It Was Always Meant To Happen

Instructions

Prologue: Funny how the second you take a break, the world falls apart. I’m a perfectionist and I have expectations to meet. I have to be better than the best I can be. All it took was one piece to be nudged away from the tower for it to tumble down. Chapter One: I was walking to second period English when a popular student, one I didn’t know well stopped me. “Hey, Gigi, right?” she asked. She was your typical blonde haired, blue eyed girl. She loved drama and gossip. “A bunch of us are skipping. Want to come?” I couldn’t. I didn’t want to miss class. I could get behind and who knows what else. “Um-I-Well,” I stuttered. “Sure.” The word slipped out. I shouldn’t have said that. “Okay, well, we’re playing a prank on the Principal,” she said. “For like April Fools’ Day.” Of course it was April 1st. The girl, Lilian, I think, smiled and lead me outside. I was about to ask how we’re planning to get back in, but they probably wouldn’t like that. “Car is this way!” A dark haired boy called. He was holding . . . spray paint. “Don’t worry, there’s like, a peel-able thing to protect the car,” he said and handed me a can with red. “Let’s go crazy.” Other people started writing weird stuff and drew random shapes. The dark haired guy glanced towards the school and yelled, “Teacher!” All the others scattered, but I couldn’t get away. “Hey, you!” someone shouted. “Stop right there!” Oh no. The principal came jogging up to the car. “Miss Elar, I didn’t expect you to do this.” I felt like crying but I didn’t. “I’m sorry,” I muttered. “Well, come with me,” he said. “I’m taking you to my office and we’re calling your parents.” Mom was at school in 10 minutes. “Gigi,” she said sternly. “Principal Jelliks called me. Is what he said true?” I quickly nodded, embarrassed. “I’m so s—” Mom cut me off. “No sorrys.” The receptionist called us into Principal Jelliks’ office. We sat down across from him. “Hello Ms. Elar,” he said to Mom. “As you were told, Gigi was caught vandalizing my car.” Mom glared at me. “I’m terribly sorry about that and very disappointed in her. It’s very unlike her.” Disappointment was the worst feeling. “Well, there are lots of other places around the school with graffiti and there was some vulgαrness. We have decided that even though this has appeared to have been her first time vandalizing, she will be expelled.” Expelled. I had been expelled and framed. Maybe this was a big prank and not on the principal but on me. Chapter Two: I don’t know how I survived hours of Mom and Dad screeching at me. I already felt bad enough for being expelled, for no longer being perfect. Every single privilege had been stripped from me. I would now be homeschooled, not by my parents, but by someone they hired. At least I only had just over a year before I could escape to college, to escape the disappointment. I headed up to bed once my parents stopped shouting. I got dressed in my pajamas and grabbed a book to read. Mom came into my room with a box. She scooped all of my books into it and snatched the one I was holding. She left and forgot about the books under my bed that didn’t fit on my shelf. I couldn’t risk taking them out today, so I turned my light off. Five minutes later, I just about had a heart αttack when something slammed into my window. I guessed it was a bird, but when I looked out, it was the dark haired boy from earlier. He was standing on the little roof above our L-shaped porch. I slid open the window. “What are you doing here?” I whispered. “And who are you?” “I’m Jackson and I wanted to tell you something,” he said. “This prank was Lilian’s idea. But I think it was good for you. You needed to stop being so uptight, so perfect. You needed to make mistakes, to be human.” “No,” I replied. “I shouldn’t be human. I should do everything exactly right.” “Who told you that?” Jackson asked. “That’s not true. You’re human, so you are allowed to be unperfect.” “Imperfect,” I corrected. He laughed quietly. “Whatever. Well, I’m sorry you got expelled and I’m sorry I won’t see you everyday.” Jackson started to climb down before I could process what he said. He dropped himself to the ground and a minute later, a silver car was driving away. Chapter Three: How would I be able to sleep? Did Jackson just say he liked me? I’ve never had a friend climb up to my window and tell me he wanted to be friends. I got back into bed and my thoughts swirled around me for what seemed like hours as I slipped into the world of dreams. My alarm blared at 6:00 AM. Maybe it was a dream. Then, I saw my empty shelf and my phone wasn’t on my nightstand. “No, no, no, no, no.” It had to have been a nightmare. I peered out my window and saw dirty footprints where Jackson had stood last night. “It was real.” I got dressed and went downstairs. Mom already was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee. “Am I starting homeschool today?” I asked. She shook her head. “I haven’t found a good teacher yet. I’ll find one by next week.”