by Shinn A. H.
“Absolutely not…no way,” she said. “I’m in the studio Friday nights.”
“You’re in the studio every night,” said Jake. “Get out and have fun for once.”
“I have fun,” Kellie said defensively.
“Yeah?” asked Jake. “What do you do for fun?”
“I — um — helped Master Chen plant the flowers in our yard. They look great by the way. Oh, I also painted my room. That was fun.”
“Are you serious?” Jake asked, as he guffawed. “You need to learn how to live life!”
Kellie had never been to a party or any social school function; although she never cared before, she was beginning to feel a little insecure about it.
“And what do you do for fun?” Kellie shot back, offended by his mockery.
“I do plenty of things for fun,” Jake answered adamantly. “I go to the movies and play miniature golf sometimes — SPORTS!” he yelled, pointing at her. “I play a lot of sports: football, baseball, soccer —”
“Well, I know how to have fun,” retorted Kellie, irritated. She whipped around and stared at Jory with avid determination. “Do you want to go to the dance with me?”
Jory dropped his container (luckily, it was empty) as Jake’s jaw fell open.
“Yeah, sure!” Jory squealed, doing a poor job of containing his excitement.
“What about your movie night with your family?” Jake reminded him.
“They won’t mind if I miss a night!” Jory reacted as though he had just won the lottery. He didn’t even care that his mother’s plastic merchandise rolled away.
“Great — then it’s a date.” Kellie stood up, grabbed her stuff, and left them, satisfied with the action she just took, but still annoyed with Jake.
Kellie spotted Master Chen get out of his minivan in the school parking lot and stroll toward her. She was anxiously waiting for him outside the administration building, pacing back and forth. When he reached her, she led the way to the principal’s office.
“Are you ready for this?” asked Kellie, extremely nervous.
“Me? You the one in trouble.”
“You know what I mean, Master Chen.”
“Let me do talking,” he said as they walked into the office.
The principal’s secretary looked up at them and with a pleasant smile said, “You must be Kellie Wei and you must be Mr. Chen. Principal Lemore has been waiting for you both.” She picked up the phone, pressed a few buttons, and notified him of the arrival of his afternoon appointment.
In a moment’s time, Principal Lemore’s door swung open. “Kellie,” said the tall, thin man, acknowledging her with a nod. “And you must be Mr. Chen.” He extended out his arm, and as they shook hands, Kellie noticed Master Chen take a quick look over at Principal Lemore’s expensive gold watch and dark gray suit. She also caught him shamelessly examining the principal’s face. Principal Lemore had pouty lips, a pointy nose, slicked back silver and black hair, and a perfectly groomed goatee.
“Please, come in,” Principle Lemore said with a slight French accent. When they entered, Kellie and Master Chen couldn’t help but to stare; Kellie felt as if she walked into a room that belonged in a mansion, not an office in a public high school. Impressive and priceless paintings hung on the walls and European-looking statues sat at every corner of the floor; elegant wallpaper was embellished with gold floral etchings; an Oriental rug made of wool was draped over the carpet.
“Please have a seat, both of you,” he said, pointing to two chairs that faced his desk. As Master Chen sat down, he knocked on Principal Lemore’s desk and asked, “This is Rhodesian Teak?”
“Yes,” said Principal Lemore, sounding impressed. “You know your wood.”
As Kellie took a seat, she was afraid to touch anything and put her hands on her lap. His office was not only lavish, but immaculate; his books and supplies were neatly organized in their designated spots and nothing seemed out of place.
Master Chen brazenly stared some more, specifically at a figure in an enclosed glass case. When Principal Lemore noticed his gaze, he said, “You are admiring my latest piece. I just had it made from a rare gem I purchased in a small village in China. The seller didn’t ask much for it….It must have been my lucky day.”
“Very nice,” complimented Master Chen.
Kellie admired it as well. There was something about it that was familiar to her and she had the feeling Master Chen felt the same.
Principal Lemore sat down at his desk and placed his folded hands on top of its sleek surface. Leaning forward, he said, “We all know why we are here. I have already had a meeting with Derek and his parents. Because he didn’t hit you, he will not be suspended or expelled, but instead will have detention for a week — I am aware of his reputation as an instigator. Now Kellie, can you provide me with your account of the confrontation?”
“Well, Derek was picking on Jory and I…um asked him to leave him alone.” Kellie’s mouth was dry and her heart rate was elevating. Principal Lemore stared at her with his piercing black eyes as she described the incident. She let out an uncomfortable cough and continued her story. “You are right, he didn’t hit me, but he pushed my backpack off my shoulder and that’s when —”
“You hit Derek,” said Principal Lemore, coldly.
“Derek pushes kids around at school all the time!” said Kellie as her voice rose. “He picks on kids like Jory who won’t —”
“So you decided to become the school’s vigilante,” he said, cutting her off.
Kellie saw the look Master Chen was giving her, so she lowered her voice. “No Principal Lemore, but —”
“Do you know what happens to students who get into fights?”
“They get suspended.”
“Or expelled.” He looked as if he was about to hand her the sentence when Master Chen interrupted.
“Principal Lemore,” he said, “do you teach students here to walk away when somebody need help?”
“Of course not,” said Principal Lemore defensively.
“If someone is being hurt, you not want someone to help?”
“Yes, of course…but —”
“You going to set example to students that if you help those who cannot protect self, they be punished?” asked Master Chen, with his eyes narrowing and grave scrutiny in his voice.
Principal Lemore looked at Master Chen and then at Kellie, trying to keep his composure. “Kellie, you have never been in trouble before and you have a clean school record. May this be the last time I see you in my office.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied politely, exhaling in relief.
He looked back at Master Chen and said, “You make an inarguable point, but if she gets into another fight, she will get suspended, if not expelled.”
“I promise this not happen again,” Master Chen said firmly.
“Kellie, I understand what you did for Jory, but fighting is not tolerated here, nor a solution to any problem. I am going to let this go, but next time, do not take matters into your own hands.”
“Thank you,” said Kellie in disbelief for getting off with just a warning. She got up, hurrying to leave before he changed his mind.
“Goodbye and thank you,” said Master Chen, giving the principal a courteous bow.
Once they left the office and were safely inside the car where no one could overhear, Kellie whooped for joy. “I can’t believe it! I didn’t get suspended! I was so scared when Principal Lemore said the word ‘expelled.’” Letting out a deep breath, she said, “I’m sorry that you had to come down for this. It won’t ever happen again. I promise!”
Master Chen didn’t say a word.
“I thought for sure he was going to at least give me detention,” Kellie rambled on. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I’m going to the school dance….It’s a week before winter break.”
Looking surprised, Master Chen said, “Good, very good. It is good to go to school party and make friends. Who is boy?”
“Jory. The one I got i
n a fight for. I’ll introduce him to you later,” she said, now relaxed and in a lighter mood.
“He asked you to dance?” asked Master Chen, looking as though he couldn’t believe it.
“No. I asked him.”
“Oh,” replied Master Chen, even more surprised. “Well…good to be modern woman.”
tudents lazily trickled into Mr. Patterson’s classroom while he made last minute preparations for the lab experiment. Kellie was already at her seat, thinking about how fortunate she was the day before. She wasn’t going to press her luck and intended to make sure what took place with Derek, never happens again. So far, the day was going well — that is, until she heard an unwelcomed voice behind her.
“How did you get out of detention? I thought you would at least get suspended for starting the fight.”
Kellie twisted around from her seat to see Derek’s scowling face.
“I didn’t start the fight and you know it,” said Kellie, as calmly as possible, but could feel her face getting warm.
“Is that what you told Principal Lemore? You hit me, and now look at my face,” he said angrily, pointing to four nail marks down his left cheek. “It better not leave a scar!”
“So, you’re admitting you lost a fight to a girl?” Kellie asked smugly. She couldn’t resist being so snide, and she wasn’t going to allow him to intimidate her.
“Who said I lost?” he growled defensively.
Kellie refrained from mentioning that he was seen crying afterwards.
“I have detention every day for a week and I don’t think that’s fair,” he whined.
“How did you know I didn’t get detention?” She hadn’t mentioned the outcome of the verdict to anyone.
“My parents called Principal Lemore and he told them. I don’t know how you did it, but I think you —”
“Kellie! Derek! What is going on here?”
Taken by surprise, Kellie almost slid off her chair as she untwisted herself to face the teacher hovering over her. Mr. Patterson had his hands on his hips and a glower on his face that was worse than Derek’s.
“Nothing,” mumbled Derek.
“Nothing, Mr. Patterson,” answered Kellie.
“Well, I hope I wasn’t interrupting your quarrel.” He paused at their silence. “I suggest that the two of you stay away from each other. I don’t want the incident that occurred outside my classroom to transpire ever again. I want both of you to be at opposite ends of the room…and I won’t tolerate any disruptions in class.”
“Yes, sir,” said Kellie, her face getting warm again, but this time from embarrassment: everyone in the room was staring at them.
Derek muttered something under his breath to acknowledge Mr. Patterson. He then got up and sauntered over to the other side of the room. He dropped himself down on a chair and gave Kellie a penetrating gaze.
Kellie was called out by Mrs. Langdon the day before and now by Mr. Patterson. She wasn’t used to being reprimanded by her teachers and just wanted to get through the day without further reproof.
To her relief, the school bell rang and Mr. Patterson didn’t wait a second to begin class.
“Today will be the beginning of a long experiment. We are going to sequence our very own DNA. You will work in pairs, but each of you will sequence your own genetic material. This is a continuation of what we’ve been doing and this is what we’ve been leading up to. Every day, we will conduct different steps of the experiment, and in the weeks to come, we will have our DNA sequenced.”
Mr. Patterson started passing out the thick assignment as he shouted over the rustling papers. “You will be graded on following instructions, technique, and results. The assignment I am giving you contains the protocol for the experiment. Everything you need is already set up at the lab stations. Stay with the partners you have been with. You may begin.”
Jory got to the lab station first and was tapping his pen on the table, waiting eagerly for Kellie to take the seat next to him.
As soon as she sat down, he cracked, “What happened yesterday?”
“I didn’t get suspended…or even detention,” Kellie said, keeping her voice down. “Can you believe it?”
“You really lucked out. Everyone who gets caught fighting usually gets, at least, detention.”
“I know! Master Chen really talked his way out of my mess. Thank goodness he was there.”
As Kellie filled him in, they started the experiment.
“Okay,” she said, as she read the instructions, “it says to take a sample of our DNA by swabbing the inside of our mouth.” They both took a sterile cotton swab and swiped the inside of their cheeks. After reading the next step, they each dropped their sample into a plastic tube containing a translucent solution and capped it.
“You know, Principal Lemore was nicer than I expected,” Kellie said. “I was surprised he let me off with just a warning.”
“I heard my dad tell my mom he’s a very fascinating man,” said Jory.
“Really? How does he know him?”
“My dad is his accountant. Apparently, he’s lived all over the world and is a very wealthy man.”
Intrigued, Kellie gazed at Jory. “That’s unusual. Why would a rich man be a principal of a high school?”
“My dad asked him the same question,” Jory said, as he concentrated on the DNA extraction procedure.
Kellie waited patiently for Jory to carry on with his story as he systematically added reagents to his sample. Unable to wait anymore, she asked, “And?”
“Oh, sorry. Principal Lemore said he has a background in academia and wanted to get back into it. He’s thinking of retiring completely from international business and moved here because he finds Milldale interesting. And he has family here…or something.”
“Why does he find Milldale interesting?”
“I don’t know. Oh, my dad also mentioned that he likes to collect rare art and treasures…and travels to Asia a lot.”
“Yeah, I saw some of them in his office.”
Mr. Patterson’s booming voice brought them back to their task at hand. “You will only have one chance to have your sample run through the DNA sequencer, so make sure you follow the protocol carefully.”
All the students worked diligently and quietly, much to Mr. Patterson’s surprise, made evident by his darting eyes. The assignment was a large part of their grade, so they knew they couldn’t afford to mess around, which was commonplace during the experiments. Kellie and Jory didn’t speak for the rest of the period and barely got the procedure completed.
After the stressful lab project, Kellie found herself with a pulsating headache and she suffered with it throughout the day. She was walking to her last class when her head started throbbing again and the students passing by formed into a large blur. Rubbing her eyes and head, she scrunched up her nose: the odor of the building was mustier and more drab than usual. She stopped to take refuge against a wall. She closed her eyes again and her head began to spin. Feeling dizzy, she prayed the pain would pass quickly; she didn’t want to be late for class.
The blaring sun didn’t help either. The weatherman was wrong the day before: there was no rain, and today, it was hot.
Still resting on the wall, she felt someone softly touch her arm that was draped over her eyes.
“Are you okay, Kel?”
She opened her eyes and saw a fuzzy figure in front of her. When her sight refocused, she saw genuine concern on Jake’s face.
“Not really. I have this screaming headache and I’m a bit tired.” She looked out toward the quad and her vision was hazy again. She rubbed her eyes, blinked rapidly, and then rubbed them some more.
“What’s wrong with your eyes?”
“I don’t know…things are just blurry right now. Maybe I have allergies.”
“Or maybe you need glasses. This isn’t the first time you’ve squinted all funny like that.”
“Maybe you’re right — but it’s not all the time, so it’s kinda weird,” said Ke
llie, massaging her forehead.
“Hi, Jakey!” someone squealed. It was Lisa and a huge grin was plastered on her face. “I bought our tickets!”
The deafening high-pitched tone echoed through Kellie’s brain, making the pounding worse.
“Um — what?” asked Jake, looking a little confused.
“The tickets — for the dance! Don’t tell me you forgot, Silly. You asked me…yesterday.”
“Oh yeah, right — the dance,” said Jake embarrassed.
“I can’t talk now, but we’re gonna have to coordinate our colors,” said Lisa, not even noticing that Jake appeared regretful. “I’m gonna get my dress after school, so I’ll let you know what the color is.” She was so ecstatic, she was nearly falling out of her heels. “See you later, Jakey!”
Lisa pranced off with bubbly giddiness in her step. Kellie had a smirk on her face, while Jake hung his head low.
“So…you’re taking Lisa to the dance?” asked Kellie, as her headache started to subside.
Staring at his shoes to avoid eye contact, Jake said, “Yeah, I saw her yesterday and I just asked her…not sure why.”
“You just asked her, huh?” said Kellie, watching him squirm. “Well, Jory and I will see you there. Bye, Jakey!” said Kellie with playful sarcasm, leaving him there to grieve.
Feeling better, Kellie zipped off to P.E., though her body now felt a little achy. When she got to the girls’ locker room, she squeezed her way through an aisle bustling with teenage girls, changing in to their red shorts and white t-shirts. While sitting on one of the narrow wooden benches nailed down between rows of metal lockers, Kellie rubbed her arms and neck.
“Are you sick, Kellie?” asked Sunday.
Kellie had known Sunday Sanchez since elementary school. She was a soft spoken, petite girl, with extremely thick, puffy black hair. Kellie really liked her because of her big heart and undoubtedly caring spirit. She often shared with Kellie her fondness for animals, telling her stories of the unwanted pets she helped at the animal shelter she volunteered at. It was no secret that it was her dream to become a veterinarian.
“I wasn’t feeling too great earlier. I’m a little better now….I hope I’m not coming down with anything….” Kellie felt her forehead with her palm, but didn’t detect a fever.