The Winds of July

He took the cigarettes out of her hands, staring down at it for a few moments longer before looking hard at her again. After a few seemingly-long seconds, he stepped away and crushed the small box in his grasp, letting out a seemingly exhausted sigh and tossing them in the small bin by his desk. He'd have to tell the prefects to keep an eye on his girl.

Nathaniel walked around, reaching in his drawer and pulling out a metal key with a gray tag attached, numbers etched delicately in. "If you need help, Jace will show you to your room." He said simply, tossing them in her direction. "If you talk to Miss Laine, she should have your schedule ready. I'll inform the teachers of your late arrival, and will expect you on time, bright and early tomorrow."

Harmony took a few steps back, looking down at her daughter and glancing towards the door. She fidgeted around with her hands. This wasn't at all how she'd wanted things to go...

Maisie looked down. "Thank you, sir." she said with a glum voice, one that suggested the opposite of her words. She spun on her heel, to face her mom, face still and expressionless. "Can I see my sister now?" She scratched her ankle with the toe of her shoe, above the cylindrical bulges of five extra cigarettes.

The woman let out a sigh, wiping the last of her tears away and taking a few steps further back. "Okay, you can..." She said quietly, "Just promise me you'll stay out of trouble here Maisie? I worry about you, and so does your father..." Once word had gotten out that the girl had been kicked out of her school, well... Harmony's phone had been off for days now until he cooled down...

"Don't mention him!" Maisie snapped, stopping in her tracks, tracks that had been eagerly leading her to the door her sister was behind. Her eyes were more livid than her tongue. "I can't remember the last time I've seen him for over two weeks. He has no right to start worrying about me now."

The woman's blue-green eyes grew for a moment, surprised that she'd snapped so fast. Guilt tore at her for a moment and she clawed at the sleeve of her shirt. She shouldn't have spoken about him like that, she thought, and she shouldn't have yelled at her own mother either! "He's the reason you were able to go to your last school!" Before she was kicked out by her own behavior, Harmony held those words back. "He provides for the family! Why can't you just be thankful for that?" It was almost as if they'd had this argument a million times over already.

"Well I guess I disappointed him, then!" She gave one last glare back. "I'll have to do that a thousand more times for us to be even!"
She didn't even care about seeing her sister anymore. She knew she couldn't be calm and happy, not after that. Her mother ruined everything. Pissed beyond words, she stormed out, past everyone and out the building, a charging ram set on escaping into the afternoon.