Obviously, Vinyl’s outburst during the parents-teacher meeting wouldn’t remain unknown to the rest of the school’s staff. She wasn’t going to hide what happened. But, after a great amount of thinking which lasted around two and a half seconds, Vinyl realized that she shouldn’t have told the story before the teacher’s meeting about the different long-term projects the school had to organize.
“YOU DID WHAT?!” Theresa yelled in horror so loudly that Selene, who was sitting next to her, was holding her right ear with a pained wince.
“Ma què deficiente sono....” [I’m such an idiot....] Vinyl muttered angrily while she face-palmed herself.
“Theresa, pipe down a notch!” Dimitri demanded in annoyance while rubbing the inside of his ear with his little finger.
“Don’t you realize what she did?” Theresa asked incredulously.
“Yes, she put a woman who insulted her very own way of living back in her place,” Dimitri explained with a shrug. “What’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is that Mrs. Krauss can, and probably will, lodge a complaint against her and that it’ll have consequences on the school!” Theresa said in an angry panic.
“You do realize that not everyone lodge complaints about every single person who they have a bad encounter with?” Selene, having finally recovered from the previous yell, asked casually. “You’re just being paranoid.”
“First of all, I’m not being paranoid! I’m simply worried about our school’s reputation!” Theresa explained abruptly. “Second, she doesn’t even feign to regret anything which happened last Friday!” She pointed an accusatory finger
“That’s so not true!” Vinyl interjected loudly. “I regret having taken the cafeteria's burritos at lunch. They were way too rich before three hours of class.”
Theresa blinked. “I was talking about the parents meeting Friday evening, not Friday in general,” she specified.
“Oh, yeah,” Vinyl said innocently, while Dimitri was holding back his laugh. “Well, I do regret something how that meeting went,” she added with honesty.
“I guess that if you regret what you said, you’ll just have to apologize to Mrs. Krauss.” Theresa suggested with a sigh.
“You’re misunderstanding me,” Vinyl said abruptly. Theresa and the other teachers looked at her with confusion. “I regret how I said things, but I don’t regret saying them!”
“Good for you,” Dimitri said with an approving nod.
“Dimitri, shut it!” Theresa demanded angrily.”As for you, Vincenza....”
“The matter’s closed until further notice!” Celeste Heliopolis interrupted the Vice-Principal firmly as she entered the meeting room.
The majority of the teaching staff, including Theresa, looked at the headmistress in shock and disbelief.
“Madam Headmistress, don’t you know what she did?” Theresa asked slowly.
“As a matter of fact, I was the first one to know,” Celeste explained. “I called Vincenza Friday night to see how did the meeting go.”
“Your phone call almost had me kicked out of the theater I was by the way,” Vinyl interjected.
“That’s what you get for not turning it off before the movie started,” Celeste replied casually.
“Hang on, what were you doing at the theater?” Selene asked curiously.
“Octavia saw a movie poster when we got out of the Chinese restaurant,” Vinyl explained with a shrug. Ottavia era tanta carina cuando non sapeva come usare i bastoncini... [Octavia was so cute when she didn’t know how to use chopsticks...] she discretely smiled at the memory.
“So, you’re treating your favorite student to dinner and to a movie,” Dimitri commented with a sly grin.”Be careful with that. It would be bad if someone found that out,” he added with a chuckle.
Vinyl frowned a bit at his remark.“ Beg pardon?”
“He’s right,” Celeste admitted, not without glaring at her goatee bearing colleague. ”While I know you absolutely didn’t have that intention, people might think you’re favoring Octavia due to your...rather uncommon situation.”
“You should show a little more professional attitude,” Dimitri commented with a joking tone.
“Well, maybe I should take lessons from you, Dimitri,” Vinyl said with a knowing grin, casting an imperceptible glance between the Headmistress and the Maths teacher, who both paled under her gaze. “You must have a very intense sense of professionalism to always help Madam Headmistress on checking the weekly accounts,” she added with a pinch of naughtiness in her voice which caused Celeste and Dimitri’s cheeks to take a slightly pink hue. “Losing two hours of your Friday afternoons. Such dedication to your work!”
“It would be dedication if I didn’t have to check on it every Monday morning,” Theresa chimed in annoyance. “There’s always a few mistakes here and there. You could at least double check when you go through that,” she added, completely oblivious to the Headmistress and the Maths teacher’s embarrassment, or to Vinyl’s voice tone.
She wasn’t the only one though, as nobody of the staff noticed the two concerned parties slightly blushing, nor Vinyl’s small, smug smile. Selene, who was staring between her older sister and the Maths teacher with a growing expression of horror, being the only exception.
“Anyway,” Celeste quickly said with rosy cheeks, though that detail was only noticed by Vinyl, who was grinning in triumph, and Selene, who simply turned to her usual, pensive frown. “Let’s get back on what truly matters....”
“Yeah,” Theresa claimed. “Vincenza’s behavior problems!”
“I swear to God! Keep talking like that, and you’ll see real behavior problems!” Vinyl glared at the Vice-Principal with anger.
“ENOUGH!” Celeste shouted loudly as Theresa was about to reply, instantly calming everyone in the room. “We are not here to discuss about Vincenza’s meeting with her students’ parents!”
“What about what she does with the young Octavia....”
“Theresa, weren’t you in a similar situation with Celeste and I back when you were studying and we started teaching here?” Selene chimed in with knowing, yet annoyed frown.
“Ipocrita!” Vinyl muttered under her breath while Theresa instantly shut it at the former Vice-Principal’s remark.
“Thanks for that, Selene,” Celeste said with a relieved sigh as her sister mocked a salute to her. “Let’s get back on track! Vincenza, since you were the center of the conversation until now, we’re gonna start by you and your class.”
“I’m all ears, Boss,” Vinyl replied with a nod.
“I’m gonna need your students for a couple of upcoming events,” the headmistress explained.
“What kind of events?” the blue haired teacher asked with curiosity.
“Well,.....”
“That’s what happened during the meeting?” Fiona asked in disbelief after Octavia had explained her and Nathan last Friday’s meeting..
The musically oriented seniors, which Laura liked to refer as the class PON-3, were on a free-studies period, as all the teachers were on a meeting, in the room 303. Octavia had gotten a spare key from Vinyl so that she and her classmates could have access to their instruments whenever they left them in the classroom, or when they wanted a place to hang out during the school breaks.
“Yes,” Octavia replied with a short nod. “Don’t take it out on Viola!” she demanded firmly when Fiona and Nathan started to glare at a very embarrassed Viola. “She’s not responsible for what her mother said or did!”
“If ya say so,” Fiona slowly said, not really sounding convinced.
“Fiona, leave me alone,” Viola said in annoyance. ”I’ll admit I may have had an opinion similar to my mother’s at first, but now I know that she’s more than qualified for the job!” she explained firmly. “I’m not a complete fan of her like some of you all, but I respect her!”
“And that’s just fine!” Diana chimed in, drawing the endpoint of the upcoming argument before turning to Laura who was busy on her smartphone with Henry and Harpo peeking over her shoulders. “What are you looking at?” she asked with curiosity.
“What do you think?” Laura asked back with a sly grin. “I’m looking for that famous video!”
“What?!” Octavia, Diana, Beatrice and Viola shouted in shock.
“Seriously guys?” Fiona asked with a cocked eyebrow as Nathan eagerly went to look over Laura’s shoulders. “That’s gross!”
“Come watch!” Henry shouted to Frederic who was tinkling away on the class’ piano to pass time. He hadn’t been paying attention to what they were saying.
“Watch what?” he asked.
“Watching the video of the teach’s knockers!” Henry replied eagerly.
“Hmmm, how about no?” Frederic asked while shaking his head in disapproval.
“Your loss!” Laura said in a sing-song voice.
“Since when yer a closet lesbian, Laura?” Fiona asked with a cocked eyebrow.
“What closet are you talking about?” Laura asked back, shocking nearly everybody with that question. “Aaaaaand, I think I just found it!” Laura nearly shouted in excitement. “It’s showtime, boys!” she added while Nathan, Henry and Harpo scooted closer to her.
“Like hell it is!” Octavia fumed.
Octavia angrily walked to her perverted classmates before flipping the back of Laura’s hand, thus making her smartphone being thrown in the air. She caught the phone with her free hand, and turned her back to her friends.
“HEY!” Laura shouted while Octavia was quickly tapping away on her phone. “Give me my phone back!” she took a few steps toward the young cellist who managed to flick her nose without facing her. “Ow!”
“Just a few seconds,” Octavia whispered. “Aaand, here you are!” she handed Laura her phone back.
“What did you do?” Diana asked curiously as Laura went back to her video.
“Necessary adjustments,” Octavia replied with a shrug.
“What the HECK?!” Laura shouted. “Octavia! Give me that password for that parental censorship!”
“No.”
“GIVE IT!”
“No.”
“Come on! Give me that password!”
“Don’t worry, Laura,” Henry said after Octavia said no for the third time, taking Laura’s phone. “There’s a small manip to overcome the parental.....” he frowned at the phone. “... censorship.... WHAT THE HELL?! She put a password there too!”
“There are four methods to deactivate parental censorship without knowing the password,” Octavia explained with a smug grin. “I’ve put a different password on every single one of them, and I’m keeping them right here,” she tapped her forehead.
“Since when are you so handy with phone’s settings?” Viola asked with surprise.
“Yeah, last year you had trouble just changing your ringtone,” Beatrice commented.
“Vincenza explained to me how to protect my data effectively in case my phone gets stolen,” Octavia explained casually.
“Why did you do that?” Laura glared at Octavia.
“Because that’s not proper behavior!” Octavia replied, matching Laura’s glare.
“Oh, come on!” Henry lifted his arms in the air dramatically. “It’s all in good fun.”
“No, it’s not!” Viola interjected. “That’s mainly an invasion of Scratch’s privacy!”
“That didn’t stop your close-minded mother!” Laura retorted angrily, while trying to break Octavia’s password.
“Don’t bring my mother into this!” Viola yelled angrily.
“Yeah-yeah, whatever!” Laura growled. “Fuck, it’s not ‘petcellist’.”
“Why would I put that as a password?” Octavia asked in confusion.
“Because that’s what you are right now!” Laura angrily replied. “You’re acting like a stupid teacher’s pet!”
“What did you just say to me?” Octavia bellowed, causing Fiona to pass her arm around her waist to hold her back before she could charge at the lyrist.
“Easy there, girl,” Fiona said in a calming tone.
“Laura, that wasn’t very nice!” Diana reproached.
“Hey, why are you taking her side?” Laura asked. “She hacked my phone just because I wanted to watch a video!”
“Well, that wasn’t a video you’re supposed to watch!” Octavia shouted, struggling against Fiona’s grip. “Fiona, let me go!”
“Nope!”
“Ok, you’re all gonna calm down,” Frederic said firmly as he put himself between Octavia and Laura.
“I will when she gives me those passwords!” Laura stated angrily.
“Keep dreaming!” Octavia growled. “If you can’t behave like an adult, it’s normal you get the children safety!”
“Look who’s talking.” Laura humphed with disdain. “You’re not more adult than I am right now, you’re just the teacher’s favorite and you think it gives you the right to boss us around!”
“I’m not her favorite student!” Octavia yelled. “And, I don’t boss any of you around.”
“Well, that’s not really true,” Henry awkwardly commented.
“Henry, shut it!” Octavia growled at him.
“I’ll be quiet,” he replied in a fearful whisper.
“Thanks, you proved my point,” Laura grinned.
“Please, Henry doesn’t count.” Octavia rolled her eyes. “He can’t pass a day without one of us shouting at him for a reason or another.”
“Hey, that’s not....” Henry started in an offended tone. “....Oh, yeah! That’s true,“ he added in realization.
“Henry, shut up!” Laura yelled at him.
“See?” Octavia grinned.
“Girls! That’s enough!” Diana shouted with an unusual firmness that surprised everyone. “You’re just fighting over a stupid video about our teacher’s chest. That’s ridiculous.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault if the teacher’s hot like a volcano.” Laura defended herself, earning discrete, approving nods from Nathan, Henry and Harpo.
“Maybe she is, but if you want to see breasts, Laura, wait for your daily visit on porn sites instead of trying to get a view at Scratch’s. That’s just creepy.”
“I don’t go on porn sites!” Laura shouted in embarrassment, her cheeks red as tomatoes. Diana and Fiona both gave her a ‘really?’ look. “Well, not on a daily basis,” she admitted in a whisper.
“Uurgh, too much informations!” Beatrice said before running out of the classroom, while covering her ears.
“Huh, I’m gonna go after her,” Viola said awkwardly, clearly ill-at-ease with the turn the conversation was taking. “You know, to be sure she ….. You know...” she exited the classroom.
“Fiona, let go of Octavia,” Diana demanded softly.
“Alright,” Fiona replied with a nod as she loosened her grip on the cellist.
“Octavia, don’t you have something to say to Laura?” Diana asked.
The young cellist sighed. “I apologize for setting passwords on your phone like that. It wasn’t my place to do so.”
“I’ll accept the apology as soon as I get the password for the censorship,” Laura replied sternly.
“It’s ‘DJ Mc-W1sh = Stronzo’,” Octavia said matter-of-factly. “No spaces, no capitals.”
“You know DJ Mc-W1sh?” Laura asked with surprise before entering the password.
“Vincenza often pesters about him at home,” Octavia explained with a shrug.
“What does stronzo mean?” Fiona asked curiously.
“Jerk,” Octavia answered briefly before turning back to Laura. “So?”
“So what?” Laura asked in confusion.
“Aren’t you going to apologize for what you said to her?” Frederic cocked his eyebrow.
“About her being the teacher’s favorite and pet?” Frederic nodded while Octavia let out a low groan of annoyance at Laura’s question. “I don’t apologize for telling the truth.”
“What?” Octavia shouted in shock and disbelief. “For the last time, I’m not her favorite student! Vincenza doesn’t treat me differently than you guys!”
“Really?” Laura questioned sarcastically. “I don’t remember Scratch saying that we could call her by her first name.”
“Now you’re exaggerating,” Harpo chimed in with a slightly angry frown.
“Ok, maybe on that aspect,” the lyrist admitted casually. “But so far, Octavia’s the only one who’s been treated to the movies and to the restaurant by our teacher!”
Octavia froze in shock at that remark while the boys and Fiona simply cocked their eyebrow and Diana was sheepishly glancing at the young cellist in embarrassment.
“What in God’s name are ya talkin’ bout?” Fiona asked.
“That’s just silly,” Henry snorted.
“It’s not! Diana and I saw her and Scratch acting all buddy-buddy Friday night at the movie theater, didn’t we Diana?”
“Well, yeah we did,” Diana said uneasily.
“Is that true?” Frederic asked to Octavia who nodded in reply.
“Vinc... Scratch wanted to clear her head after meeting Viola’s mother, so she asked me if I wanted to go to the Chinese with her,” Octavia slowly explained. “After dinner, we passed in front of the theater and I stopped when I saw a poster about that docufiction about Robert Schumann. We chatted about the movie for a bit, and somehow we ended up watching it. She was almost kicked out after she received a phone call from Mrs. Heliopolis. She had forgotten to turn it off.” Octavia giggled at the memory of her teacher arguing with the other spectators, and employees.
“So, you’ve enjoyed that little date with the teacher?” Laura asked with a smug grin.
Octavia blinked before madly blushing. “IT WASN’T A DATE!!! STOP SAYING WEIRD THINGS LIKE THAT!!!”
“Did you pay for your ticket?”
“Huh.... no,” Octavia stammered, taken aback by Laura’s sudden question.
“Did you get pop-corn?” Octavia nodded. “Did you pay for it?” Octavia shook her head. “Hmmm, sounds like a date to me,” Laura said with a chuckle.
“Ok, first of all, you’re crazy!” Octavia stated. “Secondly, I’m not into girls! Lastly, even if I was, why on earth would I go on a date with someone like Vi....Scratch?” she asked in an anger which made her oblivious to her heart skipping a beat at that thought.
“Well, I was going to say for being certain to get selected for whatever event we’ll have to do this year, but, considering it’s you we’re talking about, it would be plain stupid to think that. You have enough talent to be above something as cheap as that,” Laura admitted with a nod, before thinking about something in silence. “Nah, forget what I said. It couldn’t be a date.”
“Finally, you’re seeing reason.” Octavia sighed in relief. “Now, can we please talk ab....”
“After all, why would someone as cool as the teach’ would go on a date with a bland, boring, and stuck up girl like you?”
The next thing the class Pon-3, minus Beatrice and Viola who were still out of the classroom, saw was Laura being violently shoved backwards by Octavia. The lyrist tripped on one of her classmates’ bag and fell on her butt while knocking the cupboard on top of which Viola’s violin case was lying. The impact made the case fall on top of Laura’s head, causing her to yelp in pain while Fiona ran to catch the violin before it hit the ground.
Octavia stood where she had pushed Laura, glaring at her grounded classmate with a mix of hatred and hurt while her hands were shaking uncontrollably.
“Vaffanculo, Laura!” [Go fuck yourself, Laura!] Octavia muttered in an ice-cold, yet shaken voice.
Octavia quickly grabbed her backpack and picked her cello case up before dashing to the door. She was out of the classroom before anyone could stop her, and slammed the door behind her. Her classmates heard the sound of a key inside a lock before the boys all ran to the door. Henry pulled on the handle down, but the door didn’t opened up.
“Crap, she locked us in!” Henry said while attempting to open the door again.
“YOU FREAKING IDIOT!” the boys heard Diana bellowed in fury before hearing a loud whack followed by another pained yelp.
“Stop hitting my head!” Laura demanded while holding her head with a pained wince.
“Why in tarnation did ya say that to her?” Fiona yelled, her anger matching Diana’s.
“Girls!” Frederic shouted. “There’s more urgent matter than yelling at Laura right now! Octavia locked us in the room!”
“Just great!” Diana shouted loudly. “Now, we’re all stuck with Miss Bitchy here!” she pointed her finger at Laura.
“Diana, calm down a little,” Nathan said softly, still very surprised to see the little blonde so furious, much like everyone else in the room.
“NEVER TELL A GIRL TO CALM DOWN!” Diana bellowed furiously, startling every single one of her classmates. “Boys always do that, and it never works! It just freaks us out! You see me all freaked out?” she asked, grabbing her note pad. “It’s because you told me TO. CALM. DOWN!” she hit Nathan’s shoulder with her note pad in between each word.
In other circumstances, it would have been comic to see a six foot tall, muscular boy cowering in fear facing the onslaught of a five foot tall, petite girl. Nathan let out a low grunt of pain after Diana’s last hit. The petite blonde throw her note pad on a nearby desk, heavily panting.
“Feeling better?” Nathan asked worriedly, rubbing his sore shoulder.
“Not really.” Diana sighed. “Sorry for shouting and assaulting you like that.”
“It’s all good,” Nathan assured. “You had to let it out,”
“Well, it’s not all good,” Harpo remarked. “We’re still locked in.”
“And, Ah think Laura’s gonna get a huge bump on her forehead,” Fiona commented with a wince.
“We should get her to the infirmary,” Henry said matter-of-factly.
“News flash, Henry, the door’s locked!” Harpo said sourly before kicking the door. “OW, damn it! What is this door made of?” he shouted, holding his hurt foot.
“I guess our only hope is that Beatrice and Viola manage to get the key from Octavia,” Henry said in a defeated tone.
“She took her cello with her, I don’t think she’s in the school grounds anymore,” Frederic said calmly.
“So that means they’re going to have to ask Scratch to open the door.” Diana let out.
The six students looked at each other, while the seventh was feeling her newly growing bump, before they all feel a cool chill running down their spines.
“Ah ain’t tellin’ her what happened!” Fiona stated.
“Neither am I!” Frederic assured.
“Same here!” Harpo added.
“What they said!” Henry claimed.
“Don’t count on me!” Diana lifted her hands in the air.
“Forget it!” Nathan shook his head vigorously.
“Aoowwwie!” Laura moaned as she touched her bump.
The six others looked at her with interest.
“Y’all heard her sayin’ ”Ah will”, didn’t ya?” Fiona slowly asked, earning nods of approval from her other classmates. “Good!”
“Vincenza, how did you know?” Selene discreetly said during the short coffee break the teachers had during their meeting.
“Know what?” Vinyl asked curiously.
“About that Accounting story between Celeste and Dimitri?” Selene eagerly asked in a whisper.
“Oh, that! I was on the phone with a friend of mine when she blurted out that my boss was doing the nasty every Friday after school with the Maths teacher,” Vinyl explained casually.
“Huh?” Selene blinked in surprise. “You’re joking right?”
“Not at all!” Vinyl replied sincerely. “Patty always had some insanely accurate intuitions about everything,” she explained calmly.
At the same time, in a small bakery in Manehatten, an assistant baker with cotton candy-like, pink hair interrupted what she was doing to stare at the window with a pensive frown.
“Hmmm.... Twitchy-twitcha-twitcha-twitch!” Patricia Patty Pembroke whispered mysteriously. “Vinyl must be telling someone how she knew about the monkey business between the Headmistress and the Maths teacher!” She blinked a couple of time. “Or, I forgot to feed Gummy this morning! Oh my gosh! I really hope it’s the first one!”
“Ah don’t care about yer twitchin’s, Patty!” a tall blonde accross the counter commented angrily. “Ah’m meetin’ Rare’s parents for lunch, and Ah’m supposed to bring the cake!”
“Oh, yeah! Silly me!” Patty giggled cheerfully. “Don’t you worry your pretty freckled face, my dear Jacquelyn! Your auntie Patty just needs to finish the icing.” she took a deep breath. “Sooooo....”
“Ah’ll give ya a twenty bits tip if ya don’t start singin’!” Jaquelyn interrupted Patty as she was about to sing.
“Nice doing business with you, soon to be Mrs. Belle!” Patty grinned happily. “Or, is Rarity the future Mrs. Smith? Jaquelyn Belle, or Rarity Smith? They both sound good! Rarity Smith, Jacquelyn Belle, Rarity Smith, Jacquelyn Belle? Rarijack or Smibelle?”
“Patty!”
“Yeah?”
“Just finish the icing, please.” Jacquelyn let out a long, tired sigh.
“Oki-doki-loki!”
“So let me get this straight,” Selene said abruptly. “You let out that my sister’s doing dirty business with Dimitri every Friday afternoon, instead of checking the school’s accounting during a teachers’ meeting to get back at him for mocking you.”
“Well, I never said ‘instead’,” Vinyl commented casually.
“Somehow you managed to let that out in a way in which only those two and I noticed, thus completely tilting the balance of power between you and Dimitri toward you without breaking my sister’s authority during the meeting while still letting her know you have a mean of pressure against her,” Selene kept going as if Vinyl hadn’t said anything. Vinyl nodded. “And all that was based on your friend’s weird, but accurate intuition?”
“Basically, yeah, that’s what I did!”
Selene blinked before grabbing both Vinyl’s shoulders.
“Teach me how to do that!” Selene demanded with a wide, sly grin. “And, if possible, introduce me to that friend of yours!”
Vinyl chuckled. “With pleasure, Selene,” she replied with a wink.
“Perfect!” Selene rubbed her hands in triumph. “For years, I’ve been trying to get back at Celeste and Dimitri’s pranks, and you’re going to help me with that!”
“Anyway, let’s get back to the meeting room,” Vinyl said as she noticed that they only had a minute of break left.
They were heading back to the meeting room when they heard someone knocking at the Staff room’s door. Selene, who was the closest to the door, decided to go open it, revealing a rather stressed Viola who was nervously fidgeting her hair.
“Excuse me, Miss Heliopolis,” she said in a trembling tone. “I know that the teachers are having a meeting right now, but I was wondering if Miss Scratch wasn’t busy at the moment. It’s kinda important,” Viola explained.
The former Vice-Principal turned her head to the newest teacher, before giving her a curt nod after a few seconds of reflexion.
“Your part’s already done, so it’s not a big deal if you’re a bit late for the second part of the meeting,” Selene said matter-of-factly before walking to the meeting room.
“Ok! Be sure to tell Theresa it was your idea,” Vinyl demanded with a chuckle.
“I guarantee nothing!” Selene said before leaving the music teacher with her student alone.
“I suppose it’s about what happened with your Mom, right?” Vinyl asked softly as Viola bit her lower lip, as if scared to say something. “Look, you don’t have to worry about me! I’m not gonna pass the difficulties I may have with your mother on you.” Vinyl smiled gently at her student. “It’d not be fair for you.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that.” Viola relaxed a little. “But, it’s not what I went to talk about.”
“Oh. What’s going on then?” Vinyl asked with curiosity.
“Hmmm.... you see... huh....” Viola stammered before taking a deep breath. “Octavia and Laura got into a fight, and Octavia freaked out and locked Laura and the others inside the classroom while Beatrice and I were in the bathroom! We’ve been trying to find Octavia to get the key back, but we didn’t find her anywhere! Now the others are still locked in the classroom, and Laura needs to go to the infirmary!” she said in one breath.
Vinyl remained impassible for a few seconds, not even blinking. Viola gulped fearfully in front of such lack of reaction, considering it the calm before the storm. Vinyl slowly raised her hands to massage her temples before staring at Viola with a stern expression.
“Repeat what you just told me, please,” she demanded in a low tone. “Slowly this time.”
When Vinyl finally opened the classroom’s door, and treated Laura’s bump with the first aid kit she took from the infirmary, she asked all of her students to tell her exactly what happened in the first place. While a bit reluctant at first, they caved under the unusual stern glare their teacher gave them. They told her everything: How Octavia told Fiona and Nathan how the meeting went, the part about how part of them wanted to find that famous video, how Octavia reacted to that, the argument between Laura and Octavia, and finally what made Octavia snap like she did.
All those who had assisted to the scene supposed that Vinyl would be pissed at Laura for what she told to their teacher’s supposed favorite student. They couldn’t have been more wrong about that. Vincenza Scratch, the cool DJ Pon-3, probably the most understanding and laid back teacher they ever had, wasn’t pissed. She was downright furious.
Her students had expected from her a loud outburst worthy of what Octavia told them about the her first evening with the DJ that was supposed to share her house with her and her father, or something akin to what Viola’s mother received during her meeting, but she didn’t raise her voice. She only shouted one time when they all started to speak at the same time to get them to shut their mouths and sit down at their respective desks. Her tone was low and cold as ice, and the high disappointment in her voice was more than enough to make them feel sorry for what happened. It was even worse for Laura.
“Laura, you’ll get a two hour detention for what you said to Octavia,” Vinyl said matter-of-factly. “And before you start thinking stupid things like Octavia having a preferential treatment from me, I’ll let you know that there will be consequences for her actions as well! Is that clear for you now?”
“Yes, Miss Scratch,” Laura replied in an ashamed voice, her eyes fixed on her desk.
“Is that clear for all of you?” Vinyl asked to the rest of the class.
“Yes, Miss Scratch,” they all replied in a low murmur.
“Good!” Vinyl nodded. “Because I don’t want this to happen again! None of you is gonna be treated differently than the others regarding your schoolwork, your family history, your origin, or any other crap like that!” she explained firmly. “When you have a problem, I’ll help you just like I would help the others, no matter if you’re nice or indifferent with me. If you need advice on anything, I’ll give it you, no matter if I have a problem with one of your parents, or if I’m on good terms with them. No one’s gonna be favored! No one’s gonna be left out! That’s how I intend to do things!”
Vinyl let out a long sigh as the bell announcing the start of the lunch started to ring. None of her students dared to move, which was good because she still had a couple of things to say.
“Now, I know we’re supposed to have three hour of class after lunch,” she began in a more tired tone. “But, right now, I don’t feel like it, and it’s probably the same for you too,” they didn’t answer. “I’ll just say a couple of things, and then you can all go home. Beatrice and Henry,” both of them looked up from their desk. “The headmistress asked us to get some sort of a march to support our school’s sports teams, and I was thinking that the sousaphone and the drums could do the trick. It would be great if you can show a few ideas you have for that on Friday.”
“Understood, Miss Scratch,” Beatrice said with a nod.
“Shouldn’t be too hard,” Henry commented softly.
“Good,” Vinyl nodded. “Other than that, we’ll be responsible for the music during the Nightmare Night Festival on Halloween’s eve. We’ll be working on that for the rest of the month. Try to think for a good costume for the occasion. And when that will be taken care of, we’ll try to get each of you ready for the Winter Gala’s ensemble auditions! That’s all for today. Class dismissed.”
Her students slowly gather their stuff and instruments before heading out of the classroom in silence. Vinyl waited for the last one, namely Laura who was dragging her feet in shame, to get out of the classroom before taking her phone out of her pocket to try to call Octavia, only to reach her voice mail.
“Spero ché tu sei a casa in questo momento, Ottavia!” [I hope you’re at home right now, Octavia!] Vinyl whispered angrily while putting her phone back in her pocket. “Altrementi, sei buona per una sculacciata terribile cuando ti trovero!” [Otherwise, you’re in for a hell of a spanking when I find you!]