Expelled
Thalia had a secret.
Not that it was anyone’s business but her own, of course. Gentry was small enough of a town that if it ever got out, everybody would know. It didn’t matter that Thalia wasn’t anyone important. A secret was a secret.
Her secret weighed down on her tongue as Principal Locke lectured her. “Ms. Warner, this school is a public institution. As such, we cannot allow you to continue here.”
Lara, Thalia’s current foster mother, burst out of her chair. “What? Are you kidding me?” She was having more of a visceral reaction to the news than her ward. Thalia had known this was coming for a long time, but the announcement still burned quietly in the bottom of her stomach. It was her own fault that this was happening, she knew that. After all, she ensured that it would happen.
Fighting with Emma hadn’t been on purpose, but it had still gotten her what she wanted. Expulsion. Education wasn’t really her thing, and Alta High School—with it’s cheerful motto of ‘Love the World, and the World will Love you back’—wasn’t the best fit for her. She snorted at that. Best fit. Like school was a pair of jeans that had been stuck in the washing machine for too long and shrunk five sizes too small.
Lara was still arguing with Locke, probably since she hadn’t realized that there was no point. “You can’t expel Thalia! Her grades have been doing better than ever, she’s not even failing any of her classes. Besides, the last time we met, I was told she was doing much better behaviorally.”
Locke cleared his throat. “This isn’t about Thalia’s grades. She was caught fighting with another student, Emma Woods—”
Lara groaned. “Thalia…” She rubbed a hand against her forehead, trying to smooth down the rapidly deepening wrinkles. “We’ve talked about this.”
"You talked and I listened. I didn’t agree to anything, either.” Her voice was rough. It was true. Lara had gotten on her case about grades and fighting and skipping class plenty of times. Thalia tended to drown her out. Foster parents could always groan and moan and get on her case and send her back to the system, but they could never make her care.
Nervously, Locke intertwined his fingers on top of his shiny office desk. “We honestly do regret doing this to Ms. Warner, but we have no other choice. The parents of Ms. Woods are threatening to sue the school. We’ve given your daughter many chances to change her actions, but this fight was the last straw.”
Lara tossed her hair over a shoulder and stood up. “I see how it is. Thank you for explaining the situation to me, Principal Locke. I’m sorry things have ended this way. We’ll be looking for your emails about the terms of her expulsion.” She glanced over at Thalia, and jerked a thumb at the door. “We’ll get out of your hair. Have a nice day.”
Thalia followed Lara out of the school, ignoring the seething look that was being sent her way. The Jeep, rusty and paint job peeling, fit right in with the rest of Alta High. Thalia pulled on the handle of the car, frowning when it didn’t open. She sighed. “What do you want?”
Lara’s arms were crossed. “I want you to have a little self respect, young lady. I refuse to believe that none of this matters to you. Education leads to a future, Thalia, even if you don’t end up pursuing more education. You’re missing out on opportunities every time you get expelled. This is the last time. Are you listening to me?” She waited for Thalia to roll her eyes and nod. “Seriously. This is the last time. You’re barely capable of graduating with all the missing credits you have. It’s only September. You just need to suffer through eight more months of senior year, and then you can do whatever you want with your life.”
Thalia jammed her hands in the pockets of her hoodie. “Whatever. Can we go now?” Lara looked like she wanted to keep ranting, but unlocked the car anyways. Thalia tossed her backpack in and slammed the door shut behind her.
The ride home was tense, and Thalia refused to speak another word to Lara. She went straight to her room. No one else lived in the house, except for Jim, Lara’s obnoxious tomcat that seemed determined to rip all of Thalia’s belongings to shreds while she wasn’t looking. The cat slunk out of her room with a suspicious glance, and she closed the door behind him.
Thalia’s room was boring. The walls were bare—despite Lara’s desperate efforts to cajole her into at least painting them something that wasn’t white—and the only sign that someone lived in there was the second pair of shoes that Thalia had discarded on the ground a couple days ago and refused to put away. She flopped onto the bed, huffing at the claw marks that Jim had left behind. The screen of her phone was bright enough to hurt her eyes, but she winced the pain anyway. She scrolled past images of ice hockey teams holding up trophies and instead busied herself by opening up a notes app.
She only wrote down three words, adding them to the list: Alta High School.
Dinner was a quiet affair. Lara had skipped a shift at the diner and was sitting at the small table, waiting to talk to her. Fine, Thalia thought. I can play this game.
Lara’s patience broke first. “Are you really just going to act like nothing happened today? That isn’t emotionally healthy.”
“As far as I’m concerned, nothing did happen. Were you really surprised? It was only a matter of time.”
There was exhaustion in her foster mother’s voice. “Yes, I was. You’re better than this, Thalia. I don’t know why you insist on being so flamboyantly self destructive.”
“No one uses the word flamboyant in a real sentence either, yet here you are.”
Lara threw her hands up in the air, narrowly missing the fork sticking out of her bowl of macaroni. “It’s not my fault nobody uses the Miriam Webster dictionary the way they should. Regardless, we are going to fix this, Thalia. It may take a day or two, but I’m sure we can find a school that will take you in.”
“Good luck,” Thalia muttered under her breath. She ignored the pointed look that Lara gave her and headed back to her room.
Somehow true to her word, the next day, Lara threw open the door without knocking bearing a laptop in one arm and Jim in the other. “Guess what!”
“You’ve finally hit 5′2?” “No, shut up. I found a school that you can go to. It’s a bit pricey, but considering how few other options you have, I’m willing to find the funds. Besides, if I don’t occasionally spend a couple bucks on you, the state is paying me for nothing. Move over,” She said, shoving a pillow out of the way. Jim freed himself from her arms and settled down on the lumpy blanket.
“This place is called Brighton Academy. It’s a private school, so that explains the cost. It’s well known for it’s talented sports program and graduate students’ reputations. It’s also a boarding school, which I don’t love, but I’m not sure I’m required to have an opinion on the subject. They’re willing to let you start as early as two weeks from now. You’re free to choose your own schedule, so long as you take a few required classes like you’re supposed to.”
“You’ve already contacted them?” Thalia asked, surprised. Usually her foster parent took much longer calling up individual schools, pleading her case to them and begging them to give Thalia one last chance. Maybe Brighton Academy wasn’t picky. That didn’t seem likely, though. She had met plenty of kids from private schools, and they had a reputation for being control freaks.
Lara’s voice was dry. “I had plenty of time since I took off work.” She scooted off of the bed and headed for the door. “I’ll send you a link to the class schedule sometime. Please, for once in your life, find something productive to do while I’m gone.” Her voice echoed in the hall as she left. “Don’t do anything stupid!”
