Cigarette Burns // FP Jones

Chapter Three

"You're worthless." He shouted, pushing me further back, my head hitting against the locker. I'd only been at this school five days, and I'd already managed to piss off a popular jock and his gang. One of them grabbed my arms before the other looked around, then beginning to punch me. At this point, it was flight or flight, but the only option I'd been given is fight. The male holding me wasn't much taller than I was, so in only one movement I was able to switch, twisting his arms around until he let go, then kicking him in the crotch. I did a similar action to the main male, kicking him in the groin, rubbing my own bloody nose before hitting him with a fist full of knuckle. I didn't care about how much my hand ached and my vision blurred through either tears or blood, all I cared for at this moment was beating the shit out of the arrogant male before me. 

When the teacher eventually broke us up, I was sent straight into the principle's office, where my parents were called. I anxiously swung my legs around under the desk, anticipating the moment they would walk in, and the moment I'd go home and be clipped around the ear and grounded for at least a month.  
"Mr and Mrs Cole, thank you for meeting with myself and Jasmine today." He guided them into the leather seats beside me, and I watched them glare at me with disappointment. 
"James never did any of this, nor did Ashleigh. You're no different to them-" I cut my mother's words off, but it hadn't mattered, for she wouldn't listen. Instead, she hushed me, and looked to the principle for guidance. 

"This morning, Jasmine was found fighting with a popular, well behaved student, Jordan Cooper." He began, but I laughed at his words. 
"Well behaved? Are you insane? Him and his friends threw the first punch, can't you see my face?" I retorted, knowing he'd deny it. The football team was important to the school, so instead I'd fight the consequences. 
"Shut up, Jasmine." My father hit me on the back of the head, causing me to wince. It had been the spot that had hit the lockers, and I knew it would have formed a lump. 
"It's not the only reason I've called the two of you in today, there is a much more serious matter we need to have a conversation about." The principle sighed, taking a sip of coffee before proceeding. My heart raced with not only confusion, but terror. What else had he done? Or, a better question, what had I done that he knew about? 

"A teacher, by the name of Mr Jonas committed suicide a few days ago." My mouth widened at his words - it couldn't be that he knew about what we'd done. "In his suicide note, he wrote about a sexual relationship between himself, and your daughter." 
It hadn't been that I was upset by the news, for I'd already known, and when we had previously met up, he expressed his depressive feelings to me. All I could hear was the beat of my own heart, and my parents gasps of horror. 
"How old was he?" My mother asked, in a high pitched scream, grasping at her red lips. 
"He was fourty-seven." The principle replied sheepishly, knowing I was a mere sixteen. 
"How could you let this happen, as a school? Where was our daughter's protection?" Mother screamed at him, crying. I hadn't expected her to actually care about my well-being, but she acted as if she did. 
"We're so sorry, Mrs Cole." 
"I won't hear anymore of this scandal." My father stood, pulling my mother and myself up with him. "You'll talk to my lawyer." He said, pulling us both from the office and out into the school. 

When I got home, it wasn't the same as before. For the first time, my parents sat with me in the livingroom, allowing me to have an entire tub of ice cream whilst we watched television. We ordered takeout for when James would get home, and Mike sat beside me, napping. When James arrived, he didn't comfort or ask questions, as he understood I hated that. Instead, he silently sat to the other side of me, bringing my head to his shoulder. 

That was the last time I'd felt I had a family, a home and love. For that night, they put my differences aside to work on my emotions at the time. I wished so badly for it to be something that had changed, and would stay on for the rest of my life with them, but of course it hadn't. My parents quickly adjusted to the situation, claiming $400,000 from the school, and selling our house to move into a new state, Florida. However, when my behavior worsened, and I got through another three schools, they requested me go to a course, and if all failed, boarding school. That's when I was given my last chance, at Riverdale.