to be challenging to see the photo itself.

On the desk Mr Prebensen sat in were many school supplies that a person would find throughout their years as a student. Crayons, notebooks, and textbooks. But one side of the next had a tower of paperwork, calling out to the roof in an unfriendly matter.

Though the principal wasn't troubled by any of that. Somehow, his expression was calm and collected. He wore a white shirt with grey pants, but his jacket was hanging on the coffee table chair. This man's hair was slick back with gel, giving off a youthful impression despite the many wrinkles caved into the brown-skinned body.

"Come, have a seat Ms. Nelson. I've been wanting to talk to you for a very, long time."

She ignored this suspicion her body had placed inside and walked to the chair near his desk.

He stood up, hand stretched out for her to shake, showing them with black gloves. Ashley shook his hands but was surprised to feel a soft, smooth feel from them.

They both sat down on their respective chairs.

Silence filled the air for a moment, but only a moment.

"Well, sir, what did you call me here for?" Usually, she didn't mind silence between her and a person, yet this moment of nothing filled her with a slight sense of dread.

The man pursed his lips. "Firstly, I wanted your opinion of something, and then inform you of an incident. Because of your involvement with this person, I thought it would be necessary to tell you about it."

"I see...What do you want my opinion on first?"

"What do you think would make this school safer?"

Ashely didn't know what to make of the question. "Could you elaborate, sir?"

"Certainly. After yesterday's events of Mr Beringer revealing Mr Kerr's plans and motives to the school, many of the staff, myself included, think we have failed the student body. First, we allowed a student like Mr Kerr to want to cause so much chaos and destruction, so an ideal utopia of his could be formed. Then we simply ignored Mr Beringer's frequent and dangerous expeditions to uncover this truth. Therefore, with you being the closest to him, I would like to hear how we could prevent this from him and other students."

"... Here's what I'm most confused about, Mr Prebensen. Do you think other students would follow his example?" Ashley had to hide her laughter. Tracey's reputation was about as poor as his grades. The only one that would be inspired by him is Arthur, and he was against doing all those dangerous things to take down Michael. She couldn't think of anyone else-

"Wait...is Hattie not alone in her crimes?"

The principal smiled with pride. "There's your excellent brain at work. Yes, hours after the police had come in to carry Michael off, Hattie and a few others attempted sabotage to rescue him. Ah, do not fret, Ms Nelson, the operation did not succeed; however, Hattie and those followers were not arrested as members of the law enforcement happened to aid the delinquents and were able to come up with rationales to justify their actions."

"I'm guessing that's why there isn't any law enforcement here. But why let Hattie be unsupervised on the bus? If you didn't, there would have been no incident."

Quickly, the principal replied, "Regardless of her actions, I did not want to treat her like a criminal. Despite how horrid a student's crime is, I believe viewing them as criminals and not attempting to re-educate them before they venture out into the adult world would go against my ideals. In addition, I had Mr Bernhard follow the bus for that chance alone. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes, it does," Ashley lied about her doubts hidden towards the answer, "Before I forget, what did you want to inform me about, sir?"

"...Michael has gone missing." His expression darkens.

On impulse, Ashley jumped out of her chair and slapped her hands on the desk. The paperwork shook, almost about to fall, but it was of no concern to her.

"Does anyone else know?"

"Excluding us, not a single soul."

Ashley's breathing started to sway, yet felt firm. "With all due respect, keep it that way, sir. You want my opinion on how to keep the school safe? Make sure nothing seems out of the original. The moment it does, everything will fall into disorder. Just stop students from causing any more trouble."

She made some distance between her and the principal, slowing her oxygen flow.

"I shall keep that in mind. Thank you for your opinion on the matter. It was very intuitive. You may head on to class now. I've kept you here long enough as it is."

"It was no problem, sir. I trust you'll be able to manage the concerning times we live in." Ashely took faster steps to the door but froze as she heard another question come out of the older man, "One more thing I would like to ask. Is Tracey still with Mr Bernhard?"

Sweat dripped from Ashely's face. "To the extent of my knowledge, he is, sir."

"Ah, good. Have a wonderful day, Ms Nelson."

"Same to you."

She spun the door open and closed it like a gust of wind forcing a tree to pound on a window. Yet she did so swiftly and with enough force to not cause a scene.

Because she was finally out of that room.

Then she collapsed on the floor, sweating bullets.

Ashley couldn't put her finger on this eerie feeling, but she knew it came from the principal. He gave off an energy of discomfort that she had recognised so many times in her life thus far. That sensation of their true motives leaked from them in every word and gesture, but it amounted to those tiny pieces.

She felt this from one person and solely from that person alone.

Tracey.

"Cruse it all to hell," she mumbled aloud to no one but herself as she lifted herself against the wall.

~~

The principal made his way to the coffee table near those books. He wasn't going to read anything; He only aimed to sit down in this office area. Mr Prebensen would often sit here, for his mind became clearer by being in this area. But, of course, it meant nothing to him why it went about like this, but he only knew he processed the information much better this way.

Looking satisfied with whatever that conversation concluded, he stood in a brimming sight of joyous energy as the sun would when it dawned over the earth.

"Tracey, you have nothing to worry about. Our plan was a complete success. The path you are headed on will merely become better from here."