Ice Queen

Chapter 63 ~ "An act of free speech"

Sasha

I can't believe this is happening right now, I didn't know this was going to be today! I knew my parents had been working on this but I never imagined it would come so soon. I'd never seen two people look so angry with me, Sabrina and Jake wanted nothing more than to kill me I'm sure.

But this was it, they had the proof to back up the accusations Nate and I had been making all along. I couldn't let them get away with this and I couldn't let it be swept under the rug as a joke, this made me question myself and tore me apart for days on end. It felt like the whole world was against me and like I was nothing. 

But I know my worth, I know I'm not someone who's worth being pushed around and I hated hating myself and the people around me. I didn't want to deal with it anymore, I wanted to be happy and this was the start I needed.

"Um, certainly Miss Petrov, the floor is yours." Mister Garcia says, clearly taken a bit by surprise by my remarks. "Would you like a minute to collect your thoughts?"

"No thank you." I say, smoothing my hands over the front of my pants.

Sabrina gives me a smirk and I feel my anger boil over. These two people made my life hell for four years, I wouldn't let them get away with it. This ends today.

"This wasn't a joke." I say confidently. "Period. The torment doesn't even begin at the flyers or rumours, it's been going on for years. I've been teased relentlessly by Jake and Sabrina for so long, about how I'm a freak, how I eat too little, too much, how I'm a prude or a stiff loser." I say and I watch my parent's faces fall, I don't think they knew the extent of the teasing.

"That was almost tolerable, I could live with it even though it nearly tore me apart as a person. But after those flyers came out.....I was lost. I was broken and they said awful things about me being unattractive or how I had an eating disorder?" I state incredulously. "That doesn't seem like anything to joke about, it's life-ruining. I'd walk down the halls and get harassed by students, have them throw food at me telling me to 'eat something'." I say feeling my voice starting to break.

"I've never hurt like that in my whole life." I admit honestly. "I've struggled with food and body-confidence for years now, so those flyers ripped me in half." I wipe off my tears and slump back in my chair feeling pathetic, I couldn't keep it together for a few minutes just to speak my mind. "If this is a joke, I don't see how it's funny." I say quietly.

"Precisely, thank you Miss Petrov." Mister Garcia says and I nod. "This goes far beyond a prank, this is serious enough that it may very well end up out of the school's hands altogether."

"What?" Sabrina asks. "They can't do that!"

"Sabrina, quiet down." Her father scolds.

"We believe this is severe enough that this could move to court and formal charges." Mister Garcia says and Jake's dad shakes his head. 

"Doesn't that seem like a bit of an exaggeration? I'm sure harm was not the target of these....flyers." He says, as if the issue as a whole wasn't worth discussing.

"Mister McMaster.....have you taken the time to.....read one of these flyers?" Mister Garcia asks, taking one from the folders on his desk. He slides it over and I press my lips together, now understanding how many people had really read them. 

"You two could be looking at jail-time, community service.....it could mean repeating your junior year." Sergeant Blake chimes in.

"For what exactly?" Sabrina's father asks and he sighs.

"For trespassing and assault." He tells them and even my eyes widen, that sounded incredibly serious. More serious than the attention they'd given this issue in the beginning.